The students contributed such things as honest, fair, faithful, responsible, loving, disciplined, etc. In both classes, disciplined was mentioned and each time I asked for a clarification: did the student mean that the parent is disciplined or that they discipline their children? Both times, the student told me they meant the parents were disciplined in their lives.
The students were given 10 minutes to come up with a scenario and script for a skit that demonstrated one of the traits in our list on the board, and the class should be able to figure out what trait they were portraying. My first class went swimmingly. My second Social Studies class, however, was a little different. One group chose "disciplined" and it involved two young men caught smoking (tobacco or otherwise was unclear). The "parents" responded by slapping each son across the face (I could hear the sound from across the room), to which the class laughed. I should have stopped it there, but was quite unbelieving of what was happening. Then the parents hit the children with a ruler, and then a belt. I am unsure how hard these other strikes were, as they were much less audible (the belt was striking the belt of the child, so that created noise of its own). The class was roaring with laughter.
I continue to believe that corporal punishment is not a deterrent to bad behavior and in fact can make people more violent.
When students act in a disruptive way in class, I throw them out - not literally - they are told the leave the classroom. They stand outside and can hear the lesson but cannot participate.
Last term, I had an extra day with one of my Government classes, and in order to not get too far ahead of the other class curriculum-wise, I decided we would do some team-building group activities. I took the students out to the lawn in front of the administration building and had the students do human knots. We had been out there only a little while when someone from the Headmistress's office came out and told me that we could not be outside because the weather was bad (in fact it was a sunny day, no chance of rain, but not too sunny as to be hazardous, and since the classroom windows and door are the only source of ventilation they must be kept open all the time, so if it is poor air quality he was referring to it hardly makes a difference whether we were inside or not). Anyway, later that day I saw three boys kneeling in the sun on the concrete in front of the administration building, as punishment. I don't get it.
The students are made to kneel if they are late for prep, talk in class, etc. However, I do not find it a deterrent to repetitive behavior.
I have written before about punishing students for habitual tardiness by having they spend time alphabetizing books in the library. Last week, there was a group of girls near my house who were weeding. I asked what had happened. The response: they had not given their math teacher a desk to sit at. Yes, that's right - most teachers here sit to teach. And they had committed the apparently unpardonable sin of not having a desk ready for her/him when she/he arrived in class. Frankly, I am appalled - both by the sitting to teach and the punishment which is out of line with the infraction.
Last term, I saw several of my students trying to break up a termite mound with cutlasses (the machete like tools used for cutting weeds). They had been talking in class, and this was their punishment. FYI - the clay that termite mounds are made out of is so hard it is used for molds to fire beads in kilns, and they were to destroy the entire 5 foot tall structure in 2-3 hours.
I give penny-ante punishments, and I am okay with that.
5 comments:
Punishments are meted out for minor infractions such as being late for meals, classes or improper dressing. In the US there are cases where students slap teachers and not a damn thing is done about it. A teacher in the DC district complained to me bitterly about being slappped by a student and he was told to press charges against the student because the school was powerless to do anything else.
You should not humiliate your students by posting their pictures without permission. It is obvious they did not want their pictures taken. You ignored their plea and then posted the pictures on your blog . This is unbecoming of a teacher. I bet you could not do such a thing in the US. You and your school would be sued for sure. Please show some respect!
Please remove the pictures of the students who are under punishment. It is obvious they did not want their picture taken and certainly they do not want it on the internet. I am giving you the chance to remove the pictures, otherwise, I will alert the Headmistress Mrs Adom about this despicable act. You would not dare do the same thing to your American students. For years, the so called expatriates have been patrolling Africa taking pictures with the sole purpose of humiliating them. Please be sensitive to the new culture you find yourself in. This is no funny matter.
Several comments were absolutely correct that I was not sensitive to the students whom I showed kneeling because they were late for prep. The photos have been removed. However, it is unnecessary to threaten me to achieve your aim - asking for reconsideration is all that was needed. Thank you.
I commend you for removing those pictures. You have shown yourself to be a true American trooper. The internet has truly democratised the dissemination of information. You have the right to publish what you so please and I have the right to make any comment that I so please. Hopefully in the final analysis, we will all learn from each other. We should be circumspect in our quest to report on other cultures, particularly cultures that have been historically maligned.
Post a Comment