February 11

Well, I thought I would make it back to town this weekend but it didn't work out. I decided to try to go up on Saturday morning to meet the other PCVs for a few hours but I couldn't get a ride. I started asking around Friday night and went out around 7am Saturday morning but I couldn't get a hike. The combie (van) that normally goes to town didn't because there was no one else that wanted to go. Oh well, thats the way things go.

Instead of spending the day on the road and in town I have been relaxing, reading and watching the TU victory in the Liberty Bowl. I got to read the media cover to cover first which was wonderful, then I watched a truly phenomenal college football game. You can't deny that Smith is a big time quarterback and the combination of Adams and Tennial is going to be amazing next year. I especially enjoyed the label on the cassette, TU 31 - Felony State 24. A little part of you has to feel bad for Pinegar ending a great career with 4 straight losses and about a dozen interceptions, but seriously now, its Fresno.

For those of you who didn't hear, Egypt beat Ivory Coast last night to win their 5th Africa Nations Cup. The story of the game was the uncanny ability of Drogba to not score for Ivory Coast. The Chelsea striker had a point blank opportunity in the second half as well as a few other chances, and he his penalty kick was saved. I watched the soccer match instead of showing a video for the kids, they were a little perturbed but they'll get over it. Spending leisure time with other teachers has been helping me get more information about what is going on around here and getting to know the male teachers better via soccer.

The real excitement last night though didn't happen until after the soccer match. I was walking through the school with two other teachers at around 9:15 when we came across 6 of the kids who were out of the hostel after the doors are locked at 9pm. 3 boys and 3 girls not in their respective blocks after hours so we spent the next two hours getting written statements from them about what happened and making arrangments to call their parents today. I of course just observed all of these proceedings happening in Otjiherero, but it was interesting nonetheless. I don't think much will actually happen to any of these for one offense, but they could pretty easily be kicked out of the hostel which would basically force them to find another school to go to. It was a pretty big deal.

So, I feel like I've written a lot of straight information about what I've been doing but it has all been very rushed. In a way the form of my writing has said more than the content. There is definitely a feeling of 'hit the ground running' with my teaching and activities. Yet, at the same time all wisdom says don't rock the boat, at the beginning at least. Somehow I've been trying to do everything from the beginning while I assess the situation here and try to figure out what I'm aiming for over the course of my whole assignment. The 2006 posting of teachers' duties includes all of the new teachers but it still has the old PCV instead of my name. That is how I feel right now, I'm just trying to do what he did, maintain order and consistency for now and then weave in my own ideas as we go. There is a feeling of urgency about the academic performance of the school though. One month is gone, and the entire syllabus must be completed for the grade 10 in the first two terms. They reserve the first month of the third term to review for the exams then the grade 10 does all of their testing in September and October. Last year 21% of the grade 10 learners at Coblenz passed their exams compared to almost 50% nationally. I won't even talk about how I feel about the low standards for passing, that is a whole nother rant. Statistics can be manipulated but that fact is that a higher percentage of people in this area are infected with HIV than pass the grade 10 exams. The disturbing thing is that everyone knows both of these are a problem and they know ways to fix the problem but nothing seems to happen. This week a regional administrator visited the school to talk with the grade 10 teachers and learners. The positive thing is that they are working to implement some more controls at the regional level and test the kids some before the big test, but even then the feedback he had for the school was that he was impressed how the kids were in uniform and behaved well (while they were with a visitor, the principal and 8 teachers). But really, when 4 of 5 kids don't pass, that is a serious problem. It sounds terrible and maybe I am more heartless than I thought, but I am quietly advocating a triage approach. Two out of five don't have a chance of passing, they have been automatically promoted through the lower grades per the government policy and are too far behind to catch them up in 6 months. One of five can pass with normal classwork but the other two, the middle two have a chance. They won't pass by much and they won't get into a good school for grade 11 but at least they can pass. One sentence on the rant, passing means 6 Ds out of 9 subjects when a D is a 50%. Even if no one can do math, surely than can pass English (they have to pass English), Otjiherero, Agriculture, History, Geography, and then something between Physical Science, Life Science and Business Management.

Admittedly, the situation looks bad, but it won't take much to improve. Last year we dropped 81 places relative to other schools in Namibia, we're pretty close to rock bottom now. You can tell that I'm optimistic despite the numbers. With about 50 kids in grade 10 right now I refuse to believe that there are only 10 smart enough to pass 6 of 9 subjects. The challenge is to focus on what we have to work with and forget that the deck is stacked against us. None of the classes have enough desks and chairs for everyone to sit. The kids barely have any paper to write on. Lab equipment is a luxury and no one seems to know where the grade 9 physical science textbooks are. Even then, when I told the kids I could inflate a balloon without blowing more air into it they were engaged, I could see it in their eyes. They still don't really understand pressure, they couldn't do any calculations with pressure and I wasn't able to demonstrate that you actually can inflate a balloon without blowing more air into it, but we made some progress.