formal party with speeches and performances from the teachers and
students. Forrest and I were scheduled to play music throughout the
ceremony. Well Forrest left Thursday night to go party in Maputo and
said he would be back for the party, yeah right. So to no surprise
Forrest doesn�t make it back Saturday. Anyways I had a joke, poem, and
about 6 songs I was ready to rock. They told us the party was starting
at 4pm, so that usually means about 6pm. But on this day 4pm meant
about 10pm. It was crazy we were waiting around for the Mayor, who
lives across the street, to show up for about four hours. By the time
the ceremony started everyone was so hungry and tired that people were
not really paying attention or even caring about what the presenters
had to say. The ceremony was rushed and we ended up eating cold food.
It was still really good though. I felt bad for the people who worked
all day to prepare all the food and everything, then we just had to
sit around and watch the food collect bugs and get cold. I ended up
just playing one song, WHAT I GOT by Sublime.
Barry, actually school here is not free. It is very cheap but steal
some families have trouble sending their children to school, for a
number of reasons. But life is different out here, school attendance
is better in the cities.
This leads perfectly into something I probably mentioned before but
was thinking the other day. It is just a vicious cycle of cheating.
Students learn that to pass they have to cheat or pay money. Then
there are all these students in high school without the skills to
learn and do the work. So how will they pass? Cheat or pay for the
grade. Cheating is the most commonly practiced study skill, and the
only study skill for some students. Even the bright students cheat a
lot. The teachers know they cheat also. The teachers probably cheated
too when they were in school. Some teachers even will do work and give
answers for money.
I have my students writing me reports on a problem in Mozambique. They
have to identify, explain why, give results, and offer a solution to
their problem. It is very difficult for many of them to develop their
own ideas. But it is good practice for them and I am also learning a
lot of about Mozambique from this assignment. Many students are
writing about corruption. And the common reason for corruption is
because people to not make enough money at work to provide for their
families. The real problem is people do not have enough money to
provide for their families. That is the small scale corruption done by
the police and education systems. Then there is the big scale
corruption from the corporations and rich and powerful people. Even
though Mozambique gets a stupid amount of money from foreign aid, most
of you would be very upset if you knew how much of your tax dollars
were used on HIV and AIDS programs that are arguably useless, the
money disappears and employees end up not getting paid or
organizations are without supplies. Forrest and I were talking about
how Mozambique started off as a socialist country, which is great for
poor people. And now has evolved into a capitalist country, which is
not so great for poor people. There are plenty of rich people here
making a lot money and living these crazy lives. Unlike the US (or
maybe like the US depending on your opinion, but a lot worse), the
people suffering from poverty here have very little to no chance to
improve their lives. It just sucks to know that this country receives
and has money. And the development of things people need to live like
water and food are lacking. Or things that people should have access
to like education.
Back to my assignment, many of the students also agree that the
solution to their problem is education. I couldn�t agree more! Change
takes time and when talking to random Mozambicans they realize these
problems and want things to improve.
Last Friday one of my students came over to use my computer, to cheat
on his math assignment. Then I caught him trying to steal my final
test off my computer. This is one of my best students too. He doesn�t
speak that well but he does all the homework and always comes to
class. I�m thinking about giving him a zero for this term and because
he had high grades in the last two terms he will still pass the class.
Or should I just give him a zero for the test? It was a pretty bold
move of him to try and steal my test especially when I�m helping and
allowing him to use my computer.
I just want the students to learn things that will help them in life.
Maybe there are even things to learn from cheating? To steal a
military principle of mission accomplishment. They might not be
learning the material but aren�t they at least learning how to get
stuff done? That is probably a more important skill for the work place
anyways. If your boss gives you a task is there such thing as cheating
as long as you get it done? I don�t really care that they cheat,
because I feel that is what they have learned in school, as long as
they are being responsible, coming to class, and doing the work. I
feel they are learning how to accomplish tasks at least. Of course I
try to find ways to prevent them from cheating, and a lot of my
students quit trying to cheat in English. But stealing from my
computer is breaking the trust I give. What do you all think? How many
of you would have tried to steal the test when you were in high
school? This students wants to go to college next year so giving him a
zero might make it harder for him.
I read THE GRAND DESIGN last weekend, it is a physics book by Stephan
Hawking (the guy in the chair that talks through a computer). If you
like physics or science it is really good. Some ideas are crazy to
grasp but after reading them a few times you can almost understand
them a little bit, haha. But it gives the history of theories from all
the great physicists like Newton, Einstein, and Galileo. It is amazing
how these people discovered the things they did when they did. But the
book explains the current theories that best describe how the universe
works and was created. It gives many new perspectives of the world.
These two students that work at the prison missed a month of school so
they were explaining to Forrest why they were gone. So apparently a
prisoner/s escaped and they had to go track him down in Maputo. And if
they didn�t find him then they would have had to take his place in
prison. I don�t know if I believe this, but another student said that
it was true. Haha, what a wild reason to miss a month of school
tracking down a prison break so you don�t take their place in prison.
Summer is coming, and I am already missing winter. It is humid and
muggy. I feel nasty all day and am getting pimples on my back and
chest. The bugs are increasing and the nights are getting warmer. I
would trade back that hour or two of day light for the dry and cooler
conditions and water problems.
Ok I think that is about it. Any questions? Peace love and do good things
Jimmy
