first of all i'm sorry for not posting in a while, i've been really busy for the past few days and nothing really new has gone on. i'll try to be better, but i'm going to kumasi for 4 days then cape coast for 3 starting tomorrow, so i'm not sure what my access to a computer will be. so, as i've said before, violence is generally accepted as a form of settling disputes between youths and as a form of disciplining children. the ghanaian adults are incredibly peaceful people, so clearly they loose this tendancy to hit somewhere in their teens. i've seen some really heated arguments but never once seen anyone come close to throwing a punch. the adults (not all, but i think most) feel that if they turned out alright after been punished in this way, than their children will turn out fine too.
in my classroom at glona there are two teachers: a german Jenni, and a ghanaian Rose. The german volunteers and the ghanaians have been fighting for some time over this issue of "beating" the children. Rose utlizes fear to discipline the children. every afternoon she begins the class by asking where her cane is (a switch from a tree). i've seen her slap arms and twist ears. her favorite form of punishment is to cover the children's head and faces with chalk dust and call them bonde (bond-eh, which means smelly thing in Ga). or she makes the children do them to each other so that she can say, i wasn't the one who did it. the only reason i've seen her do these things is because Jenni has been sick for the past few days. she wouldn't do this in front of Jenni because Jenni wouldn't allow her too. both Rose and Jenni are intimidating women.
i didn't know any of the background on this issue until jenni came and talked to me. i was so happy that she did because i'd been uncomfortable with her form of punishments and unsure of what to do. i'm new to the program and don't know what is accepted and what is not. plus i'm a little scared of Rose. now, after speaking with jenni, i know that i need to say something to rose to let her know that i'm not okay with her treating the chilren like that. i've seen first hand how much more comfortable they are with learning with jenni than rose. they try harder and are more willing to make mistakes.
how can they learn at school when they are in fear of beating? they all come from homes where they probably face this form of punishment all the time, as i've seen from speaking with one of hannah's aunties. or when they've spent all day working hard for their families? it is a difficult thing, teaching these children. i have many critiques of the program but obviously, because of my newness, not many solutions. i'm interested to see how the internship portion will turn out.
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by the way, rose is the only teacher i've heard at glona to punish the students in this way. the other kids from my program who volunteer there were horrified and shocked when i told them about rose. this is not the way all of glona is operated and they are fighting hard to make this type of punishment stop.
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