School time

Each morning, “Mom” (which we have taken to calling our housemother after she deemed us her daughters) took us to school. The 21 SRU students split up between the Coke’s View Primary School (grades 1 through 6), the Whithorn Early Childhood Insitution (ECI – age 3 through 5), the Water Works ECI, and the Galloway ECI.  I spent each day at Coke’s View working with Grade 5. Each morning started with devotion – the entire school (about 215 children) stood outside and recited the Jamaican national pledge, the national anthem, and read a passage from the bible.

Grade 5 was a unique and challenging experience. Their regular teacher is currently on maternity leave, and no substitute has been hired yet. For the past week and a half, one of the students’ mothers had supervised the group and the principal supervised when she was unavailable. Corey, Oliver, and I stayed with this group all week, and we had one or two people come in and out throughout the days.

After our first look at the class, we were stunned. The school itself is made of two separate buildings and the classrooms within it are separated by partitions that don’t reach to the ceiling.  So while listening to fifth grade math, you can also hear sixth grade geography and fourth grade social studies in the next two rooms. Similar to the rest of the classes, Grade 5 had 40 students.

The classrooms are broken up into two groups of students, those who perform better in school, and those who are struggling. Many of the SRU students were surprised by this method – especially as it seemed to create double the work for the teacher.

Day one in the school was wild. Grade 5 was considered the “bad” class, and as they had no permanent teacher currently, it made it even more difficult. We struggled to not only come up with enough material to teach to both the higher and lower performing students, but at the same time monitor which kids left for the bathroom, answer all the students yelling, “Teacher! Teacher!”, and break up arguments or fights that oftentimes ended in the kids punching each other. We were exhausted, overwhelmed, and confused.

The evening of day one we spent learning about the culture of Jamaica and debriefing on our days experiences. After each of the students had their fill in asking about everything from reggae to politics in Jamaica, the 22 of us sat down and talked about our days. Why are we here? What impact are we making? What are your personal goals for the program? – These were some of the many topics discussed. Once we hashed through how and why the education system is so different in the United States and in Jamaica, students started to get a handle on the issues that arise when there are limited resources for schools to work with. The results of this? Larger class size, fewer books, fewer supplies, less staff in the schools (no nurse, phys ed teacher, vice principle, etc..), and many other things. What impacts do these have on the performance rate in schools? What about the aspirations of kids who are pigeonholed as “slower” or “lower performing” – the questions kept flowing. Mr. Brown came in at the end of the discussion and reiterated many of the points we were discussing.

The SRU students left that evening feeling again reenergized, with renewed purpose and understanding of the larger picture. It’s not just about donating some pencils or helping a child with a math problem – its also about playing a game at recess, showing individualized attention, sharing stories about America and hearing many about Jamaica. It is about the long term exposure of the outside world in these small schools, and the impact that has on both the Americans that are visiting and the children they interact with.