July 30

Today we met with Geraldine Goldblatt, the local director for this region of the Cape's curriculum. She organized school tours for us at four different schools, each one with different problems and blessings. I went to Oude Molen, the Old Mill, which is a technical high school that specializes in engineering. There were very few girls at the school and most of the students were Cape Coloured. The principal said there were problems with white flight because the school was originally established as a white technical school, one that taught shop and wood working skills.

The principal met us with tea in the boardroom and a 20-30 minute introduction about the school. He was very proud of his relationship with an area insurance agency that has increased the funding for astro turf on their sports field as well as other benefits. He said that his school accepts 18o students out of the 400-500 applicants every year. Students pay over R8,000 to go to school, about $1,200, plus have to buy uniforms and supplies. They haven't had to turn down a student because of lack of fees and have programs that help support those who can't pay, but there are still only a limited number of spaces. He had some interesting things to say about education, including that American schools suck and we only do well because we give green cards and Asians and Indians come to MIT and such to study. It's an interesting perspective.

I sat in on two lessons. In the first class, Brigitt, a very kind English department head had about 30 11 grade students. What struck me the most is how much her students were just like mine. They had been working on an argumentative essay and she was intending to collect it and go over it, but of course, since she'd been gone three days with the flu most didn't have it done. So, she did what all good teachers do, adjusted. She pulled out a poetry project she had been preparing. In the project guidelines, 3-4 students were asked to create a power point or poster presentation that explicated a poem. They were suppose to provide background, teach the poem to the class and lead discussion on it, then have a quiz about it. She originally presented it as a single student project, but because the directions (not rewritten) said group work, it didn't take the boys long to cajole her into making it a group project, but she gave the same dire warnings I always give, that one or two students shouldn't end up doing the majority of the work. She told them to come up with a plan of responsibilities by next Monday. I asked her if the students had access to a computer lab to do the power point, but she said that although there was a computer lab it was used mostly by the math department and hard to use. Oh, and she had a smart board, by the way! She used it too. I didn't get a chance to ask her about how much training she had on it.

I visited Oude Molen and met Sandy and Brigitte, both English teachers, grade 9 and 11. Thandokhoulu, Pinelands High, Siyabuela Middle School. What things should I make sure to include in lessons about SA? That we don’t have wild animals walking down the streets, that we are diverse, that you must be careful here. They wanted to know if America is really violent, whether we wore uniforms, if I could speak Afrikaans, if I knew Eminem, no substitute program, smart boards, power points, but with poorly organized power points. Math department takes the computer lab. Principal said the American school sucks and our universities are only good because we take green cards. Our best schools, like MIT are filled with Asians and Indians. Very few white students, white flight from school.

Thandokhoulu was an abandoned elementary school that was abandoned because of lead in the building and the Kaylisha township came to take it in 1992 to use as a squatter school. The police seized the school and tried to defend it from the township residents and didn’t want to permit them to use it. Gaping holes in the school floors. 90-95% of the senior students are sexually active.

Pinelands, graphing and cad teacher showed them around. School assembly. 800 students sitting on the floor quietly. Judith Barren, integration and renovation. Rainbow camp. With a blind fold and no speaking, they have to make something out of clay. Literal translation of the Xoisan greeting is, “I see you.” It’s an acknowledgment of them as a person, regardless of social status.

Siyabulela, language – lesson in Xhosa and then in Afrikaans and English. 44 kids, tables and chairs.