Education -- in the box

Our campus is right next door to Banyore Girls’ High School – a residential school housing nearly 1200 girls. Take a moment to hear and watch them in the video above......! You can’t not notice 1200 girls next door. We often hear them singing, and sometimes attend church with them. This is a bit awkward, because the only empty seats are those on the stage, so this is where we must sit whether we are participating in the service or not.

The sides that you can't see are equally full of girls!

After the service a few weeks ago several girls came up to talk to me. Two of them, Deborah and Leticia, began their conversation with me by asking, “How is your spiritual life?” Whoa – I haven’t been asked that in awhile! God was perhaps amused watching me sweat a little trying to grasp what was intended by the question, and also get over my gut reaction of “who are you to ask me that”. It finally occurred to me that, whatever the girls’ meaning, God might be trying to get my attention. I did indeed need to consider the state of my spiritual life. Nowhere is it easier than on the mission field to neglect a life with the Lord in favor of work for the Lord. We Westerners probably don’t ask each other that question often enough.

Back to Deborah and Leticia… they went on to ask me if I had any books they could read. I got the impression that they don’t own any books except their Bibles. I thought of our full bookshelves back home – books just sitting there, not being read by anyone. I asked the girls about the library at their school. They said it has “some books” (I will have to go check it out to see what this means), but that with so many girls, it’s hard to get them.

Leticia and Deborah

So this past week I searched for a book to give them. I found a thin book from the 70s, written for Christian teens, left here by a long-departed missionary. It is a book that I’m quite certain no American teenager would be interested in reading. Today I took this book to Deborah and Leticia, and they were thrilled. Oh for the ability to fill 1200 pairs of hands with edifying books. But, like all things Africa-related, it’s complicated. More on that in a future post!

Not long after the event above, there was a big day for the Banyore Girls’ School: the Prime Minister of Kenya came to dedicate their new dorm. The event was scheduled for 11:00. The Prime Minister arrived at 12:30. I was glad I had taken a book for the hour and a half of waiting. Around 10 VIPs of one sort or another gave speeches before the Prime Minister spoke, and all of the speeches of the day focused on the school’s high standing in the recent national exam.

As an educator, I became increasingly irritated with this emphasis on the national exam. You see, I’ve done a little investigation into education here. (Mind you, just a little so far. This is a “work-in-progress” report!) My curiosity was piqued as I taught the KIST students this past term and received essay after essay that all sounded the same. They all put together sentences in the same way, and spouted the same phrases and ideas. My urging to write about their own personal ideas and experiences was often met with uncomprehending looks. I got the distinct impression that you just don’t do that very much in Kenya.

I wanted to see what was producing such in-the-box thinking, and so I checked out the national exam. I found the English portion of last year’s exam online, and Rod and I both took the test. I don’t think either of us would have passed. Why? Because for so many of the questions more than one answer was possible. But in Kenyan schools they are taught that only ONE of the answers is possible. All others are wrong. There is no option to look at a situation from several different perspectives and conclude that more than one possibility exists.

So now let’s put all this together: 1) The national exam is the be-all and end-all of education here. 2) The national exam measures memorization of facts, and often not even real facts, as evidenced by my failure to pass the English portion of the exam. 3) There are very few books available (not to mention no access to internet for the majority) so the “facts” memorized in school are never challenged, and perspectives are not widened.

Result: existence inside a very small box.

Pray for me. I want to make a difference in education here, but it’s a catch 22: If I really improve education in a school or class, students will ironically likely do worse on the exams, and therefore no one will think that the education is better. Indeed, it will appear to be worse. If ever the wisdom of Solomon were needed, it is in education in Africa.

P.S. As some of you know, I am actually back in Indiana for a few weeks, teaching May term at AU and looking forward to Danna's graduation from Taylor in a couple of weeks! I had this blog ready to post several weeks ago, but the video wouldn't upload from Kenya. I hope it was worth the wait.