School's Out
Jeez. Well the school year is finally done (basically). All the students have taken their end of year exams, and this week the students wait for the teachers to calculate their grades for the year (both first and second semester since the strikes which occupied nearly all of the second semester also kept them from giving the students their first half marks… rrrr…). This is pretty big time for all of them. Their marks will determine in affect whether they’ll be told not to come back, be forced to redouble, or continue merrily along. Of course I’m fairly sure there tends to be some wiggle room for those better connected students… but I digress.
But the students while a bit on the nervous side also seem relieved to be done with a school year that was historically dysfunctional. I’ve mentioned it before but it merits repeating that the second semester lost approximately 75% of school days to teacher striking. And that sentiment of relief that the year is over is certainly shared not just by the kids but by the teachers and administration as well. It seems everyone would just as soon sweep this year under the rug and get on with it next year. Of course what that does to those students who were really hoping or really needed to make progress this year is not difficult to guess.
However, one exception to that suspicion is the wonderful Ms. Seylouba. She is the young 13-year-old girl I’ve been keeping track of who came this year to the Matameye College from one of the small surrounding villages. I was VERY nervous for her. If she has to redouble, the money that has come to help support her gets cut off. Her French is pretty weak (even in comparison to the across the board low-level of sixieme, first year, students). But she’s worked really hard this year. I shouldn’t jinx her just yet, but as I’m writing this, I’ve already heard that at least for the first semester she was ranked 7th in her class of 61! (And yes, that is just one classroom packed with over 60 students, without desks, without chairs, sitting on the sand in a small shade hangar… next year the desks will finally arrive). So, risking premature celebration, congratulations goes out to Seylouba and an emphatic “sannu da cokary” (greetings/congratulations on your effort). I’m really proud of her. She’s the one standing by herself with the blue outfit and green head wrap.
Of course the candidates… those finishing troisieme and those in terminal level of lycee aren’t yet finished. They’ve got their big exams coming up which determine, basically the future of their life, so they have a stressful few weeks coming up on them. I’m trying to help some of them prepare for the English section, but high school kids can be flakey and it’s been tough to track people down.
I passed yesterday watching their Phys Ed finals which I learned upon arrival is really just everyone coming to school all decked out in their favorite outfits (as opposed to the school uniforms they normally are forced to wear) and getting their hair done for a day of sport spectating and hanging out with friends. It was a pretty fun time. Check out Nouria sporting the shades sitting in the front. Heh heh. I love them. That’s basically a group of my soccer players with a couple others mixed in.
What was more fun though was being invited to the fete scolaire for the primaire class last saturday and getting to hang out with a bunch of them for an afternoon of playing cards, shooting the breeze, and a little dancing. They’re really really good kids. Really really smart, would certainly all be going to good colleges if they were in the U.S. They’re all around 20-21 years-old and hoping to pass the BAC next year (the end of lycee exam which determines University, there’s only one in Niger, or professional school entrance). One of my favorite parts of being here has been getting to chat with the students. I feel like I’m in a pretty unique position, just 25 and truly closer to the age of most of the students than to the teachers or other people in town who I tend to work with. So I sort of straddle the difference between being a punk kid and being a punk teacher. Anyways the point really was just that these kids are cool.
The moment that stuck out for me was seeing the girls all show up wearing their complets and later on in the afternoon deciding it was time to dance and switching into their “American” clothes. They looked gorgeous in both, but we had a really interesting conversation about conservatism in the towns. They consider Matameye to be the “bush”. And in some ways, such as its conservatism, it might be closer to the bush than to the cities. There’s a lot of variation across the country, the difference between Niamey and the real rural bush of parts of Niger is probably something like the difference between the Castro District in San Francisco versus rural Mississippi (fine, I’m exaggerating, and I don’t actually know the first thing about rural Mississippi, but the point is that it’s a big difference). They really do love “American” culture, and they were all really curious to know what people would think of them if they showed up wearing their outfits in the U.S. to which I responded that people would think they were really hot. I try to be honest. Anyways… So you can see the pictures of them in pre/post costume change.
And finally, its bizarrely and suddenly vacation time. Many kids leave town to go spend the holidays with other family members. I also am realizing that some kids parents may be affectated (if they have government jobs they can be told to pack up and shift posts with very little notice) and may not be back. For students taking exams, if they pass, they may leave as well. So it’s a bit of an odd time. I run the risk of losing a couple of my good friends, but for the most part everyone will be back at the end of vacation… So, that’s it for now, a bit of a ramble but… Hey its my blog and I’ll ramble if I want to.
Its vacation soon for me as well. And in a thick stew of nerves and excitement I’ll soon be arriving in a NYC airport near you, for a brief lap of the north east. It’ll be rushed and crazy but it’ll be great to see as many of you as possible. I apologize in advance if I’m exhausted, culture-shocked, and stressed out.
But the students while a bit on the nervous side also seem relieved to be done with a school year that was historically dysfunctional. I’ve mentioned it before but it merits repeating that the second semester lost approximately 75% of school days to teacher striking. And that sentiment of relief that the year is over is certainly shared not just by the kids but by the teachers and administration as well. It seems everyone would just as soon sweep this year under the rug and get on with it next year. Of course what that does to those students who were really hoping or really needed to make progress this year is not difficult to guess.
However, one exception to that suspicion is the wonderful Ms. Seylouba. She is the young 13-year-old girl I’ve been keeping track of who came this year to the Matameye College from one of the small surrounding villages. I was VERY nervous for her. If she has to redouble, the money that has come to help support her gets cut off. Her French is pretty weak (even in comparison to the across the board low-level of sixieme, first year, students). But she’s worked really hard this year. I shouldn’t jinx her just yet, but as I’m writing this, I’ve already heard that at least for the first semester she was ranked 7th in her class of 61! (And yes, that is just one classroom packed with over 60 students, without desks, without chairs, sitting on the sand in a small shade hangar… next year the desks will finally arrive). So, risking premature celebration, congratulations goes out to Seylouba and an emphatic “sannu da cokary” (greetings/congratulations on your effort). I’m really proud of her. She’s the one standing by herself with the blue outfit and green head wrap.
Of course the candidates… those finishing troisieme and those in terminal level of lycee aren’t yet finished. They’ve got their big exams coming up which determine, basically the future of their life, so they have a stressful few weeks coming up on them. I’m trying to help some of them prepare for the English section, but high school kids can be flakey and it’s been tough to track people down.
I passed yesterday watching their Phys Ed finals which I learned upon arrival is really just everyone coming to school all decked out in their favorite outfits (as opposed to the school uniforms they normally are forced to wear) and getting their hair done for a day of sport spectating and hanging out with friends. It was a pretty fun time. Check out Nouria sporting the shades sitting in the front. Heh heh. I love them. That’s basically a group of my soccer players with a couple others mixed in.
What was more fun though was being invited to the fete scolaire for the primaire class last saturday and getting to hang out with a bunch of them for an afternoon of playing cards, shooting the breeze, and a little dancing. They’re really really good kids. Really really smart, would certainly all be going to good colleges if they were in the U.S. They’re all around 20-21 years-old and hoping to pass the BAC next year (the end of lycee exam which determines University, there’s only one in Niger, or professional school entrance). One of my favorite parts of being here has been getting to chat with the students. I feel like I’m in a pretty unique position, just 25 and truly closer to the age of most of the students than to the teachers or other people in town who I tend to work with. So I sort of straddle the difference between being a punk kid and being a punk teacher. Anyways the point really was just that these kids are cool.
The moment that stuck out for me was seeing the girls all show up wearing their complets and later on in the afternoon deciding it was time to dance and switching into their “American” clothes. They looked gorgeous in both, but we had a really interesting conversation about conservatism in the towns. They consider Matameye to be the “bush”. And in some ways, such as its conservatism, it might be closer to the bush than to the cities. There’s a lot of variation across the country, the difference between Niamey and the real rural bush of parts of Niger is probably something like the difference between the Castro District in San Francisco versus rural Mississippi (fine, I’m exaggerating, and I don’t actually know the first thing about rural Mississippi, but the point is that it’s a big difference). They really do love “American” culture, and they were all really curious to know what people would think of them if they showed up wearing their outfits in the U.S. to which I responded that people would think they were really hot. I try to be honest. Anyways… So you can see the pictures of them in pre/post costume change.
And finally, its bizarrely and suddenly vacation time. Many kids leave town to go spend the holidays with other family members. I also am realizing that some kids parents may be affectated (if they have government jobs they can be told to pack up and shift posts with very little notice) and may not be back. For students taking exams, if they pass, they may leave as well. So it’s a bit of an odd time. I run the risk of losing a couple of my good friends, but for the most part everyone will be back at the end of vacation… So, that’s it for now, a bit of a ramble but… Hey its my blog and I’ll ramble if I want to.
Its vacation soon for me as well. And in a thick stew of nerves and excitement I’ll soon be arriving in a NYC airport near you, for a brief lap of the north east. It’ll be rushed and crazy but it’ll be great to see as many of you as possible. I apologize in advance if I’m exhausted, culture-shocked, and stressed out.
posted by This Guy at
3:40 PM
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