Small Frustrations

Returning back to school after the whirlwind of travelling has not been without its small frustrations. The children did their annual exams while I was away, and I have come back to my teaching with several issues.

Firstly the results themselves were far from amazing. On looking through their books, I found out that their class teacher had not done a single English lesson with them after I left the school; so they had no guided revision towards their exam, and have gone without a single English lesson for over a month.

Secondly, the mark scheme for the examinations never arrived; so the teachers took it upon themselves to mark the papers. Looking through them, I saw that where some of my pupils had given the correct answer to a question they had been marked down- because the teacher marking had such a poor grasp of English they couldn't guess the right answers for themselves. Burning with righteous indignation on behalf of my kids, I took all the papers home and remarked them. Then discovered that the marking teacher also had no conception of how to work out a percentage, so had skewed all the marks completely out of proportion.

It makes me angry because my pupils are so damn intelligent. I'm not exaggerating; almost every pupil in my class is far, far more smart than I ever was at their age. All of them are capable, incredibly eager and unbelievably willing to learn, and if they could benefit from the education I was lucky enough to receive, they could all be bloody rocket scientists. They could discover the cure for cancer. They would be the ones to finally discover and eco-friendly, cheap, accessible and renewable source of energy. And there they are, fighting to be heard in a room of over a hundred children aged from six to fifteen, with nothing more than a pencil and paper to help them along. Meanwhile, the other teachers sit outside, showing absolutely no interest in what is going on with the education of these children, and ignoring the melee which normally ensues on in the church. Every day children from the other classes come pouring in to my section of blackboards, asking if they can join in with my classes, and I have to tell them no, because I don't have the space and resources to accomodate them all.

It makes me wish I could do something more. It seems so unfair that someone like me- reasonably intelligent but nothing really special- got so much opportunity while growing up, while the children in my school are so utterly limited. They deserve everything I had and more, and I have absolutely no way of giving it to them. All I can do is work with them as much as I can over the next six weeks, and hope I can leave something behind with them after I'm gone.

Life can sometimes be incredibly unfair.