Monday morning could have gone better. My S4 stream has been essentially out of control as of late and I've been devising methods to simmer them down a bit so that we can actually focus. The problem is there are basically 130+ students crammed into this classroom. At that many students, any form of control is not achieved easily, if at all.
My latest strategy was to have the class captains and a few others write down the names of those students that were acting out in class. They delivered them to me last week and on Monday I read the list of names and quickly dismissed each student from my lesson for the day. This was done with the intention of silencing them in the future.
Shortly after I ended my lesson, the students who were excused became very angry at the class captains for writing down their names. The class captains of course denied writing the names and I did everything I could to try and persuade them that they were not the ones who had written the names and that they should not even be concerned with who wrote them. The excused students began picking up sticks and threatening to cane those that allegedly wrote the names.
Upon seeing this commotion, about four other teachers ran out of the staff room with large sticks in their hands. They asked each student that was on the list to lie down on their stomachs as they yelled at the entire class. Three or four teachers walked around with the sticks striking the students lying on the ground, all of them receiving multiple strokes and some receiving up to five or six and a couple crying in pain.
That morning deeply affected me. I'm used to seeing caning. But I knew that there were a couple really smart students on the ground. They also happened to be the ones crying. These students are smart but they also shout and act out in class. After the village justice session concluded, I personally went up to them and apologized for what had transpired. I let the students know that it wasn't my intention and I didn't think they deserved it. I guess I need to find a new method.
The conversation at lunch that day was certainly interesting. Apart from the usual diatribes about "these children" and "indisciplined students", the topic of circumcision arose. One of the teachers (a male) asked another teacher (a female), "What do you think about this thing, circumcision, because it's becoming quite common these days." The female responded that she had no point of reference and could not comment.
The costs and benefits, problems and opportunities of circumcision were then debated in great detail amongst the members of my school. They talked about the practice of circumcision reduces the likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS. One teacher mentioned that circumcision reduces the sensitivity of the penis and enables the man to increase his sexual stamina, thereby making him more likely to satisfy the woman during sex. The members agreed. Some members objected and said the man would not be able to be satisfied because of the reduced sensitivity and would thus communicate mixed, wrong, and hurtful message to the woman.
It was such an intense conversation about a very personal topic. I was a bit astonished while witnessing it develop. I kept trying to draw comparisons of a similar situation occurring in US high school teachers' staff room. I could not imagine. Ugandans are so open about certain topics but so reserved and timid about others. I don't really completely grasp it. I guess all cultures are like this. I tried to add to the conversation with little tidbits of information I had picked up along the way about the practice. They were well receieved. It was entertaining.
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