I should have posted more since Friday, but c’est la vie. One quick word before I go to bed and wake up at 5am to go running with Danielle (why did I agree to this!?). Robby and I are tutoring the one of the classes at Masianokeng (side note: the grades are called Forms, and they range from Form A, the youngest, to Form E, the oldest. The entire form is divided into three classes, called Form A1 or D2, etc. Robby and I will be tutoring Form E2) in preparation for their exams that start next week. Since we’re tutoring Form E, and it’s the end of the year, and its math, I think the teachers at Masianokeng are pulling out the big guns to really see what we have. Honestly, I’m not sure that I’m up to the challenge, but I really don’t have a choice, right? These kids need me to help them understand this stuff, or else they fail.
Sidenote: In Lesotho, it’s not called math, it’s called maths. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s kind of funny.
So, here I am, dutiful teacher, going over the topics they asked me to cover. Probability, Statistics, Matrices, and Transformations. Without fail, the last four chapters of the book. I’ve made it about halfway through the statistics chapter, and I’m stopping for the night. I’ve learned all this before, albeit a few years ago, and it’s still taking me at least an hour per chapter. There is no way I can go over four chapters of material in an hour and a half. We’ll try to tackle the first two chapters, maybe that is a more realistic review goal.
But that’s not my gripe right now. My gripe is about the fact that I’m trying to re-teach myself pretty useless math skills so that I can teach them to Basotho students tomorrow morning, who will go on to be tested on them during some standardized test. If these students pass said standardized test which tests useless math skills, hooray! These students have passed high school. But they still don’t have the skills to make them successful
The only use for these mundane math topics is to prove one’s intelligence to get into college. And I’m being painfully practical here, but nearly all of the students who attend Masianokeng High School will not go to college. In light of that dismal but real fact, why aren’t I teaching these students things they will need to know? I also had to relearn the concept of depreciation before I taught it to a Form D class, but at least the ability to calculate depreciation MIGHT come in handy some time in their life. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how matrices will be useful to these student. I graduated from one of the finest universities in the world and I’ve never used matrices. Granted, basic probability and statistics is infinitely useful, but these chapters cover much more extensively than the basics. Regardless, it’s frustrating to see the inefficiencies of the education system here. These students are sacrificing everything to get an education. Why does it have to be a useless education? I could spend all this time teaching them things that will make a difference in their lives, and instead I have to teach to the test and review math concepts that will do nothing to improve their lives.
Thanks for listening. Wish me luck tomorrow.