This week I am one of two teachers on duty. As a teacher on duty, my responsibilities are broadly to be in charge of discipline in the school for the week. Practically, what it means is that I have to get to school at least two hours earlier than I normally do. So I'm very tired.

The school day begins sometime before 6:30 when the students are supposed to report to clean the school. They sweep the classrooms and the campus and pick up litter. There are certain students, called prefects, who are there to organize and ensure that the work gets done. The masters on duty are there to supervise and enforce discipline, if necessary.

Masters on duty also help with other disciplinary issues. For example, one teacher punished a class for misbehaving. The punishment was that they had to weed the school field, which is standard. So as the higher disciplinary authority in the school for the week, I had to accompany this teacher to the field as he assigned each student a particular plot of land to weed. I also have to walk around the campus after breaks and ensure that students are going back to class.

According to the other master on duty who has also taught at other schools, behavior at this school is poor. The accepted response among faculty is to punish, usually with physical labor (weeding, cutting down a tree) or caning, both often preceded by threats of punishment, as in, "I will punish you!" Because discipline has not improved, I tell the teachers that it's obvious that these physical punishments are not working. But they don't seem to know anything else. Punish. Punish. Punish. The school generally lacks systems. In some ways it's a big free-for-all. Me and my western notions of accountability and order are somewhat foreign here, and have been greeted with comments like, "the African child only responds to the cane."

This is also probably the first week that I'm really fed up with the school. Students are not showing up for class, and I'm starting to crack down. Enforcing discipline is no fun, and I've had too much of it this week. But I'm still thankful for the fact that I'm not sitting in some stuffy high-rise office working for some ineffective, overpaid, self-important boss.

Addendum #1: March Madness! Woooo!!! Go State!

Addendum #2: Somehow, another term is over. Two weeks of exams and then it's official, but because my classes seem to rarely meet, I am only giving one exam for the year at the end of next term.

¶ 3:58 PM