Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id e8S9l4919430; Thu, 28 Sep 2000 05:47:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 05:47:04 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <39D3121D.8024F06D@cwcom.net> Errors-To: alcrsb@langate.gsu.edu Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Sue Taylor <m0199400@cwcom.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:1020] Re: A personal experience X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win95; I) Status: O Content-Length: 2957 Lines: 51 In our basic skills classes for 15 - 18 year old students who have mostly dropped out or have been expelled from school we are told by students that the reason for these young people abandoning their studies is due to: 1. teachers who could not control/contain their classes. "There is no point in turning up - all we do is mess around and it's boring" (Noshaba aged 17) 2. home problems (abuse, parents ill or dead, etc.- we have college counsellors to offer support) 3. teachers show pupils a lack of respect, are sarcastic and so on. We hear far too much about teachers letting students 'play around' in class, yet any teacher worth their salt knows that students who are struggling play up because they want to avoid working on their problem areas. Too often students complain to us about what I call 'busy work', the over use of worksheets and similar activities that appears from my classroom observations to be more about classroom control than facilitating learning. Children are not fools - they know what their teachers are doing and resent being contained in this way. Regarding 3 above, we have been repeatedly told of teachers insulting pupils, embarrassing them in front of their peers, revealing inadequacies and short comings publicly, etc. Young South Asian women tell us that if they do not fit the stereotype of 'being quite submissive Asian girls' some teachers pick them out for special attention, "what would your mother say if she heard you speak like that?" (Noshaba aged 17). Similar comments appear not to be made to non Asian pupils. >From the outset we reassure students that we are not teachers, which they associate with school, but lecturers - this really seems to make a difference. Unlike school, attendance in the college is not compulsory so we can bargain with them - they don't have to be on the course and we don't have to take them. This works exceptionally well and students do not feel as trapped as they did at school because they are here by choice. Raising self-esteem is our primary aim, but students are clever enough to know when praise is false or work is set artificially low so that they can get a good mark. However we do draw professional boundaries between supporting students educationally and wanting to help them with outside problems which we are not trained to work with. Many of our young people are fed up with social workers, care workers and teachers interfering in their lives and making decisions which affect them 'over their heads'. For young women with South Asian backgrounds in particular there is a great resentment to non-asians asking prying questions and this need for privacy needs to be respected. They often say at first they do not want us to be friends - they want us to teach them how to read "so they can get a job" - but somehow the friendships develop anyway and they often stay in touch with us long after leaving the course. It's a great job!!! Sue London, UK.
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