School Has Begun!

Obama Popcorn Man

Classes have begun! Well, sort of. The results (grades) from last term were finally posted. This enabled the students to see if they passed their courses, so that they could register for their new ones.  Of course there is the small matter of paying one’s yearly fee before being allowed to register (somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500,000 leones - a little over $200).  Then, and only then, is the class time table (schedule) made out. But, that turns out is only the beginning.  Faculty routinely reschedule their courses for more convenience and the students try to do likewise.  It's an iterative process that takes about two weeks to achieve steady state.   Additionally, it is a minor mystery where each class is taught.  The best advice from one of Ann’s colleagues, “Just wait here in the English office, a student from your class will come and tell you where the class is meeting.”  Yes, sometimes it seems that the students know more about the whole operation than the administrators and faculty.  I guess that is not so unusual when I think about it.

The first and second year students have a hefty schedule.  For the most part, they are in class from about 8:30-4:30 every day and have 10-12 different courses each week. The freshman nursing students have these classes this term: psychiatry, psychology, anatomy & physiology, medical nursing, surgical nursing, pediatric nursing, microbiology, first aid, pharmacology, nutrition, public health, medical math and English grammar.  How  can anyone can keep that many classes straight? End of term exams are 70% of the grade.  The failure rate is high.

Currently I have a heavy teaching load: a second-year calculus class with two students and a trig class with one student.  I also am sharing with another faculty member a student in third-year calculus. Next week I will begin teaching numerical methods for the engineering department, a second year course with seven students. I had no idea that this course was on my schedule until a student from the class, Patrick, came to my house looking for the lecturer of his class.  The other six students just went home when I did not show up at the scheduled time. If some first-year engineering students ever register, I will teach another applied math course to them.     Ann has had more success, landing five classes with nine contact hours a week.  She has a total of 240 students. I guess she is helping to balance out my paltry 11.

Patrick is an interesting story.  He is an older student.  One day he told his father that he was going to Freetown to learn the trade of automobile mechanic.  There, he worked for a private business for two years.  Finding that the pay was not rewarding enough, he decided to go for the higher national diploma.  He says that even if he only knew how to fix a flat tire, with the HND in hand, he would be paid "beaucoup" money.   I guess a degree is really worth something.  I told him that I didn’t think learning how to solve differential equations numerically was going to help him adjust a carburetor, but I am happy to have him as captain of the class.

The term started on October 17^th, two weeks late though students are still registering.  It will definitely end December 17^th.  That gives us two months to get done whatever needs to get done.  Finding out that out is one of the many challenges for a new teacher at our institution.  With no course catalog, detailed syllabi, or course textbooks, the lecturer has a lot of leeway in what goes into the course.  Talk about academic freedom.  Actually, I am having a bit of fun designing my own calculus course without the burden of a textbook.  Before coming over to Salone, I did a little bit of research on alternative math instruction methods.  One middle school math teacher in Oklahoma recognized as one of the top 50 teachers in the nation essentially ignored the school distributed textbooks and had her students each construct their own throughout the year.  That seemed like a fairly good strategy to employ here, so that is what I am doing. 

The classrooms have only blackboards and they're not great.  I was given a box of colored chalk, some laundry soap (I guess for cleaning my chalk covered pants) and a roll of toilet paper for supplies. Paper is yet to come.  I won’t be able to stroll over to the departmental supply cabinet to replenish because there isn't one.  Printing documents from an electronic source or photocopying takes an act of Congress.  Since I have so few students the lack of photocopying services does not have a great impact on my teaching.  Ann must worry more about getting readings into the hands of her students.  She gives a copy of the handout to the captain of the class who is responsible for making it available to fellow students to copy. Copying means an extra cost for the students, so handouts are given sparingly. Theoretically this should be done several days before the class is taught.  Lots of planning.

The students here are extremely polite and friendly.  No need to erase the board yourself at the beginning of class, a student will do that for you without even being asked.  I have noticed that when we walk to class, the students don’t like to stay even with me, but will fall behind.  The dress code strictly prohibits round neck T-shirts; collared shirts are required. Shorts or short skirts are strictly forbidden.  The nursing students wear uniforms, some in blue, others in pink pinstripes.  Many of the blue uniformed ones wear tiny non-functional white hats pinned to their hair.  Smoking by students is banned from all public rooms.  Consumption of alcoholic beverages is also prohibited of students.  Fortunately, the bar on campus that my good friend Henry runs is open to faculty members and staff from 2:00 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Ann and I don’t have offices yet, another act of Congress.  I meet my single students on the veranda of our house, pen and a composition book serving as chalk and board - saves me from getting chalk dust all over my clothes.  It is a relaxing way to spend an hour.  My numerical methods class is taught in a big lab space in the electrical engineering building.  There is a long blackboard in front, plenty of room for lots of equations.  I am happy that the class meets early in the morning as about noon the sun heats up the tin roof to an uncomfortable level. 

My office might be in the new science building now under construction.

The one story engineering buildings (automotive, electrical, carpentry, plumbing) were built in the sixties.  Each day when Ann walks to the English office to sign in as required, she passes a plaque that reads,"This administrative building and two laboratories were built and equipped from funds provided by the people of the United States of America under the late President John Kennedy's aid schedule."   Back in the sixties the school was a government technical institute.   In 2001 the technical institute was officially merged with a teacher’s college that traces its history back to a Methodist mission in 1924. Its buildings were taken over by RUF rebels in 1991 forcing the teacher’s college to relocate to the government technical institute.  The school is very much geared toward vocation: carpenters, plumbers, automobile mechanics, engineers, nurses, accountants, computer technicians, and….. teachers united!

Eggheads

Okada (motorcycle taxis) roaring down Combema Road.