Friday, July 11, 2014

Éliminer!

Yesterday we went up to Reiser Heights, a school that Reiser Relief continues to support. We had planned on giving them an American style carnival experience, but they surprised us with a full-fledged variety show including singing, acting, dancing, and even a spelling bee! It was incredible to watch!!

The spelling bee highlighted the fact that Haitians have a different style to teaching than we are used to. When one of the little girls misspelled a word (or didn't spell it with French pronunciation), the head teacher immediately yelled out "Éliminer!!!!" with a VERY loud sound system, and directs the student to get to the back of the line.

Of course we felt sorry for the poor students (some of whom looked like they wanted to cry), and we shuddered at the corporal response from the head teacher. But then after contemplation I realized that the only reason I had a negative response is because it was different than I was used to. When you go to a place like Haiti that has such a different culture, it's best to leave all your biases behind. With an open mind we can accept a different way of doing things as different, but not inferior or wrong.

It's next to impossible for Haitians to finish high school and go to college, due to how expensive it is and how hard the standardized tests are. After 6th grade, if a student doesn't pass the test, they're done. And that's it. The teachers know this, so they need to be very hard on their students to get them ready. And that's where "Éliminer!!!!" changes from a harsh word into potentially a student's saving grace.

Bill Munson

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