Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Today's view


.... and according to all of our newspapers this morning, apparently if we bring back caning, then we can reverse this process :)

"Spare the rod, Spoil the child!"

3 comments:

BabaMzungu said...

Hi MC
It seems that school strikes are not just in Kenya.
Today, I heard that pupils in secondary school wnet on strike because their school timetable had been changed and they had to stay in school for an extra 15 minutes a day - poor lambs.
Their day was stretched from 9.00-14.45 to 9.00-15.00!
Campared to Kenya, this is part-time education!
And I still maintain that kids are better educated in Kenya than in the UK.

DM

Anonymous said...

Caning! not a bad idea.I remember the teachers telling us to carry our own canes.It had to look good,otherwise he would use his on you,and its was quite a dreaded 'black maria''.
The mock KCSE are being used as a reason to complain about larger underlying issues,like food and teachers who think that they are running some tiny guantanamo's.
The government should have looked at the issues raised long ago from past riots and at least found a way to deal with the teenagers.
Some are now just rioting just to join the others at home,like St.George's Girls who went on strike as a joke,they just thought it was fun to do so,or the Queen of Apostles Seminary,which actually trains priests,rioted only an hour after being addressed by the Cardinal and Jamhuri high school who decided to attack the neighbouring Parklands High and chase them from school.
Students need to be comfortable in school to some point.Caning cannot solve some problems,anyway,its impossible to stop a school with nearly 2000 student from rioting unless you have a permanent GSU base on campus.
The government should also assure the Kids that the KCSE will not have trouble like it did last year.Rumours are that the mock KCSE may be used for final grading incase of a hitch in the main exam.Mocks are not simple and passing to your ability is next to impossible.I have seen some chemistry and physics papers from the big schools and they actually have 2nd year exam questions from a UK university.Having standard mocks can help.
Lastly,the MPs and Ministers have all their children in British/International schools and therefore are out of touch with the problems facing other schools and thats why they are rushing to blame drugs. The Kenyan system is just too complicated and overburdened,school day begins at 6am and ends at 10pm,which is insane,they have to blow up at some point!!.In the British system for example,they have limited number of hours for study and study what is relevant for their age.In my case,I studied electrical technology in a kenyan school, and later,engineering in europe but found out that I actually learnt nothing absolutely new at university,infact in some cases, especially practicals,it was more advanced in school!!!.
What is needed is communication between various parties,times have changed and it does not make sense to be telling children to stop complaining because"" siku zetu ilikuwa mbaya, tulikula chakula mbaya na hatukufanya strike kama siku hizi"".modern challenges face modern solutions.

ahmed

Mzungu Chick said...

Ahmed - Well said. it seems our government is still not very keen on this "communication" thing.