Education Rooted in Dignity

by David Diggs

Something remarkable is happening in dozens of Haitian elementary schools that Beyond Borders works with. To know what is so remarkable, though, you first have to visit a traditional school. Before you even arrive you’re likely to hear two things—students chanting in unison long passages in French and then the occasional crack of the fwèt (a short, stiff leather whip) against the bare skin of a child.

Children at the Matenwa Community Learning Center read books they've written themselves.

Haiti has a complicated relationship with the French language and the whip. French was the language of the colonial masters who used the whip to coerce obedience from the slaves.  Haitians are justifiably proud of their history of overthrowing their masters and establishing the only nation in history built from a slave uprising. But the roots of slavery run deep and still give life to some of the contradictions in traditional Haitian schooling.

French is only spoken by a tiny minority of Haiti’s most privileged. Few primary school teachers can use French with any fluency, and yet tradition requires that they try to teach in French. Typically they end up copying long passages in French on a chalk board and require students to mindlessly repeat these back until they are memorized. Whether the students (or teacher) understand the text is not important. The whip is used to focus the attention of the students on this mind numbing activity.

Part of why teachers resort to this approach is because few have had any training to teach. They simply replicate what they experienced and what many parents expect. Rote memorization is also encouraged by the fact that many students can’t afford the required text books.

Go now to any of the growing networks of schools Beyond Borders is partnered with and you will hear and see something different. First of all, you will hear Haitian Creole being used as the primary language of instruction. (French is introduced as a second language once students become literate in the language they speak at home.)

Secondly, you’ll see that students all have books. Beyond Borders helps schools accomplish this by investing in book banks. Instead of having to buy books, parents rent books for a tiny fee that then is used to replace books only after they’ve become worn out after several years. The books themselves are based on the new national Creole curriculum.

One of the schools we work with, the Matènwa Community Learning Center, takes all this a step or two further. Students learn to write and illustrate their own books. These are laminated and kept in a growing school library that gives students a wealth of texts not to memorize but to interact with and enjoy.

And that is something else that is remarkable.
Teachers are being trained in all these schools to create classrooms where students interact not only with what they read, but with one another in thoughtful discussions that relate to what they are learning in the classroom and what they experience outside the classroom.

And learning happens outside the classroom, too. Each school is learning to develop gardens where students practice new sustainable agricultural techniques that they use not only to grow food for their school lunches but techniques that they can take home. As Abner Sauveur, co-founder of the Matènwa school says, “It’s important to have school gardens in a country where 65% of the people live off the land.”

Finally, in these schools you will find no whips. Instead of corporal punishment teachers learn respectful, non-violent forms of classroom management. They discover that channeling, rather than fighting, their students’ natural curiosity is the best way to create an education that is rooted in dignity.