The Reflection Circle Project is introducing to Haitian schools and adult literacy programs the methods and materials pioneered by The Touchstones Discussion Project in the US. These methods are, in many respects, the antithesis of what is worst in the Haitian educational tradition. In most Haitian schools, students are required, under threat of beatings and humiliation, to memorize long, irrelevant texts in a language they do not understand. Even students who excel in this system are rarely prepared to confront Haiti’s harsh reality. Their education seems calculated to prejudice them against their own language and prepare them to accept oppression and perpetuate the traditions of domination so deeply rooted in Haitian history and society.

By contrast, the use of Reflection Circles cultivates in students many of the skills and habits most needed for the exercise of democracy, skills that will serve them not only in their struggle for survival, but in their effort to both imagine and build a better society. Once a week class members and their teacher organize themselves into a circle to read a Reflection Circle text together. These specially chosen texts are drawn from a variety of cultures throughout history and are translated into Haitian Creole. The texts which always touch upon themes of universal importance, are often provocative, sometimes puzzling, but are never intended to be merely accepted as authoritative. Week by week teachers progressively relinquish control of the discussions to the students, allowing them to develop the skills and confidence they need to direct the discussion themselves.

As participants reflect on these texts together, they push one another to become better readers and better listeners. They learn to work together to articulate their own questions and ideas. The discussion of these texts sets in motion a dynamic in which all students, even those most marginalized in the traditional classroom, can find their own voice and contribute to the collective struggle for understanding.

Teachers, in turn, learn to trust the capacity of their students to take leadership, to be guided by their own curiosity, to learn independently and from one another. The development of this trust is something of a revolution in the mentality of most teachers, a revolution which we believe will help open the way for wider reform and improvements in teaching all across Haiti.

Click here to read an account of teachers being trained in the Reflection Circle methods.

For more information on the Touchstones Discussion Project visit their web site at: www.touchstones.org