3/24/15
Finding the house.
Month: March 2015
Strike 2 You’re Out (I Dont Give 3 Strikes)
2nd Incident With the Teacher From Hell
Never going back.
The teacher expelled two struggling children for not knowing the material when the little one asked for help. She made them walk home (7km away) all by themselves. As I drove down the line to pick up R from school I came upon them crying as they walked home alone.
I pulled over and told them to get in (I often gave all the kids who lived past our farm a ride to our house so they could play there until their parents had the chance to pick them up, closer and sometimes later…they have so much work to do I’d rather see the kids all playing together safely). These two siblings I was especially fond of as they spent a lot of time at our house. Their family was very poor and the parents somewhat harsh but the children were very kind hearted, adored coming over, and wanted to please though struggled in school.
I was ravenously angry at the teacher’s incompetence as a professional and her poor judgement as a human being to send this 3rd grader and preschooler walking home alone.
Looking back I may have exaggerated a bit in my coming response but at this point I was furious with this teacher, with the lack of resources for these children and community, with the difficulty and injustice of the hard life here for them.
I stormed into the classroom as they finished their lessons with the two tear stained faces trailing behind me. I excused R and declared he would be leaving right now and not returning, EVER. I asked the students what happened and they proceeded to describe exactly what the two siblings had described to me… they didn’t know how to do the work…asked the teacher…she called them stupid and when they insisted she help them she sent them walking. I scolded the teacher for her poor judgement in front of the class (like I said I could have reacted better but what’s done is done) took all three, walked out, slammed my car door and plan to never go back.
The other parents agree with my actions but sadly won’t get together to oust this witch. They don’t see anyone else that could take her place and fear if there is no teacher 1) the kids won’t have any school or 2) will be forced to trek to town to attend school putting undo hardship on the parents and children alike.
Well my kid is not going back, that I can tell you….now what to do???
Please let me do anything!
My neighbour travels 45 min on a motorbike every morning to get to the middle school in the town. When she gets there most of her classes lack a teacher to actually teach the material, so she sits there, hangs out, probably fools around, wasting her time. Since I have nothing to do and since every kid in that school has begged me to teach them English there I figured well I’ll probably regret this but why not and headed over to the school to inquire how I could be hired.
The place was hot as hell, dusty, noisy (most of the kids have nothing to do since there aren’t enough teachers), and disorganised but I walk into the secretary’s office and offer myself. She informs me that because this is a government school I must enter a concurso to be able to teach there. Damn, I know I have to be Brazilian to enter a concurso. Looks like I’ve hit a dead end.
Well the kids continue to bug me and now the adults from the community too…so I decide to visit the Secretary of Education the next time I’m in the city. BLOCKED, no way, no how. They take my resume and ask hesitantly if I have a certificate that I speak English….wow….just wow…lol. They also informed me that while they understand there are no teachers at that school they are unable to hire me without citizenship. Yes they are lacking qualified teachers….well, any body they can stick in a classroom, but wont let me work.They prefer to not offer any classes and have kids sitting in a school with no teachers than hire a non-Brazilian. Awesome.
The incident of 3rd Grade- Strike 1
The line is buzzing with the news of what the new teacher did to a group of students.
When the children didn’t know the answers to a question she made them sit on their knees on pebbles on the cement floor!
At first, when the usual group of kids came running home together to tell me what happened I didn’t want to believe them. They are a group of good kids and not the trouble makers in the class so I had no reason to doubt them…but really who would believe in this day and age that would occur! The kids showed me the bruises on their knees and I had to believe them. I was outraged, crying, angry, disgusted.
When the children’s mother came to pick them up I was sitting on the porch ready for her. I told them what the children had described to me and she was outraged. She also took it out on the kids by shaming them for not knowing the answers but was mostly angry at the teacher. I told her that was abuse and she was angry but accepting.
When she left I was even more furious at her reaction. I lost my shit and spilled my grievances to my husband. While he was understanding, he was also hopeless (he knows I am unhappy and seems to be at a loss of how to approach anything in life right now) and scared to make much of it (the teacher was the daughter-in-law of a land owner on the line known for some shady behaviour).
In despair I walked to the neighbours to tell her the story, as a mother she would understand.
She commiserated with me, agreed it was wrong, but wasn’t personally involved (her child already goes into town) and had a bit of influence in getting her hired therefore her response was not as comforting as I hoped. I went home walking the dirt road in the black of night, watching in the moonlight for snakes or bulls out of their pens, or jaguars (they really do lurk here at night, not kidding). I crawled into my bug net covered mattress on top of the bed made from hand cut boards to cry myself to sleep…over-exhausted from life.
First day of 3rd Grade
3/2/15
American to Amazonian 