Homework TIme

From the time after supper until 9pm I help the kids at First Love complete their 10 subjects of homework. These hardworking students wake up at 4:30am to complete any assignment that was left undone from the previous night and then are in class from 6am-4pm, arriving back home around 5. They have really long days. And I’m not so sure the education system is top notch. I’m actually quite positive the education system is not top notch. But we work with what we and change what we can.  

That top picture is a lesson about the street children in Kenya who beg for change. Please note how it reads “Most of them are dirty and a big problem to other people. They also sniff glue which makes them drowsy and droopy all the time”. Are you kidding me? Who published this? I don’t want my kids thinking of poor people as a problem or that ALL of them sniff glue and are droopy ALL the time. The word “all” is an absolute that leaves no room for exceptions….and there are exceptions. Some street kids don’t sniff glue and the ones that do still have moments, whole days or weeks even when they are neither drowsy nor droopy. We must leave room for grace and teach that street children are not our problems, but rather our brothers and sisters.

The middle picture is a lesson that truly confuses me. Although most of the African students are still developing their english speaking skills, their curriculum is urging them to learn how to write in broken english in order to send telegrams. What? Why. I don’t even know what a telegram is. Do they still use those in Kenya? Doubful.

The third picture is a book on Harriet Tubman that you can see by the bottom, left-hand corner is

endorsed by Chik-Fil-A. Talk about a winning novel :)

1 out of 3. Much room for improvement, but not a total bust.