OJT Part 2 (Written Oct 27 2005)

Today was the second part of our on the job training and while some of the trainees went to the same jobs they went to on Tuesday, I went to the second of my 3 choices for a job – Chanel College. Like St. Joe's it is a Catholic missionary school but has more girls than St. Joe's because they let them into the school at an earlier age. Both the Chanel and St. Joe's job deals with being a computer studies teacher, so the differences are in the detail. One big difference is that the Chanel job has 2 comp labs with the expectation to complete a third lab (money permitting). The Chanel position also offers the chance to be a part of the creation of an actual computer studies curriculum while the St. Joe's job already has a curriculum setup. On the socioeconomic basis, St. Joe's has students that come from higher income families while Chanel has students that come from middle to low income families and scholarship kids from overseas. I had the opportunity to sit in on a few of the classes the current volunteer is teaching and "taught" two of the classes myself (I had the kids write a CV for a job advertisement). From both today and Tuesdays experience I am learning that the kids are not very good at self-creation and critical thinking. This isn't a derogatory statement – just my own observation. At both St. Joe's and Chanel, if I asked a question that was not explicitly in the book there was a big delay in response time (if there was a response at all). In regards to the CV writing, it was hard to get the kids to try to sell just themselves and their talents (which are intangible) instead of regurgitating what was on the ad I made up for them. Something that almost any US high school kid could do seemed almost impossible to these students. That's a knock more on the educational system rather then the students because the students are focused on memorization rather than critical/abstract thinking – which means when they go to University, they are going to be wholly unprepared. The whole school year is focused on passing either the Samoan Exam (which equals a GED) or the Pacific Exam (which equals a high school diploma and can get you into a University). So this culture is an example of teaching to the test instead of expanding learning capacities. It's a sad state, let me tell you. I liked both jobs, but I felt more comfortable at Chanel College. But Marques – you say – don't you want to work at the best school and with the best students in Samoa (the prime minister of Samoa is a St. Joe alum) and the answer is – no. I want to work where I can make a change and have some kind of direct impact on these kids' lives. While that's possible at St. Joe's, I also want to work with kids who were like me – not privileged, not the best but smart in their own way. The best will always be the best but I feel God is calling for me to work with these kids who aren't the best but could be one day. Two years ago, I would have been totally uncomfortable working in a Catholic school, now I feel a calling to do this job – my how the times have changed. While the decision won't be made until tomorrow I'm pretty sure that I'll end up at Chanel. So until C-day, I'll talk to you l8r.

BTW, the gossip hotline that runs throughout the village is called "coconut wireless" and its almost as fast as the internet. Who said Samoa was third world! Best, and quickest, person to person rate in the world.