Traditional Values with Modern Relevance
Wow. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it definitely was not this! We had our first school visit today to St. Henry's Marist College in Durban, Sourth Africa. It was the first private school established in Durban with 800 students from Grades 000 (pre-K) - 12. It is part of the Marist school. The Marist Brothers came from France to South Africa in 1867 and St. Henry's began in 1929. There are five Marist colleges in South Africa and I was surprised to find out we have some in the US, as well... Eugene, OR, NYC, Miami, Los Angeles, West Virginia...
The Marist College is a Catholic school and based on 5 Principles: PRESENCE: being prepared to spend time with young people, thus building up positive relationships and promoting understanding, SIMPLICITY: being child-like in spirit of the Gospels; avoiding duplicity, pretense and empty show, FAMILY SPIRIT: fostering a sense of belonging where we are all equally important, LOVE of WORK: promoting an absolutely honest attitude in all we do and say, and MARY'S WAY: using Mary's example of being a prayerful woman of faith, obedient and grateful to the Lord, and concerned for others, particularity the suffering. To sum up the mission statement the headmaster put it this way:
WE EDUCATE THE HEART.
I love that and could see it so clearly in the attitude of the learners (they use this instead of students in SA).
The Marist College is a Catholic school and based on 5 Principles: PRESENCE: being prepared to spend time with young people, thus building up positive relationships and promoting understanding, SIMPLICITY: being child-like in spirit of the Gospels; avoiding duplicity, pretense and empty show, FAMILY SPIRIT: fostering a sense of belonging where we are all equally important, LOVE of WORK: promoting an absolutely honest attitude in all we do and say, and MARY'S WAY: using Mary's example of being a prayerful woman of faith, obedient and grateful to the Lord, and concerned for others, particularity the suffering. To sum up the mission statement the headmaster put it this way:
WE EDUCATE THE HEART.
I love that and could see it so clearly in the attitude of the learners (they use this instead of students in SA).
Am I at Harry Potter World?!!!
Walking up to the school we were greeted by these lovely students: two prefects and the Head Girl. They were so very polite and looked us straight in the eye and spoke to us with such confidence, grace, and warmth. I immediately started to ask them about their badges. They begin by wearing just a plain jacket and earn badges and the tie. The prefects are leaders in their school and help their teachers as well as help the younger learners. I was particularly interested to know what the "Kudos" badge was and it is an accomplishment of something you do outside of school. For example- this student received hers for gymnastics.
The students all gather in the courtyard in the morning for announcements. At school in the US it is common to have morning announcements over the intercom. It seemed like such a wonderful way for the school to start the day gathered as one. Since it is a Catholic school there was also a morning prayer. I did note one group of middle school age learners snickering and was secretly happy to see this... I guess it is my love of 12-14 year old students as well as the "globalness" of 12-14 year old beings being just that!
I didn't get to visit a middle school classy, but spent the morning getting to visit 3rd and 1st grade classrooms and I loved spending time with the kids as they proudly pointed out their art and posed by it for photos. The classroom teachers are the elementary level teach art out of their rooms.
The thing we were amazed was that NO MATTER the age of the student every student would greet us AND look us in the eye if we passed them. The students would also rise and greet us when we entered the room!
"All children can learn given patience and opportunity"
We had the privilege to hear David Wilkerson, Kwazulu Natal Regional Director of the South African Heads of Independent Schools Association speak on education in South Africa. After 1994 South Africa became a unitary state. There is a wide disparate of income levels in the country as well as standards in education. 26% of South Africans are unemployed while under 25 years old the percentage is 40%. The government schools have large classes and often times the teachers are not trained. There is a National Core Curriculum that is used in South Africa, but from the information we have gotten so far there seems to be a vast and wide discrepancy in the quality of education from school to school.
Students go to school for 200 school days (compared to our 185) and go year round with 3-4 week breaks including the whole month of December. The language the students are taught in depends on the region. In Durban students (learners) are taught in Zulu or English. In Cape Town Afrikaans or Xhosa is more common in addition to English.
We also got the honor of having students from LIV visit us for a performance. There are 5 million orphans in South Africa alone. This organization provides holistic residential care for the children. The motto: Rescue a Child. Restore a Leader. Raise a Leader. Release a Star.
Getting to see these learners sing and dance for us was something that will stay in our hearts forever. Every child deserves to be given a chance, a home, love, and the tools to make it in the world. The photos and video I took are telling to how amazing these kids are, but unfortunately I can't post them since many of the the children are in custody cases with distant family members.
Our day was so varied at St. Henry's! We also got treated to tea as well as a traditional South African lunch and student performances. We also got to watch part of Termites, a South African production that the drama teacher had brought in. My favorite part of the day, though, was visiting the high school art room. Leslie (the other art teacher on the trip) and I got to spend an hour with the matric (senior) all female art class as they shared their senior show work and helped them set it up in the media center. One particular girl named Sarah Kasher shared an amazing film she had created that is already part of film festivals including one in NYC. You can view it below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShBN6hFtDAo
|
www.liv-village.com
|