THE GHANA CHRONICLES: Discipline and Moral Uprightness

 

If I could talk to my 20-year old hippy self just beginning to teach in Free Schools and suggest that I should cultivate Discipline and Moral Uprightness in my students, I believe that 20-year old would laugh in my face. “Are you serious, old man?!! Get with it! It’s all about freedom and doing your own thing and f**k your uptight morality,” that long-haired bell-bottomed fellow might have said. 

 

But I’ve seen where disdain for morality has led us. Apparently, 80% of Internet use is porn, politicians show no shame whatsoever for their sexual escapades, accepting bribes, allowing excessive freedom for the NRA and supporting a President who told some 20,000 documented lies over four years. While there are still young people who understand the value of discipline, be it in athletics, music, spiritual practice, juggling or what have you, far too many are content to be sucked into the stream of non-stop sensational entertainment, from killer video games to text flaming to Youtube trivia to pop star adoration.

 

I noticed that every single Ghanaian speaker at the Nunya Dedication Ceremony, without exception, turned to the attentive and polite Nunya students and reminded them of the importance of discipline, hard work, moral uprightness and gratitude for an opportunity that they should not squander. Every. Adult. Speaker. And the kids listened.

 

Back in the good ole U.S.A., the progressive schools that are descendants of the Free Schools I once had so much hope for, are telling the kids, “Please let us know how you’re feeling. If you’re uncomfortable with the teacher’s lesson, we will talk to that teacher to make sure they understand your specific learning needs. We know you’re doing the best you can given your diagnosed condition that we helped create, so don’t worry about making an effort to improve and monitor your own behavior. “ 

 

The place I came to after years of thinking about the roles of teachers and students is the 50-yard line metaphor. I tell the students that I’ll do my part to consider how to make each lesson engaging and worthy of their attention and help adjust it somewhat to their specific learning needs. If it helps you for me to go a little slower or have a visual or sit next to you at the xylophone, that’s fine. Meanwhile, you do your part to make the best effort you can, to walk (or run) to the 50-yard line and meet me in the hallowed learning ground. Yet even within the past few years, I see the ratio changing from 90% teacher and 10% student and that’s healthy for exactly no one.

 

Meanwhile, the clarity of the Ewe adults letting the students know in no uncertain terms that the bulk of the effort is to be theirs is just so damn refreshing! And it works! The kids are light years ahead of their American counterparts when it comes to self-discipline, impulse control, physical and intellectual musical skills and an overall ability to learn just about anything because they are prepared to make the effort. Likewise, the moral lessons passed on in proverbs and stories and songs that teach responsibility to the community are a vast improvement to “whatever you choose to believe is fine, it’s all up to you.”

 

In the last post, I mentioned that Nunya Academy will be looking for teachers. I’m tempted to sign up and end my teaching career with students who are attentive, respectful, competent and fun at the same time, surrounded by elders who support my job to actually teach them, both subjects and values and ethics, without worrying that I hurt their feelings or didn’t say the right buzzword or opened myself up to being sued. Very tempting, indeed. Who wouldn't love to teach this smiling child?