TIPS FOR STRIKING TEACHERS By Pablo Yagayo There was a time in my primary school when the headmaster or teacher on duty would call for an assembly, read the names of fees defaulters and cane us like a problem. He would then tell us to fetch firewood for staff members and never to appear on the school compound before all dues have been cleared. My name was almost always on the school fees defaulters’ list. If the canes and water we fetched had been swapped as payment, some of us wouldn’t have paid fees, but instead demanded for some balance at the end of the term. It was so bad that one time the head teacher caned me in advance for the following term’s fees because he was sure I wasn’t going to pay on time. My parents surprised him and paid two terms ahead. He couldn’t withdraw the canes; the harm was already done. I never understood why the teacher would have some sense of relief after beating us until I came across a newspaper that highlighted the theory of anger displacement. For starters, the displacement of anger theory is anger that’s directed onto a safe, irrelevant target rather than its actual cause. Our parents were responsible for paying school fees but because the teachers didn’t have the guts to coerce the parents to pay fees, they would cane us so that our parents would feel the pain. You would reach home hoping to be consoled by your parents but they would beat you too, under the guise of dodging classes. That’s how we started the mango tree movement. Every time we saw a PTA (Parents Teachers Association) member on the school compound, we knew they were going to call for those torture assemblies; so, we would escape and camp in mango trees. No wonder most of my classmates became farmers and dealers in fruit. The abolition of corporal punishment liberated fees defaulters but left teachers without a comfort zone for displacing their anger during hard times like these. The only solution left is to grab the bull by the horns, and strike. Allow me to share some tips with my teachers that I learnt in the mango tree movement during those hard times. You don’t have to take this advice or make a fuss over it if it doesn’t work for you; it never worked for me either. Laugh at your problems, everybody does. We always laughed at each other as fees defaulters. We even had nicknames for those who owed the school more money amongst ourselves. That was the best consolation we had. I’m sure other professions have similar challenges. They say knowledge is power, and power corrupts. So cheer up, the worst is yet to come. Whether you teach or not, the corrupt will continue feasting on whatever they are eating. However, don’t lose hope. The early bird might get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese. Soon or later, the cheese will come your way although it’s also important to note that at times when everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane. If you can’t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side. We never knew how to climb mango trees but since there was no light at the end of the education tunnel, we polished our dull side of life. We climbed, swung and patched in mango trees. Little did we know that we were nurturing amazing future fruit vendors. kkimuli@gmail Twitter: PABLO_KenKimuli
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 21:04:33 +0000