What’s a space bar?

First off, before I begin discussion of anything South African, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the Libyan people in their final triumph over Moammar Gaddhafi.  Regardless of where people stood on the intervention of the US and NATO in that conflict, I think most of us can agree that this is the Libyan people’s moment, and we hope that they make the most of this new opportunity for democracy.  Now for things on the more southern end of the African continent.

For those who read my last post, I hope that the emotion and stress I experienced as a result of the whole housing situation was palpable.  Up to this point in my South African tenure, I have felt comfortable enough here and enjoyed my work sufficiently that I have not really experienced much intense homesickness.  Of course I miss my family, friends, and country, but it is not a feeling that had ever become so acute to the point of pain.  I experienced such an emotion, however, the day that I was forced from my house.  It represented the first time during my South African stay that I legitimately thought that it would be preferable to be back home.  That feeling has now passed as the ordeal is at least over, and I am able to focus on the future and the ideas and projects I have for my students and schools.

The reason I wanted to highlight that is to mark the contrast between that feeling and the one I experienced today as I worked with my learners.  They say that after a storm comes a rainbow, and I think such an expression is many times apt in the realm of human emotion.  To give a bit more backdrop, let me say that one of the things I am working on in my high school here is to set up a career center and counseling for the students as they approach the end of their secondary schooling and transition to university or work life.  I think most of my readers from developed countries probably benefited in high school from some type of counselor they were able to talk about their options with as well as at least a place where they could get information about different careers and universities.  Such is not the case here in the location.  For kids that have little to no experience of the outside world, this severely limits their ability to strive for a job path greater than that of a municipality worker.

For that reason, a few weeks ago whenever there was a 10 year high school reunion, I got the contact information from some of the successful alumni who are successful young professionals in Johannesburg and Pretoria.  They have been sending me various opportunities that the learners can apply for as well as helping to educate me on how the South African system of higher education and financing works.  Last week I got a chance to speak to the Grade 12s who will be graduating in December about a program set up by several corporations to help youth from disadvantaged areas study information technology and communications.  As a result, on Monday I was approached by some students who asked if I would help them create a CV (South African lingo for resume) in order to apply for the program.  I duly did so on, and then met with them again yesterday and today to draft an email to the program to which we would attach their CV.  The exercise was as much about giving them computer experience as it was about submitting their applications.

I first had them write on paper what they wanted to say, which I edited, and then had them sit down at the computer so that they could type it themselves.  Whenever the first girl got in front of the monitor to begin typing, I could tell that this was probably the first time in her life that she had ever sat down at a computer and keyboard.  Keep in mind this is a girl that is 19 years of age.  It took her on average probably 5 seconds to find each succeeding letter in the word she was typing.  When she came to the end of the first word, she asked me how you enter a space on the computer.  I told her to hit the space bar, and despite her searching for 30 seconds, she did not know where it was.  I had to explain how backspace, delete, and the shift key work, not to mention the operations of a mouse.  We actually spent about 5 minutes practicing a double click.  Over the course of our two days’ work typing the email, the two girls and I spent about three days typing up two emails that probably would have taken me five minutes to type myself.

As you would expect, though, how fast I could have done it was not the point.  By the end of today, the two learners were able to open Microsoft Word, create a new document, and functionally use the shift key, space bar, delete key, backspace, and arrows.  Not to mention that their key recognition improved markedly so that they are now able to find the appropriate key in less than two seconds.  In our most recent session, my involvement was actually quite limited because one girl read the written letter to the other one who was typing.  Whenever one experienced a problem typing something on the computer, I hardly ever had to help because, if given several seconds, the two together figured it out.  These were learners who two days ago did not know what a space bar was.  Such self-sufficiency is exactly what I am trying to develop in my learners, schools, and community.

The moral of the story is that if there is such a thing as a “runner’s high” one gets from intense jogging, there is equally a “teaching high” one gets from dedicated instruction -  and I got it today.  Transmitting knowledge and then seeing confirmation that others have truly understood and internalized it is an amazing feeling.  It also confirms what I already believed, that so many of my students are not so much lacking in intelligence as they are exposure.  If I can get them the experience, such as with the computer, and hopefully also instill a deep desire to learn along with a good work ethic, I have no doubt that they are capable of more than a life of poverty in the location.

South African English Word of the Day

Coloured - a multi-racial person, though usually some combination of Black and White ancestry.  In America, this term (without the “u”) used to be an accepted way to refer to a Black person, but is now considered offensive.  In South Africa, it is the standard way of referring to one of the four major racial groups.

Example: In this new South Africa, it doesn't matter whether you're Black, White, Coloured, or Asian.  We are all South African.