Name

Name: Alexander Omorodion

Class: EDCI 560

Assignment: Autobiographical Narrative

I remember faintly my first walk to school on the day I started first grade. My mother walked me through a footpath that led from our house to the school. It was a quicker way to get to school than the street. The future for me was just starting. Schooling was an endeavor that was never taken lightly in my little town. Like everybody else in the town, my parents did not have any formal education. They were very smart people but lacked formal education, so they insisted that I went to school.

My elementary school had a population of about 300 children. It was removed from the hustle and bustle of the city. I consider my elementary school education a quality and equitable one that laid the foundation for my future pursuits in education. I had teachers that were well trained, and dedicated to their jobs.

Learning was considered sacred in the school and the community. A child that excelled in school was a pride of the community, and children who did not do well in school were reprimanded. The school tolerated no excuses for not learning, it made no distinction between students in terms of gender, social or economic standing of their parents; everyone came to learn reading, writing and arithmetic and that was the focus of the curriculum. The curriculum was very demanding, and teachers were very strict and uncompromising when it came to content instruction.

I think it is worth noting here that the parents in the community had no formal education, but knew enough to make sure that their children completed all homework assignments from school. Teachers were the instructors as well as disciplinarians.

I recall a particular incident on this fateful day in my third grade. I came to school that morning, and after the morning assembly we all marched briskly to our classrooms in single files. Mathematics was the first class of the day and my teacher had started the preparatory warm up for the day. During this exercise each student is required to recite the multiplication table by heart. He called on the first student to recite the table, then the second and before long it was my turn, and I stood up to recite the 3x multiplication table. Everything went well for a while, then I blanked out; I had forgotten part of my multiplication table. Every mistake was a stroke of the cane. After that day I never forgot my multiplication table again. I dared not complain about the incident to my parents when I got home out of fear of attracting more punishment from them.

I do not say this here to propose a novel teaching strategy, but to illustrate how seriously the school and community considered education. Diversity education was not a part of the curriculum per se. Respect for and kindness to strangers was cultural. My school was largely composed of the same ethnicity, but there were few students from other ethnic groups. But this was no object of consideration because, I suppose, the socializations and cultures of the various ethnic groups were about the same.

My elementary school experience was rich, challenging and gave me the mental spark that started me on my quest for knowledge.

My secondary school career was a little different. This time it was in an urban setting. The student, and teacher populations were quite diversified. The students were more or less culturally homogeneous. Emphasis on excellence in learning was even stronger this time. The classes were demanding and passing examinations was a matter of life and death. A lot was required of students.

Looking back now, I think the system though highly qualitative lacked equity. It was the survival of the fittest. Having been a student, and later a teacher in the Nigeria Education System, I feel qualified to comment on it. Standard was high, expectations were high and sometimes excessively so. It did not however, provide a clearly defined safety net for students that were academically challenged. The system was accommodating, humane but lacked clearly defined strategies for mass education. There were a lot of students that fell through the cracks, and dropped out of school.

In my experience as a teacher here in the United States, I have become exposed to more diverse classrooms, with very well defined racial, ethnic, cultural, economic and social distinctions. There has been a lot I had to learn to be able to function effectively as a teacher in the classroom.

This past year however, brought me face to face with newer and deeper experiences in diversity. I have taught in Kansas City urban schools since 1994, and I thought I had seen it all. My experience, though rich and informed, did not fully prepare me for my new position in a school that has a student population that is 95% immigrant; children that speak little or no English, and had a distinct culture and language. This has both challenged me and made me more humble. As a matter of fact, it has strengthened my belief in the respect of the individuality of people and their cultures. It has also given me an outlet to practice my deep seated conviction, as an immigrant myself, that contrary to popular sentiments here in the United States, the lack of fluency in the English language, or the presence of an accent does not equal lack of intelligence.

This narrative will not be complete without relating an experience I am living through this school year. Three weeks into the first semester, I received a new student, just arrived from Mexico who spoke no English. He was reserved, and rarely spoke. My interaction with him the first week was minimal because of language barrier. My initial reaction was to find him another classroom with a teacher that understands Spanish. Well, there are not too many Spanish math teachers out there. Finally, I took it as a challenge; I employed many different strategies to encourage and effect communication and learning. As at today he participates productively in the classroom even though he may use some broken English and Spanish together. He has learned some English and I have learned some Spanish. Most importantly I have been able to guide him to this realization: that not speaking the English language is not a disability and that his Spanish language is just as important as the English language, thus boosting his self-esteem.

The United States education system deals with very unique problems in urban education. Unlike Nigeria, the society is more diverse with no particular prevailing culture. There is a culture that is very dynamic, and thus confusing to both adults and children. Formulating education policies is a race against time and thought. There are a lot of interest group influences that are motivated by factors other than the education of the child.

The 20^th century teacher therefore has a challenge to prepare to teach a classroom that is becoming more diverse by the day. Pedagogy that worked previously will not work today. So, an educator must be prepared to deal with the cauldron of ethnic, cultural, language, environmental, socio-cultural diversities that today’s classroom presents in contrast with the ‘melting pot’ mentality of the past.