Day two: Visit to primary and secondary schools in a rural village

We got a good look at two typical village schools today, in the village of Mmathubudukwane, which is on southeastern border between Botswana and South Africa. First, we visited with nearly the entire staff of the Madikwe secondary school to discuss some of the issues that are faced by educators in rural Botswana. Each party asked many questions to better understand the issues involved in education in both Botswana and the United States. After many questions, it was interesting to see that we shared some of the same problems of keeping parents involved and meeting national (and/or state) standards.

Our second visit was to the Letsebe primary school. We toured a few classrooms and got to see the reading and linguistic programming used by primary education teachers. Children learn Setswana (the native language for Botswana) but also begin to learn English. Many students spoke to us in English, to ask questions like, "What is your name and surname?" or "How are you doing?" The children assembled and sang for us (see the video below).

One thing that struck me was trying to provide simple answers to questions that we got about the educational system of the United States. For instance, Alan Hastings attempted to explain why we have 50 different state educational systems as opposed to a centralized system of education in the USA. Where do you even start? In another conversation, I attempted to explain the "exceptions" that are given to elite athletes who are still of school age -- do they still attend school, or do they become full-time athletes? Where could I even start to explain the nuances and history of NCAA eligibility?

The long day concluded with an outdoor lunch under sunny skies at the Rasesa Lodge near Mochudi, with excellent food and four cats that finished off our left-overs.

One other observation... it's winter here in Botswana, and we are all dressed for spring in Michigan. It's interesting to see so many of the local people wearing nice winter coats, dressed to the nines. The weather has been beautiful, low 40s at night, high 70s in the day.