School and Classes in Botswana: Upon Completion

This post is the companion post to the entry from October 14th.

Yesterday (Friday November 28th) was my last final and as such I am officially done with my classes in Botswana and I won't attend another formal class until March 30th. Since they are over I thought I would revise some of my views posted in the October 14th post and add to those observations.

Overall the second half of the semester was easier than the first half. This was because most of the assignments were done in the first half which left me with less to do in the second half of the semester. In addition, most of my classes finished the material we were meant to cover before the end of the course and as a result the classes were often canceled for up to a week at a time. I guess this suggests that curriculum doesn't represent a structure for learning, but rather a checklist for topics to cover. That might be overly presumptuous but I really felt that way in all of my classes, except Setswana.
The final exams in every class, except Setswana, were essay tests that presented 4-6 questions and we were to choose two and right about them for two hours. On all of these exams I felt confident in my knowledge but not in my ability to guess what the teacher wanted, and that is what my grades will really come down to.

Population Policy of Botswana
I should revise my earlier statement, this class, especially in the second half didn't resemble anything similar to anything at K. I really liked the class but the bulk of the second half of the class was discussing, word for word, the 'National Population Policy of Botswana', a handout that, in my opinion, I could have looked at myself in a few minutes, but instead we spent at least three class periods reviewing it. It was interesting to learn the direction that policy makers want the population of Botswana to go. I actually used this learning in my economics final paper but argued that Botswana should encourage increased population growth, the opposite of the current plan. In the final 4-5 weeks of the course the class met maybe 10 times.
The final exam actually presented an interesting question that required critical thinking, "Sustained improvements in the level of Socio-economic development will bring about a fertility decline in the absence of organized family planning programmes; In light of the above does Botswana really need a population policy in order to achieve her objective of reducing the rate of population growth? Discuss." I was quite impressed with this question. I felt I had a good, well thought out answer. The second question was just word for word the same as on an earlier test so I chose to answer it as I already knew the correct answer.
Archaeology of Botswana
In the second half Archaeology actually improved, a little. Finally the group presentations ended and with no assignments, or tests in the second half of the class I could just try to learn something about the subject, a novel approach, I know. Unfortunately, for some strange reason the teacher decided this year that he was going to focus very specifically on one topic to the exclusion of all the others. He chose rock art, which would have been fine but most of what we discussed was theoretical models used to explain rock art in the region, not specific examples from in Botswana. I learned some things about rock art in general, but next to nothing about rock art specific to Botswana, which for me, was a little disappointing, but no less enlightening. I did gain knowledge about some of the best sites in Botswana which i will have an opportunity to see later in my time here, at Tsolido, and the one I have already seen at Manyana.
The final had two sections, first we had to re-hash one chapter from the book, I chose the chapter my group presented on, so that part was easy. Second, there were a couple questions but only one of them could I comfortably answer. The question was to describe the shamanistic model, unfortunately we had spent half the year talking about the shamanistic model, how am I supposed to write everything I know in an hour? I did what I could and called it good.
Social Problems in Southern Africa
This class continued to be strange. The teacher would wander off topic for half the class before rapping it all up in the last five minutes. The good thing about this is a learned a lot about the inner workings of Tswana culture and the social ills of Botswana, or at least Dr. Ntau's opinions of them. Both tests in this class were in the second half, but both were pretty easy. Simple fill in the blank, multiple choice and true or false. I have learned that these are the only kind of tests at the University of Botswana that you can really do well on, because they are objective, and it is beyond the teachers control to manipulate the grades to ensure no one does too well. (Some teachers would probably announce an 80% is the best grade they had ever given).
The final exam in this class though was an essay test so it caused a little bit of stress. Not to mention the fact that it was on the same day as Thanksgiving when I was planning the meal. I was impressed with the questions on this test as well. Both questions asked for definitions and then asked to use examples to explain how those affect real life. One question asked us to differentiate between Functionalism and Conflict theory (two social theories we learned about in class) and then to discuss which one we would use to explain social problems in Southern Africa. I answered that conflict theory should be used in South Africa because of the Apartheid, but functionalism in Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Economics of Southern Africa
In this class we submitted our "final project" a group, 15 page paper in the middle of October. I decided that it was worth so much of the grade I would put myself in position to compile and edit the paper. This allowed me to have real oversight over the paper and make it something I felt good about. On a related note I have learned that I am losing my trust in group work. I enjoy and value other people's input and incorporate it but when it comes to the final product, I like to be accountable for anything I put my name to. The second half was taught by a new teacher. He would lecture almost every class period for 5-10 minutes on how being late wasted time, while I though "well if you didn't lecture us every time less time would be wasted." The second half of the class was defined by one 4-page paper and a few lectures where the new teacher read from his own chapter in some text book, a chapter that he photo-copied and gave to each of us, so why review? UGH. The reason this is of note I suppose is because, it is different from other classes I have had hear. I attempted at all times to accept that cultural differences existed in the education system, but in this case the teaching was sub-par, especially by the standards at UB, I knew this because the Batswana in the class complained more than any of the international students.
Recently we got that second assignment back. Matt, Arnhild, and I (the other two internationals in the class) all received fifty-percents. We were confused, as we had written very different papers that each of us felt were better than the previous ones we had written, which had earned 80-percents. I met with the lecturer first and he explained to me that because I hadn't used headings the paper was ungradable. The assignment stated that we needed an introduction, discussion and conclusion. I had each but because I didn't have heading he didn't even read the paper. I was cordial and got no results, Arnhild met with him next, and Matt followed. By the time Matt met with him I was worried he was going to hurt the man. We called the routine good cop (me), crying cop (Arnhild), and bad cop (Matt), as a joke. Finally Matt found that if we wrote a letter and submitted it to the head of the department we could get the grade reviewed. Upon later meeting with the head of department she agreed with us that the grading had been sub-par and we resubmitted them for review.
Setswana
Setswana was probably my favorite class here. We raced through topics covering grammar, vocab and speaking. The instructor catered the course to our needs and abilites, removing the oral exam at the end because, "its my fault that you guys aren't ready for that." This kind of compassion and understanding of the plight of students was not typical in my other experiences as Botswana's culture generally doesn't value accountability of teachers to students, although there are strong signs that that is changing.
The final allowed us to cover the sections we knew. I had gotten a 94% on my first test and a 100% on my second test so I didn't even need to do too well on the final for an A but I still studied and felt good about the test.

Overall, my classes especially Social Problems, Setswana and Archaeology gave me interesting insight into Botswana aided by inferences and out of class research but, they peaked my interest and introduced me to interesting topics.

That's all for now, I'll probably update this post later with complete info on grades and test results.
Love to all,
Tommy