Liar liar pants on fire.

This week, Helen and I are giving our first exams for English classes. And on account of my poor planning, I’m also giving biology exams as well.  SO. Before I get into my tales of this exhausting week, there are a few things you need to know. First, Mozambique has a notoriously bad school system (hence why Peace Corps education volunteers are here).   It’s not uncommon for teachers to simply not show up to teach a class…if they do show up, they will likely just write some stuff on the board and then leave. So when they give exams to their classes, the students often go un-proctored…which obviously leaves them to their notebooks and homemade cheat sheets and their neighbors test. Secondly, any kind of forethought or planning is essentially unheard of in any aspect of Mozambican life. For example. You eat the last piece of bread on Saturday morning. Now, you know that you can NOT buy bread on Sunday, and will have to wait til Monday to buy more bread. Do you go Saturday afternoon to buy bread for Sunday? Of course you don’t.  You wake up Sunday morning (sans breakfast) and then ask your neighbors for food. SO. You have an English test tomorrow. Do you study? Absolutely not. You rip out a sheet of paper from your English notebook (just hoping that’s the information you will need) and stuff it in your pocket – and BAM you get an A.

This is where Helen and I come in. All of our students were informed a week in advance of the test. We reviewed all of the material to be covered on the test. They were specifically told that they would NOT cheat. So, Monday morning we show up to tag team these kids (ie we sat in on each others classes so that there were 4 eyes on the kids).  Walk into the classroom – “take out a sheet of paper, you have a test” (average, they know this drill). And then we flipped the switch. “All backpacks to the front of the room” (shocked faces all around) and “I want every English notebook on my desk” (panic). Then, I write 2 different tests on the board – test A and test B- and walk around the room and write A or B with a pink marker on their papers….now, their neighbor doesn’t have the same test as them (hearts are breaking).  They start working, and we move around the room to make sure everyone has clean hands/arms and that there are no “suspect” pieces of paper. 

I must admit. I’ve been very impressed with how adamant these kids are in their cheating.  I now look for any awkward sitting positions (I removed 11 notebooks that kids were sitting on) any wallet that is in plain view (cheat sheets hidden where a drivers license should be),  shirts that appear more bulky than normal (stuffed in there).  You name it, they’ve thought of it. And normally, they get away with it. 

Luckily, all but one of my classes had passing averages…and I’m pretty sure that we (they) have realized that we (they) need to study a little more