It is the season for teachers to be feted

There is a running joke about parents who assume that all the people who come to Kampala from the same village must know each other. Many times, I have had to disappoint such parents by revealing that I had never heard of their children even though they are known. This is what many teachers are going through right now. Parents are anxious to take their children to the ‘right’ schools and they assume all teachers can help. It does not matter that you are just a class teacher in a third world school, as long as you are a teacher, parents will not think twice about calling you to help connect them to the headmaster of their school of choice.

Sometimes, it seems pointless to explain that they have more chances of getting to those people on their own than with your help. In their desperation, they will not hesitate to suggest sending transport or airtime to facilitate the process and who are we to say no to such generosity? After all, it comes by once a year.

While it is enjoyable, at some level this is a painful experience to witness and what makes it harrowing is that it repeats itself every year, not just for parents but teachers and headmasters too. During this period, most headmasters do not want to answer calls because they are certain on the other side of the phone will be the voice of the chairperson old students’ association or a minister or bishop making demands they are not able to meet. They have been reduced to sneaking in and out of their offices to avoid the throngs of desperate parents that mob their offices daily.

Parents are so hung up on particular schools that sometimes, I wonder if the choice of schools is for the benefit of their children or their own. “What is in a name?” The great William Shakespeare wondered.  Aren’t good grades from any school equally good?  The world we live in right now is not a respecter of where you went to school but of your competencies.

Many employers do not even bother looking at the employee’s curriculum vitae but spend time on their social media platforms. It is through those spaces that they get to understand the true identity of the person they are hiring. And these things are not taught in one school or another.

 It is concerning that while we are talking of joining the global village, we are still locked into the local village mindset when it comes to education. At the risk of sounding cavalier, the fact is, your child’s education background will take them only so far. For them to be truly influential citizens requires competencies that cannot be taught anywhere. One of the major competences that determine how successful we are is our attitude. Take a moment to think of the people that control your world, how many of them went to fancy schools? However, there is one thing you know about them; their great attitude. Your attitude is the force that shapes your reality and propels you forward.

So, as you struggle to get your child enrolled in a school, let it be one that teaches students how to be positive, embrace challenges and radiate the kind of energy that makes people want to be around them. If you know of such a place, then you have a right to mob the headmaster’s office. Otherwise, experience and history show that a school, however good, is powerless to influence the outcome of a person’s future. Rather, it is the student who takes advantage of the prevailing opportunities to form a meaningful life for themselves.

There are many influential people who would not name the different parts of the housefly even at the point of losing their lives but are doing well, while those capable of rewriting the Quixote can hardly keep skin and bone together.

The sooner we learn the above, the sooner we will stop getting so worked about schools. I believe at that time we shall calm down and get to the real purpose of education; to turn a blank mind into an open mind and this is a task that with diligence, you too can accomplish on your own.