Guiding Question | geg-by-mrs-r

Guiding Question for Senegal

Part of the requirements for the TGC fellowship includes the crafting of a research question to guide our field experience.

As an English teacher who sponsors the school newspaper, and especially in today's heated media climate, I am particularly interested in investigating issues of free speech and journalism in Senegal, both within the school and in the community at large, especially Senegalese perceptions of American media and its related controversies.

In the United States, free speech is highly valued by the population as whole, yet a conservative political majority currently in power has recently and repeatedly challenged what it perceives as problematic biases among mainstream liberal media. Within the battle of conservatives and liberals in this arena, several controversies have emerged revolving around what is and is not fake news, the line between fake news and propaganda, the "alternative facts" scandal, the White House's ban on specific news sources at press conferences, and generally the problem of what media can or cannot be trusted and why.

In US schools, there are two main lenses through which to examine student journalism. First, the lens of censorship, as teachers and administrators, in part due to Supreme Court decisions such as Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, have the right to censor students for any reason deemed appropriate. In other words, within the school environment, students have had their constitutional rights to absolute freedom of speech and freedom of the press taken away. I am not, by the way, arguing that this is necessarily a bad thing, as allowing a student to publish an expose, for hypothetical example, on a teacher who had an affair with a student, would have a host of unintended consequences and not really be worth the hassle on publishing. The second lens one could examine student journalism is its value as a form of authentic writing. There is a trend in ELA pedagogy to provide students with opportunities to write for real audiences in the real world. For example, instead of writing a persuasive essay for a teacher, students could write a persuasive essay to a local legislator; or instead of writing an informative essay on the effects of global warming, a student could write a feature story for the school newspaper that would be actually be read by the author's peers and community at large. Having a real audience or a real-world purpose makes a writing task more meaningful for students, who in theory inevitably work harder on the assignment because of its authenticity.

While on my field experience, I would like to compare & contrast issues related to media, free speech, student journalism, authentic writing as an engagement strategy, and general strategies regarding writing instruction in the US to Senegal.

Within this broad topic, I have formulated several sub-questions to ask the students, teachers, and community members with whom I meet:

Are journalism and media valued parts of Senegalese life, culture, and education?
What are Senegalese students' and teachers' perceptions of American media, and what do Senegalese students and teachers think about "fake news" and "alternative facts"--if they are aware of these terms at all--and are these problems in Senegal?
What is the law about free speech and freedom of press in Senegal?
How are controversial events in the media addressed at school?
Do schools have student media (e.g. newspaper, yearbook, news show), and if not is this something they would like and prioritize acquiring?
If students have a school newspaper, how are (or aren't) their articles censored?
Are students, generally speaking, encouraged to share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions in class, either orally or via writing? What about teachers?
As an engagement strategy, do teachers provide students authentic writing tasks (e.g. letter to politician in Social Studies class; brochure for foreigner about Senegalese farming in science class, original play created for literature class that actually gets performed) for students, and is this strategy perceived as valuable or hoaky?
How do Senegalese teachers teach writing, and what kinds of writing assignments are given?
What questions about free speech and student journalism in the US do you have?

Reflection on Guiding Question

Regarding my guiding question, the only thing I learned about the issue of free speech in Senegal is that people are afraid to exercise this ability. While it is not technically against the law to speak one's mind or to protest, fear of incarceration for doing so it real. However, young girls especially, as was revealed during our meeting with the gender equality non-profit FAWE, encouraging young people, especially girls, to speak their minds is increasing and inexorably tied to gender equality efforts in Senegal.

Unfortunately, I was not able to meet with any journalists or members of the media while in Senegal. While our host teacher had attempted to make contact with such a person in Senegal, it did not work out given our otherwise extremely busy schedule.

As for school newspapers, this is completelty a foreign concept. Senegalese schools do not sponsor clubs like we do in the US.

Despite their informal restrictions on speaking their minds freely, however, students are avid consumers of media and were surprisingly engaged with current events, particularly those in the US, and much of our time visiting schools was spent answering questions students had about these.They wanted to know if everyone loves President Trump, if violence and police brutality are constant issues, and if America still has racism.

While I did not get a complete answer to my official guiding question per se, I did learn a significant amount about he education and culture of Senegal, and many of my general curiosities listed above were certainly satisfied. More importantly, however, as a result of my participation in the TGC fellowship, I have solidified my interest in pursuing an academic study of comparative and international education as a PhD student.

Some other questions that I had about the country, and which I address in one of my blog posts, are as follows:

In America, emphasis is placed on engagement/entertainment and traditional strategies such as rote memorization discouraged, but based on my travels elsewhere this seems to be unique to the US yet a growing trend worldwide. Where does Senegal stand on the importance of engagement?
What are the requirements to become a teacher? Is it competitive? What is the salary?
Are students tracked, and if so, how does tracking affect achievement?
Do Senegalese students wear uniforms?
Is the education system unique to Senegal or is it modeled after that of another country/region (e.g. British A-level system, central European gymnazium system, USA public school system, etc.)?
Do you provide SPED accommodations through the public school system?
Is there a push for technology integration, and if so, how do teachers feel about being forced to integrate it?
Do you have private schools? How to they compare to public schools?
What is the student-teacher ratio in an average classroom?
What subject areas are emphasized (e.g. in USA it's nationwide push for STEM)?
What kinds of discipline problems, if any, do you have, and how do you control such large classes?
What kind of autonomy is provided for teachers--that is, are all teachers who teach the same subject expected to teach the same content in the same way, or is there freedom given to individual teachers?
What electives are offered through the school?
How many students actually stay in Senegal for college?
What is the student-teacher relationship expectations outside of school?