A Teaching High

Yesterday I was blessed with a very rewarding and encouraging moment. Over the past month I have assigned a small research paper (of sorts) to my higher level students. I have been endlessly talking about not copying, outlines, NOT copying, essay structure, not COPYING, thesis statements and NOT COPYING. I did it all in small steps and I corrected a full draft a couple weeks ago. I then gave them a break of two weeks between that and their final draft, which is due next Monday. I told them that if they wanted me to read it again in the meantime for extra help I would be very willing to help them. Last night I read over the paper of the one girl who took me up on that.

And I was completely floored. I've been working with this girl throughout the process. She chose a topic that seemed straightforward, but starting running into some problems. "Teacher, I have learned that fertilizer use in Cambodia has declined in recent years, but rice production has increased, is this strange?" Yes, this is strange. I looked and found the same information. I tried to advise her as best I could and told her I was more concerned about the paper than the content...blah,blah,blah. When she turned in her rough draft I could see that she was putting in some good information, but it didn't have cohesion. The paper I read last night was an amazing piece of work that made complete sense to me and answered the confusion in a structured and logical way. I made some grammatical marks and will talk with her this morning about two small points that need clarification, but I am fully confident that when she turns it in to me again on Monday she will have a paper that could legitimately be turned in to any college in the U.S.

My joy in this situation is not that I taught her everything she knows, because she came in with a great deal of ability. Rather I am glad that she had a level of ability and motivation that allowed me to really help her in a meaningful way. She is at the level to understand what I am saying and I am at the level where I can understand exactly what she needs to fix. And now her paper is amazing. I am so proud of the work she has put into it, and glad that I was able to help her in a substantial way.

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

This morning I went with a group of MCC staff to witness part of the justice proceedings for the Khmer Rogue crimes. The first and only defendant thus far is Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch. He worked as the head of the S-21 prison which incarcerated, tortured and killed more than 15,000 people. Since he was found and captured in the late 90s he has cooperated with authorities and what I saw today showed me how aware he is of his crimes. When asked about the process of issuing orders for torture Duch was quick to admit that he carried out training and supervision. I was interesting also to note the things that he described as outside the guidelines of the allowed torture, things done without his knowledge. He also approved lists of prisoners who were taken outside the city and killed in the now famous "Killing Fields." It was both powerful and somewhat technical testimony. At times the questions dragged on about what kind of food he ate and with whom. But one of the most disturbing things was that when either the prosecutor or Duch were referring to people who were executed they used the word "smash." The Khmer word is very specific to the action, and the English translation was no less brutal.

This trial has been carrying on for several weeks now, maybe months, and does not seem to be ending soon. After five years of complete terror, decades of covert fears, and a seeming eternity of waiting and promises, the Cambodians are now faced with a court proceeding dogged by allegations of corruption, stalls amounting to years, and testimony that, while true, passes off much of the blame to higher level officials who are nowhere to be found.