It's as easy as riding a bike….. or is it?

I have a bit of an embarrassing story to tell, but one that I'm eager to share…even on the Internet.

 I didn't learn how to ride a bike without training wheels until I was about 12 years old.  At the proper age, maybe about 7, my Dad attempted to teach me how to ride a bike.  I remember exactly which part of the sidewalk I was on, our conversations, and my feeling of excitement to "finally be a big girl," while also feeling so nervous about this new learning adventure.  After all, I might get really hurt!

I got on the bike without the training wheels for the first time, and my Dad was giving me pointers for how I should ride.  I listened with care, but in the end, I only wanted one thing.  He wasn't to let go until I said I was ready.  I made him promise.  Not just once or twice, but three or four times.  When I got on that bike and headed down the sidewalk with his hand on the seat, I was confident in our little agreement.  Not but a moment later I was with my wheel stuck in that rut where the grass and sidewalk meet, and after a struggle to get out which got me nowhere, I was down and out, in the street with cut up legs and bleeding knees.

I didn't get on a bike again for about 4 years.  My parents would buy me the shiniest, nicest, pinkest bikes a girl could ever want.  But nope, I wouldn't do it.  I just became absolutely apathetic about ever learning how to ride a bike.

I have thought about this story a lot while here visiting Ghanaian schools.  I am very impressed by what I see.  I believe that the Ghanaian and American educational systems can truly learn from each other, take the best from each of their systems, and produce a country full of world class students.

In all of the schools I have visited here in Ghana, their have been a few common themes.  Each school has a motto.  It is short, concise, and woven into the daily activities and routines of the students.  They help drive each school's individual purpose, the students' learning, and their conduct on school campus.  It helps to create a unified school culture and set of expectations among all on the campus.  What I loved most was that it seems to bring everyone together.

This is important because there is quite a bit of diversity in the schools here.  I have learned that when students are ready to go to secondary school, they are assigned a school anywhere in the country by an automated system of the government.  Almost every school in Ghana is a boarding school, so these high schools don't serve their direct communities, they serve all of Ghana.  At about 14 years old, students will leave their parents' home and spend the school year living and studying at school.  In any one school, one will find students from across all regions of Ghana.  This means each student is bringing to the school: their own language according to region, celebrations and traditions of one's region, a possible traditional religion passed on through many many generations rather than a more prominent one, etc.  The motto helps create a shared culture, while opportunities are still provided to honor the diversity of the student body.

I also have noticed that the students, no matter if they are in the most elite school of Ghana or the most rural school, simply value their opportunity to learn.  They are still teens… they love to chat with a friend or sometimes doodle in a notebook, but, they hunger for opportunities to gain new knowledge, demonstrate pride in their work, and dream about what they want to be in the future, while knowing what it takes to actually get there.  This is in spite of their very little, to no, access to technology, books that are very outdated, and sometimes infrastructure that, in the United States, would resemble a school that is only weeks into construction.  This is what has impressed me most about Ghanaian schools.

I have passed by classes in which the teacher wasn't present because he or she was attending a meeting with the administrator or other such duty.  There are no substitutes…the students teach each other.  And in each and every class, this was truly occurring.  I learned that last year, for a week, teachers went on strike, and therefore, did not work.  Students still came to school.  Seniors taught the juniors, and sophomores taught the freshmen.  Yes, that's right.  Students, on their own, still came to school to learn.

In the United States, we are having a booming surge in the use of technology in the classrooms.  iPads and laptops in the hands of every student!  A cell phone in every pocket.  Teachers are being trained on incorporating these amazing 21st century tools into the classroom, and our evaluations are growing ever more rigorous.  These are all great reforms that are needed.  However, I see these students in Ghana, and think about how different a classroom might be if we took our American 21st century teaching skills to their Ghanaian educational values.  Wow!  What a classroom that would be!

Education, like learning how to bike ride, is a two way street.  Teachers must grow. We must learn new things and provide the best opportunities possible for our students.  We must inspire them in new ways and encourage them in their endeavors.  But students also must step up to the plate.  They must decide to pedal, strive to learn something new while letting teachers guide them, and risk the fall.  They must take charge of their own lives, respect themselves, and invest in their learning… not because the teacher "said so," not because "you must respect the teacher," but because he or she should see the value in him or herself, to achieve his potential, to honor oneself, to learn what are one's talents and gifts to offer the world.  A good teacher will guide that, nurture that, and hopefully inspire the student to see new paths, but it is the student who must decide he is going to get on that bike.  It is always a delicate balance of encouragement and desire.

When I was 12, I decided to get on that bike again.  I was finally ready to be grownup and join the biker crowd :)  I learned quickly and easily, and felt very proud to have accomplished something for myself.  My wish for students all over the world is to learn to love the journey of growth, of discovery, of bike riding adventures.  Teachers want to extend their hand, share their knowledge, and encourage you.  We're ready, when you are.