A Thrilling Final Exam

I recently gave my senior one (7^th grade) students their final English exam for the second term.  The final question read as follows:  “Write a paragraph of at least 6 sentences about a famous person.  Make sure your subjects and verbs agree and that you punctuate your sentences correctly.”  I think you will be amused by the variety of the list and the frequency of certain famous people.  Following is the list of all people who were written about more than once (along with the number of times they were mentioned):

Michael Jackson 23

Nelson Mandela 23

Gisa Fred Rwigema 18

Famous People in general 13

Off topic 11

Gandhi 8

Paul Kagame 5

Bob Marley 4

Barack Obama 4

Chris Brown 3

Jesus 3

Martin Luther King 3

King Mutara III Rudahigwa 2

Ben Carson 2

Abe Lincoln 2

Christiano Ronaldo 2

Neil Armstrong 2

Some other notable people I read about include 2Pac, Miley Cyrus, Oprah, President George W. Bush, Swarzenegar Anord, Jesse Jackson, Roald Dahl, and Black Obama (not to be confused with Barack Obama).

Clearly, however, the most fascinating paragraphs centered around the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson (or if you prefer Mickel Jackson, Meckeal Jackson, or my personal favorite:  Mick Jason).  My students have baffled me.  I’m quite confused about where he was born.  Was it Los Angeles?  Chicago?  South Africa?  Kenya?  And when was he born?  1953? 1958? 1954? 1959?  And his death date?  Was it 2008?  10 January 2010?  25/05/2009? June 25, 2009?  Most perplexing, however, is the cause of his death.  I always thought it had something to do with a drug overdose, but maybe it was nose cancer after all.  Or a stroke.  Or skin cancer.  Or maybe he was poisoned. 

Here are some of my favorite sentences from the paragraphs:

“In America there was a good dancer called MICHAEL Jackson in a small town called CHICAGO.”

“Before he was born with a long nose then they cut it off and replaced it with a plastic nose.”

“When the machine transformed him, it didn’t transform his nose.  Then they gave him another nose after he got nose cancer.”

“Although he was very handsome, he had blood cancer.”

“Another thing is that he is the first black who became a white man.”

“And he died in 2009 of poisoning him but they don’t know they are still searching and they said that his maid was a Rwandan.”

“But some people said that he is alive and others said that he died.”

I do not share this with you to mock my students but to offer some insight into life outside of the good ol’ ethnocentric US of A.

Obviously, the American influence in Rwanda is enormous.  I’ve been given the opportunity to be the only picture of the US that many of these students will ever have outside of pop culture.  What pressure!  I can only hope that I can help diminish some misconceptions.

Another lesson I think we can learn is the importance of filtering the information that constantly bombards us.  You can’t believe everything you hear!  Sometimes your brain is a good enough filter, but sometimes it’s not.  When in doubt, look it up!  We’ve been blessed (and arguably cursed) to have the worldwide web at our fingertips nearly 24/7.  And while we must be careful utilizing it, it can be a valuable resource for deciphering the truth from the lies that we regularly face. 

One thing I’ve learned since moving to Rwanda six months ago is the universality of practically everything.  Human nature is human nature everywhere.  Rwandans are just as obsessed with juicy gossip as their American counterparts.  It don’t matter if you’re black or white.  And stories get twisted as they are passed from person to person causing gross misunderstandings that can get pretty ugly.  Chances are, Michael Jackson misconceptions are not going to cause much strife around these parts, but if I do recall, some terrible things have happened here (and everywhere else in the world) because of “mere” misunderstandings.

Finally, notice, if you will, that tied with Michael Jackson at the top of that list is Nelson Mandela.  These kids admire courage, and that is encouraging.  In a land where courage will take you further than musical talent, I can only hope that my students will start with the man in the mirror to embrace the positive traits of their so-called heroes and heal the world, to make it a better place!