Books or Training

The age-old question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” comes to mind when planning this trip to Liberia.  My question, however, is “What is more important, books or training?” On my first trip back to Liberia in 2009 I visited several schools in the Lower Virginia area.  What struck me first and most was the lack of books.  There were no books in the schools.  I asked and the response was always that there were very few books in the country.  Even at the college level, it was difficult to get a textbook for any course.  No wonder literacy rates were so low.

How can students learn how to read if they have nothing to read?  So I had a book drive and collected 3,000 books for a library.  The school district I work at donated thousands of reading and literature textbooks.  In 2010 we set up two school libraries and gave basic training in library science and reading instruction.  In 2011 we set up another 5 school libraries and gave even more in depth training.  This year we are sending more books and setting up one more library.

With each trip, however, I realize that the real need is for teacher training.  If you have never had books in your life – not in school or at home – and you have never had a book to use to teach your students, then the concept of using books is a very foreign concept indeed.  Liberian teachers’ lives are full.  They don’t have time set aside for reading.  They are used to teaching a certain way and to add more instruction to their full day is difficult.  A mindset shift needs to occur.  A shift from teacher centered instruction to learner centered instruction needs to occur in order for the books to be used and literacy rates to improve.  Just training reading teachers is not going to bring about this change.  The change needs to happen from the top all the way through the faculty at each school. 

This is our goal this year.  The schools have the books.  Now they need training.  This year we have a team of eight educators going to Liberia to teach the Liberian educators how to turn their schools around and become reading communities.  We have sessions on Professionalism, Ethics, Administration Teaming, Wetlands and Service Projects, Guided Reading and Critical Thinking.  Which is more important? Books or training?  They are both equally important. Without books a person cannot become fully literate, but without training the books just sit on shelves and never get used.