Democracy...

I am very glad to be in the classroom and teaching, it is, however, very differnt here than in the US. Not better or worse, but just different. In the Government class that I am teaching we have started talking a lot about the election in Ghana. The students seem very knowledgeable (at least in comparison to me) and I have been genuinely impressed. I have also talked about the election in the US and the students know about both the canidates and seem pretty informed about our democratic system. Ghana is one of the few African countries that is a democracy and has a history (all be it short) of peaceful elections. In discussion I asked them, if they were of eligible age, would they vote. I was shocked when more than two-thirds of the students told me very honestly: "No". They had a myriad of differnt reasons, but they all ended with; "so that is why I will not vote". I tried to enphasize the importance of participation in a democratic society, but I am not sure if I got my message across or not (I had anticipated teaching that). I guess I expected that democratice participation would be a honor of sorts here, maybe even more than it is precieved in the US. It goes to show what expectations in Africa, are out the window. I hope to be able to teach these students, but as of right now, I am the one going to school and learning from them.