Bible Class

I apologize for the boring blog title... but that's what this entry is about - my Bible classes! I mentioned this in an earlier post, and know that I've had at least one person in suspense, so mission accomplished.

When we applied for the position to teach at Ricks, we had no idea what we would be asked to teach. So when we received our assignments, I was given junior high math (which sort of made sense as I'd been teaching statistics at Wake), and Bible. I imagine I was assigned to teach Bible because I told them I majored in religion in college? But for the longest time, I knew nothing beyond, "you're teaching 9th grade Bible." I often wondered what it would mean to teach Bible. Maybe Bible stories, learning characters, etc.? Maybe history of the Bible? Applications from the Bible for daily living? I was somewhat nervous about this Bible assignment because, 1) I had no idea what I would be doing, 2) I did major in religion, but I'm no Bible scholar, and 3) there are some things that people might want me to teach in "Bible class" that I wouldn't be comfortable teaching.

Finally, after being in Liberia a few days, I met with Rev. Teeba, the head of the religion department. Our meeting only lasted about 5 minutes, and I walked away with two books that were to serve as my curriculum guide for the year: "Choose Life" and "Valuing Sexuality." Despite the implications in the US of the first book's title, it is not actually a book about abortion.

Choose life is about HIV/AIDS. That is what I am teaching first semester! Although I was initially skeptical about spending my year in Bible class talking about sex with 9th graders (just think on that for a moment... haha), I became more excited as I looked further into the content of the books. I won't bore you with a rundown of my lesson plans for the year, but here's the basic gist: Start out talking about "being yourself" and being confident in who you are; building relationships of all kinds and having people in your life you can talk to and communicate with; learning about HIV/AIDS, how it's spread, and ways the students can reduce their risk of contracting HIV.

This is certainly NOT what I expected to be doing in Bible class... but I am very excited nonetheless. Although AIDS is not as common in Liberia as it is in some other Sub-Saharan African nations, it is unarguably a growing issue. From what I gather, it seems that some people don't really think AIDS is real, or think it's something that "other people" get, not people like them. On my first day of class, I had all my students fill out index cards with some information about themselves on it. In Bible class, I asked them to tell me whether they personally knew someone who had HIV/AIDS. I'm not sure why, but many students laughed when I told them this question. I think it's evidence of the stigma surrounding AIDS here. However, about half my students said they did know someone with AIDS.

I am also, strangely enough, looking forward to talking more specifically about valuing sexuality next term. The culture surrounding sex here can not be described adequately in a few lines of a blog; suffice it to say that the students - particularly the girls - need to know that they don't have to have sex to get ahead. They need to know that they should not have to have sex to get a job, or just because someone wants to have sex with them. The boys need to know that sex isn't something they have a right to get whenever they want it. I'd love to say that my sweet ninth graders will hear this as a preventative message, but that would be naive. Many girls become sexually active at a very early age here - often just after puberty, and not always by their own choice.

In sum, 9th grade Bible class with Ms. Wegman is very different from the students' previous Bible classes (this is the first year they're doing the HIV/AIDS curriculum). I also have a different teaching style than the students are used to. Although they expect me to write on the board the things I want them to be able to repeat back to me, I rarely pick up a peice of chalk. I want them to discuss. I want them to express their opinions in class. And above all I want them to continue to think about these issues on their own outside of the classroom. I don't plan on telling them any answers, or specific guidelines about what's right or wrong. And no, I won't answer the question, "how far is too far?". Because it doesn't matter what I say. And it doesn't really matter if I tell them what I personally think the Bible says. It matters what they really believe. It matters how they process this, how they relate to it, and how they think it effects their own lives. So I hope this semester of Bible will be challenging for them, as they think about the intersection in their lives of their faith and some very real and very tough issues they must face each day.