Do they WHAT?!?

So you know how you should never say 'never'? Well, I NEVER thought I would hear what I heard today.

Today, in my matric class (A2 level for those in the UK; age 18 for those in the US since), we're doing revision for their exams, which start next week. (Yeah, our school do the mid-year exams REALLY early... for lots of good academic reasons, including that the annual play production rehearsals shouldn't clash with exams.) We were comparing and contrasting mitosis (ordinary cell division) and meiosis (cell division to produce sex cells - sperm and eggs).

We finished with about 10 minutes to spare, so we started chatting just generally about sex related stuff - how to ensure that when you fall pregnant you get a boy or a girl; when girls ovulate in their cycle; when a boys sperm cells are most healthy... you know - THAT kind of thing.

I'd rather the kids asked me all their sex related questions rather than get misinformation from their friends, so I alway try to make time for these sorts of questions. I also try really hard to take their questions seriously; not embarrass them by getting flustered or shocked; and give them a biologically correct answer that doesn't side-step the real question, but is phrased in a language they can grasp, and that manages to be dignified at the same time. I want to foster the kind of atmosphere where the kids feel free to ask me ANYTHING. (I mean, some kids would rather DIE than ask their parents, so who else are they gonna ask?)

Well, today I nearly, nearly burst out laughing - both from shock and disbelief! I definitely cracked a huge smile before I realised and stopped myself.

In matric ... MATRIC... a boy asks me the following:

"Ma'am, if a guy has sex with a dog, will the dog fall pregnant with puppies?"

Slaan my dood met 'n nat vis! (literally, Hit me with a wet fish till I die)

What kind of education have these kids been getting that a kid in matric STILL thinks this can happen?!?! What kind of old wives' tales has he been listening to? What kind of literature is he reading? How is it possible that an 18yr old can have this kind of question?

Needless to say, the rest of the class fell about laughing, so in addition to having to treat his question with dignity, I also had to try to get the rest of the class to treat it with dignity... I'm not sure which was harder! Fortunately (I say fortunately, but actually it's even more tragic!), someone else in the class, who laughed loudest and longest, also thought that this was possible. When I gave them the explanation of why it was physically impossible for that to happen, this kid replied - "Oh, I also wondered about that. I wasn't sure either." At which point, the class fell about laughing again.

I had had some hope of this class (they are the bottom set of 4) passing their final exams this year. Now I have none.

However, the lesson I learnt today is that, after 4 months, this class is finally starting to trust me enough to ask the questions they don't dare ask anywhere else, and that makes me very, very pleased and proud. I'm doing my job well, and that means that even this bunch of kids who know nothing, who will probably all fail at the end of the year, are going to walk away with some really important biological questions answered. At least when they leave my class they will have some understanding of how their bodies work on the most basic, and important, level. Just maybe their time in my class this year will not have been a complete waste of time.

Maybe, just maybe, that means that I will have changed a life - stopped someone from smoking, or falling pregnant, or getting HIV - or maybe I will have helped someone to get the child they want, or have the knowledge to take care of themselves properly while pregnant, or inspired someone to become a person others can trust, someone who listens, someone who cares. THAT is why I teach. THAT is why I love Biology. Forget all this statistics and geography nonsense I have to teach nowadays in 'Life Sciences'. I just want to teach the Biology stuff, because THAT's the stuff that changes lives.

I LOVE my job!