As part of sewing school I have been talking about how important math and measure really are in order to succeed. This year I even added two weeks of math and measure to the front end of the program to help each lady understand what would be needed in our program. If they didn't pass math they could not continue in our program. Sadly, we had four ladies who couldn't continue in our program.
Over the past few weeks as I graded the different paper projects, I began to notice we had a problem (still). Things had been coming across my desk that seemed odd and would never fit a body. As I made mental notes I had an idea of who was "getting it" and who was not! I was thinking back to the first two weeks when the ladies said things like, we understand, we just want to sew! You are wasting our time with all of this math stuff.
Well Thursday the rubber met the road in sewing school. Now it was clear to everyone just who understood math and measure and who did not! It was painful as they began to laugh at each other. I had been trying to protect them, but part of grading the work they do is to see if it really fits their body.
I understand that some people are just not good at sewing and they will never be good at it. It's just not who they are. But on the flip side, I have seen many ladies who can memorize things perfectly, yet have no practial abiltiy to apply what they have learned. It is a sad fact to see the gaps within a culture that have come generation after generation of people who don't have the ability to process and reason due to having such a poor base line because sickness and poor nutrition.
With all the success that our ladies have making bags, you can see how meaningful it really is when they push through everything that stands in their way. It isn't just about math and measure. We are teaching life skills that will change their lives forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment