I expected history to permeate the city of Maastricht. Roman roads, ruins, and relics stud the landscape. Medieval walls outline the city center and cathedrals anchor every other corner of the cobbled streets. The Helpoort, the gate through which the plague-ridden were expelled, is on my way to the university. The Second World War left indelible marks as well.
More than eight thousand US soldiers are buried under white markers ranked through the greensward of the American Cemetery at Margraten, "In memory of the valor and sacrifices which hallow this soil".
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and unfolded a series of research findings on educational priorities that remind me of why I do what I do: content relevance, community belonging, personal experience, and how these intertwine with students, teachers, and schools.
Research continues to support experiential, inquiry, and problem-based learning as the best ways to help students develop skills and engage in their own education. For me, hearing about the interdisciplinary work researchers are conducting worldwide is an affirmation of my sometimes non-traditional, multi-modal, thematic, student-centered approach to classroom teaching.
The teacher drew from their knowledge about how hormones make you feel and how this connects to sex, and the class nodded along, already informed. A reflective writing exercise triggered the deeper discussion. Prompted with a set of questions on “tenderness” students recalled and described experiences when they felt whole, complete, comfortable, and good; several shared their thoughts with the class and the teacher casually integrated those good feelings with the context for sexual relations with someone you love.
This approach did not depart from the biology, but was explicitly connected and continued to intertwine throughout the subjects of menstruation, virginity, intercourse, pregnancy, sexual diversity, contraception, disease prevention, love, and the dangers of pornography—the discussion guided by questions and comments from the students themselves. Rather than being unaware of these topics, students had questions and partial understandings from their daily exposure to social interactions, social media, and entertainment, and they welcomed the chance for clarity. Victorine, a seasoned classroom teacher and compassionate educator, responded in frank and informational terms that defused embarrassment, reassured students, and encouraged thoughtful consideration of self and others. Her matter-of-fact responses and respect for her students generated eager conversation among the class, and a visible sense of understanding and even relief in the students. The condom demonstration, using a broomstick, was a highlight, with the practical Ms. van Pelt pointing out a few key points: why to use a condom, unrolling it properly, disposal, and talking about condom use with a partner. SGR/Exellius offers several educational routes, and these students may or may not receive further sex ed in school, depending on which path they choose. In another year, many of the them will move into vocational programs and they may finish school at sixteen. Victorine thinks it’s important that they have at least this much credible information at this stage in their development. The Ministry of Education and the Municipal Health Services agree. The Protestant Reformation didn’t make it to the southern Netherlands, and while the populace is largely secular in practice, they adhere to the rich traditions of Karnaval. Maastricht, the main city in Limburg, attracts people from all over and the inhabitants have a spectacularly organized but massive and chaotic party. It’s the best time of the year, and everyone celebrates. The “tipsy marching bands” practice on the streets for days ahead and flags, banners, bunting, streamers and lights in red, yellow, and greens bedeck all buildings and squares. Pop-up carnival stores offer costumes, makeup, wigs, masks, accessories, coats, gloves, and scarves so you can get what you need for your costume. This is very serious.
There’s beer every ten feet, music every twenty. It goes on for three days, with the pre-game preparations and a few days of recovery for all. Shops are all closed and restaurants clear the floors for packed standing room, but most of the action is outside, whatever the weather. Fur coats are popular. EVERYONE joins in the fun. A few parade pictures below are the tip of the iceberg. Bread, morning, noon and night. In the bakery downstairs, the breakfast menu offers rolls, croissants, or eggs with bread. Would you like cheese? Old or young? Butter, of course. And a smallish cup of coffee with coffiemelk because you really have no choice. The exact composition of said item in unknown but all you can have for a whitener. Plenty of sugar, though. And cute little spoons.
The bread is whole food, made from scratch with milled local spelt, raised on spent mash from a provincial brewery. A team of laughing bakers, trusting the process, produces wholesome, toothsome loaves in rounds and longs, fit for any purpose. I can live on it alone, but enjoy trying a new cheese to go along with it whenever I can. So morning, coffee, bread. On the train, cheese sandwiched between two brown slices, out of hand, is a widespread lunch choice. A “tosti” for a late-afternoon snack is a variation of grilled cheese sandwich, maybe with tomato, or bacon, or avocado. Really bread anytime, and it’s the right move. Since Dutch food is basically bread, dinner is a good time to try the ethnic restaurants that are everywhere; so far I haven’t gone wrong with Indian, African, Italian, French, Spanish. Dessert? A giant waffle. It’s a bread culture. Cartesuis Lyceum, Amsterdam, visit Feb 5 2018 . Hosted by Gee van Duin, a seasoned biology teacher. The population includes students of Dutch heritage and those with migration backgrounds, ages 12-18, who pursue two or three different courses of study according to Dutch educational practice. All take general biology courses and some continue that study.
Instead of a separate health class that includes sex ed, the Dutch national goals consider reproduction and sexuality part of the standard biology curriculum. As each school is autonomous, teachers select or design the course materials as they see fit; Silke, a Cartesius biology teacher, incorporates elements of the popular Long Live Love program and other resources into her own curriculum to meet the needs of her students. On the day of my visit to a Level 3 biology class, the 24 students shook hands with the teacher as they entered and found their seats with friends of the same gender. According to the teacher, about half were “from Amsterdam” and half had “migration backgrounds.” Three of the girls wore hijabs with their jeans, suggesting conservative family values at home. This was the setting for an introductory video clip on consent, then small group discussions prompted by a set of cards with various scenarios. The teacher also introduced the “Love Box”— and invited students to write anonymous questions throughout the period and place them in the box to be answered later. The video, Consent, Simple Like Tea, uses a running metaphor to normalize the idea of sexual consent as akin to the general consideration we all expect of each other, rather than a special rule for sex. The students seemed familiar with the concept, so the teacher moved on to explain the next activity. I helped distribute cards and joined a cluster of girls to look through the cards. They took turns reading out a scenario, then answering for themselves, with the others either agreeing or adding a different perspective. Questions included subjects like consent, STDs, relationships, safe sex, condoms, LGBTQ+ issues. The girls, two with covered heads, answered readily, translating from Dutch to English for me, and explaining their thinking when they wanted to. Of all the dozen or more questions we reviewed together, the most provocative asked “Is it okay to date someone of a different race or ethnic group from you?” And “What if your parents wanted you to break up with someone?”— questions that have particular cultural resonance in Amsterdam and at Cartesius Lyceum. While other questions were more directly about sex, the students answered them matter-of-factly and moved on, not finding them worth discussion. I raised this observation afterwards — noting that the girls from conservative Muslim families were unabashed and knowledgeable about sexual information, yet committed to marriage before sex and respecting their values of their families. Silke explained that Muslim families in the school want the girls, and boys, to have the information they learn in school, but to make their decisions based on their family values. Every year, Silke and Gee both plan a lesson on how to use a condom. Each student has the opportunity to practice on a model penis, with guidance from the teacher as needed to make sure the condom is used properly, and even gets a condom to take with them. They were incredulous that NC has legislation prohibiting the distribution of condoms at schools, and appalled that students were not taught how to use a condom. They asked “How else would they know how to do it properly when the time comes?” That boys and girls were familiar with condom use was a normal expectation for the classroom and a public health responsibility. I interviewed the principal about the school culture and the administrative perspective on sex ed, and asked what kind of feedback she got from parents about the sex ed curriculum. No parent had ever contacted her about it. She expressed that if a parent had brought such a concern, that she would consider it the prerogative of the teacher as an education professional to determine course content, as in any subject. She found it improbable that a parent would bring a concern to her, as the parents value the education their children receive and want them to be informed; she found it unusual that I might think she had any involvement in the biology curriculum, as that is the purview of teachers. An interesting contrast to my world, where any given week I will learn of a school that has come under fire, and decided (or been forced) to scale back the scope of sex ed topics due to parent concern. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. From the website of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Walking around has been a great way to in crease understanding of the city of Maastricht and a culture different from and reminiscent of my own. The weather has been seasonable—cold and rainy, with short days—so my snapshots don’t do the place justice. There’s a lot to look at! I walked to the grocery store and collected a few images for my fans. Can’t figure out how to include captions right now, but I’ll point out that my apartment is above the bakery that’s adjacent to this mill that is way fancier than any American mill I have ever see. Check out the gilded stook of grain embellishing the gable. Koestraat (Cow Street) is around the corner. Even the sidewalks are nice. There are small memorials to Jewish citizens who perished in the Holocaust throughout the city. The largely Catholic populace is preparing for Karnaval next week, so flags and decorations and carnival shops are everywhere. The way it was explained to me is that they go crazy and party for a week “because, you know, Lent.”
Maastricht University has several libraries, with a large and convenient one just a few minutes away "by feet" from my apartment. Not "by fiets,"which means bicycle--I can walk everywhere as the city is compact and easy to navigate. No long distances required. Everyone else rode their bikes!
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AuthorAdrienne Berg received a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching to study at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Inspired by the high school students she works with, she is researching ways to improve sex education in her community, and to de-stigmatize conversations on related topics to support teens. Archives
April 2018
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