The Dark Child (The African Child) Lesson Plan

Describe Camara’s experience in school as a younger boy. Do you think the way the students were treated was fair? Why or why not?

Students should mention the school’s strictness (punishing students even for imperfect penmanship). Camara even describes feeling fearful of going up to the blackboard, as the punishment for being imperfect was harsh, including manual labor duties that should seem to readers far beyond what these kids should have been made to do (cleaning a large schoolyard full of guava leaves with their bare hands, herding cattle). They should also describe how the director and teachers of the school allowed the older boys to beat up and steal from the...