measurements

I wonder if it is the same in classrooms at home…we can’t keep pencils sharpened (could be bad sharpeners as well)…everything has bite marks on it because the kids can’t keep things out of their mouths…and anything sent home comes back completely crumpled and usually very dirty. The rulers we have at school are no longer straight…bends cracks and teeth marks…and of course once again the curriculum is done in American…inches where as the rest of the world is done in centimeters…but that isn’t too tough as lots of our rulers come in both…I don’t think it hurts to learn them both (maybe because that is what I did) but I’ve heard from the other teachers that parents don’t get why we are teaching in inches…that is what the worksheets are asking for…evidently not a good reason…but the same with the money—though that we cross out and write in tambalas (divisions of the kwacha though they aren’t used anymore)…