{"id":422,"date":"2013-06-07T04:10:28","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T04:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/?p=422"},"modified":"2013-06-07T04:10:28","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T04:10:28","slug":"questions-discuss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/questions-discuss\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions. Discuss."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The_Mountain_School_Cover_thumbnail<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Below are a dozen prods. Use them to further consider\u00a0what is in\u00a0The Mountain School.<\/em>\u00a0Share with\u00a0a friend, a book club, a group of students.<\/p>\n

1. If judged through most news stories, we get the impression that Africa is two things: a romantic land of wild animals, and a desperate place of war and poverty. What is the Africa you experience through The Mountain School<\/em>?<\/p>\n

2. Alder predicts early on that his proficiency in the local language, Sesotho, will determine his enjoyment of life in T\u0161oeneng. So he dedicates himself to learning it, despite having only a single, old grammar book. Was it nevertheless worth his time and effort? Is learning the local language the duty of migrants?<\/p>\n

3. Learning to live a simple, rural Basotho life proves very satisfying to Alder, and yet many Basotho want a more urban, Western life. Is this just a \u201cgrass is always greener\u201d scenario? Or is it something else?<\/p>\n

4. Alder thinks of T\u0161oeneng and America as being so different that they feel like separate, parallel worlds. Why? Does this make you suspect that globalization is not as far-reaching as some would have us believe?<\/p>\n

5. Recall the kidnapping of Mot\u0161ilisi. Do you agree with Alder\u2019s approach of not wanting to impose on the runnings of the local culture? When should one intervene while living in a new place?<\/p>\n

6. Throughout The Mountain School<\/em> we see changes in the village, school, and people: the road is paved the year Alder arrives; the school puts up a fence and a new hostel building the year after that; most teachers have cell phones by 2006. What developments do you think might have occurred since then?<\/p>\n

7. The development projects of Americans and other foreigners in Lesotho are sometimes misguided. How? Can outsiders help Basotho?<\/p>\n

8. Tholang and Makhala do household chores for \u201cSir Greg,\u201d as Basotho youth are taught to always serve their elders. Is it different in your family or community? Is that good or bad?<\/p>\n

9. In the end, Alder has a feeling of belonging and not belonging at the same time. Why doesn\u2019t he totally belong? Do you think an outsider could ever fully fit into this place?<\/p>\n

10. Also in the final section of the book, Alder says that he at last feels a certain maturity, like he has passed through a second youth in Lesotho. How do you think this might affect him upon his return to America? Will any of his new skills translate to life there?<\/p>\n

11. What does the title of the book, The Mountain School<\/em>, refer to?<\/p>\n

12. What do you think Alder\u2019s goals were in writing this book? Is there a main message he\u2019d like the reader to take from it?<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE<\/a> for a downloadable version of these questions.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>by <\/span>\"feather\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Below are a dozen prods. Use them to further consider\u00a0what is in\u00a0The Mountain School.\u00a0Share with\u00a0a friend, a book club, a group of students. 1. If judged through most news stories, we get the impression that Africa is two things: a romantic land of wild animals, and a desperate place of war and poverty. What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8huLi-6O","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":536,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/south-africa-postal-workers-strike\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":0},"title":"South Africa postal workers strike","author":"Greg Alder","date":"November 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Never imagined I'd be affected by one of the many strikes that are constantly happening in South Africa, but now a box of my books (\"The Mountain School\") are in limbo in a warehouse somewhere, part of the \"mountain of mail\" that the South African Post Office says they're sitting\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":271,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/lesotho-and-the-chinese\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":1},"title":"Lesotho and the Chinese","author":"Greg Alder","date":"February 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In\u00a0The Mountain School\u00a0I told the story of visiting a Chinese-owned shop in a neighboring village called Kolo, where a Mosotho woman got into an argument with the Chinese cashier. Chinese are really the only immigrants in Lesotho and, if I could sum up, I'd say the Basotho grudgingly patronize Chinese\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":411,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-at-the-morija-museum-store\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":2},"title":"The Mountain School at the Morija Museum Store","author":"Greg Alder","date":"May 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been a long and winding road for The Mountain School to get back home, but it has finally landed back in Lesotho at the Museum Store in Morija. This is the store attached to the country's only real museum, and Morija is the town where the country's first\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/the-mountain-school-at-the-morija-museum-store\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":614,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/lesotho-as-an-enclave\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":3},"title":"Lesotho as an enclave","author":"Greg Alder","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There aren't many countries which are entirely surrounded by a single\u00a0other country, as Lesotho is entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. There's also San Marino within Italy, and then there's Vatican City within Italy too. That's it. Three in the whole world. Nancy Wright teaches political science at\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/lesotho-as-an-enclave\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":442,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":4},"title":"Book Reviews","author":"Greg Alder","date":"August 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've heard of writers who don't read reviews of their books. I understand the temptation to avoid being criticized, but I see \"The Mountain School\" as a conversation starter, just the first word in a dialogue, and so for me to ignore a review would be like refusing to participate\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/book-reviews\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/what-is-a-bono\/","url_meta":{"origin":422,"position":5},"title":"What is a Bono?","author":"Greg Alder","date":"April 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It caught my eye as it ran across the CNN ticker: \"Madonna, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, and Bono are some of the celebs pledging to 'save Africa.' But does Africa want them?\" I was on my way to teach a class, so as I continued down the hall I thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/what-is-a-bono\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}