Weighing Fear against Respect in School: The Relationship Between Students and School Administration in Barbara Kimenye's Moses Series

This article seeks to explore the depictions of the relationship between students and school administration inthe selected novellas of Barbara Kimenye’smoses series. The Moses series comprises eleven novellas, all ofwhich narrating school life. Two novellas are sampled, namely Moses and Mildred and Moses in Trouble. Thedata was obtained by close reading of the two selected novellas and results indicate that the relationship ischaracterised by a mixture of fear and respect. The students respect the deputy headmaster who is qualifiedand professional but fear the headmaster who is not qualified but takes the title because of being the owner ofthe school. The relationship between the students and the rest of the staff is more of informal and personalthan formal and professional. It is concluded that students respect staff that handles them professionally. Therecommendation is that all owners private schools should employ professional experts to head the schools inorder to offer technical advice.