Archive for Education
School in Guate
Posted by: | CommentsNo, I’m not referring to government schools, I’m talking about homeschooling here in Guate. Apparently it’s an unheard of practice, with many children dropping out of school altogether, some going to government schools, and the affluent attending private school. In the US, homeschooling has become so common and homeschool students dominating so many academic contests and even achieving prominence in sports (such as Tim Tebow), it’s unusual to get a strange look when you talk about homeschooling, but whether from locals or expats here I get that quizzical, “Why would you do that?!” response when explaining that the Wife and I homeschool.
I resist the urge to say, “Because we don’t want them to grow up to be idiots”, and usually give a longer explanation that the interrogator (or probably most readers) really want. The question, naturally, presumes that government schools are the norm and that anything outside that would be unusual, even weird. As if some of the greatest men (and women) of modernity weren’t homeschooled, including some of the top names in their fields. Presumably they weren’t all social misfits either.
I don’t want my kids to be ‘average’, I don’t want them to spend their days among kids with whom the only thing they have in common is a similar birth date and whose parents care so little for their formation that they abandon them to a system which excels only at mediocrity. If my kid wants to become a car mechanic, that’s fine, but I want him to live a rich and fulfilling life where nothing beyond his desire and potential is out of his reach.
But the real point, as Butler Shaffer observes, is:
“There is nothing so disruptive to the status quo as a society of self-directed, independent-minded people both capable of and insistent on informed, analytical thought. It has been the purpose of government schools to assure that such conditions do not arise; to continue to produce a society of capable workers but who, nonetheless, have passive and contented minds.”
I’ve noticed the same here, even among the upper classes, where students do not seem to be taught critical thinking, problem solving, logic or ethics. All you libs who want government to manage our entire lives should take one look at the system which government has dominated for the last three generations-education-and ask yourself if you really want them doing to your health what they do to kids’ characters and brains.
It’s For the Children
Posted by: | CommentsLast month I got the opportunity to meet long-time reader, blogger and recent resident of Guatemala Kerry Smith. Kerry blogs at ¿Dónde están mis pantalones? and is working at La Limonada in the capital. Kerry is coming into this opportunity with her eyes wide open and has what I think is a healthy perspective.
La Limonada is a Christian organization that works to take children from the worst slums of the capital and provide them food, clothes, an education, in short, a better life. For you libs, this is real ‘hope and change’, the kind that actually makes a difference in the life of someone who is suffering. Yes, I know some of you won’t want to have anything to do with a Christian organization and believe both the kids and society would be better off had they just been aborted, but they’re here now and these people are doing good things, so….
I want to encourage you to make a tax-deductible donation to support Kerry’s work and the children at La Lemonada by going here. You can click on monthly donation, select the team member (Kerry Smith), and contribute by credit card or check.
An Update from the Field
Posted by: | CommentsIn the category of “It’s not education that matters as long as you have mandatory forced abortions”, we have an update from the Fickers:
Friday we went out to a remote village to do a mobile clinic. We have been there several times and it is a very isolated community of indigenous people with the normal needs of most communities in this area. This time however, we were stuck by the overwhelming need. Although we only saw about 60 people, almost all of the children were very sick or very malnourished or both. When we asked if there was enough food, most said no, some said that their harvest this year would be small.
Saturday, we had a pretty normal clinic day, adding only one new child to our already full feeding program. But later that evening, Cali, our friend from the Peace Corps who works in the city office came with news of the “red alert” in our area – signifying the urgent need for food. We spent much of the evening trying to figure out ways to help.
And today, I was overwhelmed with requests for food. Almost everyone we talked to said they were out of corn, some asked for corn, others asked for money, and almost all seemed resigned and without hope. These are people who live always on the edge of desperation…even in the best of times. One woman came asking for prayer for her husband who was threatening suicide. She is 8 months pregnant and told me that her husband said that if the baby was a girl, he would feed her poison as well…but if it is a boy, he will let him live. And so we prayed for Felipe, we prayed that God would open his eyes to see his value as a husband, as a father, as a child of God; that he would see the importance of his life, that he would understand and know his God and Father who longs to love him.
More on that Education Thing
Posted by: | CommentsFrom Charlotte in Guatemala:
I realized the necessity for the maps when one of the members of the mayors committee came into the room while we were painting and commented that the world map was a lovely map of Central America
What’s the Biggest Problem In Guatemala?
Posted by: | CommentsI’m closing the poll from now. For some reason the ‘archive’ function on the poll is not working, so I’ll post the screenshot here.
Be sure to check out the new poll in the column to the right, and just below the ads links to my friends.
If you have a suggestion for a poll, post it here or email me.
GuateLiving readers, on average, are smart folks...
Guest Post: Searching for Schools Before the Big Move
Posted by: | CommentsGuest Post
When we first decided on our move to Antigua, I immediately started my hunt for a decent school for my son. Decent, in that it has to have a good educational system and be bilingual. Since my son can speak English, the 30 minutes to 1 hour English classes normally offered bore him and do nothing but turn him off of English all together.
So, I figured, it’s Antigua, the place where the most expats live and certainly they want the best education for their kids. Surprise, surprise! Let’s just say, it was not at all what I expected. First of all, there isn’t a single school in the area that is American accredited. None of them work on the US system. And if I wanted that sort of an education, I’d have to ship my son on a bus every morning at 5 am and have him returned to me at 6 pm. He would spend 2 hours on the bus each way, driving on some of the most dangerous roads in Guatemala, then have a certain amount of hours at school and be returned to me tired and most likely angry as to why I would do this to him. Needless to say, we decided against this immediately.
With our standards lowered, I looked only for a bilingual school. The thing is, all schools call themselves bilingual! Yet, when you arrive to talk to them, you find out that it’s about 30 minutes to one hour instruction and not even daily. And what do they study? Colors, numbers, hello and goodbye. Exactly what I wasn’t looking for. But that’s not the only problem I was facing!
I am a working mother. Granted I work at home, but I still work. I can not take care of my child while I’m working. So I needed a school with a day care afterward. This is completely unheard of and no school of any caliber offers this. When I asked what do you do with your kids, they all answered get a maid! The downside of this, is that the maids are usually illiterate with an education less than my son.
With each new discovery, I desperately didn’t want to come here. On the last trip before the actual move, somehow I found a phone number for Colegio Bilingue. I have no idea how to this day, since they don’t have a website nor are they listed in the educational site of Antigua. But, miraculously, we got hold of it and of course arrived to this school with zero expectations since we’ve been to the ‘best’ in the area and left completely disgusted wondering what kind of a private educational system Guatemala offers.
On our tour through the school, sweet sound of native English speaking teachers filled the air and with each step we felt happier and happier. Well, almost. They still don’t offer day care and I still have to figure out what to do with my son after 1 pm, but they are 100% bilingual. Offering 2 full hours in Spanish and 2 full hours in English! The actual education that goes on was now beside the point, and I have decided on hiring a private tutor which charges $10 for 90 minutes, to supplement the void of true education. But, on a whole, I feel we have lucked out.
It is also the most expensive school in the area:
Inscription is usually $145 for 6 months, or $45 for 3 months.
One time fee of $80 for materials – we didn’t have to buy anything at all, not even a notebook.
Monthly fee – $115
Phone number: 7934-6199
All the other schools in the area are around $80 a month. Although, materials are high and so are inscription fees.
So, what does one do with a very energetic, creative, curious five year old after school? You’ll just have to stay tuned…
Bio
Marina has been living in Central America for over 7 years and her site Travel Experta is all about traveling in Central America. Marina loves to help people plan the perfect vacation to this amazing part of the world! You can sign up for her RSS feed and join the fun on her facebook fan page and follow her on Twitter at @MarinaVillatoro.
This Will Only Make Things Worse
Posted by: | CommentsThe World Bank is lending Guatemala $350 million dollars to throw away on programs like these:
…to contribute to the government’s efforts to improve macroeconomic stability, governance and transparency; to expand opportunities for vulnerable groups through a better focalization (Editor: what’s that?) of social programs and the promotion of growth and productivity to generate quality jobs.
If you told me that the World Bank was loaning money to Guatemala to provide safe drinking water for the population, I’d be all for the investment. If you said they were spending the money to put 500,000 kids through high school that otherwise couldn’t go, I’d be all for that. There are a lot of worthwhile programs I could see this money spent on that might generate a macro return for the country. But to borrow $350 million for ‘walking around money’ is insane.
When this is repaid it will cost the government twice what they borrowed, squeezing the government’s finances and putting pressure on (presumably), legitimate programs, and what will they have? Not safe drinking water, not cheap energy, not a better trained work force…just a bunch of bureaucrats with nicer cars. The World Bank has a history of making imprudent loans to poor countries, ensuring only that another generation of Guatemalans will grow up uneducated and impoverished, wage slaves to foreign banks because of the greed of their parents.
Blasphemy of the day: There Is A Reason This Is The Third World
It’s Education, Friends
Posted by: | CommentsI know this will come as a shock to many of you, but I regularly find myself in arguments with other expats in Guate. Recently these arguments have centered around how well-meaning expats are going to ‘fix’ Guatemalans by giving them money, Bibles, condoms or whatever their particular ‘mission’ is.
Things reached a crescendo with one expat when I called her a “Condom Missionary”. I thought it had a nice ring to it, and a subtle dual-meaning, but either they didn’t get the joke, didn’t like it, or were just tired of the discussion. In truth, I thought my characterization of her was rather gracious since she had already admitted to me that she would support providing locals with abortions and/or euthanasia, even if it was illegal and against the will of their spouse/family.
Don’t get me wrong, I think know I have all the answers as well. However, I don’t even pretend to be a relativist.; I don’t believe every belief system is equally good. I think some ideas are bad, and I hope they lose out to the good ideas. I don’t pretend to respect all ideas (although I try to respect all people-that’s hard enough). If your idea is a better one, I hope I’ll embrace it (unlikely, but possible). If your idea is foolish, I hope you’ll abandon your error (far too little of this going on).
Anyway, the point I was trying to make was that education is the issue here, as those who are truly dedicated to helping people already understand. Education will change their attitudes about sanitation, health, finances, and yes, even treating their women better. If you think that because you are spreading secular education rather than the religious form you are somehow better, think again, because secularism is a religion unto itself. It is a belief system that you embrace as true and hope to persuade these people to accept, because you believe they will be better off as a result.
In engaging in this activity you are implicitly saying that your system is better than theirs. It involves the same judgments as those who are engaging to save souls. This rant is in the context of both the daily encounters I have alluded to above and this story, from the Fickers:
Remember the young woman in Unilla (in the Zona Reina) that I wrote about 2 weeks ago? Juana, 5 months pregnant, had been sick for many weeks. Her husband had tried to care for her by taking her to the witchdoctors, following their instruction carefully until he finally had her walk, in her very weakened state, in the middle of the night, to their home village, where we are told she died. In her last hours, we are told, they tried to call us to take her to medical help but it was too late. I am grieved because she did not have to die, she had options…not that I have delusions about “our abilities”.
Another recent story, from PCV Emily:
There once was a European aid organization called Intervida that had millions of euros at its disposal. It came to Guatemala and sent its workers into homes to build improved wood-burning stoves and family latrines. The idea was that if the villagers possessed these technologies, their standard of living would automatically improve. There was a flurry of activity, building and painting and giving, and then the workers disappeared.A few years later, two of our Peace Corps volunteer friends were sent to live in this town now thoroughly painted with the ubiquitous blue and yellow Intervida logo. They came to teach home preventive health, like my husband and I, and met with local committees and groups to explain their project of health education. But at the end of every session, someone would inevitably ask, “OK, but what kind of projects are you going to give us?”
Forget education. The locals wanted more latrines, more stoves, something concrete from these foreigners who claimed to want to help their town. Incredibly, our friends found during home visits that many villagers asking for latrines and stoves already had both. In the worst cases, they were using latrines to store farming tools or house chickens. When they found the stove inconvenient to use, they built fires on the kitchen floor next to the stove, using the stove as a table or counter.
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