Wherever you go, go with all your heart - Confucious
It's time to go home. After returning to Bogota and spending a few meaningful afternoons processing our field experiences and discussing our guiding questions and how we are going to bring our experiences back into our schools and communities, after visiting a few more sites, eating a few more wonderful meals and doing just a BIT more shopping, it's time to go home. I am not sure I'm ready to go. I have procrastinated organizing my gear and packing my bags, and am very emotional. I have spent the past few days holding back tears. I have incredibly mixed emotions. I am eager to see my husband and family, to be back in Ludington and out on my boat, and to share my experiences with my tribe of friends. I want a real Diet Coke. But, I want to take all of it and bring it back to Colombia, or bring Colombia back to me. In three weeks, I could *almost* feel myself begin to feel what it was like to be Colombian. I think that I relate well to this culture. The people here are emotive, live in the moment and seem happier with what they have. A great deal of emphasis is placed on relationships and family connections, and there is a spirit of optimism in the people here. I'm very much like that. There are cultural differences for sure, and there are very real difficulties with life here, as I've mentioned in previous blog posts; however, year after year, Colombians are ranked as one of the happiest, if not the happiest people in the world. A country can only be as strong as its people. As a profoundly happy and grateful woman, I believe that I found the beautiful, resilient, gracious and inquisitive people here to be true nourishment for my soul. I felt at home in Colombia, when in other parts of the world and throughout every part of my life, I've often felt out of place. I know one thing for certain. This will not be my last trip to Colombia. I will be back soon. Colombia, siempre te llevo en mi corazon.
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I cannot finish this blog without making at least one post about the wonderful food in Colombia. Colombians are very proud of their cuisine, and love to show it off. We were constantly being coaxed into trying the very BEST empanadas, the FAVORITE buneulos, the FINEST carnes. I wanted to try everything! It was wonderful - with one exception. I had a terrible cold and allowed the waiter, with my limited Spanish skills, talk me into a bowl of mondongo. He insisted it would improve my cold. It was tripe soup. Never again! I've come to the conclusion that teachers will find other teachers pretty much anywhere one goes. I read an article once that claimed that most teachers are highly effective, because it's such a demanding profession, that it essentially self-selects. Most ineffective educators leave the profession before they have the opportunity to wreak too much damage on their students, because it truly is not an easy job to have. I am not sure if the author's statements are true, as I have not taught in any other districts aside from my own, and the teachers in my district are incredibly hard-working educational rock stars. When working with at-risk students as we do, a weak teacher will not survive for long. I do know for sure that most teachers I've met are a great deal like me - genuinely empathetic, kid-loving, semi-control freaks with a keen desire to learn, and talkative! Those of us who gravitate to this profession, have an uncanny way of connecting with and relating to each other, wherever we are. My husband and family perpetually tease me about this, as I seem to have the ability to "sniff a teacher out" in the most unlikely places, which often results in long and meaningful conversations with utter strangers. I knew the minute that I saw Nancy, my host teacher, that I would like her. She seemed to have this gently warm but sassy little snap to her eyes that I immediately noticed when she greeted me at the airport in Armenia, and we fell into an easy and continual pattern of conversation that never ceased during my stay there. Nancy also brought another colleague, Melissa, with her, and the two of them and my travel partner Lisa and I chatted incessantly all the way from the airport without a moment's discomfort. During the next twelve days, we continued to meet more and more of their colleagues and the same pattern resulted - even with the language barriers - we teachers found so much to talk about that it seemed there was never enough time to finish what we all wanted to say. Our topics at first were conversation-based, but quickly diverged to just about any subject area. "Are your yearly evaluations based on test scores?" "No, but we have to pass a test to receive the next level of pay, and it's very hard." "How do you deal with unruly students?" "How much is your budget for your classrooms?" (Colombian teachers have very little in funding to supply their classrooms). "Is there a national curriculum?" "How much time off do you have?" "What is the public perception of the teaching profession in Colombia?" "Where did you get that beautiful lipstick?" "An Etsy bag? What's an Etsy bag? We have no such thing." "Tamales? You want to try tamales? My mother will make us some." "Is Colombia TRULY the biggest importer of underwear in the world?" We shared many laughs. At every school we visited, teachers were eager to meet with us and to talk. The teachers, which at the lower grade levels were overwhelmingly female, brought coffee and treats to share with us, and as we sat and talked and compared notes about our schools and educational systems aI I began to feel a bit embarrassed. Teachers in Colombia work very, very hard, with few resources, and I realized that my complaints about what I had perceived to be less than ideal resources were inconsequential in Colombia. Class sizes there are so much larger, and many teachers have multiple roles within their school or second or third jobs. American teachers work very hard too - maybe harder - because we have a great deal more paperwork and much higher accountability standards, but we also have more resources to work with. When we returned to schools or met up with teachers for excursions on the weekends, our greetings and visits became warmer and more convivial - always fully of inquiry, always talk, always laughter. On one trip, we rode up into the mountains in a jeep along with two Dutch teachers. They quickly joined into our conversation, which then became a three-way comparison of the Dutch, American and Colombian education systems. Teachers will find teachers. The hospitality exhibited by these ladies was almost overwhelming. Several joined us on weekend excursions- just because. They would bring us small gifts, and were so eager to practice their English skills with us. I was almost afraid to say that I liked something for fear that it would show up at my doorstep the next morning. On our last night in Armenia, Nancy, my host teacher, arranged a special dinner at an American-style restaurant, and to my surprise, many of the teachers that I'd met those past weeks attended, bearing gifts and hugs and even more good conversation. I now have good friends for life. I cried when I said goodbye to Nancy. I felt like I'd made a friend and little sister. She was so proud to show me her country and her life, and I was happy to learn about it. Always - teachers know how to talk to each other. My gratitude towards these beautiful ladies knows no bounds. I only hope that someday they can come to the USA to visit my school so that I can repay them for their ebullient warmth and charm. In America, we still hold faith in the principle that, though still quite flawed, we all have at least a fighting chance or succeeding in life if we work hard enough. Those in marginalized cultural settings will argue this concept with great validity; however, it is still a belief deeply ingrained in our culture. In addition, even though the public education landscape is changing in America (and that's a conversation for another day!) children in the United States still have, mostly, easy access to a free public education, taught by highly qualified teachers. Again, this is now a much debated topic in the United States, but my perspective on this matter has definitely been affected by my fellowship in South America.
Colombia has long had one of the highest rates of economic inequality in South America. The Gini coefficient, a measurement of wealth distribution, and a common measure of economic inequality, although improving in recent years, remains at .559, making it the second most unequal country in Latin America, behind Honduras. The poverty rate has shown marked improvement in recent years, especially since the FARC peace agreement, due to targeted social programs and stronger macroeconomic policies. It still remains high though, and because of the unequal wealth distribution, families must work very long hours to remain precariously afloat in the middle class strata. Many of the teachers that I met had two or more jobs and would leave their school teaching positions to teach at universities in the evening. Colombia also has a very high percentage of its population working at what is termed "informal workforce" positions; i.e, farm laborers, small street vending businesses and as taxi drivers. These jobs are unstable, without any benefits, pensions, etc. It seems that everyone except for the very rich knows that they are perpetually one paycheck away from returning to poverty. There remains in most major cities in Colombia an income stratification system. This was implemented in the 1980’s to classify populations into different strata with similar economic characteristics. The system classifies areas on a scale from 1 to 6 with 1 as the lowest income area and 6 as the highest. In 1994, it was made into law in order to grant subsidies to the poorest residents. The system is organized so that the people living in upper layers (strata 5 and 6) pay more for services like electricity, water and sewage than the groups in the lower strata. Many feel that this system stigmatizes populations and prevents upward mobility. It is argued that only those in the level 3 or above strata have any chance of moving upward economically, and that it keeps families tied to certain high poverty areas. Others counter that the stratification system allows for better planning for schools, apartments, health care and shops that lower income families can afford. There has been a great push in recent years to improve equality in education in Colombia. It is now illegal to charge school fees in the public schools at both the primary and secondary level. Access to education has increased dramatically, especially among the poor, and the graduation rate continues to improve, especially in urban areas. However, Colombia stills ranks at the bottom of the PISA scores, and there is a great deal of disparity between school quality and resources in the rural areas and the cities, and between public and private schools. O was able to witness this first-hand as I traveled into the rural regions. Public school students in Colombia attend school for only four to six hours per day and schools operate in shifts. Private schools have a longer school day. Class sizes in public schools are very large - often 30-45 students at the elementary level - and private schools have much smaller classes. Technology is also much more readily available at private schools. This can sometimes lead to a decided advantage in admittance into one of the highly competitive public universities. While public universities have very reasonable tuition, making them, in theory, accessible to students of all socio-economic levels, the students that have come from the schools with smaller class sizes, longer school days and more customized instruction, in other words, those from private schools, have a distinct advantage over their Level 0-4 (lower to middle income) counterparts. I had the opportunity to visit a small private bilingual immersion school, or "gimnasio" in Armenia. Situated on the outskirts of town, in the rolling hills, the school was a lovely little campus, with open-air buildings and covered patios. Children sat around tables with their lessons outdoors, and a sign over the coordinator's office said "Only English spoken here." Parents in expensive vehicles were dropping their children off as we arrived, while women in the kitchen prepared us coffee and pastries. The coordinator gave us a tour of the school, proudly pointing out the small class sizes and informing us that because this was an English language immersion school, they had to find higher level teachers who could teach the secondary subjects and speak English well. It was quite obvious that these children came from privileged homes. However, my teaching partner and I both immediately noticed that 1) The "excellence" of instruction was absolutely no different than what we had seen in the public schools. Instruction was still highly teacher driven, and lecture based, with much note-taking and very little teacher/student or student-to-student interaction occurring. Only the class sizes were smaller. 2) When we gave our presentations, the students were, of all the schools we attended, the LEAST engaged and interested; and 3) The English language instruction taking place was not any better than the English language instruction we saw at the public schools we visited. When I attempted to press the coordinator of the school about whether 21st Century thinking skills or student driven or project-based learning was used, he avoided answering my questions, instead steering the conversation to other topics such as the small class size, or their discipline approach of trying to understand what was going on in the child's life outside school. I noticed a distinct air of self-entitlement with the students there and found this sadly disappointing, after the welcoming gratitude we received from all of the other schools we visited. I commented on this to my host teacher, and she definitely noticed this too. It was a lovely little school for sure, but we truly felt that the quality of instruction was not any better than the public schools we visited. Unfortunately, though, because of their socio-economic stature, and the fact that Colombia still has such a high level of stratification both officially and culturally, these children will stand a much better chance of going further in life than their lower and middle class counterparts. |
Julie SherlockMusician, teacher, wanderer, human being. ArchivesCategories |