I have continued my shadowing daily. I go to the elementary and middle/high school every day to shadow teachers through a schedule we have made together. This has been a fabulous method for me to see where it is in the classroom that these kids aren’t getting the equivalent to a Western education. What I have learned has been monumentous.
I expected to walk into a classroom and be ready to reprimand teachers left and right. To have handfuls of corrections for the way they talk to the kids, the methods in which they teach, etc. But that didn’t happen at all. These teachers might have students that graduate lacking fundamental knowledge, but they really truly are great teachers. Now, that sounds super inconsistent, but it is true. These teachers speak with so much patience and present the information the kids need to know. They really love their kids and work hard to teach them. In my mind, that is a fabulous teacher. Where they lack is in the resources. They don’t have access to the latest journal that will tell them the best teaching method for this or that. And, their teachers didn’t have access to these things. The teachers today are teaching the same way they were taught; The community’s ancient methods of communication smashed together with catholic school discipline has lead them to this awkward in-between that confuses the teachers as much as it confuses the kids.
Today, I was sitting in the 8-year-olds’ class jotting down notes and ideas that I can present to all the teachers in a series of talks I will give next month.
Here are a couple of the biggest challenges I saw:
Students standing up whenever they pleased to cross the room.
Students talking amongst themselves.
The room being disorganized, toys and broken books lay all around the edges of the room.
Now, I want to say, “Tell the kids they have to remain in their seats.” But the thing is, this is a communal society. Each child doesn’t have the resources to complete their assignments without the help of their neighbor or the kid across the room. Sharing is nothing that needs to be taught here, it is daily practice. For example, Mayeli only has three colored pencils and she is supposed to color a scene from the story they read today. So, she crosses the room to borrow green from Wily. Wily hands over the green colored pencil, no questions asked. But, Wily wants a ruler to draw his horizon line and needs to cross the room to ask Marcos if he has one while Mayeli goes to Stefany’s desk to borrow her sharpener. If the teacher didn’t let the kids walk around the room the kids would just sit there staring at her or start hitting each other for entertainment or something.
This sharing mentality is what leads to the need for the kids to communicate amongst each other.
Yes, the room is disorganized and doesn’t set a good example at all for the little ones, but, what are you supposed to do when there is no money for shelving or new books and toys? You just let them pile up on the floors. How do you keep the room clean when the building the state built isn’t sealed and sand and dirt blows in all hours of the day?
Then, I am there leaning over a crying 8-year-old and the strong waft of unclean reaches my nostrils the same time her frustrated words reach my ears.
Coming to these realizations today tortured me. How can I help here? Where do I start? With the kids? The teachers? Their parents? The Municipality? The school principals? The State government? The Country’s Government? Seriously. Where?
And the most confusing and frustrating part of it all is do I want to do this? Do I want to tell them they can’t share, they have to remain in their seats and figure it out. Do I tell the teacher she has to buy supplies for the kids when she has so little money herself. Do I insist she clean the room and get it organized no matter the cost? I can apply for a grant to get these things, but that isn’t in the least bit sustainable. And, above all, if I tell them not to share, to make it work on their own, what will that do to this culture in the enxt generation? How can I work hard for two years knowing the possibility of killing this unique and ancient culture? Is it really best for them to force them into a more independent and secluded Western nature?
This is the main question activists are faced with all over the world. They have to decide between advancement and old ways. What I have read and heard from philosophers and more experienced activists is that it is best to let the community decide. This sits well with me and gives me optimism. They asked Peace Corps to come here for a reason. In reality, I can’t tell them what to do or mandate they do anything. I can only offer information. I can let the people decide what they want. I can’t come in and say, “you should or shouldn’t do this or that”. What will impact the community in a successful way is if I first ask them what they want and then do everything in my power to show them what they need to make those things happen themselves.
