Real talk: I have been a teacher in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. In the Dominican Republic, my experience is there is a systematic denial of educational standards and integrity. In other words, in public escuelas as well as expensive bilingual colegios, standards are adjusted to suit the needs of school owners and the government. Among those with the influence to do it, there is little interest in improving the level of public and private education because to do so would lead to social and economic reforms of the sort that would threaten the feudal system that benefits a very small segment of Dominican society.
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dominican education is the worst among 15 latin countries
I agree it inevitable results in being a form of social engineering, which you describe. I am not sure it is fully premeditated. Perhaps it is a matter of apathy toward those lacking wealth or influence.
It is encouraging to observer some improvements. New buildings, a few improved roads on the routes, teacher pay increase, retraining of some educators, extending the school day. Clearly someone is trying to move the ball further up the hill.
At the end of the day, if the product (better educated people) is not improved, it was all a waste of resources.
I spent thirty years teaching secondary sciences - biology, earth science, introductory chemistry and introductory physics. When I first moved here, I was asked to help tutor a student who had performed poorly on the pruebas nacionales and was being required to retake them during the month of June.
It was absolutely shocking to me to see the factual errors in the textbooks the student was using to study.
For example, in the biology section, the diagrams of the internal structure of flowers were incorrectly labeled and identified - specifically the book mixed up the function and identification of the male and female organs in the flower.
How can students learn properly when their textbooks teach error?
Well as the spouse of a private school owner I can tell you that the standards are indeed my wifes, but they are set to meet the needs of the children and it is a requirement to follow the government curriculum , as the minimum. I know a number of public school directors, who happen to have their children in our school. There is interest in improving the school system, and it is slowly , very slowly improving.
I agree with Bob's post, above. I see slow (very slow) improvement. The fact that parents of my kids cannot read sufficiently to complete a form or read a notice sent home, but their child can read and takes on the role of reading to the parent, completing the form, and advising him/her, I believe demonstrates that there is generational change in educational outcomes.
Yes, the results are still shockingly dismal, but I believe the goal has been set by the government.....well, to be honest, maybe the IMF or some other institution set the requirement for the DR - you want this money, then do this.......but regardless, education is good for kids, good for communities, and good for countries. The DR included.
The other day, the news said that education professors are being brought in from other countries to do teacher trainings here. Change in the way we do things is hard. Just because someone attends a training doesn't mean they will apply the skills learned. But where else is the country to start?
I see a long term, slow methodical plan in place. We cannot snap our fingers for immediate change. Things don't work that way. But let's do what we can to show support. Let's not undermine the plan until it has a chance to be fully implemented. Let's support education here, however we can.
Volunteer to help a child with homework. Visit the school. Ask if there is some way you can help in the classroom. Buy a teacher some classroom supplies that are unaffordable or hard to get here. Volunteer for an organization that has an educational focus. Read to a child. Give a child a book.
There are many ways we can be a part of the solution. Right now, unless we do so, complaining just makes us part of the problem.
Lindsey
Yes, the results are still shockingly dismal, but I believe the goal has been set by the government.....well, to be honest, maybe the IMF or some other institution set the requirement for the DR - you want this money, then do this.......but regardless, education is good for kids, good for communities, and good for countries. The DR included.
The other day, the news said that education professors are being brought in from other countries to do teacher trainings here. Change in the way we do things is hard. Just because someone attends a training doesn't mean they will apply the skills learned. But where else is the country to start?
I see a long term, slow methodical plan in place. We cannot snap our fingers for immediate change. Things don't work that way. But let's do what we can to show support. Let's not undermine the plan until it has a chance to be fully implemented. Let's support education here, however we can.
Volunteer to help a child with homework. Visit the school. Ask if there is some way you can help in the classroom. Buy a teacher some classroom supplies that are unaffordable or hard to get here. Volunteer for an organization that has an educational focus. Read to a child. Give a child a book.
There are many ways we can be a part of the solution. Right now, unless we do so, complaining just makes us part of the problem.
Lindsey
They have to learn to read and write for facebook.
On a serious note, I have been asked by children in La Union to help with their English home work....asked by one and before you know it I am helping many. They want to learn but sometimes circumstances prevent them from carrying through.
On a serious note, I have been asked by children in La Union to help with their English home work....asked by one and before you know it I am helping many. They want to learn but sometimes circumstances prevent them from carrying through.
And if you don't want to help by doing any of the suggestions, above, then when you speak to a child, ask questions that involve thought.....not simple yes or no questions......here are some suggestions.....
How would you describe yourself in 5 words?
If you had to teach someone one thing, what would you teach?
What makes you smile?
What can you do today that you couldn’t do a year ago? What will you be able to do at this time next year?
How do you spend the majority of your free time? Why?
If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
What’s the funniest thing you've ever seen?
Who’s the worst person in the world?
What’s the hardest thing about being a child?
Asking these types of questions helps a child learn to think and analyze, rather than just moving through life by taking direction and doing. It's something small, but it's a start.
Lindsey
How would you describe yourself in 5 words?
If you had to teach someone one thing, what would you teach?
What makes you smile?
What can you do today that you couldn’t do a year ago? What will you be able to do at this time next year?
How do you spend the majority of your free time? Why?
If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
What’s the funniest thing you've ever seen?
Who’s the worst person in the world?
What’s the hardest thing about being a child?
Asking these types of questions helps a child learn to think and analyze, rather than just moving through life by taking direction and doing. It's something small, but it's a start.
Lindsey
i admire your positive attitude and optimism, and i know that if there are many more like you, something good will happen. however, i have my reservations, because studies have proven that education begins at home, and without certain requisites, progress will not be impressive.
studies have proven that homes with a certain amount of books produce children with better reading scores. i forget the numbers, but a home in which there are twenty books will see reading scores of children which are higher than a home with 2 books. secondly, homes in which parents spend more time with children , helping with homework, also show better scores. there are those who disagree, however, saying that illiterate parents are a negative when it comes to the matter of homework.
all in all, they see education as a frame of mind thing, not simply an accumulation of assets. i gave up on the Dominican system when they had a competition to design a desk. it was then i knew that the education directorate is clueless.
Never seen a local reading a book yet, and I know many do, I just havent seen it. Kids reading or doing homework, really! WhatsApp and Feubook maybe, but they dont understand have of what they read and try to understand their texting or written spanish!! Fagetaboutit
i have to concur with you. i have been into numerous houses of people of lesser means, and i am yet to see a book, or a worthwhile magazine.
something to illustrate the difficulties dominican education faces... following the news about contracting foreign teachers the president of the association of professors (ADP) announced that ADP rejects this is the money for this project comes from 4% for education.
http://www.citysantiago.com.do/2016...stros-extranjeros-con-recursos-4#.V4OQU_krLcc
it's a mixture of green envy because i am sure the foreigners will be paid a lot more than dominican teachers plus a large scoop of "no fui yo" because they cannot accept that teaching quality itself is an issue.
i find it rather sad. the government creates a good, valid and potentially successful project and it immediately receives criticism of the very people who will benefit from this.
http://www.citysantiago.com.do/2016...stros-extranjeros-con-recursos-4#.V4OQU_krLcc
it's a mixture of green envy because i am sure the foreigners will be paid a lot more than dominican teachers plus a large scoop of "no fui yo" because they cannot accept that teaching quality itself is an issue.
i find it rather sad. the government creates a good, valid and potentially successful project and it immediately receives criticism of the very people who will benefit from this.
This may be true but reading is contagious. My kids always have books in their hand even while on vacation.
My neighbors kids and their neighbors began playing school with my kids because they always saw them reading.
I have a couple of notebooks where the kids would write lessons in spanish to my kids and vice versa.
My neighbors kids read books now. I know it's not our job to teach someone else's kid but perhaps if we
gifted books instea of cell phones and electronics there might be a small change. Just changing one life
matters.
i am with you, 100%. however, giving books instead of cellphones only works if the priorities are in place.
My son was an avid reader until the day he got a cellphone.
i can understand that one.
My son was an avid reader until the day he got a cellphone.
He'll come back to it too, the seeds were sowed when he was young.
IMO, it's more than introduction to books. My two children were raised with a mother who always had a stack of books she was reading, and I read to them from when they were born. My dad was an avid reader, and I think I inherited the 'reading gene' from him - my mom never read a book in her life, unless it was something about nutrition or health. Mr. AE, Dominican born and raised, read books when he lived in DR [his mother's influence], but now his reading is limited to the internet [all the Dominican newspapers mostly].
My son is like me, always reading something. My daughter is exactly like her father, only reads on the internet, despite my encouragement when she was young. She says she just can't concentrate or sit still that long to get into a long book.
So, might there be a genetic predisposition to love of reading? That you can provide stacks of books, but the child needs to have that 'internal switch' that you can turn on? No different than being naturally good at math.
My belief is that every child has something he can excel at. Finding what that is paramount.
In DR, I think the main stumbling block with the poorer class is that the parents are undereducated themselves, and don't provide the essential home encouragement that the kids need. The middle/upper middle Dominicans I know are no different from the parents I know in the US when it comes to their children's education - but then again, none of them have kids in public school.
Reading books is not a Dominican custom, I have a ten years old daughter here in US and have to take her at least twice a week to public
library to exchange books...
I am surprised my self this about this girl, she can read a 200 pages book in just one day.
She have a dream now, she wants to be a book writer.
She already started writing her first book called "Apple Picking" we have her met some books writers
just to grow her inspiration.
JJ
library to exchange books...
I am surprised my self this about this girl, she can read a 200 pages book in just one day.
She have a dream now, she wants to be a book writer.
She already started writing her first book called "Apple Picking" we have her met some books writers
just to grow her inspiration.
JJ
The poor quality of the Dominican public school system is the reason the private school business is thriving. We can point out myriad reasons for the failure of Dominican public schools but it really comes down to a lack of funding. No money for technology, high quality teachers, or facilities. Plus it is not going to change in the forseeable future. It will change when politicians value education and we all know when that will be.