Education in DR vs. US

ME01

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Feb 19, 2012
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Can anyone advise how education differs between private schooling in the DR and a good public school in the US. I've been told that children in the DR get a more advanced level of instruction in math and science as compared to the US.
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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HA!!!! Maybe at Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo (about $10,000 US per student,per year). Whoever told you this is out to lunch. The levels of instruction in the US vary all over the place depending on what state you are looking at. For example, schools in Alabama do not compare to schools in Conn. Studies done in the US show unequivocally that the states that spend the most per pupil have the highest graduation rates and the greater number of graduates going on to college. The DR spends a lot less than Alabama per student so what do you think. If you want a half way decent education in the DR you go to one of the good private schools which by the way are operated as money making businesses. A lot of Dominican kids drop out of school long before they reach any level of advanced instruction in math and science. Its hard to make education a priority when you are trying to make enough to feed. the kids and pay the rent. Lastly the unemployment rate is very high in the DR so if and when you do graduate high school there are not a lot of jobs waiting out there for you. A bit more than you asked. Do not mean to rant.
 

Criss Colon

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I have four kids in school here in Santo Domingo.
Third year at univ. one,2nd year of highschool,one,and two in grade school,3rd,and 4th. grades.
There are a very few high cost private schools,(thousands US per year) here in the DR.
Don't confuse a "Private School" in the USA,which usually means a good education,with a "Private School" here,which can mean you pay a few hundred pesos a month,for nothing.
I have a son in Boston,now 30 years old.He went from pre-school,to graduating from the Univ.of Massachusetts.All for FREE!
The DR can't come close!
You want your kids to learn "Dominican Spanish",from teachers who don't know a "B",from a "V",or when to use an "H" to begin some words,send them to a public,and most "Private" schools here,Including Catholic Schools.
What you teach them at home will by far eclipes what they don't learn in school!Things like "personal responsibility",respect for their country,and others,honesty,hard work ethic,and on and on!
You are trying to compare "US Oranges",to "Rotten Dominican Apples"!
Now you will hear from those who don't have enough money to give their children here in the DR the essencials for a desent life,let alone in "Alabama".
Cris Colon
 

greydread

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Jan 3, 2007
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HA!!!! Maybe at Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo (about $10,000 US per student,per year). Whoever told you this is out to lunch. The levels of instruction in the US vary all over the place depending on what state you are looking at. For example, schools in Alabama do not compare to schools in Conn. Studies done in the US show unequivocally that the states that spend the most per pupil have the highest graduation rates and the greater number of graduates going on to college. The DR spends a lot less than Alabama per student so what do you think. If you want a half way decent education in the DR you go to one of the good private schools which by the way are operated as money making businesses. A lot of Dominican kids drop out of school long before they reach any level of advanced instruction in math and science. Its hard to make education a priority when you are trying to make enough to feed. the kids and pay the rent. Lastly the unemployment rate is very high in the DR so if and when you do graduate high school there are not a lot of jobs waiting out there for you. A bit more than you asked. Do not mean to rant.

Until Michelle Rhee overhauled the District of Columbia's public school system under the Fenty administration and they ran them both out of town on a rail for it, DC had the highest $$ per student ratio in the US....and they were dead last, scholastically. The District also had the highest 1 or less parent family ratio.

It's just as CCCCCCccccccccc stated. Education begins in the home. In the US or anywhere else. Having said that, I would take the time to visit the private schools there if I were relocating there with school aged children. The brochures only go so far and conversations with the teachers and parents would yield a lot more current information than the OP will probably receive in this forum. I would also not even consider the public school option. Fortunately the last of my 5 is off to college next year. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Hummm...Can you get a good education in DR public schools? No, not any more. Years ago, like 40 or 45 yes, you got a pretty fair, very stilted education, but in no way comparable to what you could get at the public high schools in the US, BUT SO much better than today. And let me say that some amazing kids get through and are brilliant in college and in graduate school, and I do mean Amazing!!!

As for private schools, well there are a few that teach the children something, but with the exception of perhaps half a dozen or so in the entire country, they cannot come close to the education in the top public schools in the US...places like Bronx High School of Science, or Styvesent (I know that is spelled wrong!) or Ridgewood HS in Ridgewood,NJ or so many others. They have no sports, no arts, nothing beyond the classrooms. There is nothing like "school spirit" here (or anywhere in Latin America for that matter). Lately there has been some athletic involvement or so it seems. We'll see.

So yes, you can learn to read (a little) and write (poorly) in DR public schools and perhaps a wee bit better in the private schools.

Which is why the universities have been absolutely forced to create remedial courses in Math and Spanish!!!

Nowadays, getting through college and going to grad school is the only ticket to job stability.

HB
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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HA!!!! Maybe at Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo (about $10,000 US per student,per year). Whoever told you this is out to lunch. The levels of instruction in the US vary all over the place depending on what state you are looking at. For example, schools in Alabama do not compare to schools in Conn. Studies done in the US show unequivocally that the states that spend the most per pupil have the highest graduation rates and the greater number of graduates going on to college. The DR spends a lot less than Alabama per student so what do you think. If you want a half way decent education in the DR you go to one of the good private schools which by the way are operated as money making businesses. A lot of Dominican kids drop out of school long before they reach any level of advanced instruction in math and science. Its hard to make education a priority when you are trying to make enough to feed. the kids and pay the rent. Lastly the unemployment rate is very high in the DR so if and when you do graduate high school there are not a lot of jobs waiting out there for you. A bit more than you asked. Do not mean to rant.

show me one study, or working paper, in which a correlation is established between spending on schools and academic outcomes.
 

nakom

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Jan 26, 2011
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I have a good friend who lives in Santo Domingo and goes to the public University there. She is very smart and works hard. She is in her 3rd year of University. I am an engineer and I went to university in Canada. She asked me to help her with her math and physics homework. The stuff she was doing in 3rd year public university classes was equivalent to grade 9 math and physics in Canada (junior High School - 13 & 14 year olds).

Based solely on this I would say the state of public education in the DR is horrible. A Canadian expat I talked to in the DR told me that a Canadian high school diploma was roughly equivalent to a masters degree in the DR, in terms of problem solving skills, logical thinking, and ability to learn.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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Hummm...Can you get a good education in DR public schools? No, not any more. Years ago, like 40 or 45 yes, you got a pretty fair, very stilted education, but in no way comparable to what you could get at the public high schools in the US, BUT SO much better than today. And let me say that some amazing kids get through and are brilliant in college and in graduate school, and I do mean Amazing!!!

As for private schools, well there are a few that teach the children something, but with the exception of perhaps half a dozen or so in the entire country, they cannot come close to the education in the top public schools in the US...places like Bronx High School of Science, or Styvesent (I know that is spelled wrong!) or Ridgewood HS in Ridgewood,NJ or so many others. They have no sports, no arts, nothing beyond the classrooms. There is nothing like "school spirit" here (or anywhere in Latin America for that matter). Lately there has been some athletic involvement or so it seems. We'll see.

So yes, you can learn to read (a little) and write (poorly) in DR public schools and perhaps a wee bit better in the private schools.

Which is why the universities have been absolutely forced to create remedial courses in Math and Spanish!!!

Nowadays, getting through college and going to grad school is the only ticket to job stability.

HB

Unless of course you go in to a technical trade. Technologists of all sorts are very valuable and earn good money, better in many cases than many people with a master's degree.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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I have a good friend who lives in Santo Domingo and goes to the public University there. She is very smart and works hard. She is in her 3rd year of University. I am an engineer and I went to university in Canada. She asked me to help her with her math and physics homework. The stuff she was doing in 3rd year public university classes was equivalent to grade 9 math and physics in Canada (junior High School - 13 & 14 year olds).

Based solely on this I would say the state of public education in the DR is horrible. A Canadian expat I talked to in the DR told me that a Canadian high school diploma was roughly equivalent to a masters degree in the DR, in terms of problem solving skills, logical thinking, and ability to learn.

I mainly agree. My wife is a math teacher and has taught in the DR and Canada. My daughter ( environmental engineer) son ( steam-fitter in Alberta), second son ( business degree but currently teaching English in China, where he also teaches science and math) and step-son ( currently in last year of business management at Seneca in Toronto) have all gone through the Canadian school system. I can tell you that the math taught at my wife's poor little private school is equivalent at grade level to Canadian schools ( at least in the 4 provinces I've lived in). The text books they use are developed through USAID and are supplemented by Yris.
I completely agree with you on language skills, physics, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills. As far as the ability to learn - all starts with a good foundation, but Dominicans have the same abilities to learn as anyone else.
 

nakom

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Jan 26, 2011
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I mainly agree. My wife is a math teacher and has taught in the DR and Canada. My daughter ( environmental engineer) son ( steam-fitter in Alberta), second son ( business degree but currently teaching English in China, where he also teaches science and math) and step-son ( currently in last year of business management at Seneca in Toronto) have all gone through the Canadian school system. I can tell you that the math taught at my wife's poor little private school is equivalent at grade level to Canadian schools ( at least in the 4 provinces I've lived in). The text books they use are developed through USAID and are supplemented by Yris.
I completely agree with you on language skills, physics, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills. As far as the ability to learn - all starts with a good foundation, but Dominicans have the same abilities to learn as anyone else.

I mainly agree as well. However I believe that the ability to learn is learned skill, not something you are born with. University in general is an exercise in learning how to learn. This is why many employers require a university degree to work, and could care less about the field it is in.

For example - given a new task that you have no experience with. How fast can you "pick it up" and become proficient? People with good learning skills pick it up quick, people without good learning skills (educated or uneducated) will not. Driving is a good example.
 
May 12, 2005
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Unless of course you go in to a technical trade. Technologists of all sorts are very valuable and earn good money, better in many cases than many people with a master's degree.

That is certainly true. I am a big advocate of vocational training. College is not for everyone.
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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D.C. is a ghetto $$$$hole and means nothing. Look it up yourself it you are that interested. Michelle Rhee is a union buster for administrators who are looking to cut costs by reducing teacher salaries. You think Carol Morgan School is not the best private school in the DR and just happens to be the most expensive? Go take a look, its a beautiful campus with the best of everything.The students learn in air conditoning. Rich people value education. Money buys tutors, money buys students where each has a lap top computer.
Carol Morgan pays its teachers more than any other private school in the DR. You dont think that doesnt attract good teachers? Look it up! There is a solid connection between wealth and good schools. Do some public schools in poor areas in the US still succeed? Of course but they are in the extreme minority.
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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I have a good friend who lives in Santo Domingo and goes to the public University there. She is very smart and works hard. She is in her 3rd year of University. I am an engineer and I went to university in Canada. She asked me to help her with her math and physics homework. The stuff she was doing in 3rd year public university classes was equivalent to grade 9 math and physics in Canada (junior High School - 13 & 14 year olds).

Based solely on this I would say the state of public education in the DR is horrible. A Canadian expat I talked to in the DR told me that a Canadian high school diploma was roughly equivalent to a masters degree in the DR, in terms of problem solving skills, logical thinking, and ability to learn.
I reluctantly agree.

A few months ago I was working with a bilingual MBA graduate (in my field) from a big university in the DR, and I was shocked at the low level of his basic math and analysis skills...
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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Thank You Everyone!
Thirteen posts,all informative,and no "Spin Doctors" expressing their "Personal Agendas",except for the "Union Busting" comment!
Way To Go!
CC
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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Whats wrong with calling her a union buster? She is exactly that. Administrators bring her in to cut costs by reducing teachers salaries as if that is a fix for anything. Schools need accountability and how it should be done is the argument. I like graduation numbers and how many go on to further their education either in college or schools that teach a trade. It comes down to parents. The children of doctors, lawyers, and engineers value education and demand that their children do well in school. When these kids bring home bad grades these good parents take what ever steps necessary to get the kids on track. Academic success is a skill and these kids have accquired it thru good teachers backed by suportive parents. In the very poor schools failure is the norm and the parents offer little or no support. They do not know any better. As regards spin go look at the Dominican governments lying statistics regarding the percentage of Dominicans that are literate. Now there is some lying spin. When I last looked the percent of population that is regarded as literate was given as 93%. Maybe its all in how you measure literate. One interesting part of all this is that its not a question of intelligence. Its all about motivation. A kid wanting to do well in school. That want usually comes from the parents or not.
 

Criss Colon

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I agree with you,(Except,"You-Know-What" part)
I have a really great Dominican teacher,from a really lousey Dominican public school,come to our house every afternoon for an hour to tutor my kids,who go to a supposedly good private school in Arroyo Hondo.(run on sentence???)
If all DR teachers were like her this place would flourish!
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ME01

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Feb 19, 2012
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I'm glad my question elicited such responses. Thank you.
Based on all of your opinions would you then advise against a move to the DR (specifically Santiago) based on the educational disadvantages discussed here. Our daughter is 5 and we are giving serious consideration the move, but want to ensure her education won't suffer as a result. She would be attending one of the top private schools in santiago, but again based on the comments here I'm not sure how much credence to give "top" and "private".
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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I'm glad my question elicited such responses. Thank you.
Based on all of your opinions would you then advise against a move to the DR (specifically Santiago) based on the educational disadvantages discussed here. Our daughter is 5 and we are giving serious consideration the move, but want to ensure her education won't suffer as a result. She would be attending one of the top private schools in santiago, but again based on the comments here I'm not sure how much credence to give "top" and "private".

Probably not much credence at all, sadly. Hillbilly could help you with that analysis.
 

LaTeacher

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May 2, 2008
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Most of the schools in Santiago are poor - even Santiago Christian School, which is supposedly "the best" because it has "north american" teachers, doesn't teach students logical analysis. (but they do learn the Bible forward and backward!) However, I think education starts (and ends) at home. If you are not willing to put in the time and effort at home to supplement, your kids might not do well anywhere - not everyone has access to the "good" public schools in the states, just like not everyone here has access to "decent" private schools.
The education sucks here. Public or private.
 

Criss Colon

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The many benefits/advantages of taking your daughter to the DR,outweigh the problems with the educational system here.Just get her a tutor if needed(Not sure at that age if needed) And,be sure she learns Spanish.That alone is worth the trip.
How long you intend to stay is important,I may have missed that part.If for a year or two,at "5" it doesn't make much difference where she is.Her "Mommy & Daddy" are her WORLD!
CC