Education "system"

My thoughts on the subject and some key stats-

Regarding the Dominican education system, the levels of deficiency are so complex that it's a topic that can't be discussed in a single session with resolution. Education of the populace is the government's responsibility and the lack of proper education is a reflection of the many weaknesses of its deficient government. The public school system is a mirror of the state of education in the DR. Since the majority of DR students only have public school as an option there should be no surprise when people assess the gaps which start with the teachers, the facility itself, the curriculum, supplies, and the end result is the deficiencies in education as evidenced by the knowledge of the students.

Although it's clear that the public school system (aka government run education) is much at fault there also is another key factor stemming from the home which is proper mentoring and role models for children from a young age to even appreciate education. This factor is severely lacking in many Dominican homes. Parents who have had a good education do (in general) instil its value in their children from a young age. Children from a poor family see this tendency much less. It?s a vicious cycle to break when many young children are forced to abandon school to care for their siblings and parents (contribute to the home) or simply lack the drive to pursue higher education.

Here are some interesting and recent stats about the student dropout rate in Latin America (which is a good way to compare how the DR fairs when compared to other Latin American countries). It's no surprise to me that the DR has one of highest dropout rates in Latin America and one key question is what are these students doing as an alternative since they are not attending school? The article speaks to this issue as well.

Here are a few key stats pertaining to the struggle in education in Latin America and the DR:

* The top three countries with the highest drop rates: Nicaragua 63%, the DR 59% and Colombia 46%.

* equal access to education for all in Latin America and achievement of high participation in the primary grades and high school;

* deficiencies in the curriculum and educational material among other factors contribute to the high dropout rate at an early age;

* here are the current drop out rate stats in the DR:

En nuestro Pa?s los ?ndices de deserci?n escolar son altos, seg?n datos de la secretaria de educaci?n en el curso anterior 145 mil 421 estudiantes de las escuelas publicas desertaron y 33 mil 393 lo hicieron en centros de ense?anza privada, lo que hace un gran total de 178 mil 814 alumnos.

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* high absenteeism in the poor sectors and the reasons vary greatly ranging from students having to help their parents to ignorance (regarding the importance of education).

Could this be anymore of a disservice to your own child?!?! Again this speaks to my point earlier about education not being valued by many adults (thus trickling down to their children and creating a vicious cycle) in the DR.

* the education problem directly correlates to the DR's lack of development as a country. It is not a developed country by any means in spite of posts by a few who try to paint a different reality.

Deserci?n escolar

* based on data from the both articles here is what I find most disturbing. Students who have left school in Latin America principally engage in the following activities/ or the end result is;

- teenage pregnancy
- gang participation, crime and violence
- drug and alcohol abuse- (the addiction therefore begins at a very young age)

-the above mentioned data certainly reflects the DR reality and is stated in the article linked above.

La Secretaria de Educaci?n realiza esfuerzos, para lograr que j?venes y adultos regresen a la escuela, en ese sentido designo 2 mil nuevos psic?logos y orientadores escolares a fin de fortalecer los programas de educaci?n y reducir la deserci?n escolar en j?venes y adolescentes, evitar los embarazos precoces, el consumo de drogas, las pandillas juveniles y el reforzamiento de valores.

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Here is the second article from La Prensa (Nicaragua). The report was produced by BM- Banco Mundial

LA PRENSA - Nacionales


Regarding Cuba, I have a few Cuban friends and in a general sense they are knowledgeable, worldly, have post high school education and a good command of Spanish. I can't say all Cubans have a high level of education based on the few I know but I understand your comparison. I have heard this comment many times from different sources when comparing the education level of the average Dominican vs. the average Cuban. I think a further comparison must be made between Cubans abroad vs. Cubans living in Cuba because I think there's a difference in the educational level of the Cuban population.

However, in my opinion, this is just another strike against the educational deficiency in the DR. In general, the populace and its level of education/ knowledge should reflect a country's standards. IMO, it will be hard for the DR to catch up to other Latin American countries even with a serious campaign in place. In March of this year, the Secretary of Education stated that in forty-five days he would roll out his plan to eradicate illiteracy in three years which I think is unrealistic. I have done some follow up to see what the plan entails and I have found nothing to date. If anyone has seen this plan please post the link.


As you can see it?s a complex topic but I just wanted to post my thoughts and it's good to revist the topic on DR1 every now and then because the situation seems to be getting worse (if that?s possible) and again the future and chance for another generation to progress is at stake.



-Marianopolita.

Excellent post Marianopolita. It about says it all.

In the DR only 5% of those who start school finish high school, or so I have read.
And the education they get in the schools is really pi$$ poor.

Tonight on TV you can watch the national finals of the Mathematics Competition...should be interesting...on one level to see what is asked and on another to see how they are answered...

HB

Hillbilly said:

Excellent post Marianopolita. It about says it all.

In the DR only 5% of those who start school finish high school, or so I have read.
And the education they get in the schools is really pi$$ poor.

Tonight on TV you can watch the national finals of the Mathematics Competition...should be interesting...on one level to see what is asked and on another to see how they are answered...

HB

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So as someone involved in Dominican Education for many years, is it lack of resources in terms of money and school facilities or is it more lack of teaching standards. Certainly most Dominican parents I?ve met in Jarabacoa have a keen interest in their children going to university.

Actually if you look at the content of DR school textbooks the curriculum covers most things children should know and the information is presented in an engaging way - so the problems are more to do with substandard teaching in the state sector and a culture that doesn't value or encourage education, knowledge and reading.

Everyone I went to school with in DR, regardless of class, has been to college. Most have a bachelors at least from UTESA. Others didn't finish college but at least they tried. I dont believe its accurate to say that our culture doesnt value education when so many of the people who finish high school attend college. In smaller towns it is less likely but in the larger cities it's quite common for people to have Law, Marketing, and Education related degrees. The universities are chock full of students from all backgrounds.

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, (A)nd if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."

Thomas Jefferson

Per this quote, I am very surprised Cuba remains the same with its current (far superior) educational level over the DR.

korejdk said:

Yes, everyone went to college but is there ANY essence in that education ? Is anyone aware of who Napoleon Bonaparte was, or where Florence is, or who the Habsburgs were ? That's my whole point, is the DR education system just thin smoke ? " repeat after me, Maria had two apples....very good, now let's take a break"

I only came to realize this due to my affection of the two ninas that I described in my other thread, then I looked further into it and I came to put together that the school system in the DR is absolutely uslelss ( not that it is any better in the US ) ...the kids don't get to learn about Pitagora, Plato, Rome, Joanne D'Arc, the Ottomans, Van Gogh, Fibonacci...I mean nothing, absolutley nothing that makes up humanity...

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I've come across that in some professional/skilled acquaintances who don't have much general knowledge outside their professional field, despite having acquired university degrees. Where I come from, you expect a doctor/lawyer/accountant to have some knowledge of modern art, history or classical music. I've also been in situations where people have been surprised to hear that I knew about something that they considered within their field and not mine, while for me it was part of basic general knowledge and not what I considered specialised at all. I think the determining factor here is whether people read or not.

Luckily for me, I have also met several well-read people with broad general knowledge - although this might not always include some details of European history and culture like the ones you list, but neither do we in Europe grow up hearing much about comparable Latin American knowledge, like - Martin Fierro, the Popol Vuh, Simon Bolivar, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, JC Mari?tegui?

adrianb said:

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, (A)nd if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."

Thomas Jefferson

Per this quote, I am very surprised Cuba remains the same with its current (far superior) educational level over the DR.

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At the same time, practically everyone I've met who was educated in the former Communist block countries appeared to have had a much more cultured and in-depth education compared to their western counterparts. I always put this down to a more learned, cultured Eastern/Middle European tradition than the system it operated under. I also understand that while the Cuban education system is generally recognised to be better than many in Latin America, it has declined in quality in recent years.

korejdk a few clarifying points-

Hillbilly said:

Excellent post Marianopolita. It about says it all.
HB

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Many thanks!

korejdk said:

Chiri, I subsribe to your view, I personaly only know ( from school ) about Simon Bolivar ( the Bolivarian revolucion ) from the names that you mentioned above, however I did not put forward ( to my best intend ) names that only reflect the gringo history, and I didn't even mentioned Einstein, or Goethe, or Shakespeare ...Chiri, I love the DR, don't get me wrong, I don't judge, I just get upset with the system...
Look, it is not my intent to smear anyone, but the scool system does suck, all that there is being promoted is "Leonel is right, Leonel is great".

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Keep in mind the problems you are addressing are subcategories of the core problem.

Using your example- "Maria looks beautiful after she washes her hair" - all kids repeat that then all get their A! This is an example of repetition pure and simple and this would fall under the category of 'teaching methodology' which according to your example and opinion needs to be assessed and changed. I agree with you completely students are not forced to think, develop their thoughts and learn self-expression.

Using your other example of a lack of knowledge of 'humanity' this would fall under the 'curriculum' category which I stated in my first post does need to be reevaluated in the public school system.

However, I do agree with Chirimoya regarding the examples you gave. It's all relative when it comes to geography, history and literature. In the DR, I would expect students to be taught DR history first and history of the surrounding region/ culture which would mean Latin American history. The history of Europe, Asia, the USA and Canada etc. can be options in advanced study. In Literature, once again I think they should know about local Dominican authors and read their work and then some of the big contributors to Latin literature like Gabriel Garcia M?rquez, Julio Cort?zar, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Alejo Carpentier etc. and the list goes on.

Another factor in the deficient education of the students is the hours of education. I will never understand this. Where is the Secretary of Education when you need him? The less classroom time a student has the less they are going to learn. This is not rocket science and in the primary grades children need to be in the classroom. Independent study is not an option in primary school.

In general, I think it's a sad state of affairs when you see so many capable youths with ZERO thirst for knowledge and instead throw their future out the window. (I am referring to the dropouts whether it's voluntary or no choice of their own).


-Marianopolita.

And, a student from one of the top private schools in Santo Domingo won the Mathematics competition last night. Money talks....

HB

Marianopolita said:

However, in my opinion, this is just another strike against the educational deficiency in the DR. In general, the populace and its level of education/ knowledge should reflect a country's standards. IMO, it will be hard for the DR to catch up to other Latin American countries even with a serious campaign in place. In March of this year, the Secretary of Education stated that in forty-five days he would roll out his plan to eradicate illiteracy in three years which I think is unrealistic. I have done some follow up to see what the plan entails and I have found nothing to date. If anyone has seen this plan please post the link.
-Marianopolita.

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It took a while but this is the first article that I have seen as a follow up to a declaration by the Secretary of Education in March of this year regarding eradicating illiteracy in the DR.

The plan is ambitious and in my opinion, illiteracy of the magnitude in the DR cannot be eradicated by 2012 which is the plan by Melanio Paredes in conjunction with Leonel Fernandez' governmental support. The plan will go into effect on January 13, 2010 and the objective is to make 739,743 people literate. The question is how is illiteracy defined and determined in the DR, and does the aforementioned figure represent the current illiteracy number according to the way illiteracy is measured in the DR.

This plan is ambitious however; let’s hope it’s the first step in the breakthrough in changing a chronic problem related to education in the country.

Presidente encabezar? lanzamiento de Programa Nacional de Alfabetizaci?n


-MP.

korejdk said:

Yes, everyone went to college but is there ANY essence in that education ? Is anyone aware of who Napoleon Bonaparte was, or where Florence is, or who the Habsburgs were ? That's my whole point, is the DR education system just thin smoke ? " repeat after me, Maria had two apples....very good, now let's take a break"

I only came to realize this due to my affection of the two ninas that I described in my other thread, then I looked further into it and I came to put together that the school system in the DR is absolutely uslelss ( not that it is any better in the US ) ...the kids don't get to learn about Pitagora, Plato, Rome, Joanne D'Arc, the Ottomans, Van Gogh, Fibonacci...I mean nothing, absolutley nothing that makes up humanity...

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No to hinder your point, but there is more to humanity than European History and culture.

Chirimoya said:

At the same time, practically everyone I've met who was educated in the former Communist block countries appeared to have had a much more cultured and in-depth education compared to their western counterparts. I always put this down to a more learned, cultured Eastern/Middle European tradition than the system it operated under. I also understand that while the Cuban education system is generally recognised to be better than many in Latin America, it has declined in quality in recent years.

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I was into Russian area studies in the Soviet era and traveled to the Soviet Block several times in the 80's. I was always impressed at the sense of being 'cultured' I got from Russians compared with their US counterparts. I always thought it had something to do with censorship and limited choices.

Ordinary Russians in that era read the classics, listened to classical music(and if rebellious jazz), went to ballets and operas (which were cheap and accessible) argued about philosophy and played chess. This was even true of Russians in backwater places. It wasn't the mark of an elite.

My impression was that this was largely due to the lack of other temptations (besides vodka). There was little junk entertainment available. The state generally subsidized the things it thought were in good taste and suppressed everything else. The classics were cheap, universities were free, concerts and lectures very available - no video games, no rock and roll, no distractions.

I haven't been there since the Soviet Union collapsed but if that explanation is true, modern Russians under 30 should seem much less 'cultured'.

Cuba still has a system modeled on the Soviet system so I'd expect similar effects. I'm hardly trying to argue for Communism but freedom doesn't necessarily produce the best results by every measure.

Education

I'm interested in learning more about the DR education system. I work for a U.S. university that offers a bachelor's degree program in business, managment and economics in the D.R., and would love to expand it.