Hoy: Public school teachers are a big part of the poor scores of Dominican students

[Dolores]

An editorial in Hoy newspaper highlights how the Dominican Association of Public School Teachers is a setback for quality education in the Dominican Republic.

The editorial writer writes that efforts to compensate the low levels of Dominican public school teachers with considerable investments in training are not producing the desired results. The editorial writer also focuses on the frequent absences of teachers to the detriment of thousands of low-income school children.

The editorialist criticizes that classroom time is being used to hold assemblies of public teachers that seek new financial gains and perks.

Meanwhile, PISA tests continue to rank the Dominican Republic as one of the countries with the lowest achievement in the public school system, Hoy stresses in the editorial.

“Ten years of increasing spending on education to 4% of the National Budget shows a deplorable balance that calls on...

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[NanSanPedro]

Something tells me the author of that opinion piece is not going to win the Mr. Popularity contest.

 

[JD Jones]

My last next door neighbors (bless their hearts) would agree 100% with this assessment. Both are super dedicated, spend a ton of money on class supplies and wouldn't miss a day of class.
They always had a few choice words to describe the other teachers in their schools.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

The problem is no teacher worth his weight in salt wants to teach in the public school system. It's a zoo. Kids are more poorly behaved than ever. They threaten teachers and so do the "parents" (term used loosely) if they mess with their kid. They bring weapons to school. The good kids live under threat. The administration is incompetent, the state cannot put out a decent curriculum and the schools close for half day every other day for endless and pointless "workshops". There probably is no worse job in the whole country than in the public schools.

 

[Aguaita29]

It's not that easy as just blame teachers for everything and problem solved. It seems it's kind of complicated to fail students these days. The system is aimed towards passing them, even if they're not prepared. I've heard a couple of teachers complain that their schools "encouraged" them to "help" failing students and pass them. I also remember class where teachers had to give certificate of recognition to everyone, so that others wouldn't feel bad. There is also very little cooperation from parents.

 

[windeguy]

I guess there is no solution: Bad teachers because nobody in their right mind would teach there, Bad parents because they are just bad, bad learning environment, etc.

No hope in that case things will improve any time soon for public schools. And so it goes.

 

[NanSanPedro]

I guess there is no solution: Bad teachers because nobody in their right mind would teach there, Bad parents because they are just bad, bad learning environment, etc.

No hope in that case things will improve any time soon for public schools. And so it goes.

I wouldn't say it's hopeless, just that this allows the cream to rise to the top easier.

 

[Drperson]

Well the classes are cancelled on day a week more or less for teacher meetings.even bad teachers cant teach if the school is closed

 

[bob saunders]

The director makes the difference

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

I follow WW's process when posting. Make sure you read the thread first folks. Otherwise you're just posting into a vacuum.

 

[CristoRey]

My surrogate daughter was attending a public school in Moca for a few years and up until the Covid fiasco she was doing ok with her studies. The 2022/ 2023 school year was horrible. I was so disgusted and appalled by what I witnessed that we pulled her out of that school. I was able to get her enrolled into a Colegio which I have no problem paying for and needless to say she is now learning proper Math, Language and History at grade level.

The amount of disfunctional crap going on in these public schools makes me sick to my stomach, especially in the small towns around the Cibao region. If they paid half as much attention to promoting reading/ learning and education as they do tourism this country would be a much better place to live ten years from now.

I understand exactly why these pretty young women sitting behind the cash register sometimes give me back the wrong change. I used to get angry with them as I assumed they were trying to short change me but I realized after having seen the total lack of concern by teachers, that some (not all) of them were never taught proper Math, something most of us take for granted.

 

[LindseyKaufman]

My take is that it is a little complicated. Education here is tied to politics. That causes the first problem. Bad teachers cannot be fired. Good teachers "spoil it" for the bad teachers and they are shunned. Teachers must attend many training sessions to learn new methods and theories, but are not provided the materials and supplies to implement them. How can a teacher with 35 children in the class do individualization, teaching at each child's learning level? How can children study at home if they do not have text books? How can each child's learning style be met if teachers must write all their lessons on the chalk board and children must spend the day copying?

For example, we have one child who learns quickly and remembers everything she hears. But she has some sort of visual disability and learns nothing that is written. If we say a group of words and ask her to tell us the words in the group that begin with the same sound and what that letter sound is (this is a 5 year old) she can answer correctly always. If the same group of words is written on the chalk board and she is asked to identify the words that begin with the same sound and tell us the sound, she gets it all wrong.

So when she goes to public school next year where they write on the chalkboard all day long, she is going to fail, even though she is one of the top children in the class.

Where I am, the school bathrooms do not have toilet paper, even though the closet is full. There is often no running water in the bathrooms. No soap is provided to wash hands. Kids go to school at 8 am and leave at 4 pm. Little children 5 - 6 years old will not go to the bathroom all day because it is so revolting.

Our local vocational high school is equipped with all the physics, biology, and chemistry lab materials necessary to hold classes. Everything is still packed in boxes, brand new. There have never been teachers available to teach these subjects.

It is one darn thing after another. If I think about it too much it takes over my life. I am better to just concentrate on my own little school and circle of learning and influence and be satisfied that that must be enough.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Our local vocational high school is equipped with all the physics, biology, and chemistry lab materials necessary to hold classes. Everything is still packed in boxes, brand new. There have never been teachers available to teach these subjects.

but there are teachers available to teach these subjects. Ex pats such as myself could do that with the help of a translator. But yet their stupid rules forbid that, and so the kids remain uneducated.

 

[chico bill]

Dominicans don't have much chance of competing on a world stage.
Last few days I hired a local to help me paint. He can barely talk, doesn't follow directions and is more concerned with lunch than the work.
And I have seen this from every Dominican I've hired. A couple Haitians I have hired are better at following direction and cleaning up afterwards.

 

[USA DOC]

DRs public schools?...........tear down and start over.

 

[josh2203]

I understand exactly why these pretty young women sitting behind the cash register sometimes give me back the wrong change. I used to get angry with them as I assumed they were trying to short change me but I realized after having seen the total lack of concern by teachers, that some (not all) of them were never taught proper Math, something most of us take for granted.

I fully believe that this is a great issue in the public school system, but I also believe that there are persons out there, who simply have this false sense of authority or egoism or arrogance in them (I'm not sure how to describe that, hope you get the point), people that are in teaching positions. Not just public school though, also in private and in higher education.

Example: My wife went to a okayish private university, where she was also given math classes. Math has nothing to do with the career she had chosen, rather that was just general studies she was given. She's not bad at math at all, but it's not one of her strengths either. She has her strengths elsewhere. She always used to tell me about this math class, where she had trouble following and after classes tried to ask things from the professor. No help was provided, she was just dismissed by saying that if she did not get it during the class, that was her problem, not the professors (a female professor). So she found out about the things herself, but that just made me angry, as we were actually paying quite a bit for her to graduate and then getting s**t in return... Things like that would never happen where I come from. Any professor would be more than happy to help you... It's the attitude that's problem... There are professors who just lecture and aside from that, don't care...

 

[windeguy]

My take is that it is a little complicated. Education here is tied to politics. That causes the first problem. Bad teachers cannot be fired. Good teachers "spoil it" for the bad teachers and they are shunned.

That is key. Much like in my home country where unions keep the bad teachers in place, here the labor laws do it.
Without dealing with this one area, improvement is not possible.

 

[Lucifer]

Meanwhile, pastors in Dajabón report of paranormal activities taking place at a local school, where several students were "possessed."
The school principal allowed the pastors to visit the school and offer prayers.

I'll be moving to the east coast in August. Will school principals allow this unapologetic humanist to visit the schools and offer words of encouragement, promote reading habits, teach Spanish grammar, and/or offer instructions on essay-writing and twentieth-century history and such... free of charge? No way, Hose-B.

Heck! I'd be willing to travel periodically to the Boca Chica area and assist NanSanPedro in delivering instructions to the have-nots.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

I'll be moving to the east coast in August. Will school principals allow this unapologetic humanist to visit the schools and offer words of encouragement, promote reading habits, teach Spanish grammar, and/or offer instructions on essay-writing and twentieth-century history and such... free of charge? No way, Hose-B.

Heck! I'd be willing to travel periodically to the Boca Chica area and assist NanSanPedro in delivering instructions to the have-nots.

Ah, nice to see the ego alive and well. Will you be Rob's translator as he mentions he will require one. The DR awaits your return, I'm certain. Don't know what they've done without you all this time. We almost had to send a retired web page guy in to teach the periodic table!

 

[Lucifer]

The director makes the difference

That sounds easy, but it probably isn't: Ensuring teachers are up-to-date on teaching methods, as well as knowledge of topics, learning tools, etc...