Education System

I started writing something else before this piece, actually 2 other posts, but before I finished them I realized one in particular was becoming too long and difficult to follow without having any of the knowledge I’ve gained in the last 6 weeks.  Therefore, I decided to break it up into a few major categories: education, government, the markets (and by markets I mean the manner in which you can purchase and sell things here in Guatemala), and the dangers of living in a third world country.
I’ve been fortunate to be able to learn more than just a new language during my time here in Antigua.  I read the newspaper every day, ask a lot of questions, and one of the “games” we decided to play in the afternoons is invite a couple other teachers and their students to have a discussion about a particular topic.  I like these a lot because I use them as a way to learn from other teachers and not just my own about how life works here in Guatemala.  I’ve come to realize as I learn more complex grammar that it is becoming more and more difficult to have advanced conversations with my teacher.  I know that sounds arrogant, but I certainly don’t mean it as an insult to her intelligence.  I believe intelligence is much more a reflection of a person’s ability to gain more knowledge and knowledge is really just information.  It is a fact that I was fortunate to have a much more in depth education, and she will be the first to tell you that the public education system here is broken.  She is a product of the public education system here and works very very hard to make sure her children can go to a private school.  In fact, some of the things she says are so off-the-wall I’m thinking about starting a book called Sh*t Mirna Says…
I worked in the education sector in the States for 9 months providing financial education and planning to teachers.  During that time, I learned a lot about the ratio of children to teachers, salaries of teachers, experience levels, etc.  If you have a beef about the public education system in your state…listen to this. 
Here in Guatemala the current President, who is ending his term this year. made the public school system free.  At first glance, that sounds like a terrific plan.  Before Alvaro Colom, current President, made public schools free, there was a one-time registration fee for each student.  Principal (Pre-School & Kindergarten) cost Q40 for one year; Basico (Elementary & Jr. High) and Secondario (High School) cost Q150 for one year; Universidad San Carlos (Public University) cost and still does Q200 each semester.  The problem with this is that the number of teachers were not increased.  I have no way of verifying this next piece of information, but according to Mirna, the teachers in the public schools make much more money than the teachers in the private schools.  This seems opposite to me, but it really doesn’t matter.  The point is that the number of students per teacher has nearly doubled, and nobody seems to care about this.  Right now, there are 60-80 children per teacher in the public schools in Guatemala.  Enrollment was certainly increased, but the quality of education of each student has significantly decreased as a result of Colom’s “generous gift.”  The children who may have had a chance in the past attending a public school really have none at all now.  In my opinion, he took a bad situation and made it worse.  The really bad thing is that he really did it just to win votes.  More on this topic later.
You don’t have to work in education to know that 60 children, worse 70 or 80, for just one teacher is an impossible task for that teacher.  I’ve heard and read newspaper articles on public schools that are having a very difficult time getting some teachers to even show up to the school to teach.  Each time, the article stated that the teacher’s salary has not been affected by such behavior.  When you take into account that the teachers themselves are products of the past public education system, it almost seems hopeless.  I have a lot of respect for Mirna for trying so hard to make sure her 2 children have a better life and better opportunities than she did.  Being a single mother is hard enough, but I imagine being crippled by your economic situation and sacrificing all that you can to make sure your child has a chance in a system such as the one here in Guatemala is infinitely more difficult. 
One final thing before I go…I feel so incredibly fortunate for all that I have had and for being able to recognize just that.  I’ve stated before that common sense is not all that common when you don’t have a basic education.  There may be things wrong with your school district, but there’s a lot that’s right about it too.  Don’t forget to look at those things.  When I went to Santa Maria de Jesus (the place where the streets were used as a trash can and the water holding tank for the people was in the cemetery), we visited a school.  These kids were thrilled to see us, and they couldn’t stop giggling when we said hello or asked how many years they have (that’s how you ask how old you are in Spanish).  I have to admit they were pretty fun.