Blog Post #4: Education beliefs and experiences → Perú vs. USA

Hey Interwebbers!
The seven of us, after travelling to Peru, have experienced a series of educational contexts. In La Inmaculada, the logistical aspects of the school differs from other schools that I have volunteered in. The students switch classrooms from the primary grades onwards, whereas students in primary grades only switch classrooms for other, non-core subjects such as music, art, physical education, and other programs that the school may provide. The students are encouraged to learn through the inquiry-based activities the teacher provides for them. I am with the second graders during their English class. Throughout the week so far, I have noticed how the teacher allows the students to work on the activities at their own pace. While she does warn the students to ‘hurry up’ when she feels that some have become distracted by a side conversation, she maintains the idea that, as long as the students are working, they can work at their own speed. Dewey and Freire would both agree with this, since every student learns at their own pace and, therefore, does work at their own pace. Dewey says in his book The School and Society, that “…You want something at which the children may work; these [materials] are all for listening…That tells the story of traditional education” (page 9 of 41). You may take a look at the copy that I have here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4YrkLKx4DUzcUhxcC1LTEF1SjA/view).
The traditional education that I grew up with as a child seemed quite unlike what I have seen here. Of course, the lessons are different since the students are learning English as a second language. Despite going to speech therapy, I had to adjust to the speed of the majority of the class, in terms of the speed at which I should learn and complete the tasks given to me. Learn for the test and then move on. This was school. At home, I was told to learn for the sake of learning new things. This idea would help me understand what I am studying long after the test is over. Of course, that was much easier said than done as I had already acclimated to the system of how “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor” (Freire, page 7 of 14). You can check out what Freire has to say about education systems here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4YrkLKx4DUzbzNrSUtSaENIdzA/view).
At schools like Colegio Roosevelt, an American-based International school in Lima, the teachers follow the same common core and next generation science standards that teachers back home are using for their lessons. I did not get to see a class in action, unfortunately, but I can imagine that the students use their innovation and creativity to produce a completed product worthy of presentation. We were told about how a middle school class were instructed to create a short documentary based on a topic about Lima that they care about. Each student picked a different topic, each of those ranging from the pollution to the separation of status in Lima. The students took a full two months to gain the knowledge that they need, based on their research, to create and perfect their small documentaries. These videos were first presented to the class in a common area. Then the students presented their videos to the heads of various organizations that aim to fix the problems that the students researched. This project was so much more than creating a video to present to the class. It has become a tool for the students to address the problems in their communities and present their various solutions to the problems they posed.
The education beliefs that I have encountered here in Lima very much align with my own: education is one of the most important tools to a happy and successful present and future. Each student is going to grow up to be someone important in their community and society someday. They need the tools in order to grow and thrive in the world that they live in. School is not just a thing that everyone does just to say that they have been educated. While the government here in Lima would be the first to cut public funding for schools, like the US, many of the public schools are privately funded by families of students and alumni of the school. However, I have never heard any one student complain that they did not want to be at school. For many, school is a safe place where the students can be happy, play, and be children. The world outside of the walls of the school campus is a different story altogether.

Until next time,
Aditi Narayan