Education For All

Today there are many purposes of schools, both overt and covert, however, the main purpose of education remains to create citizens who are able to assimilate to the dominant culture, fully participate in democracy, become active citizens and ultimately to allow for young children and adults to flourish. I believe one of the more covert purposes of educational systems today is to maintain the social status also known as social reproduction which is one of the most negative aspects of the educational system.

Whether a school has privileged youth or marginalized youth, I believe the overall content taught should be the same. However, the structure and delivery of this content may need to be different, due to the fact that privileged youths and marginalized youths come from different backgrounds and will have different experiences and knowledge coming into school. No matter the students of a school, the curriculum needs to be adaptable and flexible for all kinds of learners.

While the majority of traditional schools are founded on the same educational purpose, the way in which the structure and curriculum are portrayed to the students varies. In Philosophy of Education, there are three things one must consider: aim goals, distributive goals and finally constraints of an educational system. The aim goals looks at the purpose of schooling, while the distributive goals look at who gets what and the constraints focus on the feasibility of education. For each educational context, these may take different forms.

Dewey: Experience and Education, Chapters 2 & 3, examines the relationship between education and experience and looks at the two core principles of “continuity and integration.” In traditional education, this type of relationship isn’t the focus. The main focus is on a mass production of students where they sit down, are told to listen and then they have to recite what was just said. Dewey is offering a child-centered education which is known as progressive education. In The School and the Life of the Child, Dewey calls for a deeper understanding of children and their learning. In order to achieve this deeper understanding, the educational system must have the need materials for the purpose of doing. So far, we have looked at the Ignatian Pedagogy and the child focused pedagogy of Dewey. The engaged pedagogy that looks at the body, mind and spirit in a holistic approach was studied this week as well. In this pedagogy, emphasis is on the teacher’s role and the need for them to be committed to themselves first. There is the idea of self-actualization and the belief of a liberatory/free education. It is believed that teachers must teach in a way that respects and cares for the souls of their students, allowing them to flourish as a whole human.

When looking at the purpose of education and creating informed citizens, Educating the Spirit of Activism: A “Critical” Civic Education argues that the purpose of education should be to promote “a spirit of activism” within their students. In order for students to have this sense of activism, it is extremely important for students to have a high self esteem. This past week we spent our mornings at Colegio de la Inmaculada, a private Jesuit school for students ages 4–17 serving middle to upper class families. Within secondary school classes at Colegio de la Inmaculada, I found the “spirit of activism” to be very present. I was able to observe in Maia’s class four times this week. Maia is an English teacher who teaches across multiple grades in both primary and secondary school. The topic of discussion in her 10th grade English class is one that has stuck with me throughout the week. Starting on Monday, her students were assigned the group task of answering the question, “What has the school done so far to save/preserve the environment?” and, “What else can be done/improved?” Once the groups were done brainstorming, they had to put their ideas on whiteboards and then present their ideas to the class. The following classes they worked on writing proposals to the Head Master of Colegio de la Inmaculada regarding what improvements the school should do to become greener. This week long activity was a great way for students to practice their English in a formal setting and be active citizens with the aim of becoming more environmentally aware. In addition, students’ work/posters were displayed on the classroom walls that addressed the need to fight and not remain silent on issues such as genocide, the turmoil in Venezuela and the events that happened in Ayacucho. Students educated on the past, as well as current events are able to create and engage in social movements.

After getting a campus tour of Colegio de la Inmaculada on Monday, I was extremely overwhelmed. Just three days prior on Friday, we were walking through Pamplona Alta, a “pueblo joven” that doesn’t have the basic necessities. In contrast, Colegio de la Inmaculada has three full length grass soccer fields, at least twenty soccer courts, basketball and volleyball courts, a gym, a place for gymnastics and most shocking of all, a zoo. In addition, the school has the most up to date equipment ranging from smart boards to Chromebooks for each student. The only thing that separates Pamplona Alta and Colegio De la Inmaculada is a ten- to twelve-foot wall known as the “Wall of Shame.” During my time at Colegio de la Inmaculada, I couldn’t help but think about what was on the other side of the wall. The “Wall of Shame” is visible at many points on campus. Jesuits are known for their work with the poor, and on the first day the question was raised as to whether children from Pamplona Alta are brought over on scholarships. Currently, this doesn’t happen. In the past, it did occur; however, it was found that the students from Pamplona Alta didn’t fit in with their students. This highlights the difficulty of assimilation between two different communities. For example, there was a significant difference as to what one student would do on the weekends or over summer break. Colegio de la Inmaculada now has social programs for all students starting at age 4 all the way through graduation. In hopes of gaining a deeper understanding regarding these social programs, we met Javier, who is the director of pastoral programs. These pastoral programs are similar to Marquette’s service learning programs and are part of the moral and spiritual aspect of the school. Javier stated that these social programs were started in an attempt to get students out of the classroom. The administrators had to think of how they could get students to be “people with others” and get out of their bubble and live in solidarity with others. The first step in achieving this was to get students to know the reality that surrounds them. The overall goal in these social programs is to bring students into poor communities in the hopes of creating relationships and ultimately to see “the equality in humanity.” One important component of these social programs is reflection. This ties into the greater pedagogy of Ignatian Pedagogy that Colegio de la Inmaculada is based on. The Ignatian Pedagogy is founded on 5 core components: context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation.

This past week, through my experiences at Colegio de la Inmaculada, Casitas and the MLK Socio Deportivo, I have gained valuable insight into different educational contexts and how they portray the purpose of education. Some factors that play a role in the type of education one receives are resources, context and socio economic status. At Colegio de la Inmaculada, a traditional educational context is used and is one that I have experienced since I was five years old. I believe that Casitas and the MLK Socio Deportivo hold the same purpose of education but put it into practice in different ways since they are both non traditional education systems. The first Casitas that I went to was led by a woman named Maria. At the Casitas we started with 20 minutes of play, followed by a reflection session on what the kids liked and didn’t like about International Day of Play the previous Saturday. The kids then shared their opinions with the group. This activity allowed students to reflect, practice their listening skills and taught them that not everyone will have the same opinions. At the MLK Socio Deportivo program, children were brought together to play soccer with the bigger goal of team building, having structure and discipline and giving a platform for the marginalized. All of these educational programs, whether traditional or not, support the main purpose of education: flourishing of the individual. These three distinct experiences allowed me to have different perspectives on what education can look like. While I may not want to work directly in the classroom, this week has provided me with a crucial insight into the purpose of education, different philosophies on education and how to structure students’ educations. All of this will be extremely important when dealing with educational policies, both domestic and international.

Last week, one of our main focuses was the relationship between power and education. At Colegio De la Inmaculada, we saw the traditional sense of power in the teacher and student relationship. This type of power is called finance and is one of the four constructs of power. At a societal level of power, we see Colegio De la Inmaculada holding the power as an educational institution within the community. The school is trying to use its power as an elite school with the Jesuit value of equality to instill in the community. When looking at the question of what a just education is, it is necessary to look at the social context of where the education is taking place. The social context will focus on the teacher and the community. Operating within these different social contexts is power.

To wrap up our seminar this week, we focused on the article Social Justice, Deferred Complicity and the Moral Plight of the Wealthy, which argues that when we teach privileged students, their privilege is reinforced and in turn benefits them. Privilege goes hand in hand with power in that it is a description about relationships within a hierarchical structure. Education affirms their belief that they are good people, doing good things such as giving back to the community. While Colegio de la Inmaculada requires students to participate in social programs, I wonder whether or not they are just reinforcing privilege. The same can be said for Marquette in that both of these schools offer just enough to lead people to believe they are making a lasting change.

It can be seen that Colegio de la Inmaculada is surrounded by a bubble in the Surco neighborhood of Lima. This can be directly related to Marquette and the bubble that surrounds us in Milwaukee. One of Marquette’s reputations is that students who go to Marquette are rich and privileged. On face value, the same can be said about Colegio de la Inmaculada. Both schools are located in a bubble that is surrounded by significantly poorer neighborhoods. In some classes at Marquette, service learning is required. This makes students get out of the Marquette bubble and see the reality of the surrounding community.

The Ignatian pedagogy, with its five crucial components of context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation, is at the backbone of Colegio de la Inmaculada and our time here in Peru. The Ignatian pedagogy can be used as a road map for educational programs that want to stress inclusiveness, experience, reflection, justice, child centeredness and humanization. In a society that is separated by classes, one of the benefits of the Ignatian pedagogy is that it tries to minimize the distinction between children and recognizes that all are equal.