¡Hola desde Perú!

Marquette University’s College of Education offers two courses in Peru: Philosophy of Education and Critical Inquiry in Contemporary Education Issues. While both of these classes have seminar components, the majority of the learning is experiential through local guest lecturers, local NGOs and community projects, and field experiences.

I have now spent one week in Lima where I have had a tour of the historically rich city, played soccer with children at the MLK Sport School, visited local community projects and organizations and listened to guest speakers from SEA and Encuentros, two local organizations. Almost immediately, I notice two things that were surprising: the amount of traffic and the number of Chinese restaurants. The Peruvian people I have met are friendly and always greet me with “buenos días” or “buenas tardes.” My host grandma has been the most welcoming with her smile, words and actions.

Many people come to Peru to see Machu Picchu or eat/dine/experience the food in Lima. While I want to see Machu Picchu and taste the local cuisine, my main motivation in coming to Peru was to compare and contrast the Peruvian education system to the United States’ education system. In addition, one of my main interests is to explore and examine the social inequality within the Peruvian education system and within the Peruvian society as a whole. Already I have, I have learned that residents of poorer communities pay up to ten times as much for water than wealthier residents.

According to The Voluntourist’s Dilemma, voluntourism has been steadily growing and is now a multi billion dollar industry. Voluntourism is the combination of volunteering and tourism where people pay to volunteer on projects abroad such as building houses and working in an orphanage. While all of this sounds great, there are some negative sides to voluntourism. Many times, the money spent on travel would have been better spent as a donation and local construction workers are put out of business while a voluntourist works and often takes longer to build the house. Some orphanages have become like a business where children are susceptible to attachment disorders. However, not all volunteering is bad. Volunteers can have a great positive impact when they are invited to come or when they are addressing a need in the community that isn’t being met—for instance, doctors offering free corrective surgery. While in Peru for the next three weeks, it is important to make the distinction between tourism, volunteering and what we are doing. As part of Marquette and the College of Education, we are coming to Peru as scholars to examine the philosophy of education, the education system, racial relations, and inequality as a whole and ultimately take the knowledge we have gained back to the United States and apply it to our future careers. In order to do this successfully, we are organizing our time here through Ignatian Pedagogy. According to the Jesuit Education and Ignatian Pedagogy released September 2005, Ignatian Pedagogy is “a process by which teachers accompany learners in a lifelong pursuit of competence, conscience, and compassionate commitment.” There are five crucial components to Ignatian Pedagogy: context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation. We will be gaining our context through our seminars and readings. Experience will be gained through field activities at different schools and programs which will allow for a deeper and more accurate understanding of our academics. Our main field experience will be at La Inmaculada during our second week. Reflection will come during seminars and blog posts, as well as transportation time to and from scheduled activities. Reflection has helped me process what we have learned and seen so far in our time in Lima. Evaluation will be based on our weekly blog posts and final project. Throughout this process of Ignatian Pedagogy, the importance of personal interactions and human relationships will be stressed. Through Ignatian Pedagogy, we will learn, experience and deepen our knowledge of new and different perspectives to education.

Inequality is seen throughout the world in many different contexts and settings from housing, income, healthcare, gender to education. The gap between the haves and have nots is only continuing to widen and will continue to grow if left unaddressed. While in Peru, we are mainly focused on the inequality in education; however, it is extremely important to address inequality in general within Peru since they are interrelated and morally unjust. The inequality that is seen in the world today ultimately leads to the perpetuation of the cycle of poverty and oppression. While we may not personally be significantly affected by these inequalities, it is our duty as global citizens to not remain silent and promote and fight for change at home and abroad. During my first week in Lima, I have witnessed many inequalities. In Peru, social classes and neighborhoods are classified as A, B, C, D, E. A represents the elite and rich, while E denotes those living in extreme poverty without their basic needs being met. The biggest inequality that sticks with me began with the drive along the Pacific Ocean to Pamplona Alta and then the visit to Pamplona Alta. Pamplona Alta is a class E neighborhood. Paralleling Pamplona Alta is the “Wall of Shame,” which separates them from Surco, a class A neighborhood. The differences couldn’t be more stark. People in Pamplona Alta don’t have running water and the only accessible road is dirt and it only goes to the very beginning. Residents must climb muddy stairs up to their houses. On the other side of the wall in Surco there are gated communities with watered green lawns.

Power is one of the main sources that drives inequality throughout the world. Along with the Ignatian Pedagogy, power was highlighted in our academic readings and was one of the main topics in seminar. The definition of power insinuates inequality. Power is talked about in all aspects of the academic arena and in society today; however, it is never talked about in education. A Concept of Power for Education, looks at the relationship of power within education. It is explained that wherever there is a relationship between two people there is power. Power can be seen in all different types and forms depending on the situation. There are many binaries that can take place when looking at power: unjust/just, systemic/individual and humanizing/dehumanizing. While the four constructs of power (force, fiction, finance, fealty) take place within the education system, I believe that finance is the most overt sense of power. When power becomes vastly unjust and systemic, this ultimately leads to inequality across all spectrums of human life. The dynamics of power and the system inequality is not just in Peru. It is seen in different countries throughout the world, especially the United States. For example, in the United States the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow and the gaps in education of children from rich and poor neighborhoods are of great magnitude and reinforces the cycle of poverty.

I look forward to my next blog in writing about my field experience in La Inmaculada and comparing it to previous service learning experience in Milwaukee Public Schools.

¡Hasta La Vista!