Inequality and Indigeneity
Education cannot be philosophized without addressing race because race is apart of everyday life. In the United States there is major focus on race and inequalities that are in accordance with it, with one of them being education. Education in a way can be tied to race because of geography and socioeconomic status, for example. In Peru, there is not as big of an emphasis on race as there is in the United States, instead it is the focus on social standings. In the “Reconstructing Race” article, it talks about how in Peru, it is not the biological features that are looked at and discriminated against, it is instead the ethnicity. Looking at the connection between race and education in the United States, it is evident that socioeconomic status is greatly involved. A lot of times, it is minorities who have a lower socioeconomic status compared to white people. When one has a lower socioeconomic status, that is tied to education opportunities. More often than not, people from a lower socioeconomic status have a more difficult time going to a school that is deemed as high quality. They might end up in a school that doesn’t have as good of quantity or quality of resources, the educational experience of teachers might not be as good, the inclusion of differentiation might not exist, etc. This is obviously a problem because if SES and race are so closely related, then it is setting up the minority students for having a harder time in school or even for getting into a “good” school. There is such an importance of being aware of the demographics of the students in the classroom and their background. It should always be the goal of the teacher and the school to set their students up for success, but a lot of times the minority students are set up for failure for a number of reasons such as standardized testing, discrimination, language, etc. There is such a focus on standardized testing in schools that it becomes the main goal for many schools. The problem with standardized tests, is that they include concepts that are not relatable or recognizable to all students of all backgrounds. They are geared towards white students and usually those that are privileged. When thinking about the students’ backgrounds this includes making sure the material taught in class is relevant and meaningful to the students’ lives. What is relevant and meaningful will not be the same for all students.
The question, what is education’s purpose and potential, is affected by inequality. Many would agree that education is one of the main factors in trying to end inequality between race, SES, etc. In Peru there is a lot of inequality between cultures and ethnic backgrounds. For instance, people who live in the highlands are more likely to have a lower SES background and not have as many or as good of opportunities as those in Lima. In accordance with this, those in the highlands usually are Indigenous, so this ends up making the Indigenous peoples have a lower SES and not as good opportunities than people along the coast, in Lima, with higher SES, for example. When we visited Fe y Alegria in Andahuaylas, the representative explained to us that the focus of the school was to make sure the students had high self-worth and didn’t feel inferior because of their Indigenous background, or the fact that their first language was Quechua. Fe y Alegria makes sure to teach its students about self-worth, self-identity, while teaching the students in both Quechua and Spanish. Schools with students coming from a higher SES background, such as Rooselvelt, had a focus on being positive and influential members of society. They wanted to make sure the students learned through experience because that would set them up to be active and socially beneficial members to society. There was not an emphasis on self-worth or self-identity, so if one thinks about it, is that because it is thought that the students already have high self-worth since they come from a higher SES. Inequality is embedded in the purpose and potential of education for all schools, but inequality is also what makes schools different form each other.
Like stated before, inequality is seen in Peru when looking at those who speak Quechua and Amyra in the highlands, compared to those who speak Spanish in Lima, along the coast. Cusco is in the highlands, so there is a large population of people who still speak Quechua, however it is not as noticeable as it was in the Andes, in the town Andahuaylas. Cusco is very touristy which I think also makes it hard to see indigeneity in this city. However, the month of June is when Cusco celebrates itself, so there are parades with people wearing traditional dress and there are traditional dances that are performed. These activities show that the indigenous culture of the highlands is still celebrated and kept alive in the Cusco region. The biggest difference I saw between Andahuaylas and Lima was that in Lima, everyone basically speaks Spanish, and English is taught in schools. This relates to the article about English being equivalent to the American dollar. People in Lima generally have a higher SES than people in the highlands, and one of the ways to have a higher social standing is to not only speak Spanish, but also speak English, so that seemed to be the goal in Lima, schools in particular. In Andahuaylas, the focus of learning English was not as prevalent. What I saw more of was keeping the Quechua language alive, and not being ashamed by it, and alongside it, learning Spanish, so people can participate more easily in society. Another difference between Lima and the Andes region is that in Lima, I didn’t get a strong impression of “indigenous culture.” What I mean by this is that when comparing Lima and Cusco, Cusco still celebrates its traditions in food, music, dance, dress, whereas in Lima, there is a more striving towards a Western image, it seemed like. My thought is that this is because of the negative connotation Quechua and being indigenous has as being of lower status. Inequality is seen everywhere in the United States and in Peru, educationally, racially, geographically, and culturally. Education has traditionally been the answer for the first step towards ended inequality, but when there is inequality in education, then a new answer needs to be thought of.
