What Role Do Identities Play in Education?
Week 4 in Peru; Week 1 in Cuzco
Peru, even after a month of really getting to know your education system, you still have so much to teach me about equality and education!
After three weeks in Lima seeing top-of-the-line schools and schools that struggle to meet all of the needs of their students, I thought that I had a pretty well-rounded idea of what education looked like in Peru. But I could not have been more wrong! Looking back, I do believe that I developed a fairly strong understanding of what education in LIMA looks like, but at the time, I had tunnel vision. To me, while I was in the capital, Peru was simply Lima; I did not think to take into account the highlands or the jungle regions when I thought about education in Peru as a whole. I was missing a majority of the country when I was looking at Lima and truly believed I was getting the whole picture. My flawed idea of what education in Peru looked like was disassembled in an instant when we travelled in our last week up to Cusco, Andahuaylillas, and other more remote areas in the highlands. Suddenly a light was shed on a context completely different than the urban feel I was used to seeing in Lima.
I am so grateful for the time we spent in the highlands because our time at the Fe y Alegria school that we observed in Andahuaylillas for two days was my absolute favorite thing we did on the entire trip. Although I was simply observing the teachers work their magic and was not necessarily hands-on teaching the kids anything, I felt like I was able to learn so much. Fe y Alegria is a Jesuit-run system of schools that works to create a quality education for children living in more rural and less economically advantaged areas of Peru. These schools, and especially the location in Andahuaylillas, work to educate their students beyond the basic classroom necessities and to help their students develop an understanding and appreciation for their rich cultural backgrounds. During our first-day introduction to Fe y Alegria, the Jesuit volunteer told us that at Fe y Alegria in Andahuaylillas they have a very strong emphasis on the Quechua culture. Because the Quechua language and culture are heavily discriminated against in Peru, there are so people that feel a sense of shame and embarrassment around their Quechua heritage. Unfortunately, there has been a decline in the number of people practicing the Quechua culture and language because of the amount of discrimination that they face.
The goal of Fe y Alegria is to make their students aware that their heritage and culture is not something to be ashamed of. Too often there is a desire to fit entirely into one category; overlap between cultures and identities is not ideal. Am I going to take on the Quechua identity or some other completely different identity? What group do I fit into? Where do I belong? Fe y Alegria is attempting to open their students’ eyes to the possibility of creating a balance of multiple identities instead of casting off other identities to entirely encapsulate one identity. It is important for every aspect of your identity to be recognized and appreciated. Instead of looking at their Quechua identity as a source of shame or embarrassment, Fe y Alegria is trying to teach their students to see it as additional value; these students are the master of two cultures.
This reminds me very much of life in the United States. From talking with students at Marquette from various backgrounds, I have heard the struggles of people with intersecting identities. I have heard many students struggle with what aspect of their identity to embrace and for what audiences. For example, I have talked to many students who feel torn between their black and white identity. They feel that when they act “white” their family and friends question where the black is in them, but when they act “black” they are criticized for being inauthentic and are not accepted by their peers. In these instances, it seems like the student cannot win! Whatever way they act they are going to be criticized for not being authentic. If the student is to be their most authentic self, they have to be willing to accept all of their identities and what role those identities play in their own lives. This acceptance and comfort with the intersection of identities is Fe y Alegria’s ultimate goal. I would love to implement some of those ideas into the education system in the United States to help students develop a love for all aspects of their identity.
One portion of students’ identities that often goes unnoticed in a school setting is their language or the way they speak, and Fe y Alegria is working to make students more comfortable with their culture by teaching them about the Quechua language. There was a very powerful moment that I observed in one of the first classes that I saw at the school where the teacher asked to her class, in Spanish, “How many people here speak Quechua?” I did not see a single hand raised. The follow-up question was: “How many people have parents or grandparents that speak Quechua?” At this, every child’s hand shot up into the air. Then the teacher asked some deep-thinking questions such as, “Why is it, do you think, that none of you speak Quechua even though your family does?” Responses ranged from “My parents never taught me” to “I do not want to learn how to speak Quechua.” With these questions, the teacher got the students to begin thinking critically about their culture. Why was it that they did not ever take the time to learn Quechua? Were they embarrassed about their Quechua culture? Were their parents embarrassed to teach them about the culture? What was the source of that embarrassment?
This scene harkens me back to my linguistics class last semester. Throughout the course we discussed linguistic discrimination, and we discussed the attitudes that many people have towards African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in-depth. Based on linguists’ assessment of languages, there is nothing that makes AAVE an “inferior” language to “Standard American English.” However, there is a huge stigma against AAVE. Although it has its own set of rules and has a consistent structure, because it is not the language of those in power, it is looked down upon as a substandard way of speaking. This is exactly what is happening here in Peru. The people that speak Quechua are just as valid in their way of communicating as those who speak Spanish; however, because they have been marginalized and subjugated throughout history, the language and the people that speak the language somehow viewed as less-than those who speak only Spanish. What needs to be communicated to kids everywhere is that the way they speak is in no way any less valid than any other form of language, despite what the rest of the world may tell them. If they are able to accept the language portion of their identity, they are that much closer to accepting their whole identity, regardless of what others think.
As a future English teacher, I hope to be able to instill the values and goals of Fe y Alegria in my students. I hope to incorporate literature from various backgrounds in order to include all of my students of varying backgrounds and to educate my students on the value in every culture. I also hope to emphasize the importance of the way of speaking as an aspect of your identity. I do not want any student to feel uncomfortable when sharing their opinion because they feel that their language is discriminated against. I hope to show my students that all identities have value. These teaching practices, from a young age, are what I believe will help students to accept their own identities and to understand others’ identities as well. I think that these practices will create a more well-rounded education for students and will also help to create a more open mindset. I think it will help students to question the systems and methods of maintaining the norm that are in place and create a space where talking about those issues is welcomed.
When discussing issues within society and the best way to tackle them, it is crucial to keep Eve Tuck’s article titled “Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities” in mind. Fe y Alegria follows Tuck’s cautions very closely and does not aim to help their students from a “damage-centered” viewpoint; they are not looking at all of the downfalls and misfortunes of Andahuaylillas in order to try to make it better. Rather, the school sees all of the good in the community and all of the positive things the community has to offer and hopes to teach the students how to capitalize on those positive aspects. They look at the community from a very positive perspective and also convey that positive attitude towards their students. From everything I saw and heard from Fe y Alegria, there was no shame brought upon the students that did not show a strong interest in the Quechua culture. Instead of making every student accept that part of their identity because it was “wrong” to not accept the Quechua influence, the school simply opened a doorway for the students to walk through if they chose. In my mind, this is what all schools should do — they should open as many doors as possible for their students and give them the resources to walk through the doorway if they choose to do so. Fe y Alegria is a great example of working with a community to build it up using all of the resources already available to the community, and hopefully I will be able to implement these practices into my classroom in the future as well in order to create an environment where all students feel accepted for who they are.
Thanks for a great month, Peru and for all of the insights into what creating a more equal education looks like. I will not miss your traffic, Lima or your scorpions, Andahuaylillas, but I will miss the incredible people and culture that I was just beginning to understand. See you again someday?
