El Seibo cont...

Yesterday, my time on the internet got caught short, so I just wanted to finish up a bit.

Where was I... education in the DR. As we are learning everyday, the poor education of the DR is what most contributes to it being a developing country. The government is more interested in investing in tangible, physical things such as a metro. Santo Domingo has a metro, but the DR has the second to worst (or possibly the worst, I can´t remember right now) education system in Latin America.

It´s interesting, because what the government does is reflected in the people. The people here are proud of the metro, as they should be. An underground transportation system is an accomplishment for any city. The Metro is a real thing, whereas people can see it, can use it, can talk about their expereince with their neighbors. Education is not tangible. Measuring someone´s growth through education is not something the average person can see, feel or discuss. And so, the interest for support among the goverment and even the people is almost nothing.

In the US, there is a direct correlation between more education and a better life. That notion is a new concept here. I believe though, that things are changing here in the DR. As more people leave the DR to get work in the US (there are over 4 million Dominicans living in the US, mostly in New York City), education is making it´s presence and importance known. Slowly but surely.

Kids here alternate between attending school in the morning, from 8-1, or in the afternoon, from 1-5. There usually is at least an hour of recess per school day, and the resources itself for classrooms, textbooks, teachers and other learning materials is beyond limited.

Here in El Seibo, I have two host brothers who are 13 and 8. The 13-year-old, Jeffery, loves learning English and can actually speak it and read it fairly well. However, his English comprehension is non-existent. The other night we were reading a comic strip in English out of his English textbook. He could pronounce most of the words, but he had no idea what he was saying or what 95 percent of the words meant.

The education learning style here is the "bucket system." Teachers just tell information to kids and their minds are supposed to be like an empty bucket, just filling up with information. As most of us can guess, this is highly ineffective and kids end up memorizing everything while actually learning and retaining very little.

Despite this, the potential in these kids is incredible. I see it everyday in my host brothers. Jeffery wants to be a pilot and study in Canada. He asked me what the capital of Canada was and if it snows there everyday of the year. Like most children of the world, with even some education, there is an immense desire to learn about their world here in the DR, and the world abroad.

I found myself torn between supporting him and knowing the reality of the situation. I decided to be idealistic and tell him with lots of hard work, he could do anything he wants. I´ve decided everyday to make some mention of Canada to him, just so he knows there is one person in this world who believes he really can do anything he wants, include live in a place where it snows everyday.

But as mentioned, there are serious limitations here. Until the government sees the value in investing in education, the DR will continue to fall behind other Latin American nations and other developing nations of the world, no matter how many metros are built.