Political Issue (Final Blog 2)
Access to education is an issue that caught my attention during my time in Peru. To me, I personally think that every child should have access to education no matter their race, ethnicity, background, socioeconomic status, etc. Unfortunately, education is not something that every child has access to. In Peru, it was evident that some districts had more access to education than other districts. I remember that the ex-minister of education gave us a presentation on the education system in Peru and he showed us a video that was striking for me. The video displayed that education is unequal between girls and boys. Girls, almost never, complete their education. Why? Because parents would rather have them home doing work. Parents expect for the girls to do the work around the house and most of the time, care for their younger siblings. When the girls are in the classroom, most of the time they aren’t being payed attention to and are almost always getting bullied. It’s evident that some parts of Peru consist of gender inequality. I think that here in the United States, there is a similar mindset but coming from the students themselves. What I mean by this is the fact that a lot of high school students don’t continue their education after high school because they believe it would be better to get a job rather than spend more money on school.
Throughout the many school visits in Peru, I noticed that there were financial and funding problems. There were schools, to me, that didn’t seem like they had financial problems but then there were some that made me angry to see the conditions at which they were at. I chose the word ‘angry’ because I don’t understand why these schools are not being funded enough money whereas there are other schools that are being funded more than needed. A lot of the schools that we visited had little help from the government and a lot of help from the parents and community. Yup, you read that right. Little government help. It just amazes me how schools aren’t equally being helped when they should all be equally helped because the goal is to educate all these children that are the future. Because of this, it makes it harder for the teachers to work with the limited resources that are given. Many of the schools had little classroom space with over 25 students, a teacher, and a teacher-aid. Similar to United States, this makes it hard not only for the students but the teachers as well. Teachers have little resources for their classrooms, sometimes they cannot complete a certain task because of the limited amount. Also, it’s harder for students to concentrate on school work while they are crowded, hot, uncomfortable which leads to students paying less attention.
Those weren’t the only problems with access to education, another thing I noticed is the language. When I visited Colegio Roosevelt, the curriculum is taught in English and students have Spanish class at the end of the day. Something that stood out to me is the fact that most of these students come Spanish speaking backgrounds but are taught in English. It doesn’t make sense, to me, as to why the minute these students walk into the classroom, they are obligated to stop speaking Spanish, a language that is the way they communicate. It’s almost like a light switch that is being turned on and off. On another note, the language is a main reason that some students don’t have access to education. For example, I remember that there were students that spoke only Quechua and this put a barrier on attending school because the school taught either in English or Spanish, or both, but no Quechua. I would like to think that schools in Peru would want to have students from everywhere no matter their language, so why aren’t most of the schools doing something so that these students, who speak Quechua, get the same access as their peers?
Why doesn’t every child have access to education? It’s a very complex question and it seems to me like I will never get an answer. It’s sad, for me, to see that there are children with little to no education. As a nation, it’s important to do what best for the future generation and a lot of that comes from education. As Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the word.”
Smiles,
Liz
