Educational Inequity, Part One

Monday, I began the teaching practicum portion of the SIT program, and the experience was not ideal. I requested to be placed in a municipal elementary school, to work with students who were just learning how to read and write, but was accidentally taken to the adjacent municipal high school, and placed in an English class, at the equivalent of the ninth grade level. The class was disorderly and unfocused; the students rude (they were told they could ask me questions in English and they did—“Can you dance sexy?” was my favorite, followed by “Can you go to parties?” and “What do you think of our teacher—is he beautiful or is he ugly?”); and the teacher inattentive and ineffectual.

Who is to blame for this? The students: for not being motivated, for not paying attention, for not aiming high? The teacher: for not giving his students enough attention, enough work; for not being a valuable resource for them? The education system: for failing students who can’t afford private school tuition by sticking them in graffiti-ridden buildings in drug-infested areas, giving them sub-par materials, and providing them with a lower-quality education? The government: for not changing the system when it had the chance?

The educational system in Chile is based on the same neoliberal model as our educational system in the United States, and there are strong similarities between the two. The strongest I’ve found is that, when it comes to K-12 education, the biggest factor in your success is how much you can pay for it.

There are three types of first/secondary schools in Chile, rather than the two we have in the US:

1. Municipal schools, which are public schools—free to all students, and enrollment is determined primarily by the students’ residence. However, there is a voucher system, where students can choose to attend schools out of district. Municipal schools receive 3,000 pesos (roughly $6 American) per student per day, so they are constantly fighting for student enrollment, and thus, better funding. Unfortunately, most municipal schools are poor quality, similar to the majority of US urban public schools located in low income areas. 47% of Chilean students attend municipal schools.
2. Partially subsidized schools, where the government and parents share the cost of tuition. Sometimes the cost is split 50/50, other times it is less even. Although we haven’t spent a lot of time talking about these types of schools, I am interested in learning more about them. As can be assumed, students in these schools score in between municipal and private school students on standardized tests. 46% of Chilean students attend these schools.
3. Private schools, where parents cover all tuition costs. The students in these schools come from higher socioeconomic levels, score higher on standardized tests, and have exceptionally higher university attendance rates than either the municipal or partially subsidized schools. Sound familiar? Only 7% of Chilean students attend private schools.

(statistics are taken from the most recent census in 2008)

Luckily, I was able to change my placement and go to the correct school on Wednesday. I observed in a first grade class where, instead of being whistled at, I was called Tia Sofia (literal translation: Aunt Sophie). Instead of sitting in a corner, I was able to actively help students throughout the lesson. And I got to spend literally three hours watching students learn how to read and write, which I think is my favorite activity of all time. All students in municipal schools here learn how to write in cursive in the first grade. My first-grade-self would be so jealous! I remember begging my parents to buy me one of those cursive practice workbooks because I couldn’t wait for the third grade, when my handwriting would suddenly become elegant and loopy…

But, what my first-grade-self wouldn’t understand, and what part of me wishes my twenty-year-old-self didn’t understand, is that these students—cute kids, who are proud of their work, and most of them truly excited to learn—will, one day, end up in the adjacent municipal high school, sitting in the same, dark, graffiti-covered classrooms as their older brothers and sisters.

Tia Andrea, the teacher of the first grade at Escuela Municipal Miguel de Cervantes, teaches two classes: the class I observed, and another first grade class at a private school nearby. The difference between the two classes, she said, is staggering. Although the class in the private school is almost double the size of the class in the municipal school (weird, I know!) the private school students consistently have something that the municipal school students rarely do: the benefit of strong parental support. The private school students come in accompanied by their parents, healthy lunches held in little hands, backpacks filled with notebooks and pencils. They pay attention in class, and are ahead on the material. The municipal school students walk to school alone through dangerous areas. They are more rowdy during class time. They fall behind quickly. One student, said Tia Andrea, owns only one pencil. Only one notebook.

Who is to blame for this? The students: for being born into poverty, and thus having fewer academic opportunities? The teachers: for doing their best, which, more times than not, isn’t enough? The parents: who may or may not be aware of their options for educating their children, who may or may not believe that the way they were educated is the only way possible?

In our academic seminars, we have been asked to propose our own solutions to end educational inequity. For me, this is like being asked to come up with a plan for achieving world peace or ending world hunger. Something ideal, something necessary, but something that doesn’t have a solution. Every time I have an idea that I think has validity, someone says something contradictory and important—so my ideas change, but the outcome is still imperfect. I guess the goal in fixing the education system is to work toward gaining something rather than actually gaining it, in hope that we eventually, somehow, get there.