Wow, I just tried to leave the internet and once again ran into a huge protest with flying rocks and clouds of tear gas, so I came back inside. Since Peru has the second worst school system in the Americas behind Haiti, the president has issued standardized tests for all teachers. Obviously they don't like it.
Let me explain a little bit about the teachers in Peru because it's very sad. The situation is pretty much the opposite of the states. Teaching is very well respected and brings a nice salary as well. This seems very illogical to me because in most of my experience observing the local teachers here, I have always been very disappointed. Generally, they don't take their professions seriously at all. This is apparent through skipping school days, heavy drinking and constant protests and strikes demanding more money and more holidays.
Now on top of that, these bums have a huge problem taking a test that insures they know the material they're supposed to be teaching. I feel like the state of the educational system here might be the saddest part of the local culture. Sometimes these protests seem reasonable, but this is ridiculous.
Anyway, I getting back to Austin on the morning of the 4th of August and am more than ready.
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2 comments:
Ugh. This kind of stagnation and entitlement often results when any industry is monopolized by government. Obviously it's not as bad here as in Perú, and that has a lot to do with cultural differences and the way government schools are run, but things would be much better if parents had total freedom to decide where their educational dollars go. That's why I support the Alliance for the Separation of School & State.
Hey, hopefully you get this sometime soon, because I couldn't find an email address. Anyway, I'm a PCV in the Philippines, and in about 8 months I'll be done here. I'm lookin to do another 2 years in a central/south american country. Can you tell me anything about the program there, like what the specific job placements are? Is the program cool? For example, our CD here sucks, he's a total control freak, so I'm hoping to avoid that. What did you think of Peru, cool, not cool? Was being fluent in Spanish an absolute requirement to being accepted to the program? Or, how many PCVs there actually speak Spanish? I'm semi-fluent, but after 2 years of Filipino I'm not as good as before... So, etc etc, you know, anything you can tell me that might help me make a decision?
If you can hit me back at theoldswitcheroo(at)gmail.com, I will buy you a beer. If we ever meet. Ha.
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