A Student Website on Education in Puerto Rico

I have a lot of ideas about a student website for the topic of education in Puerto Rico.  I would prefer however, that the students take the initiative and design the site.  I would like to see a cool name and logo, with an attractive Home page that invites visitors to check it out.  Maybe a slide of eye-catching images of students and schools in PR.  I think focusing the site on problems or solutions or dividing into sections such as that might be helpful to visitors.  It might be limited to just English education, since this is an English class.  I would love to see individual or pair projects, with dynamic content developed: such as a video, or animated slide show, or photos.  Profiling students, teachers or programs using innovative techniques or approaches might be fun to see.  I would love to read interviews with students, or see results of questionnaires on students opinions. I also would like some historical perspective:  I suspect that the history of education in Puerto Rico plays an important role in how the system is today. Before the US took over, the only education was elite, private and Catholic from what I understand. It would be nice to have this information in an article and then discuss how elements of this beginning are still present even in the public system.  Most importantly, I would like to see the students own this project and make their voices heard on this topic.  I think our future depends on getting student more engaged in their education and in changing it for the better.

Education as a Source of Jobs or Economic Development

I understand the traditional link that is made between higher education and job preparation. This is probably the most consistent theme in public discussions about higher education in Puerto Rico. When I first started studying college back in Massachusetts, I tried to be very practical and only take courses that would lead to getting a degree suitable for a job.  But luckily for me something happened along the way: I actually discovered I had specific interests and passions that I wanted to study, and they weren't necessarily job-related.  This did cause a fair amount of stress and guilt at times though, because I always thought of these interests as "not being focused" on getting a job which was the purpose of university work. Even my so-called counselors said as much.  The family definitely did not see why I should take courses that weren't required.  So I took them as a guilty pleasure - maybe that made them all the more enjoyable - who knows?  In the end I ended up pursuing the study of literature into graduate school - and all the way to getting my PhD.  Despite this success story, I know there are many people with PhDs in English literature that cannot get regular work at a decent salary and benefits.  Even though universities need English professors, they don't want to pay them a fair, living wage.  So while I am one of the lucky ones - I am a full time regular professor -- I know that it is not common.  And so for too many of those who studied it because we loved it and were good at it, in the end it was just a frivolous undertaking. Now very few students want to study literature or any discipline in the Humanities, because there are no jobs.  Even professors with jobs are getting worried about losing them, for if there are no students for classes, there are no profs needed.  So it seems that the need for practical work is pushing aside interests and passions.  This makes me very sad for the future.  A university turned into a training school for workers is sure not what I envisioned when I dreamt so long ago of being a professor of literature!

Education Prohibited: Solutions Are Yet to Be Imagined

I found the documentary La Educacion prohibida very provocative and informative. I know a lot about education and I have kept myself up to date on educational reform in the US and in Puerto Rico, but I still learned a lot form the film.  I liked to see images of school kids and schools in Latin America:  it was fun to see the differences as well as the similarities of here.  I once talked with a professor in PR who had taught in Peru I think it was, and I remember her talking about how little resources they had. They basically had nothing but a cold room - no paper, books, or supplies.  They sang a lot and did role plays.  It sounded like fun, but she said that none of the kids liked it.  They didn't like school and didn't want to learn English. It was boring and useless.  "Wow," I remember thinking, "just like here."  She seemed liked a very good and dedicated teacher, but yet, little response.  So this seems to be a feature found all over the world.   I suppose it makes sense given that we all live and feel the same global conditions: stresses on environment, on traditional patterns of family and social relations, the ubiquity of drugs and street violence, of war and political repression.  And we see that the conclusions drawn in the film are very similar to what Logan LaPlante and Ken Robinson say: students need to be nurtured for their individual interests and talents, and allowed to pursue their passions -- guided and assisted, but in a serious manner - no matter what the interest. And I agree when I hear them say this -- all of them: but then I wonder how would that happen on the scale that it needs to? Can for example, the whole state of Colorado, support a few hundred thousand Logan LaPlante's method of learning?  Would they all be able to work in a small workshop making products in their favorite field like he does with designing ski clothing? Could they all grow up to work in skiing industry?  I suppose we would never know unless we try, but it seems unsustainable on a large scale.  IN other words, the solutions that seem to be offered are limited to those communities or people with resources available: either in terms of human resources (people who know how to do creative things at a level of excellence and are willing to teach others) or money.  Which is what most communities have little of.  I heard Ken Robinson talk in another context about some initiatives that have been started in public schools in the states that are very innovative - such as paring kindergartners up with elderly in nursing homes to learn how to read, which seems promising.  As long as the elderly are able to read and well disposed to working with kids.  Perhaps that is the ultimate answer: whatever the solution is to improving education - or making real education possible - we are going to need to be creative about it!

Paulo Freire's Banking Concept of Education: Making Sense of Nonsense

Paulo Freire's analogy of traditional schooling with banking model seems very accurate. I have experienced how the dynamic between teacher and students is based on unequal power, where the teacher is all-knowing and must be obeyed, and the student must *act* unknowing and obedient.  I have never been able to play that proper role, and so I struggled as a student in elementary and high school.  I was always very "smart" but as I recall a teacher telling me on many occasions: I was "too smart for my own good."  I would question teachers' understanding of topics, I would question the usefulness or even the logic of assignments,  I would protest unfair treatment to myself or others.  I demanded changes in scheduling to accommodate my ice skating practice. I was not a "good student" but unfortunately for the teachers I did extremely well on standardized tests so they couldn't really fail me, or kick me out.  I always placed into High Honors or Advanced courses, but ended up getting kicked down to Regular Honors courses after being too difficult.  I think most of my teachers in high school mindlessly followed the Banking method: pouring content into our empty little brains, so they thought. However, a few exceptional teachers stand out, and this is always the saving grace for students who do not give up on learning.  They are able to get through because they don't treat students like empty, powerless objects. They treat students with respect and that is usually the crack that opens the way for more learning.  I always thought that I wasn't the problem in high school. I felt it was just my crappy high school in my crappy town that didn't work right.  My town was too corrupt, not like other towns that worked right. Once I read Freire and started to investigate more, I discovered that this is a common experience and it happens everywhere - all over the world even. And that made me understand that there's nothing wrong with students - it's the system that is broken.  A new system needs to be created so that real learning can happen.  I keep looking for models of that, and would like to be able to work on making that happen one day.

Write Blog entry #2 reflecting on Freire's Banking concept of education: What is your opinion of his definition and description of this concept? Does it have anything in common with the way you were educated in PR? Do you agree with his theory of how education works in the Banking model? If so, give an example from your experience. If not, explain what is wrong with this Banking model.

Introduction to My View of Education in Puerto Rico

I have been a teacher of English in Puerto Rico for the past 17 years.  I was educated in Massachusetts, and then graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey.  I have only studied at the graduate level in Puerto Rico, so I really only personally know about the system from the perspective of an educator at the university level.  However, I have had the opportunity to work with English teachers in the classroom in different cities of the island. IN addition my children have been students in both public and private schools. I also like to talk to my university students about their experiences in high school and elementary school.  From this I have learned that their is a lot of diversity in Puerto Rico in terms of what happens in classrooms - in both private and public schools.  However, there does seem to be common experiences in public schools which private schools don't have.  And vice versa.  SO for me it is also critical to be clear about which system you are talking about when we talk about education in Puerto Rico.  I think in many ways this can also be siad of the higher education system: students in the UPR system have common experiences which those in private universities don't.  And vice versa.  So when I hear people talk about "improving education" in Puerto Rico - I always wonder which system they are talking about: because the problems and the needs of each of these populations seems very different.  Usually the discussion is about public education - and the problems are much discussed and lamented in the press.  But yet the needs of students are rarely addressed or even acknowledged.  On the other hand when discussing private education -- it is all about needs or desires and very little in terms of problems.  But: there are problems in the private schools and the public students also have needs.  So I think this would be a good place to start for everyone:  what do public school students need? What are the problems or barriers which prevent these needs from being met?  And: What are the needs of private school students, and what are the problems or barriers to prevent these from being met?      


In the introductory Blog post: describe your ideas or beliefs about education. What is the purpose of school? Is it working? For whom does it work? For whom does it not work? What aspects or issues of education or schooling in Puerto Rico would you like to explore through your research and writing in this class?