First Day of School

 First Day of School – 44 degrees in the house! (It will warm up to 70 once the sun comes up.) I have hot water, but except for the youngest children, most of the others have to shower with cold water. The school day begins with a 5am wake up call. (During their three-month “summer” vacation, they could sleep till 8.) Cleaning/bathing and chores go until 6, followed by a hot breakfast in the Comedor and the school bell ringing at 7.

 

Once at school, the children line up according to grade level on the cement playground, where they are greeted by their teachers. Once a week they perform their civic duty of singing the national anthem and pledging allegiance to their flag. This is also a time for any announcements regarding the day or the week ahead. Uniforms are required, and there is a strict haircut code for the boys. The school day runs until 1pm.

 

While we are working to improve the quality of education for the children here, we are bound by certain standards set by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education. A passing grade for a class is 60%- if a student fails a class due to homework that was not turned in, there is a short period of time at the end of the school year when this work can be made up. If it is due to failing tests, there is an opportunity to study and take the test again. The kids get to decide whether they want to bother with the “recuperación” or “nivelación,” or just accept the failing grade. The idea of making up lost work or failed tests seems fine. However, if after all of this a student still ends up failing even one class, then that student has to repeat the grade. One 17-year-old I know is repeating seventh grade for the third time.

 

A number our kids have to repeat a grade this year solely because they failed their class in Kaqchikel, an indigenous Mayan language spoken by about 400,000 people in the Guatemalan highlands (don’t ask me why this is a required class). In addition, a disappointing number of our high school students (almost half of the girls) also failed the year and need to repeat a grade. The policy of the house here is that any high school student that fails the year in school needs to spend a “year of reflection” back here on the main campus, which is basically an additional Year of Service. After this year, the students can return to repeat the grade they failed and continue with their high school studies.

We clearly need to do a better job monitoring our kids and their performance, and work on finding ways to motivate them to study and help them to learn.  The adults living and working with kids in the sections are mostly caring and concerned individuals, but are often themselves without much formal education, and so are not in the position to help the kids with their studies. We have some very dedicated teachers and staff, especially in the Montessori program (Pre-K – 1^st grade). But teachers are paid minimum wage, and most have at least one other job. The educational standards required to become a teacher are fairly low (just a high school education is needed to teach in primary school), and the classroom environments would not be considered adequate from the perspective of American learning standards. The kids do not have books; they take detailed notes in notebooks, often copying materials that the teacher has written on the white board. I think that the number of kids who failed high school was a wake up call for us, and we are implementing new safeguards, supports and programs to help ensure a more successful year this year. In addition, we are looking at how to work individually with the kids suffering from attention difficulties.

Indeed, some of our kids have excelled in grade school and high school, and we have a healthy population of university students pursuing their dreams. These serve as examples for our younger kids, and the fact that NPH works to support the kids through their university years speaks of how much stock they put into the value of education (most other orphanages/homes for kids kick them out once they turn 18).

 

Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos considers education to be the way forward for the children entrusted to our care. American educational consultants spend time with the school administrators and teachers helping them to do a better job. But given all this, I wonder what, realistically, their job prospects will be. Some of the kids talk about wanting to go to the United States, illegally if necessary, in order to find a better life. The outlook here in Guatemala, while perhaps improving, is still pretty grim. The economy is stagnant, and very few have the chance to live beyond a level that Americans would consider lower class. (Many in Guatemala live at a level that make the poorest in the United States look like they are doing pretty well for themselves.)

I see great potential in focusing on the kids’ religious development. This is something that need not be stymied by the educational or economic problems of the country. And even if, despite getting a decent education, they end up working the fields or manning a fruit stand in the marketplace or taking orders behind the counter at McDonald’s, a meaningful spiritual life will serve them both in this life and in the next. In addition to Sunday Mass, we have small group Masses with the kids during the week. Religion class is, unfortunately, only forty minutes/week (about half of what public school children at home get in their weekly CCD sessions, and a quarter of what most Catholic school children get). Fortunately, Guatemalan culture is infused with a sense of Christian identity, and popular piety and devotion also help to communicate the truths and the practice of the faith. The reality is that those in the First World do not have any advantages from a faith perspective. In fact, they are perhaps disadvantaged due to the distractions of materialism and consumerism. My sense from people I have gotten to know in the local parish is that while most here live simple lives and are much less educated, their level of theological and spiritual sophistication surpasses that of the average adult parishioner in the US. Perhaps this is because with less to distract their attention, and with a greater sense of dependence upon forces beyond their control, more energy is devoted to this part of their lives.