essential Question: What is the Main purpose of education in Colombia?
I chose a very broad essential question for my travel exchange because truly, I didn't know enough about Colombian education to ask a particular question at the start of this fellowship. After our visit to Colombia, including school visits and interviews with teachers and principals on site, I am happy that I asked such a broad question. It gave me an openness to learning about the Colombian educational system, and the ability to hear different voices and opinions related to this question without too much in the way of preconceived notions. I know that it is such a broad question that if I asked the same question of teachers in the U.S., I would have a huge variety of answers. I bet if I asked this question at my own small school, there would even be a diversity of answers. But funny enough, on our very first day in Colombia visiting a school and talking to teachers and administrators, people began to spontaneously answer this question without me ever asking. After a few days of visits and listening to educational professionals in Colombia, I realized that the question wasn't far off base. People were interested in thinking about the purpose of their work and the role of their public schools in the poor communities they serve. The whole topic led me to think about the purpose of education in Colombia and upon reflection, the U.S., and how our sense of purpose drives our teaching and the choices we make. One of my take-aways from the travel experience is how much Colombian public schools and teachers made me reflect on my own purpose and commonalities as a U.S. educator.
Sloan (2012) writes "In the United States, historically, the purpose of education has evolved according to the needs of society. Education's primary purpose has ranged from instructing youth in religious doctrine, to preparing them to live in a democracy, to assimilating immigrants into mainstream society, to preparing workers for the industrialized 20th century workplace". The demands on education and teachers are only becoming greater as we move into the 21st century in U.S. public education. As a teacher, I feel pulled in a million different directions each year in terms of my purpose. If I am speaking of my own personal purpose, it is to interest students in the world and to interest them in history, often for the first time in their lives. When a student tells me "I never liked history before I had you as a teacher" that feels like a success to me, much greater than how well a student does on an exam for the state. But if I dig deeper there are other purposes that motivate me, such as teaching global skills and knowledge, for the student's future and helping them be globally-minded citizens who contribute positively to the world. So knowing that I won't be able to come up with one definitive answer on the purpose of education in Colombia, I can write that I heard a lot of common themes on our Colombian school visits that I'd like to write about here.
Our very first day at a public school in Bogotà showed me a common theme that I heard over and over, that schools had a specific purpose here, to provide a safe, warm, community-based place for students, struggling with poverty and much more, to go to. The first day we went to Instituto Educacional Distrital Fanny Mickey. As a group we got up very early to be on time and left the hotel at six a.m. Botogà is a chilly, windy city with a high altitude that we had to get used to. We drove about 45 minutes to the school and began climbing the hills around Bogotà. While we made our slow climb, there were parents and children all around the bus walking to school. The closer we got to the school, the poorer the neighborhood. When we arrived we were surrounded by tons of students who wanted to know why we were there and who we were and we began our tour of the school. Most students were eating breakfast and walking in the hallways. What seemed different to me was that there seemed to be no set time to be in class, the school was very fluid and students went from place to place. A big difference that I saw between a U.S. public school and this school, was that there wasn't a bell ringing that alerted students to get to class and then empty hallways. Immediately, seeing tons of students in the hallways making lots of noise, I started thinking "how do teachers handle the fluidity of this?" For me, I always feel so compelled to get through a specific part of the content each day that having students not come to class in a timely manner would be hard for me. Later, we were speaking to the principal Leyla Rubiano, and she said it in such a simple way, but it impacted me greatly. She said for her and her school their purpose is just "peace and education". She was alluding to gang violence in the neighborhood and how the school has been lucky to avoid it. But it also told me that teaching and learning a specific curriculum or content may take a back seat to providing a safe and warm place for the students. That intuitively made sense to me as an educator.
Sloan (2012) writes "In the United States, historically, the purpose of education has evolved according to the needs of society. Education's primary purpose has ranged from instructing youth in religious doctrine, to preparing them to live in a democracy, to assimilating immigrants into mainstream society, to preparing workers for the industrialized 20th century workplace". The demands on education and teachers are only becoming greater as we move into the 21st century in U.S. public education. As a teacher, I feel pulled in a million different directions each year in terms of my purpose. If I am speaking of my own personal purpose, it is to interest students in the world and to interest them in history, often for the first time in their lives. When a student tells me "I never liked history before I had you as a teacher" that feels like a success to me, much greater than how well a student does on an exam for the state. But if I dig deeper there are other purposes that motivate me, such as teaching global skills and knowledge, for the student's future and helping them be globally-minded citizens who contribute positively to the world. So knowing that I won't be able to come up with one definitive answer on the purpose of education in Colombia, I can write that I heard a lot of common themes on our Colombian school visits that I'd like to write about here.
Our very first day at a public school in Bogotà showed me a common theme that I heard over and over, that schools had a specific purpose here, to provide a safe, warm, community-based place for students, struggling with poverty and much more, to go to. The first day we went to Instituto Educacional Distrital Fanny Mickey. As a group we got up very early to be on time and left the hotel at six a.m. Botogà is a chilly, windy city with a high altitude that we had to get used to. We drove about 45 minutes to the school and began climbing the hills around Bogotà. While we made our slow climb, there were parents and children all around the bus walking to school. The closer we got to the school, the poorer the neighborhood. When we arrived we were surrounded by tons of students who wanted to know why we were there and who we were and we began our tour of the school. Most students were eating breakfast and walking in the hallways. What seemed different to me was that there seemed to be no set time to be in class, the school was very fluid and students went from place to place. A big difference that I saw between a U.S. public school and this school, was that there wasn't a bell ringing that alerted students to get to class and then empty hallways. Immediately, seeing tons of students in the hallways making lots of noise, I started thinking "how do teachers handle the fluidity of this?" For me, I always feel so compelled to get through a specific part of the content each day that having students not come to class in a timely manner would be hard for me. Later, we were speaking to the principal Leyla Rubiano, and she said it in such a simple way, but it impacted me greatly. She said for her and her school their purpose is just "peace and education". She was alluding to gang violence in the neighborhood and how the school has been lucky to avoid it. But it also told me that teaching and learning a specific curriculum or content may take a back seat to providing a safe and warm place for the students. That intuitively made sense to me as an educator.
So if the purpose of education changes with the needs of society as Sloan states and knowing that 32.7% of the people of Colombia live below the poverty line, then the needs of the country for public education might be providing food, warmth, community, and safety (CIA World Factbook, 2012). Specific content and skills can come once basic needs are taken care of. I heard this theme many times over on my trip, a sense that, of course, teachers have specific content that they want to teach, but even more important than content is providing a place that students can come to, to get away from their troubles at home and in society. My sense was that the Colombian educational purpose is more civically-minded than content-driven as opposed to what I see in the U.S. where we have become more content and skills-driven with high-stakes exams.
After our visit to Instituto Educacional Distrital Fanny Mickey, we had the pleasure of having a panel discussion with a variety of people who are educational leaders in Bogotà. Again, people began to speak of purpose. Dario Montoya, who is the President of SENA (a national workforce training college, similar to a U.S. vocational college) said this of the purpose of education in Colombia, "We are forming citizens. We need to form a love for education, before we create engineers." I found this very interesting, the focus on creating a culture for learning to happen and a respect of education in society in general, before teachers and students get to the specific content of study. Another panelist, Ricardo, said that the purpose of education is to show "there is a possibility of something better." This focus on values and growing citizens as the focus of education added another layer to understanding education in Colombia, a deeper understanding of the civic purpose of education meeting the needs of Colombia as a country where it is today.
The following day we were able to see and compare a very good public school to a very good private school. That morning we went to the Colegio Codema, a public school, and saw students and their parents all streaming towards school at 6:00 a.m. We saw very engaged students and teachers at this school and more structure than the first school. All of us visited classrooms, saw different teaching styles, lots of creativity, and were asked many questions about our lives in the U.S.. After our individual visits and lunch, we had a panel discussion with students and teachers from the school. I felt that there was a real exchange of ideas and a lot of common themes surfaced. Part of our discussion centered around questions of how to get the larger community and parents involved in their children's education. This was a theme that was common in Colombia and many of the U.S. teachers brought it up as well. It made me think back to Dario Montoya's comment of creating a community respect for education as a starting point for the educational system.
In the afternoon we visited Rosario de Santo Domingo, a prestigious girl's only private school. We had already heard about the private/public divide in education that pervades the Colombian system and creates two very different types of education in Colombia; one for those who can afford a private school education and the other for those who cannot. While the students in both public and private schools were all bright, curious, and warm people, the only time I ever heard students talk about their futures, their career plans, their educational possibilities, was in the private school. When we visited, students had already been let out early and we had a panel discussion with about six girls, ages 13 to 17. These girls were completely bilingual (the first time I had seen this in a Colombian school) and were articulate, confident, and had a clear understanding of the possibilities ahead of them. These girls talked about being lawyers, engineers, and going to college in England. The private school education did indeed seem to be focused on content, skills such as the English language acquisition, and preparation for college. So while nobody specifically talked about purpose, the school seemed driven by content and skills and made specific bridges for the girls to their wide-open futures. These girls didn't have basic survival issues to deal with, their parents were able to provide the basics of food and shelter and beyond, and had the funds to send their daughters to a school that could focus on a different purpose for education, the skills and content needed for their bright futures.
The last public school we visited and spent over a week at was the Colegio Jose Joaquin Castro Martinez in Bogotà. We went there everyday for about six days from 6:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. visiting classes, teaching classes, and just getting to know students and teachers. Our host teacher, Silvia Rocio Pabon Suarez, said right away on the first day that their purpose "was not just math or science, it's focused on values and social life." We saw this in action everyday. Students were welcoming and warm to us, had fun speaking in broken English to us, danced with us and put on an amazing show about Colombian culture for us. It was so clear that students and teachers had warm, loving relationships and that students felt welcome at school. When students came to the school, they found modeling of positive behavior and community, warmth, learning, and fun. Students and teachers often talked about civics in classes and teachers in faculty meetings talked about how to teach civics and the importance of being a good citizen, much more than they discussed content. It makes sense, you start from where your students are.
If creating a positive and warm sense of education and relationships with teachers is the next step in Colombian public education, then when the country is ready it will move to more focus on content and skills. I am not saying that where the U.S. is in its focus for public education is correct or better, in fact, I think we have something to learn from Colombia. I wonder how more of a focus on positive relationships between students/teachers and teachers/teachers would affect U.S. education. One of the take-aways that I will keep with me from Colombia is the positive sense of community at schools. But for now, public school education in Colombia focuses more on civics and creating a safe, warm, positive place for students in schools. It sounds like a great foundation to build upon.
Sloan, Willona, M. July 2012 | Volume 54 | Number 7 "What is the Purpose of Education?" in Education Update.
CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)
After our visit to Instituto Educacional Distrital Fanny Mickey, we had the pleasure of having a panel discussion with a variety of people who are educational leaders in Bogotà. Again, people began to speak of purpose. Dario Montoya, who is the President of SENA (a national workforce training college, similar to a U.S. vocational college) said this of the purpose of education in Colombia, "We are forming citizens. We need to form a love for education, before we create engineers." I found this very interesting, the focus on creating a culture for learning to happen and a respect of education in society in general, before teachers and students get to the specific content of study. Another panelist, Ricardo, said that the purpose of education is to show "there is a possibility of something better." This focus on values and growing citizens as the focus of education added another layer to understanding education in Colombia, a deeper understanding of the civic purpose of education meeting the needs of Colombia as a country where it is today.
The following day we were able to see and compare a very good public school to a very good private school. That morning we went to the Colegio Codema, a public school, and saw students and their parents all streaming towards school at 6:00 a.m. We saw very engaged students and teachers at this school and more structure than the first school. All of us visited classrooms, saw different teaching styles, lots of creativity, and were asked many questions about our lives in the U.S.. After our individual visits and lunch, we had a panel discussion with students and teachers from the school. I felt that there was a real exchange of ideas and a lot of common themes surfaced. Part of our discussion centered around questions of how to get the larger community and parents involved in their children's education. This was a theme that was common in Colombia and many of the U.S. teachers brought it up as well. It made me think back to Dario Montoya's comment of creating a community respect for education as a starting point for the educational system.
In the afternoon we visited Rosario de Santo Domingo, a prestigious girl's only private school. We had already heard about the private/public divide in education that pervades the Colombian system and creates two very different types of education in Colombia; one for those who can afford a private school education and the other for those who cannot. While the students in both public and private schools were all bright, curious, and warm people, the only time I ever heard students talk about their futures, their career plans, their educational possibilities, was in the private school. When we visited, students had already been let out early and we had a panel discussion with about six girls, ages 13 to 17. These girls were completely bilingual (the first time I had seen this in a Colombian school) and were articulate, confident, and had a clear understanding of the possibilities ahead of them. These girls talked about being lawyers, engineers, and going to college in England. The private school education did indeed seem to be focused on content, skills such as the English language acquisition, and preparation for college. So while nobody specifically talked about purpose, the school seemed driven by content and skills and made specific bridges for the girls to their wide-open futures. These girls didn't have basic survival issues to deal with, their parents were able to provide the basics of food and shelter and beyond, and had the funds to send their daughters to a school that could focus on a different purpose for education, the skills and content needed for their bright futures.
The last public school we visited and spent over a week at was the Colegio Jose Joaquin Castro Martinez in Bogotà. We went there everyday for about six days from 6:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. visiting classes, teaching classes, and just getting to know students and teachers. Our host teacher, Silvia Rocio Pabon Suarez, said right away on the first day that their purpose "was not just math or science, it's focused on values and social life." We saw this in action everyday. Students were welcoming and warm to us, had fun speaking in broken English to us, danced with us and put on an amazing show about Colombian culture for us. It was so clear that students and teachers had warm, loving relationships and that students felt welcome at school. When students came to the school, they found modeling of positive behavior and community, warmth, learning, and fun. Students and teachers often talked about civics in classes and teachers in faculty meetings talked about how to teach civics and the importance of being a good citizen, much more than they discussed content. It makes sense, you start from where your students are.
If creating a positive and warm sense of education and relationships with teachers is the next step in Colombian public education, then when the country is ready it will move to more focus on content and skills. I am not saying that where the U.S. is in its focus for public education is correct or better, in fact, I think we have something to learn from Colombia. I wonder how more of a focus on positive relationships between students/teachers and teachers/teachers would affect U.S. education. One of the take-aways that I will keep with me from Colombia is the positive sense of community at schools. But for now, public school education in Colombia focuses more on civics and creating a safe, warm, positive place for students in schools. It sounds like a great foundation to build upon.
Sloan, Willona, M. July 2012 | Volume 54 | Number 7 "What is the Purpose of Education?" in Education Update.
CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)