Reason's of why education in D.R. is not progressing!

[laurapasinifan]

while I am not an authority, my years of living life give me credit for much.I think Nalowhs is very close to have as best a reason as any I have heard.

[SIZE="2"]"Daddy1, here is a quick lesson on Dominicana 101.

Most Dominicans CANNOT imagine a successful Dominican Republic.

They can't imagine any of the problems being solved, they can't imagine anything other than life is better elsewhere and if you want a better life, all you have to do is migrate!

It's not a question of people not seeing education as a priority, but rather a much bigger picture based on pessimism that has been ingrained in the Dominican psyche for over 100 years!

The interesting thing is that it appears, that many Dominicans continue to shun education even when its readily available to them, as we have seen with Dominican emigrants in the US.

But, then again, this could be a manifestation of that negative pessimism many Dominicans have of problems being unsolvable, thus if they are born in poverty, many believe nothing will take them out of it, thus why study?[/SIZE]

I would also speak to Mirador and comment on the elitist scenario he painted to another solution. The eliteist already have their cake and are eating it too. They have private schools they dont need an elitists public school system.

Most will agree you dont have to have the solution or any solution for that matter , to be able to say something is broken. For some things the solution is so complicated as to be practically impossible to comprehend much less obtain. So for now we will hear about little mini success stories at the exspense of a multitude of children that will become the blood and life of this country in 15 years.

bob

[easygoin]

Last week when I was in Santiago at a school putting swings up in the morning... his nine-year-old boy named Francisco came up introduced himself and started helping me. I don't speak Spanish or nor does he English... but we worked as a team. He knew when to get what parts and what tools when they were needed at the proper time, and I truly believe he enjoyed helping me that morning.

Then the teacher came and told him it's time to go and he just looked at me sad and left. I thought to myself it's lunchtime he'll be back after. When two o'clock came I asked where is Francisco.... the teacher says he went home, he only comes in the morning. That kind of got me sad right then and there but moments later more ****ed off than anything.... especially after the teacher told me he is very intelligent but only comes a half a day.

Going only a half-day is not right for any child. There should be a law for full-day education. I know when I go back there no matter what I have to do being.... meeting his family, paying for uniforms, lunch, bus,...... next year Francisco is going for a full day.

This youngster is smart, great personality, ambitious from what I've seen so why not help him have something to look up to for the future.

[laurapasinifan]

I am not sure but I think there are two session of the school day. When the school is full with students in the morning its one session. Then they leave and another waves come in for the afternoon. My gf brother now goes to school about 5 pm to 9pm!.. and thats his regular scholl, not extra education or anything like that.

I like the fact the all have to dress the same.

bob

[mondongo]

Lesley D, of all the posts in all these threads yearning for better education in the DR, this is by far the most cogent and practicable. For those who really want to make a difference in the DR, do as Lesley suggests.....

Forget about the government. Don't fall into the trap of raising new taxes "earmarked for education". One student at a time, as the last paragraph suggests.

Originally Posted by Lesley D

The education system in the DR is extremely deficient.

The public school system being the best example and some of the chronic problems include:

+ lack of quality teachers and lack of motivation by the teachers
+ very low remuneration
+ poor facilities
+ outdated curriculum
+ lack of supplies

all resulting in a very high drop out rate.

Everything you say is true but at the end of the day Dominican politicians are like empty barrels that just make loud noise and nothing else. The education problem like so many others could have been improved or rectified if governments past and present had a genuine interest in doing so. I agree as well, that it is two-fold meaning Dominicans have to demand it and the government has to supply it. However, I will lean on the supply side because successful countries breed successful people and if the Dominican Republic has a chance at advancing in decades to come the education problem in my opinion is the biggest gap that needs improvement.

There is no excuse for the state of education in the DR. The neglect over decades has taken the crisis to another level. Other countries in Latin America comparatively speaking to the DR are struggling economically etc. but the school system has not reached the abyss of disgrace that exists currently in the DR. In any society there will always be a segment of the population that's deemed as 'uneducated', or not representative of the standard however, in the DR the average person in my opinion falls in this category and at a very young age. Many individuals have below average reading and writing skills, have not completed their education (or even finished high school) all of which means their future is extremely limited and another generation will fall short which in turn will impact the future of the country.

I honestly think the best solution right now is to help children on an individual basis or in small groups. Children who are willing and eager to learn but have obstacles in their way (no fault of their own) is the best way to make an impact at present. The government’s game plan regarding education is patent-they don’t care. Therefore the best contribution anyone can make right now in my opinion is helping one on one. There is no time to wait for the government to act. It’s just not in their best interest.


LDG.

[Rick Snyder]

For those of you that aren't aware of the school days here in the DR and there seems to be a few.

Because of the large number of children and the small number of schools the public school system must run a morning session from 8:00 am till 12:00 noon and an afternoon session from 2:00pm till 5:30 pm. I will give you the schedule of my 7 year old son that is in the third grade and goes to afternoon class;

Mon - Spanish, Social Science, Recess, Physical Education
Tue - Math, Physical Education, Natural Science, Recess
Wed - Math, Spanish, Recess, Math
Thur - Spanish, Religion, Recess, Natural Science
Fri - Religion, Civics, Social Science, Recess, Math

Recess is for half an hour each day. Each child is given a roll and a carton of milk every day and allowed 15 minutes to eat and the time they receive this changes from day to day. There is no separation of church and state and Religion is a mandatory class. Each class is normally 45 minutes long.

With the above schedule you will notice that my son receives weekly;

2 hr and 15 min of Spanish Language
1 hr and 30 min of Social Science
3 hours of math
1 hr and 30 min of Natural Science
1 hr and 30 min of Religion
45 minutes of Civics
1 hr and 30 min of Physical Education
2 hr and 30 min of Recess

This is done with 32 other students in his classes. With the aforementioned schedule you tell me how well these children are being prepared for the future.

Is the government worried about the lack of hours that the children are receiving? Check it out and notice it is worse then I have shown above;



Rick

[easygoin]

Originally Posted by Rick Snyder

For those of you that aren't aware of the school days here in the DR and there seems to be a few.

Because of the large number of children and the small number of schools the public school system must run a morning session from 8:00 am till 12:00 noon and an afternoon session from 2:00pm till 5:30 pm. I will give you the schedule of my 7 year old son that is in the third grade and goes to afternoon class;

Mon - Spanish, Social Science, Recess, Physical Education
Tue - Math, Physical Education, Natural Science, Recess
Wed - Math, Spanish, Recess, Math
Thur - Spanish, Religion, Recess, Natural Science
Fri - Religion, Civics, Social Science, Recess, Math

Recess is for half an hour each day. Each child is given a roll and a carton of milk every day and allowed 15 minutes to eat and the time they receive this changes from day to day. There is no separation of church and state and Religion is a mandatory class. Each class is normally 45 minutes long.

With the above schedule you will notice that my son receives weekly;

2 hr and 15 min of Spanish Language
1 hr and 30 min of Social Science
3 hours of math
1 hr and 30 min of Natural Science
1 hr and 30 min of Religion
45 minutes of Civics
1 hr and 30 min of Physical Education
2 hr and 30 min of Recess

This is done with 32 other students in his classes. With the aforementioned schedule you tell me how well these children are being prepared for the future.

Is the government worried about the lack of hours that the children are receiving? Check it out and notice it is worse then I have shown above;

http://www.listindiario.com.do/antes...blica/rep8.htm

Rick

I really didn't know it was because of overcrowding and lack of schools.

I've seen many buses and children getting dropped off... but really never realized that there was more children than schools that could provide for them. Meaning I hear some parents choose not to work and not provide uniforms for their children.

So when you do go to college and they put this big work load on you.... the average individual is due to fail or drop out... is that true?

[Rick Snyder]

My knowledge is that a lot of parents would work if there were jobs, at least the women would. It isn't a case of not providing uniforms but of not being able to provide uniforms because of the poverty here.

The uniform issue is very interesting in that I have found no law or regulation that states that children must have a uniform to go to school. If such a law were implemented then parents would have a justified reason to demand that the government supply said mandatory uniforms. There are many children that do in fact go to school without wearing a uniform and I've never heard of a child being refused education due to not having a uniform.

As to the colleges here in the DR. They too have a high drop out rate just like most countries throughout the world. It is my opinion that the poor education that the children are subjected to plus bad study habits in the schools below the college level play a detrimental role in preparing the children for college or life in general for that matter.

It too must be understood that the DR does not administer a standardized proficiency test to the children in elementary or high school. I honestly don't know if the children are required to take a test, such as the American SAT, before being admitted to a Dominican college. Someone else on this board would have to answer that question for me as I would like to know.

So where does the problem lie? Throughout the DR education system but it start in the pre-school and continues on.

Rick

[NALs]

Originally Posted by easygoin

I really didn't know it was because of overcrowding and lack of schools.

Well,

In reality, that is the reason being used to continue to justify the half day schedules.

Originally, this system of half day schedules was developed to allow the children of farmers to study for half of the day and still be able to help in the family farm, thus not loosing an education due to mandatory life saving work to be done.

-NAL

[Frank the Tank]

I would think that the big problem is the atttitude of the dominican people to education. It seems to me to be indifferent at best. You can go ahead and build fancy new schools, buy new text books, etc, but what good is that doing if no one actually goes to school? Or if the parents don't care or insure the children actually study and do homework? The same problems are here in the inner city schools in the US. Oh kids aren't learning? Spend gobs and gobs of money. well it's all wasted if no one shows up or studies or does homework and attempts to actually learn. The importance of education must be learned and ingrained into the culture, then things will get better. Mi dos centavos.

[daddy1]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

I would think that the big problem is the atttitude of the dominican people to education. It seems to me to be indifferent at best. You can go ahead and build fancy new schools, buy new text books, etc, but what good is that doing if no one actually goes to school? Or if the parents don't care or insure the children actually study and do homework? The same problems are here in the inner city schools in the US. Oh kids aren't learning? Spend gobs and gobs of money. well it's all wasted if no one shows up or studies or does homework and attempts to actually learn. The importance of education must be learned and ingrained into the culture, then things will get better. Mi dos centavos.

I Agree frank...but you see that is where sports and other leisure activities come into play, the short term goal is to have a diversity of different activities, drama clubs, school bands, choirs, dance teams, Athlete's coaches etc... the long term is to seek international and national help for scholarships...you know the more things you can offer a major university the better....I have befriended alot of U.S. college coaches who say that if D.R.'s school system implemented a more serious bilingual system, and the schools had and organized athletic program and issued standardized testing...they would issue baseball scholarships to Dominican young men all over the island, these college coaches have told me with all honesty, everyone knows Dominicans have great talent, and the one's that speak a little english, just enough to get by here in the U.S. have somewhat benefited, Perez, to Castillo, lopez to Garcia.

I don't know about other countries, but the only way in my honest opinion of getting D.R. to take advantage of recieveing American University scholarships
is to, make all public schools bilingual, build up and create massive athletic, and social programs, from the traditional to the none traditional, this will develop interest in the recruitment process for major American and Canadian Universities, the plan would be not to be imperial or anything, but to give kids and young adult's better chances of survival, the more survival tools you give an indivigual the better there chances....Universities need and want talented indiviguals, they need them because they recieve publicity, and of course plenty of revenue from television contracts, boosters and the N.C.A.A....Dominican's in the majority are not taking full advantage of this situation neither in the States nor in the island, maybe right now building new facilities may be overly expensive, but build then on what you have expand or renovate, rebuild or reconstruct, but brainstorm and create survival tools for the future of children, the obvious solution is what can a community due to make it, and to make themselves more marketable.