End of another week.

Its Friday, Its overcast, Its going to rain, and I don´t care. Its beena good week though losing 2 classes yesterday was a problem and will mean a lot of catch up next week. There isn´t a lot of flexibility built into the program and I have a strong feeling I will lose more classes as the month moves on.

Apart from it being a reasonably good day with the kids working and inbetween times I have been doing the grading comments for the end of Term 3 as today is the official start to term 4, and that means I need to create an exam for the Grade 6 and Grade 8 kids. I haven´t given much thought to it up to now but its going to need done sooner rather than later.

Conversation over lunch today was Political Correctness or in this case the familiarity that students have with their teachers. I have a facebook link as its very popular out here in South America (Is there anywhere it isnt popular?) and so do 100% of my kids, I have been friended by a lot of the kids, its natural for them to send questions on homework or end of project evaluations via facebook rather than email .. thats just progress and if you look into global trends in computing amongst the younger generation eMail is being seen as a vestage of early computer development and the realm of the older generation. The question is that in todays world and particularly in UK it would be frowned on to have such a closeness with the pupils, even giving out an email address is considered risky in UK. The fact that it has reached a point where you have to literally wear a bullet proof body suit to protect yourself from any form of litigation is incredibly restrictive. If in UK there would be a problem with pupils calling you by your first name (That takes a little bit of getting used to)and having effective 24 hour contact with you through facebook and email then you can imagine the problems involved with teenage girls cuddling you and the boys high fiving or shaking your hand. I have to state I don´t encourage either but it happens and the reason it happens is that Colombia is still a very paternal family orientated society. You will still see Girls of 15 and 16 walking arm around their fathers and vice versa and you just know in UK you would have Headlines quoting every sexual deviancy the newspaper writers could come up with, but here its seen as normal behaviour, and I can´t say I have noticed any negative effects on the children of Colombia I see on a daily basis. To the contrary 99% of the kids I see seem perfectly well adjusted, intelligent, confident and full of self esteem can the same be said for the kids in UK. I have to bear in mind that the kids I see on a daily basis do come from a privilidged background and that does make a big difference, but the kids you see on the streets don´t look like they are any different. The pupils here in almost all cases see education as a way of avoiding the terrible poverty that persists on the edge of Colombian Society but even the poor kids who go to school strive to better themselves. Education is a high priority to all of Colombias Youth, is this because the country is still seen as 3rd World (Even though I would suggest that many of the pupils I see are better educated than many of the "first world countries" where education is now seen as a chore not a benefit for the many.
OK I guess thats rant of the day over with... Education in Colombia does depend on money, the more you have the better (in theory) education you can buy, therefore like Colombian Society that is very legalistically stratified so is the Education System. I feel it is a shame I havent had the chance to see schools at the lower end of the spectrum but again the kids I see around town, and on the streets give no concern about their ability or level of general education. English is compulsory for all schools in Colombia and it shows with a very good understanding of basic english which puts my pidgeon (an exageration its closer to a humming bird.. backwards) Spanish to shame.
Hope my thoughts on Education on a Friday didn´t bore you.. Tomorrow should be a lighter experience all around.

Manyana - hasta pronto