And onto another year.... Education Yes or No

Well my birthday has come and gone and I don't feel any different. But then everyone feels like that as you get that little bit older there is a point where you look at yourself and still feel 21 or 25 or whatever age your mind sets for yourself.

Today was my parents Anniversary... Happy Anniversary Folks...

Ok my last day off, tomorrow its back to school and I have one day with my grade 8 kids before they are off to a small village about an hour and a half away for a 3 day visit... I would have enjoyed going with them but will refuse if asked by management on the grounds I still have too much work to do with the grade 6 kids. And fun trips at this time of year are I feel a ridiculous exercise prior to the lead up to the final exams.

I have really enjoyed my time here in Bogota and the fact its coming to an end is quite depressing, Bogota as a city is huge and I have seen only a small part of it in my time here, the people I have met have been incredibly friendly and have gone out of their way to help me. There are still concerns obviously about safety in some areas, but not more than I would consider if in Glasgow in Scotland.

It cannot be, just the threat of guns that stops the random violence and opportunist crimes we see in UK after all the US has just as obvious a security culture yet they have visibly greater problems than UK or Colombia (If looking at comparable Cities).

So what is different at a grass roots level.

Colombian society is very stratified and add to that it is still a very family orientated society. Families are the most important part of life here. As such kids rarely go out and walk the streets (partly because there is the fear of uncertainty but also because life here revolves around the family with the family involved in all aspects). Even the very poor who you see collecting the cardboard and scavenging the streets, have their children with them, in most cases working as hard as the parents. It is depressing to see, it does pull at your heart strings, but it is life here. There is no state benefit here, there is no dole money, no council housing given to those who can work but choose not to.. here depending on where you are born limits what you can do except in the most exceptional of circumstances.

Life is in their own hands, if they don't do something their chance of getting into their teens is very low, and this attitude permeates everyone you meet.

Its one reason why ANY education in Colombia is seen as important and why pupils are driven to try hard when they get any opportunity. Without an education they cannot get work, the possiblity of a house, a future, there are no state handouts here. Does the lack of Handouts make Colombia a 3rd world country, not in my view, their infrastructure, poor roads and limited health care are bigger issues. I did read an interesting series of essays recently printed in the school, from pupils, where the general theme was the kids here want to get an education to improve Colombia to make what they have better. This in most cases would result in the rich getting richer and the poor poorer but in the process perhaps 1 or 2 might actually make a difference.

Education of any sort is something to be coveted yet in UK the majority of pupils (And possibly even parents) don't see that to the extent you do here. Every child has the right to an education but not every child wants to take up that right. If countries like UK and America, "the 1st World Countries" arn't careful they will be left behind by the China's Japan's, Indias and Colombia's of the world where the children use education to advance while the UK youth "while away" their education without the drive that other countries pupils seem to have.

The writing is on the wall... and has been for years but you have to think UK Education isn't reading it because its too tied up in doing multiple activities tied to art and drama and the holistic approach tand has forgotton how to teach the 3 Rs, I am not suggesting reverting to victorian times or even the rote learning of my times tables BUT we still need to teach the basics and pupils should not advance till they can at least read, write and do basic maths at an acceptable level (Never mind here where they have to learn and be confident in English as well as their native language).

Does a pupil get kept back a year in a UK School for not achieving! not that I can ever remember, rather we would prefer to make excuses for them, its a learning difficulty, its an attention disorder or its a behavoural problem but we dont keep them back we push them on. Move them up a year to another 3 or 4 terms of education when they haven't coped with the previous years work. The result is they have lost the initial information that sets out how to learn and as such they are building on a deck of cards where one wrong piece of information and their education crumbles.

In Colombia pupils get educational support but at the same time if they fail more than 3 subjects in a year then they repeat the year. This has 2 effects. One it drives those who are marginal to work harder to not get left back a year but it also means that the second point, those who cannot cope get another year to reapply themselves, which with a further years maturity and the same levels of difficulty and educational learning to achieve they should and most do then pass.

This seems to work, would UK allow it? I doubt it, it would be seen somewhere as politically incorrect and be against the rights of the pupil but are we really giving pupils the education they need if we just push them through the system rather than provide the greatest opportunity for an education that they can get and understand.

So to sum up... Kids come to school in Colombia to get an education and stay at school till they have that education. In UK kids go to school because they have to and leave whether they have an education or not. Which system seems best to you?

These are of course my personal views, they are taken from my experiences and my feelings on Education in general both here in Colombia and in UK. They in no way reflect the position of any government educational spokesman (But just maybe they should)

Till tomorrow ... later my friends.