Time to ante up...

Warning: I am on my soapbox here, if you don't want to listen, check a later post when I'm feeling less contemplative.

You know, the longer I am here, the more I realize that the problems that are faced here are brought into sharp relief because of the poverty that exists here on levels that we don't really understand in the US. But, they are the same problems that we face back home, the people are the same, they hold the same values that we do and they want the same things that we do happiness, security, a good life for their children.

Before coming here, I expected to find it different, alien, foreign, and that would be the reason for the problems that are here, but it's not. Believe me, Nicaragua is all of those things to me, but in some ways it is also so very familiar. I catch site of things that remind me of family, of my abuelita, of my kids back home and I realize, no matter how disconnected American can seem from the rest of the world we are not. We are all interrelated and at our most fundamental levels we are connected by our common needs.

On Thursday, I caught a ride to Managua to spend some time at my mom's cousin's house. During the trip I had the opportunity to talk education with a veteran teacher (over 27 years experience). The issues that she raised as being fundamental to educational problems in her country are the same problems that I have discussed countless times with other teachers in the US. Teachers here are not paid enough, classes have too many students, and often teachers have to pay for the classroom supplies or not have them at all. Sound familiar?

A teacher here makes about 2,000 cordobas a month. That's roughly $100 per month. Even counting experience and specialty degrees a teacher can't make more than 3,000 cordobas per month or $160. For each year of experience you only get a really raise of 10 cordobas or 50 cents a month.

Since I have been here, I have had plenty of opportunity for reflection, and it seems to me that this is the real issue facing education, we talk about the importance of education, but we are not willing to put our money where our mouth is. Education is a critical need for any country. To be successful a country must have a highly educated populace, yet it seems that in so many places, including the US, we are failing in our duty to our children. Education is fundamental not only to democracy but also to self. A people must be educated before they can understand their fundamental rights and fight for them. They must be educated to create new opportunities for themselves and their country. And, they must be educated so that they understand how to be responsible citizens.

At its heart, the idea of education is that we are preserving our future. Not for our sake, but for the generations that are to come. We teach our children our values, our history, our culture, and we hope that they continue to pass all that on, but fundamentally we are failing our children because it seems like we want to push all responsibility for educating them onto them. And now, instead of understanding that it is our responsibility to educate our children we now seem to promote that it is our children's responsibility to learn.

And, whether you agree with me or not, I have to say that I believe that the most critical needed education reform today is funding. Having worked in the Arkansas Delta and now in rural Nicaragua, I have to say that the fundamental issues are the same. Without adequate funding highly qualified teachers here or in other parts of the world will continue to be lost through attrition as they seek possibly less rewarding but more lucrative jobs in other fields.

The teacher that I spoke to on the ride down to Managua was highly qualified and a kind and compassionate individual who spoke about having a heart to work with children. She said, and I agreed, that not everyone can work with children. Some people come just for a paycheck and that hurts everyone. But, those who have the heart are hard to find and maintain because everyone has to work. People know that teaching doesn't pay well so the number of students enrolled in teaching courses has continually decreased leading to teacher shortages. Also familiar from our talks in Hughes.

So. I have to say that its time that we are willing to go "all in" with education. We need to start paying teachers what they are worth for helping to form our future, we need to seek people with heart and direct them towards education as a career, and we need to return to the idea of teaching as a respectable profession instead of just a job. If we fail to do this, its our future that will be bleak, our kids who won't be able to pass on our democratic ideals and values, and our society that will suffer.

No amount of standardized testing requirements, or quality standards, or smaller school sizes will fix the inherent problems in our schools unless we are willing to address the fundamental issue at the heart of education: teachers. Without qualified teachers our children don't have a chance and the only way to recruit and retain these teachers is to start by valuing them and their role in shaping our democracy.

So, I ask what are we willing to give up to fully fund education and the teachers that are so central to this idea? How much are we willing to pay? Big Eric has told me plenty of times, that people value more that which they have to pay for, and I agree. So how much are we willing to pay to ensure our future?