Access to Education
During my time in Peru, my eyes have been opened to the wide range of schools that students have access to. We began in a wealthy school in Peru where it costs thousands of dollars just to apply. We then traveled to a school in Cusco that had tarp roofs because they are not getting enough funding from the government to provide students with adequate learning facilities. Even within Lima there was a major gap between the access to resources and quality education that students at Colegio Roosevelt had and students in El Augustino had. What really struck me and made me question how students gain access to education was in Cusco when we were given a presentation at the Fe Y Alegria school. The woman who gave the presentation said that many of the students at schools in rural areas have to walk at least 2 hours to get to school each day. Once they get to school, they then have classrooms that are lacking in resources and are not ideal for their learning. On the other hand, at Colegio Roosevelt, students have filtered water on their campus, they get bussed to school, and have access to all the technology and resources that they possibly can. While the students seem to be taking advantage of these resources in their classroom, I am still amazed at the gap there is between the access that students have to education.
It is crazy to think that these same issues of access to education are not just happening in Peru, however, that they are happening right here in the United States, in Milwaukee for that matter. In the United States, the issue with access to education has to do a lot with inequitable funding systems. According to a Department of Education study, “45 percent of high-poverty schools received less state and local funding than was typical for other schools in their district.” The problem with this is that these schools are being run by tax dollars, and in these impoverished areas there is not much money being poured into the schools where they need it the most. With less funding, students who need resources to succeed, dedicated and well-prepared teachers are not receiving those things. Instead, they are provided with teachers who are not strong in their field or who do not challenge the students in the classroom.
There is also an achievement gap that exists in schools today between minority students and their white counterparts. According to US News, minority counterparts have a different starting line from their white counterparts. Many times, minority parents have attained less education than their counterparts, which in turn results in lower expectations for the students. If students have lower expectations and fewer opportunities to learn and read outside of school, then they are starting behind their counterparts and it continues on into their schooling.
According to Boundless, “In the United States, and in most countries, people with more education tend to enjoy higher economic status, power, prestige, and levels of income.” When thinking about higher education or education beyond high school in the United States, this statement stood out to me. In this day and age, it is almost necessary to have a higher education in order to get a high paying job. Often times, a bachelor’s degree is not good enough and people have to go back to school to maintain a job. The problem with this is that college education is ridiculously expensive. Many students have to take out loans that they have to pay back over many years. While they are paying back these loans for so many years, they are then hindering their ability to save up for their children and to send their children to school. Then their children have to go through the same cycle that they do. While college education should be available and affordable to all people, I believe that it is necessary for students in K-8th grade to have adequate resources, qualified teachers and a curriculum that challenges the students no matter their background.
Where I saw students trying to close the achievement gap and push for change was during our visits to La Inmaculada and Colegio Roosevelt. While these were the privileged schools that we saw in Lima, they seemed to be doing a lot of work with the less fortunate communities. For example, at La Inmaculada, which sits in the middle of the wall of shame, the students go over to the less fortunate side and work in a school there that they have created. They also work with the casitas program in El Augustino to form relationships with the students. At Colegio Roosevelt, the students also participated in service where they would work on forming relationships with the students they were working with rather than just going in and helping them and leaving. One of the fifth graders in my class told me how she started a library for kids in the jungle during her service time. She said that she ran a book drive and brought them all to the jungle to provide the kids with books to read and look at. These small steps toward improving access to educational resources can go a long way!
Because there are so many similarities between the United States and Peru in regard to educational access, I wonder why we haven’t been able to find a solution to provide all students with the education that they need and deserve. I think if we start early with children engaging in Social Justice Education Projects that Romero talks about, we can begin to make a change. We, as teachers, need to find that spark for children to want to make a change and provide all children with the opportunity for quality education, no matter their race, socioeconomic status, or country they reside in.
Sources:
https://www.humanium.org/en/access-to-education-in-the-united-states-inequality/
https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/28/us-education-still-separate-and-unequal
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/education-13/issues-in-the-u-s-education-system-103/unequal-access-to-education-578-10225/
https://www.ed.gov/equity
