BRITTANY
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
BRITTANY
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
Working alongside the Mariposa Foundation, I am also taking on teaching English to the students at Coral, a private school located in Cabarete. This week we had the opportunity to travel to different schools in the Dominican Republic, public and private. All girls who attend the Mariposa Foundation are sent to private schools on a scholarship to ensure their education in hopes for a bright future. It was an overwhelming experience visiting these schools and comparing them to home, an educational environment I am so accustomed to being a part of. Sometimes a teacher can have up to sixty students in their classroom at one time making it close to impossible to maintain a quiet classroom to teach. Our country is fortunate enough to receive free education and have multiple valuable resources at our fingertips to learn. Walking through these schools in Cabarete really displayed a lack of effective teaching, prosperous books and learning materials, and over populated classrooms due to an ongoing developing educational system. With a developing education system, the Dominican Republic is far behind the education ladder compared to the United States. The qualifications for educators is much different than what is required in the United States which in turn effects classroom management, pedagogical practices, and attendance due to cultural beliefs and weather. This is a single room public school located in Cabarete called Escuela Punta Cabarete. This school also includes an "outdoor room" where class is taught underneath a tin roof, making it close to impossible to teach if it is raining due to the noise. The supplies pictured above were donated and collected over the years for students that attend this school. Escuela Salone Urena is another public school located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Cabarete. The school is three stories high with this photo looking over the neighborhood from the second floor. Called La Cienaga, meaning the swamp, this neighborhood contentiously has to rebuild itself from flooding because a swamp runs behind their homes. This school is a private school where some of the Mariposa DR Foundation girls attend on scholarship. For those who are not on scholarship, having to pay tuition to attend becomes difficult to attend school for those who live among poverty and cannot afford it. Puerto Cabarete is another public school located in the heart of Cabarete. Patricia, founder of the Mariposa DR Foundation helped create and rebuild this public school. This is the public schools library that the Mariposa DR Foundation help build and furnish for the school. By the end of the tour of each school, I felt selfish for every absence, every complaint, and every excuse I made while in school. This was another humbling experience because I have always known how important education is, but now I know from a new perspective how important education is. I have gained a better sense of who I want to be as an educator and what I do with my passion. The students that are fortunate enough to attend school, public or private, helplessly want to learn, be at school, and feel a pencil between their fingers. When the sun started setting and the ocean breeze grew stronger, a fire inside me ignited… I want to be the change. I want to help in the end of generational poverty and open my heart and all I have to offer as an educator and a human being to all of these more than capable children.
2 Comments
1/16/2017 05:33:27 pm
Your wonderful entries have given me an idea to share with you and your friends. Since none of us knows where technology will take us in 30 years it is important for all of you to make permanent copies of your wonderful blogs and pictures. Just tuck them away and one day your children, nieces and nephews, and friends will know how wonderful you were as young women.
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Dr. Patti
1/17/2017 09:24:56 pm
Hi Brittany. I really enjoyed reading your in-depth reflections about the education system in the DR as compared to the United States. It sounds like you are really thinking deeply about things. I look forward to hearing more about it when I see you next. I hope the whole trip was more wonderful than you ever could have imagined!
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March 2017
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