My roommate came to me yesterday and told me that one of her best students from the dance class she teaches is going to drop out of the program. When she approached him to find out why, he said it was personal and couldn't share. Then, as is so common here, a student's classmate approached my roommate and told her that the reason why he had to drop out was because his mom said he couldn't make any money as a dancer. She had him drop out of the dance class and start taking music classes at our center because "you can make money as a musician, not as a dancer."
This story made me think about when I was in college and would travel here or speak to someone that lived here. While people seemed pleased with the fact that I attended an Ivy League institution, they definitely were baffled by my Latin American Studies major. I often had to explain that the major was a critical look at Latin America from a sociological, anthropological, historical, and political point of view. My explanation was almost always followed by "what are you going to do with that?" I then had to explain that in the US, your major didn't necessarily have to correlate with your career choice. Employers, save for a few industries, looked at well-roundedness, skill set, applicable experiences, etc. From the confused looked on their faces, I knew they didn't understand what I was saying....and after my roommate's story from yesterday, I understand why.
Dominicans who are lucky enough to attend and finish college and/or graduate school usually go into architecture, engineering (for my Dominicanos out there, how many ingenieros do you know?), accountancy, law, medicine, or information technology. As of late, psychology and teaching have become a fan favorite. For as long as I could remember, I would come back to the island and hear of a cousin or family friend who had just finished school and majored in one of the abovementioned fields. I always wondered why this was the case. Didn't people want to study classics like Plato or Aristotle or critically examine The Holy Bible? Clearly, I received a liberal higher education lol. But regardless, I have always wondered why majors were so "limited" here.
Now I know understand that what I viewed as "limited" is in fact not so, but a function of the environment. In a place like the Dominican Republic where earning a decent living is a matter of life or death, folks can't afford, literally, to spend time pondering and reflecting on the works of Machiavelli. If they are going to spend time on schooling, it has to be directly correlated to their earning potential. Point period. No ifs, ands, or buts. This also explains why, when I informed my mom of my major, the first question out of her mouth was "what are you going to do with that?" (Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have a mom that supports my decisions no matter what, even when she doesn't entirely understand them.)
Upon reflection, I think about my students and how I've had such a hard time getting them to think critically or even understand what critical thinking is. For my 12 and 13-year-olds, asking questions, whether it is to clarify a misunderstanding or question an idea or thought, is a completely foreign concept. When I first arrived here and learned about the education system, I was a shock because I grew up hearing my family members boast about the Dominican education system and how it produced some of the smartest people in the world. Thinking about it, this was when Balaguer, who was a scholar and prolific author, was president. Once Balaguer passed in 1996 and Leonel became president, the Dominican Republic became synonymous with tourism and foreign investments. I can't say that the Dominican education system has gone to h-e-double hockey sticks because of Leonel but there is something to be said about the change in political and economic landscape in this country and our education system. Is there a correlation between how we're grooming (or not) our young minds and how Dominicans earn a living? Is the education system molding reflective, critical thinkers who will be change-makers in their communities or are we letting minds go to waste by fostering rote skill memorization that could be used in hotels and resorts?
One of the biggest lessons I learned as Teach for America corps member was to be aware of my locus of control. As someone who is a natural problem-solver, with a type-A personality, I am prone to wanting to fix every problem I encounter. I really wish I could change how education is often viewed and consequently, how teachers are trained and students taught. I so desperately want my students to be able to argue and defend a point of view using appropriate vocabulary and ideas instead of focusing on the skills they will need to earn a living. Of course, I am not so naive to think that this is solely an education problem...but that's where my locus of control is. While I can't change the Dominican education system in 10 months, I can surely have an impact, even if it's in a small way.
"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee" - Marian Wright Edelman
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