Thoughts on Working with UBECI

     UBECI works to serve the children of people work in three different markets around Quito. Two are on the south side of the city, about 30 minutes bus ride from the center (on a good day) while the other is in Sandolqui, a town that is about 30-40 minutes west of the city center. We see some of the children at more than one market as their parents move from one market day to another, but the flavor of each is decidedly different.

     Having spent more than twenty years teaching in essentially traditional schools in the States, it is hard not to be making constant comparisons between my experiences here and there, even though the age group here (3-10) is younger than the adolescents I am used to working with. On so many levels, they exhibit many of the same characteristics – cute, eager, loud, shy, craving attention, curious, disruptive, helpful, mischievous, and more. Some of the kids are especially eager for attention.  They will hold hands, or climb into your lap as easily as if they were your own children.  Others of course are more shy and cautious in their interactions. 

     None of this is particularly different from classes around the world, except the knowledge that most of these children have very limited and irregular schooling.  One day they may be able to join in the activities.  On other days they are needed to help with the work in the market, setting up the meticulously arranged vegetables, cleaning, or helping with customers.  Some of them can read and write at least at a fairly basic level, though most seem to struggle.  When making Valentine’s day cards the other day with the kids, there were several kids in the 7-10 bracket who needed help to write a simple message inside the card, though, enchantingly, they really wanted to express love to their parents.

     In the US, it often seems to me that the most outspoken reason for doing well in school is so that one can get into college. Thankfully, the history of curriculum does indeed go beyond this, stressing the need for literacy in language and mathematics, followed by a host of other skills such as science, health, technology, music and art. Traditional school is clearly such a grind for so many kids and their parents. Everyday I see kids for whom school is something they have to do, rather than something to value and truly enjoy.  This is perhaps inevitable given that many, if not most kids are developmentally unready to appreciate the deeper value of their education. They must rely on a good support system from their families, communities and, hopefully a strong school system to see them through to a place where they can take advantage of opportunities available for their futures.

     Here in Ecuador, with our very limited experience in the schools, it is not yet possible to pass too much judgment on what drives people to do well in school.  The 16 year-old daughter of our home stay is clearly driven to work hard, leaving home before 6:00 a.m. to travel for about an hour to her school.  Another member of the family, David, is studying biotechnology in college and is striving to become part of unlocking the secrets of rainforest plants to better serve us, without in the process causing further degradation.  Business and health opportunities abound, but it appears that there is a significant shortage of sufficiently qualified people to enter these fields.  Elementary participation is very high (over 90%), but only about 60% of the childhood population goes onto secondary school (as compared with 90-95% for the USA and the UK).  There is a great deal of pressure for children to enter the workforce, which often means working in agriculture.

     So, I look at the children in the markets, and wonder about their social mobility.  Is it really any different from what we hear about in the USA and the UK, that social mobility has diminished in recent years? That is a tough question to answer. Faced with the enormity of understanding how education for children can be improved, and to what end, I revert back to the message of the Buddhist story about a monk walking along a beach with his disciple.

“Thousands of starfish had been washed up onto the shore after a fierce storm. Stooping down, the monk lifted a single creature and returned it to its home in the sea. The disciple asked why the master did this when it made so little difference to the mass of stranded starfish. As the monk lifted another single starfish he replied,

“It makes a difference to this one.”
And he tossed it back into the sea.