Excellence and Equity in Huehue, Guatemala

My conversations with Becca about her experience teaching in Huehue, Guatemala have continued to be interesting and informative for me as an early childhood professional.  As I approached this blog post, however, it was difficult to wrap my mind around the application of a conversation about excellence and equity to a situation in Huehue that is so distinctly different and unequal from the programs we are used to encountering in the United States.  Her school is comprised of 90% orphan children, which is already a significant developmental disadvantage from most of the students we encounter day to day that go home to one or two loving and encouraging, but not always perfect, parents.  In addition to that, the school is in an agricultural area of Guatemala experiencing extreme poverty, a major toxic stress on young, developing minds.  Finally, her school is dependent on outside funding coming from the United States - teachers, classroom materials, even the buildings, are dependent on the generosity of distant and far removed neighbors for the supplies needed to be successful.  Despite these challenges, based on my conversation with Becca regarding her focus on the whole child, on connecting with and building trust among her students, these children are receiving excellent care given the circumstances.

Equity, however, is a different question.  Becca said that oftentimes her kindergarten class will have students that are ten or thirteen years old.  In Guatemala, you have to attend each year of school, regardless of the age you start, so if a child is unable to start school until they are older because of family financial problems, etc., the child still starts at kindergarten.  This is evidence that early childhood education is not widely available to children, for one can assume that for every ten year old starting kindergarten, there is another ten year old that is never able to do so.

Becca and I also had a very interesting conversation about the treatment of children with disabilities at More than Compassion.  Becca's preschool class has 11 children, and one of the, Steven, has cerebral palsy and needs one on one attention.  Amazingly, Becca was given an aid in her class that was able to provide that attention for much of the year.  With the arrival of another preschool teacher to help with her class, Becca and the other teacher are able to take turns working with Steven independently.  This is an incredible opportunity for Steven because in Huehue, there is virtually no special needs education.  Had he not found his way into the program at More than Compassion, Steven would simply sit at home with no education or stimulation at all.

http://morethancompassion.org/ourschool/

I hope you are all enjoying your conversations as much as I am.  It is so hard to imagine such a different teaching environment!

Amy