Latin-American Studies

    It is my belief that the primary concern of the teaching profession should be the welfare of students and not what seems to be today an accepted truth that teachers should place monetary gains as foremost among their priorities.  After all, as educators, teachers have been tasked with the important responsibility of preparing the future leaders when they are still in their formative years of learning.  Teaching then, more important than being a profession, is a social calling into being a lifetime advocate whose concern lies with preparing the future generation into being responsible members of the society.

    With this calling in mind, the children in the rural parts of Peru make for my lifes mission.  Primarily, a target municipality where students have not been given the privilege of having their own school would be ideal.  In these parts of the globe, trekking a two-hour route to and from the location of the school, just to equip themselves with the necessary knowledge that is obtainable only from formal education, is just one of the many problems that come with the geographic characteristics common in this area.

    Understandably, in my quest of being an instrument in helping children from this remote corner of the world in attaining a respectable and competent education, there is a foremost need to hire teachers who are likewise possessing of the same social calling as I have.  We must place financial gains as our secondary aspiration, second only to service.  They, in the same manner that I also am, must have a realization that the profession that we have chosen had blessed us with the gift of being able to give help that would not be temporary, as knowledge has its benefits that are able to last an entire lifetime.

    The odds would be staggering.  Imagine a three-member faculty staff that would have to be tasked with teaching an entire student population of the municipality and perhaps even some within the proximity of the area, within the compounds of the two-classroom-school. Other than the much needed expertise in the subjects that are assigned to them, these teachers would have to be patient as well, as understandably, most if not all of the students here would be in need of extensive trainings and exercises in order to be at par with what is prevalent among the bigger schools in the cities. 

    Among the subjects that are required to be included in the curriculum, four subjects, I believe, would have to be the focal points of my attention in respect to their economic background and the make-up of their social structure.  Mathematics and Algebra would have to be important, as the mastery of this field lets one improve on his analytical and logical thinking abilities.  In most certainty, this will be essential in their everyday life. Being from a society that is generally considered as being one of the poor among the poorest in the world, an improvement in their aforementioned capabilities will trigger a realization that they need to escape from the clutches of poverty, and education is the only avenue that could ascertain this aspiration. 

    Another subject that will be beneficial is Science.  Here, their skills in their observation and arriving at a conclusion to a problem will be tantamount to providing them with the appropriate tools in their assessment on the realities, and the consequential solution to their socio-economic dilemma.  Science, after all, holds the promise of having a deeper understanding on things and on life, in an all-encompassing manner.  Thus, in equipping them with the trained skill in logic and reasoning, plus the expertise in observation techniques which aims at arriving at an educated conclusion and to the solution to a given problem, will be able to transform not just their individual lives but the entirety of the society, as well. 

    Another subject that I believe would benefit the children would be oral and written English.  This, besides the obvious reason on the advantages of being bilingual, would make them truly competent in their eventual professional endeavors in the near future, be it within corporate environs or in their business dealings.  It is an accepted reality that English, being the universal language that it is, would be a necessity in their professional life, and would certainly prove to be advantageous especially in the foreign corporate markets that are in abundance even in third world societies.

    Lastly, I would place extra emphasis on Theology, as I am of the strong belief that having a good spirituality based on religion will make a person acquire values and morals that will be important in his inter-personal relationships, whether in professional or personal levels.  It is likewise my belief that Theology will make the individual complete that the acquisition of the sciencelogic related expertise will be for naught if that skill is not to be complemented with living a life that is in accordance with the Scriptures. 

    Given the situations that prevail in rural Peru, the best approach in captivating the interests of the children into furthering their education would be to pace the lessons in a gradual manner, while at the same time making them proud of their choice by explaining to them the consequences that this will bring in the near future.  One way of ensuring this would be to lessen the gap between student-teacher or superior-subordinate perception.  They must be made to realize that they, together with their teachers, have only one goal, and that is to provide them with the most optimal future that they are capable of achieving. 

    Service learning, being the new way of providing quality education, tackles this task in a more socially-aware manner.  Here, the teachers aspiration does not limit itself with the betterment of the student in a given year alone, but on the bigger picture of how they will mature in as responsible, productive, and well-meaning citizens of their country.  I then, together with my two other co-teachers, have heeded the call in rural Peru.