My plan April 12, 2010

• To me the biggest isue with the education system around the world is that the people making all the decisions, usually, have never been educators. They don’t know what it is like to be one day in a classroom teaching. They don’t know what works and what doesnt, how children learn and what doesnt.
• Therefore, my first question will be to 1.Find out who these people are, their background, how long have they served as advocates for education, their platforms?
• In third world countries, particularly in Latin America, the public school systems are “disgusting”, not solely on the curriculum, but because educators are always protesting, children miss months of school in a year because of this, I want to know 2.why so many protests? What makes these teachers want to stand out on the streets rather than be in their classrooms teaching?
• My grandmother was a teacher, and two of my sisters are teachers in Honduras. They are all doing a great job in the profession they have chose, but what saddens me is that neither of them have studied to be teachers…they are learning as they go. Many people feel that teaching is an easy job, it is not. I think one of the reason why education systems around the world are failing is because anyone and everyone is teaching the children. 4. What are the requirements to be a teacher in third world countries, in the U.S.? What is the point of getting a degree in education, if I obviously don’t need it?
• There are so many things that go into teaching. As a teacher you have to be a psychologist, a friend, a disciplinarian, a parent etc, a researcher, and educator etc. Many people have done research on what constitues a good educator, the qualities of one, I want to find out 5. what these are?
• Education in America and the thrid world is not much different, both systems are heavily flawed and both systems have some good in them. It is important to know 6. what these systems share and what is different about them?
• I came to America when I was 11 years old, I was in a bilingual private school when I was in Honduras. My first day of school in Houston, I was so nervous, I had no faith in the Honduran education system. I did not sleep the night before… ‘were people going to laugh at my english? Was I going to be able to read infront of the class?’ I cried myself to sleep thinking people were going judge me for not being as smart as they were… I was so wrong. My first coupleof years in the American education system were a breeze… I was more advance than my classmates, particularly in the social studies fields(world history, geography) and english.  I had learned things in 5^th grade in Honduras, my classmates in 7^th grade in Houston were beggining to learn. The education system in Honduras did not fail me! Although I went to private school in honduras, the only major difference between my education and the education the son of our maid was receiving, was that I was also learning in English. The curriculum in Latin Ameica is tough (to me tougher than the American curriculm) Knowing this, I want to learn 7.what factors contribute to low enrollemnts in higher education in Latin America? (poverty can not be the only one, there are free universities)
• I think it is also important to look at the numbers. 8.How many people in America graduate from high school compared to other countries of the world. The drop out rate numbers? The number of people that enroll in universities and graduate with a degree.

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