This is reality but I don´t like it.

** I suspect this blog, long overdue, is not up to any standard of writing. I wrote it as a rant, to clear my own head, and to puzzle over the question of how much inequality we can just live with.**

In my unusually roomy colectivo today, I sat with three teachers from Musho, Piscuy (a small neighborhood 10 minute walk away) and Apa Chico (a village 40 minutes walking from Musho and the same from Mancos). The Apa Chico and Piscuy teachers work in 1-room schools, with 4 grades in the same room. In a small space, eavesdropping is impossible to avoid, and I listened with curiosity to their plans to participate in the upcoming teachers´ strike. The strike, beginning on September 5, is indefinite, and will leave their schools completely closed.

The opportunity to uncover their motives was too much to resist and I joined, eventually coming to expound the radical idea that teachers could be paid by quality of work (such as not closing their school for indefinite amounts of time), test results (controversial, but I´m not sure what else would be a measure) and other measures, instead of a flat salary. Amazingly, the teacher I spoke with bristled at this idea and began a rant about the inability to compare academic achievement in a school in Musho as a school in Lima. Of course, poverty, malnutrition, lack of reading materials, stimulation, study time, parent commitment and a host of other determinants keep Musho children far below the level of their Lima counterparts.  

The teacher went on to describe the difficulty of teaching children in a 1-room school to the level of children with a teacher per-grade level. I agreed, and suggested that the one-room schools be closed, and that those students study in Musho or Mancos. This, perhaps, was too near to suggesting

 she be fired (not the point of course), and she spent the last few minutes in the car being particularly angry at me.

My actual point was this: does a Ministry of Education not have a responsibility to even the playing field as much as possible. Students with 1 teacher for 4 grades will not have as much grade level-specific attention as a student with a teacher specifically for his level. It´s a fact. If a 10 minute walk is the difference between those two options, why would a parent chose the inferior option? Most of the parents that do are un-educated themselves and see no better life for their children. Should the Ministry of Education not close the inferior school and focus on getting children to the better one?

Of course, the Musho school, to my un-trained eye, hardly shows strong outcomes. The teacher argued in the car, and I agree with her, that students from Musho would never match test results of students from Lima. This may be true. However, it reveals a systematic inequality. To enter into higher education of any kind—police academy, technical school, university—applicants must take an exam. The results are rated nationally and only the top scores enter. The inequality is life-long. While a Musho may achieve prosperity and success in business or agriculture—and there are some professionals as well—the general trend is to keep the poor in poverty. 

 

I choose to believe that the solution lies in early interventions. Parenting classes, preschool and pre-preschool programs and aggressive early childhood health interventions have shown developmental advances worldwide, in low-income populations. Government involvement in parenting smells suspiciously of Big Brother, yet the alternative, leaving the generation to muddle along in poverty, except for a few lucky ones, scares me more.  

This was a hilarious afternoon walking after my English class-- who knew sunglasses could be so much fun? 

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 One of my chronic frustrations in my work this year has been trying to account for the mysterious factor of “culture.” What is it? I don´t even really try that one (though I probably could muddle through something after several semesters of anthropology). All I´m asking is how it affects mothers and their children. Something about the intersection between culture and poverty creates a breeding ground for under-nourished, developmentally delayed, parasite-ridden children. That description might be slightly melodramatic but is in no way false. As I try to convince people—mostly mothers—to change their behavior, I meet baffling and frustrating levels of resistance. Even after almost three years, I only guess at why.

 Last week, however, I received a clue. After some coordination, I started working in the Mancos health center in early childhood stimulation. The health center is slightly bigger, but mostly filled with unmotivated tenured staff. Mancos itself is more important than Musho, a district capital, on the highway, and the taxi stop for all the small towns up the valley. In itself it is not big or important—1200 people, 3-4 restaurants (I´m unsure whether to count a bar that sells juice), a handful of shops and a slightly better high school.

 Last week, however, I received a clue. After some coordination, I started working in the Mancos health center in early childhood stimulation. The health center is slightly bigger, but mostly filled with unmotivated tenured staff. Mancos itself is more important than Musho, a district capital, on the highway, and the taxi stop for all the small towns up the valley. In itself it is not big or important—1200 people, 3-4 restaurants (I´m unsure whether to count a bar that sells juice), a handful of shops and a slightly better high school.

 In Musho,  I feel comfortable with my moms, know how to make them laugh or convince them to show up vaguely on time, but haven´t yet figured out how to change that attitude. My worry is that without some spark of brilliance,  I won´t before I leave. However, the difference lies somewhere in figuring out the difference between Mancos and Musho—exposure to nicer homes and smarter kids? As a motivator, I show pictures and videos of my nephew JD commenting on his good eating habits and brilliance whenever possible. Maybe I´ll do the same with the Mancosino babies. 

It´s been a while. In the past two months, I´ve changed houses, had several mini nervous breakdowns, started working with a new group of moms (in addition to the Musho wonderwomen), taught my English kids a range of crafts, dance moves and games (and a smattering of grammar and vocabulary) and began the second phase of my child development project in Musho. Things have been busy. Here are a few photos of what I´ve been doing with more detail to come.