School year is (technically) over; my daughters have been officially promoted to the next level, and even though we could not be prouder of their performance, I can't help worrying about a global issue that in our country has very peculiar implications. Even when our kids do their best to excell at school, work hard on their assignments with little to no help from parents or guardians, and get excellent grades, we have so many issues in our school system. which were only agravated by the pandemic,that we have to plan ahead to remedy the gap that separates their good grades from their having the tools they'll need to succeed in the future.
In most case, the situation is even worse. Several factors intervene.
Entitlement
It has been my experience, and that of any Venezuelan teacher these days, that most students think about themselves in terms our generation never thought possible. They may be underperforming when it comes to academic work, but when it comes to demanding their grades, they can outdo the loudest tantrum champ.
Overcompensation
This has been the result of a combination of factors, among which you can count overprotective legislation, overindulgent parents, and overeworked and utterly tired and underpaid teachers. School resources and investment here were intentionally reduced to create a generation of underachievers who had to be legally over graded. This grade inflation became institutionalized at the expense of children's training and the country's professional deterioration.
In the same way inflation in economic terms can be measured by the increase or rise on the prices of goods and services, which translates in less goods or services purchased with the same amount of currency, the awarding of higher grades than students deserve, represents a loss of the real value of any diploma or degree given to students.
Self-Destructive Politics
In Venezuela this has been happening long enough to have a whole generation of professionals whose qualifications are questionable, to say the least. In the last 5 or 6 years things got even worse with the massive forced migration that sent most of the best qualified teachers abroad and saw a steady decline in the quality of school life as a whole.
The pandemic only made it worse. Most countries around the world may have similar complaints or concerns, but most countries around the world at least have the technology, the infrastructure, and the personnel to navigate these turbulent waters. Technology promises a lot, but I think it still delivers little when it comes to teaching. We are far from a successful elimination of teachers as indispensable element in students' learning process, but when there are excellent professionals behind the development of educational tools and schools are provided with everything they may need, chances are that there will be some successful stories to tell.
Venezuela is far from such prospects.
Old-Fashioned Poverty
Most families cannot access or afford the technology that would allow their kids to enter the new age. Not even teachers are up to the task, valued, or motivated to continue improvising and artificially maintaining a system that cannot guarantee quality. It is in the individual efforts of students and families that some competence can be achieved.
In the meantime, public and private institutions here continue granting their students the best grades possible, not so much because they worked hard to earn them, but because it makes everybody happy. I find it disturbing that parents and students in general do not see the problem because they are blinded by the inmediate benefit they're getting.
Somewhere else someone is still being competitive and I find it increasingly difficult for our kids to compete out of our system. I know it can be done, but it will demand from them twice the effort. They do not see the similarity with their ever frustrating shopping exercises. You just don't get more or a better product just by showing more inorganic money.
You state the problem clearly. Not sure if those in a position to make changes will taken any action. Seems it may require getting out of where things are not working, and finding a better educational experience elsewhere. If that is your plan, I hope it succeeds!
Hi, @kenny-crane
How have you been?
No. Those who can change things around won't. They cause the main part of the problem. In the name of equality they got rid of most of what makes education somehow competitive.
They are comfortable with a generation that knows as little as possible about "the facts of life".
It has been premeditated.
The ruling class sends their kids abroad so that they can get a good education, and they leave the masses fighting for crumbs at home.
I have been fine, thanks for asking! The pandemic is easing here, although another wave of cases is always possible. The warm weather is here and pools are open. I'm thankful for that.
I'm hoping that if you desire to send your recently graduated daughter abroad for a good education, and she has the same wishes, a way can be found to do that. If funds would be accepted, I'd feel honored to contribute to some degree. I'm on discord.com at kenny-crane#4552 and at email [email protected] if you ever care to chat outside of this platform. Always wishing you and your family all the best!
Thank you so much, @kenny-crane
We are working on it. Long bumpy road ahead. We'll be in touch
I think inflation in grade is more problematic than the inflation in the economy because inflation of economy can hamper the economy only but this kind of inflation can hamper the backbone of the nation.
I agree. That's how I see it. The damage of undermining academic integrity can be harder to repair.
Thanks for the insight
There are so many things wrong with the the education system, it's impossible to claim any one flaw is responsible, but the more flaws we point out, the more we undermine public faith in the system.
Well, I'd like to think that the more we point at the flaws the better we can address them and eventually fix them. Some of the issues here are "convenient secrets" because many "benefit" from a system without standards (and I'm not talking about testing, which can be an even more problematic thing).
In our case the system is visibly flawed and people keep sending their kids to schools almost by inertia; there are no choices when you have a national curriculum and the crisis is so severe it affects all demographic groups.
In our particular case it is a political problem. It is convenient to keep the system flawed.
The root problem is the state monopoly. Everything else is an entirely predictable symptom rooted in the incentives of such a system. The purpose of the school system is to promote the legitimacy of the government above all, not to teach people to be critical thinkers who pursue their interests and hone their unique individual talents. You can't reform a system designed by industrialists and imperialists 200 years ago to churn out loyal workers and soldiers.
You are right. Ironically, in systems like ours, ruled by a regime that defines itself as anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, far from reversing the indoctrinating effect of the empires, they managed to just put the machinery at their service. They just changed one form of domination for another.
Authoritarians are essentially all the same beneath the different rhetorical facades they erect.