Day #18, August 12

I began the day at the Jardin de Niños República de Siria. It shares the same name as Marcela’s school because it was built in the same neighborhood just a couple years after Marce’s school was built. Less than 50% of the students feed into Marce’s school because of numbers. Marce’s school can only take 50 first graders and this jardin puts out over 100. The principal, Betty, received me and gave me a tour of the facilities.

The building consisted of three large classrooms and a center atrium which serves as an assembly area. The school also has a large outdoor patio. Two classrooms had 5 year olds (28 students in each room) and the third classroom had 4 year olds (25 students). There was one teacher in each room and no assistants. Each classroom had a library (medioteca). Books were sent home with the parents on a regular basis so that students would be read to. I saw one boy with Downs Syndrome in a room and another boy with obvious behavioral concerns in another. There were no supports for these students at the moment. Betty said that specialists came in periodically to work with the students and their teachers.

One project that was especially interesting involved parent involvement. It was called Matemáticas Jugando. The program was implemented in one of the 5 year old classrooms. Parents were trained to develop and make games that reinforced math skills. The parents were trained in how to teach the students to use the games. A group of parents came in to school to teach the games to the students in small groups. This is what I observed. Seven mothers came into the classroom. Each would lead a specific math game (bowling, fishing, throwing dice, matching dominos, etc.). The students were divided into small groups. Students could not be in the group their mother was leading.

I walked four blocks to Marce’s school. We left to the government offices as we had a meeting scheduled with the provincial Ministro de Educación. The Ministro, Walter Grahovac, could meet us right at 12:30 (our scheduled time), so he had us wait in a fancy meeting room with coffee and water served to us.

Walter received us at about 1:15. He was very reserved and cold at first. It didn’t help that Marce started the meeting negatively by complaining how she is lacking resources and that I told her she is lacking basic tools necessary for education. I did say that, but she shouldn’t have brought it up first thing in this meeting. I tried to focus on positive things I had observed in the schools I was visiting. Walter soon warmed up and began talking about his plans for the future and how he would try to rectify all the deficiencies in the schools. Marce spoke of how valuable she viewed her Fulbright Exchange with the USA and suggested others should participate. Walter, a member of the Socialist political party, was glad she had a good experience and was open to future exchanges. He thought Cuba would be a good country to do educational exchanges with. Walter ended our meeting after 1 hour and 15 minutes. I was surprised he gave us that much time.

Marce commented that it was interesting that Walter was the Minister of Education. Prior to moving into that position, he was president of the provincial teachers’ union. So, while teachers are expressing displeasure about wages and work conditions and threatening to strike, they won’t do anything to make their leader look bad. Conflict of interest?

After visiting with Walter we went to another small school in a very poor area. The school building was new inspite of being small. The principal received us and explained that she was in charge of 180 students. I went into a classroom to observe Perla, a reading specialist, team teach with the homeroom second grade teacher. The class was doing a unit on "brujas" or witches. The teacher was going to read a book to the class about a little witch, but a little girl quickly raised her hand and said she wanted to read. The teacher agreed and pulled out the witches hat that she was going to use and put it on the little girl. The girl read us the story and the teachers were in disbelief because she had never read so well. Perla is working in this school because of a special grant. She specifically works with language arts, integrating it across the content area.

Day #17, August 11

My day began at the Escuela Osvaldo Jorge Leon of which Marce’s friend Nancy is principal. This is a school in a vulnerable neighborhood and receives lots of PIIE funds. These vulnerable schools are referred to as escuelas urbana marginales. I was immediately struck by the 10 foot chain link fence topped off with barbed wire surrounding the school, giving it the appearance of a prison compound. Schools tend to be a favorite target for thieves and this school has a lot of resources that would be of interest to thieves.
Nancy gave me a tour of her school – two buildings, one for primary and one for upper grades. Each building had an internet-connected computer lab, a library, and a lunch room. There was also a large SUM, or multipurpose room, that allowed them to have physical education indoors on rainy or cold days.

They work looking at their curriculum to see that there was flow from one level to the next. This is what we are beginning to do through the GAPEC project with Roosevelt. I could envision broadening it to include the APCC Head Start and PK that feeds into our kindergartens. Nancy also had nine maestros de integración, one for each of her special education students. These teachers were to shadow the students throughout the day. I’m not clear as to whether the teachers were fully endorsed or just aides.

It seems like the only way schools get extra funds is if they apply for programas, and in order to qualify for this, schools need to be low income. Nancy has many resources because she applies for every programa that is available. She runs the risk of overextending herself and her school by becoming a “Christmas tree school.”

Marce picked me up at 11:00 and we went to the Sabin School in a villa. The principal’s name is Cristina. We met her the other day in the inspectora’s office. Sabin School interested me because of their attempts to do bilingual education and because of what they are doing to empower minority cultures. There school is made up of Quechua-speaking students from Bolivia and Peru and Guaraní-speaking students from Paraguay. Cristina herself knows some Quechua because her father is of a Quechua-speaking family in the Northwest corner of Argentina.
Cristina has not yet found a Quechua-speaking teacher for her school, but classrooms do post words in the language. She has solicited the help of a social agency with a Quechua translator to help her connect with the parents.

Day #16, August 10

I returned to Mirian’s school this morning. I observed in several classrooms. The morning teachers seem to be much more creative and passionate about their work than the afternoon teachers. This was confirmed by Mirian and her vice principal when I shared my observations with them.

At 10:00 a mime gave a show for the entire school in honor of the school’s 102nd anniversary and Dia del Niño (Children’s Day).
Mirian called for a taxi to take me to the bus terminal at about 11:15. I decided to use the washroom one last time before leaving and got locked in. There was a little excitement as they tried to get me out. The taxi driver wasn’t happy about the wait, but he got a good tip out of the deal.

I returned to Córdoba, arriving at about 7:30 PM. I took a taxi to Marce’s house. We were out the door again at 8:45 on our way to the Radio Nacional offices. We, along with two other Argentina Fulbright Scholars, were going to be on a radio show discussing education in our two countries. Nestor is the host of the political program.

It was interesting to participate in this program. The hour flew by. Nestor focused on the problems with the Argentino education system and the three women spoke about their experiences in USA schools. I got a chance to talk about Chicago School Reform. I wanted to emphasize that the USA does not have all the answers to the problems in education, but we are working hard to find the answers. I also added that I was able to learn from my experiences in Argentina schools, particularly about the need to remember the human aspect of education. It’s not only data collecting.

Day #15, August 9

I took a taxi to Mirian’s house and we drove to pick up Monica, another principal. Monica took us to see her school in another villa. This villa is the equivalent of our housing projects, but in much poorer condition. The people build the homes themselves: some out of cardboard, some out of scrap lumber, some out of brick. The families living here are the third generation living on public assistance. They live in these villas and if the government decides to use the land for something else more lucrative, they uproot the families and move them somewhere else. Sound familiar?

This school was very depressing to see. It is a relatively new building, but has nothing. Every door and window had a huge padlock on it. We met a woman who works for the school as a porter. She followed us around removing padlocks and putting them back on after we had seen a room. Some doors had to be soldered shut because of thieves breaking in to steal. A flagpole stands in the little school patio, but not flag can be hung because the rope and clips to raise it have been stolen. The neighbors are afraid to say anything against the robbers and the police are “blind” to what is going on. Monica says that the children “shut off” about the time they turn 10. Some are younger. How can education take place in this sort of setting? I'm not sure Monica was attempting to educate or just attempting to survive. How will the cycle be broken?

We returned to Mirian’s house for dinner. Her mother cooked Italian for us – cannelloni and spaghetti. Victor’s parents also joined us for dinner.

Later in the afternoon Mirian invited a group of about 8 principal friends over for dialogue. It was an excellent conversation, comparing our education systems and hearing them compare their own schools. A gentleman who coordinates the city’s museums was also there and was very interested to hear how the Chicago museums connect with the city schools.

I returned to the hotel and went to bed hoarse after such lively conversation.

Day #14, August 8

Today we would be tourists. Victor and Mirian picked me up in their car and we drove to Victoria. This is a small colonial town on the other side of the Parana River from Rosario. We first visited a Benedictine Abbey where we stayed to hear prayer sung in Gregorian Chant at noon. We then drove into the city and walked around. There was not too much going on – very quiet for a Saturday afternoon.

We returned to Rosario. I spent some time in the hotel before Mirian picked me up to go to the city center. Victor was too tired to join us. We walked around the Monument of the Bandera and drove around the central plaza. We went out for dinner at El Cairo, a classic Rosario restaurant.

Day #13, August 7

Mirian picked me up at the hotel at 9:30 and we went to visit a school in a villa (areas of extreme poverty where people are allowed to build temporary dwellings). This villa was made up of families from the Toba or Qom nation. This is an aboriginal group native to the Parana region. Mirian brought me to this school because she knew that I was interested in bilingual education. This school was attempting to do bilingual education with the Toba children – Toba/Castellano.
When we arrived to the school the children were dismissing. There was no water and therefore the classes had to be canceled. Instead of observing in classrooms I was able to meet with the faculty. This was actually more informative. I shared what my school was like and concerns my staff had in working with our families and they did the same.

The faculty in general was quite young and very committed to serving the Toba children. One teacher, Javier, was a native Qom speaker and also served as the translator for the school. He explained how there was distrust of the school by the Qom parents, but this was decreasing. The distrust is related to lingering discrimination toward the people by criollo Argentinos. If the school summoned the parents for any problem, they would pull their child out of school so as to not be a problem.

Evangelical protestant churches have been successful in working with the Qom. Their success started when they were able to translate the Bible into the Qom language. The school works with the churches and other community agencies in educating families.
Javier took us to a neighboring secundaria, or high school. I met the principal and a few students and looked in classrooms. Both schools were in very poor condition and had very few resources, but there was a real sense of hope and wanting to continue the struggle in the staff that I met in both schools. I wanted to walk through the community with Javier but Mirian wouldn’t let me. We didn’t have time and she didn’t know how she would explain it to the Fulbright Commission if something happened to me.

We drove to Mirian’s school, Escuela 147 Provincia de Entre Rios. It is a very nice building located in what seemed to be a middle class neighborhood. I greeted the students as they began the afternoon shift and then spent some time visiting classrooms. This school has many more resources than Marcela’s school, beginning with 8computers connected to the internet. The teachers I observed seemed to be more creative in their pedagogy, also.

We next drove to the "sindicato" where a group of about 10 normal and university professors wanted to meet with me to discuss the Chicago education system. It was a great conversation and I was disappointed when Mirian had to cut it short so that we could get to our next stop. I really hope we will be able to continue this conversation at some point.

Mirian took me to San Jose, a Catholic school for boys run by the Salesian priests. We arrived just in time for me to greet the boys on the patio as they were being dismissed for the weekend. Mirian had taught at the school the first 13 years of her career. She was fired because she was sympathizing with the public school union in their strike and encouraging her colleagues to do the same. She still is fond of the school.

We were given a tour of the huge facility. The students not only take academic courses but also participate in vocational trade workshops. We saw huge carpentry workshops and tool and dye workshops. I was also shown the church and crypt by the pastor and his sister who was a former vice principal of the school (one of the administrators who fired Mirian).

After the tour, there was a small reception for us with a group of retired teachers who continue to meet. We had coffee and cake and I was presented with a number of gifts from the school.
We drove to Mirian’s house on the edge of the city. Victor was grilling meat for our dinner. I met their two children, Carolina (23 years old) and Guido (16 years old). We had a delicious meal together and I took a cab back to my hotel.

Day #12, August 6

It was a 6.5 hour bus trip to Rosario. I left at 6:00 AM and arrived at 12:30. Mirian was at the Terminal waiting for me. Mirian did a Fulbright Exchange the same time as Marcela. She was with an elementary school principal in Skokie. Because she had become friends with Marcela through their preliminary Fulbright activities, she visited Volta and went out with us a couple times. This led to her inviting me to spend time in Rosario when I came to Argentina . We got in her car (a Fiat!) and drove to a Normal School (teacher preparation program) where we would be sitting in on final exams for a course on Professional Ethics. Final exams are administered orally with a team of professors led by the course instructor interviewing the student.

When we arrived in the school’s office we were greeted by a number of teachers who were coming and going. One instructor Mirian pulled aside and introduced to me as one of the best instructors she knows and how she wished she would apply for the Fulbright. The instructor snapped back that she would never participate in any exchange program with the USA. All the USA does is exploit Latin American countries. She would only participate in an exchange with a Latin American country. That was my welcome to Rosarino higher education.

Mirian took me to the classroom where the exams would be given. I was introduced to five other instructors who would be involved in the evaluation. They were much more welcoming. Three young ladies would be tested and an instructor named Maria would lead the process.
Maria was brutal. The first two women were eaten alive by her. As they began to respond to her probes she would put her head down, shake it, and say “No, no, no. That is all wrong.” Once that happened, it was all over. The women lost their nerve and confidence. The first two failed. The third young woman did much better and was passed. The one male instructor in the group was more interested in showing me card tricks. He was a magician on the side. Mirian said that he has a history of passing all of his students.

From the Normal School, Mirian took me to a meeting of professors who were working on a project related to teacher preparation. They had received a grant to do the project and were in the planning phases. I was introduced to the group and spent a short time talking about my school and the Fulbright Exchange. A short time into the meeting, Mirian signaled that we had to leave.

We went to another evaluation at another profesorado. This exam would be on The History of Modern Philosophy and Mirian would be the principal evaluator. Two women were tested. The first one knew the material but had a difficult time synthesizing it. The second one was able to demonstrate knowledge of the material and was able to think beyond what she had memorized. Mirian was much gentler with her students. She passed the second woman, but I’m not sure what she did with the first one in the end.

After the exam we hooked up with Mirian’s husband, Victor. We went to pick up their friend, Elda, a district administrator (sort of an AIO) who had done a Fulbright Exchange in Nebraska. We went for dinner at a small restaurant near Elda’s apartment.
After dinner we dropped Elda off at her place and I was taken to my hotel. I would stay at the Hotel Vienna, near the city center.