Schools: Venezuelan style

In our last Community Conections class, we went to visit an elementary school in Oxford,MS. Since now I have to say that it has been the most interesting place I´ve seen since I arrived to the U.S.

This school showed us how americans are raised since they`re kids. The creation of "real enviroments", such as a market, a bank, a postal office and many other places, was really surprising for me. When children have contact with real situations, they learn how act in front of different things they`re going to live during their adulthood.

The Oxford elementary school show me in a wide way, how this educational places work in the United States. They are very organized, clean and warm.

In my country (Venezuela), things are different in some ways. Only private schools are able to create beautiful and friendly places like this one we saw. The public ones, usually are in bad conditions, restrooms don´t work, desks are very ugly and broken.

Teachers from those schools, work "with the nails" as we say. The Goverment doesn´t give them the resources in order to create better enviroments for the children. Some of those kids grow up sorrounded by poorness and not by toys, books or places like those we can find here.

Specially for me was a beautiful experience to see how those kids are been educated here. I`ve been in contact with some public schools in my country and I just felt so sad seeing that reality they live day by day. I used to go during several months to teach 8-9 years old kids how to create their own newapaper, I remember those little faces so interested in what we were teaching to them. Maybe that was the only "magic" thing they could learn in a lot of time.

In the picture: Ender Márquez, one of my students.