In the moment, today was a fun day. But as I sit here trying to put all of it together, I feel discouraged.
I visited a public school where the kids in our club attend. We were there to find out how much money the sixth graders need for graduation.
Turns out none of them are graduating. The program director told us that due to a long list of unfortunate circumstances, the sixth graders cannot read. She recently discovered this and is not allowing any of them to advance to seventh grade. She is right. If she allows them to go on to seventh grade they will be so far behind they will feel like failures and will probably drop out. She wants to give them every possible chance at a successful life.
Parents are mad and the teachers are too. Teachers expect the director to be like most other public school directors and push the kids through just because it looks better for their statistics, no matter whether or not the kids learn anything.
She talked about a 15 year old boy in 6th grade. His mother was addicted to drugs when he was born. Before long, he was on the streets using drugs too. About a year ago he stopped using drugs and has become serious about school, but now his brain is so fried he is unable to learn anything. He writes line after line of strange scribbles, sitting and pondering over them as though they make sense to him.
The director is desperate for a psychologist to do an exam and state that he has special needs. She has called the special schools and tried to get help, but everyone says they are too busy or too full. Once he turns 16 he will no longer qualify for help from her school. He would have to go to night school which is not safe and would not provide the help he needs.
The teachers have given up on the boy because he earned a reputation as a thief while he was involved in drugs. He was a thief but he's not any more. Still, nobody wants him around.
One of the girls in the club has only been attending school once or twice/week. Her mother and three adult siblings are in my literacy class. I was so disappointed in the adults! All of them tell me that education is important, yet the mother said none of her younger kids are going to school because they prefer to stay home and watch tv. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????
First she said she doesn't have the money to send the kids to school because they always need stuff for projects. That really could be true sometimes and it is a real problem, but not three or four days per week.
Then she said it's her son's fault because ever since he bought a tv, they are glued to the screen. Both my coworker and I stopped her fast. I told her it is not her son's fault if she allows her children to watch tv while they should be in school. I told her she has two jobs. Send the kids to school and make sure they do their homework afterward.
My coworker has been through this with the older siblings who are now learning to read in literacy class. She said normally they blame the elementary teacher. I didn't let them blame anyone. We prayed for strength for this mother to take control of her home. We'll see how things go in the future. It was good that I was there alongside my coworker because my coworker said this is the most receptive the mother has ever been in the twelve years she has worked with the family.
I am so tired of hearing parents say, "Es que ella no quiere..." (It's that she doesn't want to...) I constantly see two and four and eight year old kids dictate what they will and will not do. Maybe I'm old fashioned. My parents didn't care whether or not I wanted to eat healthy food, or go to school, or go to bed! If I said "No" when my mother told me to do something, there was a serious consequence. But I hear kids tell their parents "No" every single day. I don't think this is specific to Honduras. I think it's a new parenting trend. I don't get it. It feels very discouraging to me because the result I see is kids living on cookies and Coca Cola who only go to school once a week. Nobody says please or thankful. There is a general sense of entitlement. I am worried about the kids and frustrated with what I can only explain as lazy parenting.
Rant over. The good part today was being out in the community. It was so nice! I did two live feeds on Facebook. I had a great time with the class. It was a perfect day to walk around in the mountains.
Over the past week it's gradually stopped raining at night. This was my favorite season - hot days with thunderstorms from 5 pm until midnight. For the first time since I moved here, it started and ended when it should. Now the cold season should start.
