I can't claim to have taught in schools all over the world, but I have been in a wide selection from the poorest of the poor to the most privileged. On the surface they seem very different and I know the educational experience is so much richer in some schools than in others.
My friend Araci works in the mission school as a PE teacher. This would be considered the poorest of the poor as it is run by the Brazilian government for the indigenous population of the area. There is little money for resources and the buildings are rundown. The teachers do their best with what they have, but most of the students come from the reservation and have to study in a language that is not their own.
I watch the buses show up at 6:45 am every morning and leave at 4:45 pm in the evening. There are two sessions and the younger students come after lunch.
Araci is the PE teacher at the mission school, and being brought up there herself, she is a childhood friend of mine. She comes by to chat and shares that she has had a bad day at school. Her job is becoming increasingly difficult with the inclusion of disabled children into her classes. She now has blind students and ones with limited mobility. It is a challenge to get the other students to accept them. They won't play together.
She went on to tell me how the parents continually complain that, despite her efforts, she isn't treating their child fairly. I surprised at this, since it is what I would expect in the privileged schools of my world, but not here on the reservation. I find out that the cultural differences lead to misunderstandings and, along with the language barrier, the parents think their children are being abused at school without having any reason to support this. I smiled to think how close this was to the experience of teachers in the top international schools of the richest cities of the world.
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