SANTO DOMINGO.- The quality of Dominican Republic’s elementary education is below Latin America’s average, as students confront major problems in the areas of reading and math.
The study, done between 2004 and 2008 by the laboratory Llece, with the support of the UN’s Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), evaluated 196,040 third and sixth grade students, distributed in 8,854 classrooms among 3,065 urban and rural schools in 16 countries of the region, plus Mexico’s State of Leon (northeast).
The subjects considered were reading, math and science under the focus of "abilities for life," evaluating the students’ performance as well as the factors that explain it.
The study found that the school’s quality is responsible for between 40 and 49 percent of the students’ mental accomplishment, followed by the students’ characteristics.
Within the school "academic climate" is the main factor, followed by its average socioeconomic and cultural level.
A positive respectful and warm atmosphere is key to improving education, whereas scholastic segregation negatively influences academic results, the report said.
Cuba, according to the report, is the country with the best learning results, while the Dominican Republic is the worst.
When the third grade results for math and reading were compared, Cuba is the only country whose standard is better than the regional average.
Written by: Juango, 23 Jun 2008 9:57 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Yes, but we do have the "METRO" and drive jeepetas, so who care if we can read or write. The Elite/Powerful wish to keep the PUEBLO ignorant, so they can continue to have their way in their glorious Rep. Dom. This is not news and will continue to become worse, as long as material things are valued above everything else in this society, including life itself. GOD help us all!
Written by: BASTA, 23 Jun 2008 10:12 AM
From: Dominican Republic
So what's new. Keep the people stupid and hungry. What better way to control them and mix in a bit of crack.
From: Canada
I am not surprised
Written by: BLANCO, 23 Jun 2008 10:27 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Like GC what is the surprise "A positive respectful and warm atmosphere is key to improving education" I like this sentence, warm we have, it s the positive respectful which is missing, in a country where please and thankyou are not used, where is the respect???
belial will love this article, especially cuba part, can't wait for the rant
Written by: Jander, 23 Jun 2008 10:43 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Blanco you have the manners problem down to a tee, but this starts at home.
I am not defending the illiteracy by any means but anyone who lives here know that the young women of this country are bound and determine to make babies and don't stop to think one minute about the future of that child. They are raised by the help ot the abuelas.
Unfortunately the only way to get a decent education is to send your kids to private school.
This government or any government before that has not been avaible to deal with it.
Written by: NYCDR, 23 Jun 2008 10:56 AM
From: United States
Okay. What can we do about it?
Is there a solution? Is there a suggestion? Is there a plan of action?
From: United States
i know that i am going to be tarred and feathered for this article, but people have to want to be educated to benefit from education. when Oprah Winfrey started her school for girls in africa, she reports that the thing all the girls in the neighborhood wished for most was a school uniform. everyone knows that the government has no interest in educating the populace; that goes without saying. we receive the sporadic insights from government cheerleaders in this forum, telling us how much progress leo has made with education. yet every succeeding survey shows additional embarassing results. it is depressing to be bragging about impending 50 story construction, and being the Monte Carlo of the caribbean, when guys on sand bars (as Goulet likes to call them) are far more educated than you are. the inital impetus starts with the individual. why bother break your ass studying 7 hours per day, when you can spend that time looking for a gringo to be your support in life?
From: United States
this sanky panky and chica situation is out of hand already, and people seem to be whistling while the city burns. people in other caribbean islands have to get an education, because there is no parallel phenomenon there. here , we have arrived at a point wherein the drive to get ahead on the strength of one´s own efforts has been stunted by expectations of foreigner interventions. if we go broke, they will lend us money. if we have a disaster, they will send in helicopters. if we have an epidemic, they will give us medicine and doctors. and, if things get rough and we cannot meet the bills, we will find a gringo or gringa to take care of us. all we have to do is get to western union on saturday morning, take a number, and wait patiently with the rest of our sistren or brethren. hell, work? what is that? education? who needs it? look at my passola; it would have taken me 5 years to pay off the loan, but Barry from Canada gave it to me as a gift for services rendered!!!
Written by: Lautaro, 23 Jun 2008 11:27 AM
From: Dominican Republic
It's called the culture of parade at its best, mr. dread. Or should I say at its worst? That culture of parade is the main reason why the DR is still an under developed country, because governments and private firms prefer to invest in pharaonic constructions and other quick cash projects (or scams, if you prefer to call them so), instead of investing in things that, although their benefits might not be seen on the inmediate term, they might do more for the country's welfare on the long run, investments such as education, health, and agriculture, this last one in order to secure the first thing that should be a country's priority: it's nutritional safety. In short, in this parade culture currently pervading our country, it's not the substance of a given person what counts, but the benefits that only money and looks can buy!!
Written by: antonioj, 23 Jun 2008 12:11 PM
From: Mexico, Oaxaca
I heard Rubi was an straight A student back then in DR and finish first...
Written by: juanb, 23 Jun 2008 12:39 PM
From: Dominican Republic
Lalucha.com.do says......End corruption=improving education
From: Afghanistan, BAF
Sad but true , everyone I know speaks highly of the international schools their children attend, but seems like the rest of the kids are only going 1/2 a day & thjat cant be very constructive. I dont really know the language well enough to discuss pollitics/pollicy with the average local but many of the gringo's who have been here a while and as well the more well off Locals I hang around with kind of veiw the average man on the street as some what naieve and sometimes willfully ignorant. Seems a sad state but the concenses seems unilateral ?
From: United States
yes, pappabowie, but these international schools are largely for international students; the children of gringos.some of them are fantastic, with first rate teaching and administrative personnel. but since there is no voucher system in the DR, Jose from the barrio will never be able to send his son to these august institutions. they will be reserved for the international contingent, and a few well heeled locals with the ¨proper¨last names.
Written by: ny4life, 23 Jun 2008 1:17 PM
From: United States, New York, NY
Anyone with money can attend private school. What are the solutions to the public school dilemma? Anyone care to discuss?
Written by: Lautaro, 23 Jun 2008 1:24 PM
From: Dominican Republic
That's not quite true, ny4life, because, based from what a lot of people have told me, no matter how rich you might be, if you don't posess what is called over here "linaje y abolengo", you will not qualify to enter, say, the Carol Morgan nor the Saint George school, just to name the most "elite" of the group. Trust me, I know a lot of friends whose fathers have nothing to envy on the realm of wealth to any of the traditional families of the country, but who couldn't for the life of them make those schools agree in giving their sons and daughters the education that they're entitled to.
Written by: Belial, 23 Jun 2008 1:42 PM
From: United States, Texas
From the info in the DT's article above, this study is fascinating, big, and deep.
The problem is that I can't find the study anywhere at UNESCO's or at LLECE's site.
Either bad research by me or the study is unposted by UNESCO (which is impossible).
The most shocking finding of the study, judging from the DT's account, is that the DR is last or "the worst" among 16 Latin American countries in the quality of elementary education despite the alleged benefits from 3,000,000 tourists per year, the highest number of tourists in the Caribbean, to the Dominican "economy" or to the "people" or to Dominican "bourgeoisie" or to this "bourgeoisie and the imperialists."
It's shocking to discover that the quality of elementary education in reportedly "prosperous" DR is "worse" than poorer countries like Nicaragua and Bolivia which struggle arduously along a revolutionary path.
Dominican kids get no benefits from the 3,000,000 tourists who enrich the bourgeoisie?
Written by: Belial, 23 Jun 2008 1:43 PM
From: United States, Texas
I find suspect the findings or speculations of the study about the immediate causes of the low quality of elementary education in the DR, based on the DT's account.
According to the DT, the study found that something called "school quality" accounts for almost 50% of student performance in reading, math, and science, followed in importance by something called "student characteristics" as a determinative factor of student performance.
"School quality" and "student characteristics" are fuzzy things, huh.
"Quality" rests chiefly on something called "academic climate" and "characteristics" on "average socioeconomic and cultural level" or class position in bourgeois society.
Here, I sense intellectual circularity.
"A positive respectful and warm atmosphere is key to improving education."
You don't say?
Well, Howdy-Doody to you.
This finding smacks of bourgeois sentimentalism "Your school doesn't need resources ... not at all ... only a nice "warm atmosphere."
Written by: UnDyin86, 23 Jun 2008 1:44 PM
From: United States
Lautaro, really? My mother decided to move back to Santo Domingo my senior year of HS, and I was able to get into Carol Morgan (but my parents decided to opt for George Washington School-which was a great experience-instead since CM was asking for ALOT for me and my little brother) and I never heard of this supposed pre-requisite for being able to study at certain schools. And my mother, remarried to a cuban, with a half-cuban son, doesn't exactly come from an elite society or rich family. We're not poor, but we sure aren't the cream of the crop. I was always under the "money talks" impression.
Written by: Lautaro, 23 Jun 2008 1:52 PM
From: Dominican Republic
You're the first case that I have heard in which the "abolengo" prerrequesite wasn't required, UnDyin. If they didn't bother your family with that, then they must be friends with someone. Because, not only money is the thing required to advance on this country, as a matter of fact, more often than not, it's not the people which have more money which prevails on certain matters, but the ones which are better connected, if you know what I mean. Does your family belong to the second category, by chance?
Written by: Belial, 23 Jun 2008 2:09 PM
From: United States, Texas
"belial will love this article, especially cuba part, can't wait for the rant" BLANCO guesses wrong.
0000
The Cuban part is no surprise to me. The DR part is distressing.
CUBAN vs USA & BRAZIL in higher education:
The USA has about 30,000,000 college graduates out 300,000,000 pop. So, the USA is a big 10% country.
Cuba already has about 800,000 college graduates out a 11,200,000 pop. So, Cuba is about 7%.
But Cuba has 350,000 students in college today with about a fifth of them graduating this year. So, Cuba is catching up ... real fast with USA on this. Cuba is already the highest in this respect in Latin American and the Caribbean.
As for Brazil, it ... amazingly ... has the most solid graduate education system in Latin America and Caribbean, producing approximately 11,000 PhDs per year.
Cubans are trying to GET the Brazilians.
If we count MDs (doctors) as PhDs, the Cubans are closer to these highly educated Brazilians than anyone will suspect.
Written by: UnDyin86, 23 Jun 2008 2:15 PM
From: United States
Second category? ....I have a few militares in my family and on my father's side (my aunt has been working in the Palacio National for over 40 yrs-I forgot her proper title...) but I sincerely doubt that had any effect on us getting into those schools (it's not like we go around parading who we know, who we related to-nor did this have any effect on our economic status in the States).
Written by: UnDyin86, 23 Jun 2008 2:29 PM
From: United States
But this abolengo term is news to me; even though I've heard about prestiguous families and certain rich kids getting into certain schools, communties or clubs, i never heard that this was a requirement-even among the people I went to school with and crowds they hung out with.
(And there were plently of kids from all walks of life there-half mexican-japanese, turkish, chinese and koreans, kids that lived in the states whose parents decided to move to DR, regular kids from NY and Tampa, and others more ecomonically priviledged who drove to school in BMWs.) Honestly, the idea seems silly to me...but I'm sure there probably are certain places the average joes can't get into...
Written by: BLANCO, 23 Jun 2008 2:50 PM
From: Dominican Republic
thank you belial for your calming post.
after 22 years in this country, nothing has changed, lots of words less than 2% of the gnp on education is not something to be proud of, but there it is. when the militaty needs money the first budget they go to is education..there is no will to do anything about public education. look at the eduation ministers taht have been in cahrge over the years. The women had great opportunities to make the change but did nothing. AND SO IT WILL GO, UNFORTUNATLY FOR THE PEOPLE
From: United States
"The women had great opportunities to make the change but did nothing. "
She was to busy constructing her own personal palace...
Written by: Belial, 23 Jun 2008 3:31 PM
From: United States, Texas
WHAT THE RICH WANT
p. 1 of 2
The Dominican bourgeoisie is big and rich.
Since drug and human trafficking along with their concomitant hustle of money laundering play a large role in the accumulation of capital of this social class, it hard to guess its real size and wealth.
The popular yardstick for measuring the size of the bourgeoisie in developing countries, that seem to doing well economically, is something like half of a percent of the population. Since the DR has about 9.5 million people, the size of the bourgeoisie should be about 47,000 millionaires, either legit business folk or big-time criminals or a mix of the two.
As for wealth, it's widely believed that this class boasts at least a half dozen billionaires.
The educational policy of this ruling Dominican bourgeoisie is transparently:
Written by: Belial, 23 Jun 2008 3:32 PM
From: United States, Texas
WHAT THE RICH WANT
p. 2 of 2
(1) A superbly educated bourgeois youth, preferably in the best and most prestigious US colleges and schools, and
(2) Educational excellence in the DR for middle class youth, preferably under the ideological vigilance of reactionary and medieval Catholic experts on divine beings and other divine things.
(3) A functionally illiterate, ignorant, and utterly superstitious proletariat, both urban and rural, which can barely write its name or count pass 500.
There is a modest degree of social mobility of individuals from the proletariat "up" through the middle class and into the bourgeoisie and a somewhat larger degree of mobility of individuals down from both the bourgeoisie and middle class into the proletariat.
The miserly educational policy of the ruling Dominican bourgeoisie accelerates the accumulation of capital for the rich because bourgeois state spends or "waste" almost nothing on most of the workers and the poor.
From: United States
You hit the nail on the head Belial.
From: Canada
I f we could only unfreeze Lenin all would be well Phooey.....Nutty hugo will do in a pinch....workers of the world rise up and exproriate those condos.....Ciby all is not well in the Dept of education that is no reason to cross over to the dark side with that castro butt kissing buffoon
From: Canada
shocked shocked I am
From: Afghanistan, BAF
Beleial Did get it right ! That's how you get er done ,like my grandpappy always said you got to keep your foot on their neck. I don't think that going to lead the DR out of 3rd nation status but I suppose cheap land/labor and easily corruptable officials are really why I want to move there anyway so Game on !
From: United States
"Ciby all is not well in the Dept of education that is no reason to cross over to the dark side with that castro butt kissing buffoon"
His assesment of how dominican elites view education is fairly accurate. It's not about ideology. It's about being right.The fact is that domincan elites have nothing but disdain for the average Dominican, so why help better his lot?I noticed this long ago, as a child even. For a time I thought that maybe I was being to harsh,that I had the unfortunate luck of meeting well-off Dominicans in DR who were just jerks(thier jokes about the urban poor and the peasantry are appalling to say the least).Then in my late teens I read Juan Bosch's Composicion Social Dominicana where he made a similiar assesment of DR's elite to the one I had privately formed, that they are a people devoid of patriotism with nothing but scorn for their countrymen that don't stem from their class.It's sad but true.
Written by: Belial, 23 Jun 2008 10:39 PM
From: United States, Texas
"Beleial Did get it right ! That's how you get er done ,like my grandpappy always said you got to keep your foot on their neck. I don't think that going to lead the DR out of 3rd nation status but I suppose cheap land/labor and easily corruptable officials are really why I want to move there anyway so Game on !" pappabowie waxes shamelessly.
oooo
Pappabowie, everytime I expose something as vile and disgusting, you rush to it and make love to it, uttering no justifications or apologies on your behalf.
But your comrade GC, using lies, tries to show that the thing I exposed is neither vile nor disgusting. Then GC makes love to it after you finish.
My question is: Do you like vile and disgusting things ... OR ... are you GC's scout?
Written by: buenoha, 24 Jun 2008 6:33 AM
From: Netherlands, Amsterdam
seems like everything that has the word "public" in front of it is rotten!
From: United States
Lautaro:
Mr "WIKIPEDIA" why You create misinformation regarding the Carol Morgan school in Sto. Dgo, I knew since the beginning that You are Just a "Showman.
From: Canada
Ciby I defer to you and your expieriences....I also recall my ex wifes insensitivity to the less than fortunate people of her society in Colombia I found her to be one of the least compassionate people I have ever met in her dealings with the poor...Canadians and Americans are usually appalled when they see this kind of super elitist behavior...It is a filthy secret in Latino society this diminished value of humanity....However these attitudes are changing and not everyone is guilty of it....the righteous suffer much guilt for their past behavior...Ciby come back and help change things for the better
From: Canada
Belial butt kissing commie stooge vomits and spews more rubbish from the dark side as he tries to white wash the crimes of totalitarianism
From: United States
Goulet, i am a little astonished that a man of your life´s experience was confounded by ultra elitism on the part of his colombian ex-wife. elitism is the national pastime of all latin american countries. i dated a woman from peru who would fly into paroxysms of anger if anyone ever mistook her for puerto rican; those people are beneath me, she would be quick to remind! i have met numerous dominicans who have had the benefit of a higher education, who act as if they are miles above any one else; whenever my friends introduce me to them, they condescendingly extend their hands in greeting, all the while wondering if i measure up to their level. this is the exact reason why i questioned the metro as a means of public transportation; i am not sure that the people of stellar lineage will be too excited to sit on a bench with the common man.
From: United States
In the first place schools do not educate, they instruct. In D.R. a student either kowns the lessons or it does not, at least thts how it used to be. Teachers will not give a passing grade unless the student demonstrated that it has a command of the subject in question. The quality of education in D.R. has improved as well as the text which are used in all public school. It is not correct to compared the instructional methods or conditions of Cuba as being the best cause they are not. Learning how to read knowing how to read are two diferent things, comprehending in the true form is knowing how to read. Reading to interpret according to some political agenda is not knowing how to read. In reality everyone including UNESCO need to re-instruct/re-educate themselves. When the world in general has a real Educational Program - is when they should compare countries but for the present they should employed their energy in something more worth the time.
From: United States
i have no idea what you are asserting, hectorvargas. i assume you are making some sort of comparative analysis between the virtues of education in the Dr vis a vis that of Cuba. well, i remember having a robust and rousing discussion of European history, from 1917 onwards, with two 19 year olds: a young man and his wife. they were both from the most humble of homes in havana, but man, were they on the ball. i cannot tell you that i have had any 19 year old girl in the DR explain to me the differences in philosophy between Margaret Thatcher and Brezhnev. the ones that can are those who attended the aforementioned elite schools, not the average joe. so be careful with these relative analyses, unless you have first hand knowledge of both systems!
From: Canada
Dread always trying to have a little Latin American class rub off on him.......Forget about it no matter how hard you try to mix in....forget it
From: United States
Goulet, i do not ever try to "mix in", as you characterise it. i am an individual. in your case, you seem to try to mix in. you have been to just about everywhere, but, i figure you have been universally rejected, so, mixing in is out of the question. keep trying, Goulet. have you tried Tierra Del Fuego and antarctica? careful with the latter: i hear the penguins can be real testy, and do not suffer fools gladly!!
From: Canada
well dread at least you did not slam down the slimy domino in your last post unless the penguins have hidden meaning
From: Canada
none of that white sheet stuff today dread
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belial will love this article, especially cuba part, can't wait for the rant
I am not defending the illiteracy by any means but anyone who lives here know that the young women of this country are bound and determine to make babies and don't stop to think one minute about the future of that child. They are raised by the help ot the abuelas.
Unfortunately the only way to get a decent education is to send your kids to private school.
This government or any government before that has not been avaible to deal with it.
Is there a solution? Is there a suggestion? Is there a plan of action?
The problem is that I can't find the study anywhere at UNESCO's or at LLECE's site.
Either bad research by me or the study is unposted by UNESCO (which is impossible).
The most shocking finding of the study, judging from the DT's account, is that the DR is last or "the worst" among 16 Latin American countries in the quality of elementary education despite the alleged benefits from 3,000,000 tourists per year, the highest number of tourists in the Caribbean, to the Dominican "economy" or to the "people" or to Dominican "bourgeoisie" or to this "bourgeoisie and the imperialists."
It's shocking to discover that the quality of elementary education in reportedly "prosperous" DR is "worse" than poorer countries like Nicaragua and Bolivia which struggle arduously along a revolutionary path.
Dominican kids get no benefits from the 3,000,000 tourists who enrich the bourgeoisie?
According to the DT, the study found that something called "school quality" accounts for almost 50% of student performance in reading, math, and science, followed in importance by something called "student characteristics" as a determinative factor of student performance.
"School quality" and "student characteristics" are fuzzy things, huh.
"Quality" rests chiefly on something called "academic climate" and "characteristics" on "average socioeconomic and cultural level" or class position in bourgeois society.
Here, I sense intellectual circularity.
"A positive respectful and warm atmosphere is key to improving education."
You don't say?
Well, Howdy-Doody to you.
This finding smacks of bourgeois sentimentalism "Your school doesn't need resources ... not at all ... only a nice "warm atmosphere."
0000
The Cuban part is no surprise to me. The DR part is distressing.
CUBAN vs USA & BRAZIL in higher education:
The USA has about 30,000,000 college graduates out 300,000,000 pop. So, the USA is a big 10% country.
Cuba already has about 800,000 college graduates out a 11,200,000 pop. So, Cuba is about 7%.
But Cuba has 350,000 students in college today with about a fifth of them graduating this year. So, Cuba is catching up ... real fast with USA on this. Cuba is already the highest in this respect in Latin American and the Caribbean.
As for Brazil, it ... amazingly ... has the most solid graduate education system in Latin America and Caribbean, producing approximately 11,000 PhDs per year.
Cubans are trying to GET the Brazilians.
If we count MDs (doctors) as PhDs, the Cubans are closer to these highly educated Brazilians than anyone will suspect.
(And there were plently of kids from all walks of life there-half mexican-japanese, turkish, chinese and koreans, kids that lived in the states whose parents decided to move to DR, regular kids from NY and Tampa, and others more ecomonically priviledged who drove to school in BMWs.) Honestly, the idea seems silly to me...but I'm sure there probably are certain places the average joes can't get into...
after 22 years in this country, nothing has changed, lots of words less than 2% of the gnp on education is not something to be proud of, but there it is. when the militaty needs money the first budget they go to is education..there is no will to do anything about public education. look at the eduation ministers taht have been in cahrge over the years. The women had great opportunities to make the change but did nothing. AND SO IT WILL GO, UNFORTUNATLY FOR THE PEOPLE
She was to busy constructing her own personal palace...
WHAT THE RICH WANT
p. 1 of 2
The Dominican bourgeoisie is big and rich.
Since drug and human trafficking along with their concomitant hustle of money laundering play a large role in the accumulation of capital of this social class, it hard to guess its real size and wealth.
The popular yardstick for measuring the size of the bourgeoisie in developing countries, that seem to doing well economically, is something like half of a percent of the population. Since the DR has about 9.5 million people, the size of the bourgeoisie should be about 47,000 millionaires, either legit business folk or big-time criminals or a mix of the two.
As for wealth, it's widely believed that this class boasts at least a half dozen billionaires.
The educational policy of this ruling Dominican bourgeoisie is transparently:
WHAT THE RICH WANT
p. 2 of 2
(1) A superbly educated bourgeois youth, preferably in the best and most prestigious US colleges and schools, and
(2) Educational excellence in the DR for middle class youth, preferably under the ideological vigilance of reactionary and medieval Catholic experts on divine beings and other divine things.
(3) A functionally illiterate, ignorant, and utterly superstitious proletariat, both urban and rural, which can barely write its name or count pass 500.
There is a modest degree of social mobility of individuals from the proletariat "up" through the middle class and into the bourgeoisie and a somewhat larger degree of mobility of individuals down from both the bourgeoisie and middle class into the proletariat.
The miserly educational policy of the ruling Dominican bourgeoisie accelerates the accumulation of capital for the rich because bourgeois state spends or "waste" almost nothing on most of the workers and the poor.
His assesment of how dominican elites view education is fairly accurate. It's not about ideology. It's about being right.The fact is that domincan elites have nothing but disdain for the average Dominican, so why help better his lot?I noticed this long ago, as a child even. For a time I thought that maybe I was being to harsh,that I had the unfortunate luck of meeting well-off Dominicans in DR who were just jerks(thier jokes about the urban poor and the peasantry are appalling to say the least).Then in my late teens I read Juan Bosch's Composicion Social Dominicana where he made a similiar assesment of DR's elite to the one I had privately formed, that they are a people devoid of patriotism with nothing but scorn for their countrymen that don't stem from their class.It's sad but true.
oooo
Pappabowie, everytime I expose something as vile and disgusting, you rush to it and make love to it, uttering no justifications or apologies on your behalf.
But your comrade GC, using lies, tries to show that the thing I exposed is neither vile nor disgusting. Then GC makes love to it after you finish.
My question is: Do you like vile and disgusting things ... OR ... are you GC's scout?
Mr "WIKIPEDIA" why You create misinformation regarding the Carol Morgan school in Sto. Dgo, I knew since the beginning that You are Just a "Showman.