For Our Children
by Jorge Vargas
On January 8, 2007 teachers across Peru – a nation situated in the heart of the Andes with a population of 27 million, half of whom live in poverty – were supposed to have taken an aptitude test, administered by the Peruvian State. The philosophers and political scientists and so forth have reached something of an agreement, although there is still minor dissent: Education is important for an individual, for a society, and for assuring that a state doesn’t gain the adjective of ‘failed’ to precede it.
During the presidency of President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Peru’s economy expanded by an approximate average 4% GDP growth rate, its economy stabilized and inflation was held at a sustainable level – Peru’s currency exchange rate with the US Dollar has been favorable for Peru during the past few years, and Peru’s currency is among the strongest in the Western Hemisphere – and Peru’s foreign and internal investment ratings have risen accordingly. Peru’s exports have risen, and its economic legal codes have grown increasingly favorable to open markets, free trade, and liberal market practices. In a word, Peru’s economy has modernized. Even now, under President Alan Garcia Perez – a man who is widely believed to be behind atrocious human rights violations during his 1985-1990 presidency and who, during that same presidency, collapsed Peru’s economy –, the Peruvian economy is soaring in comparison to those of its neighbors such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, and, if one wants to focus on the entire region, even Mexico’s.
But a state is measured by societal indicators as well. Medical services in Peru, although efficient, still lag far behind services found in the developed nations, and unemployment continues to be very high – 7.6% in Lima, the nation’s capital, and higher still in the provinces. Peru’s per capita GDP is $6,000, approximately, whereas that of a developed nation with a comparable culture – Spain – is $25,600 – and a comparison with the United States or Luxemburg or Norway would produce even more extreme differences.
What does all of this have to do with education?
A majority of Peruvians still think that President Toledo was corrupt and that he wrecked Peru’s economy, and so they voted in President Alan Garcia – and both charges have been laid at him and he has been found guilty of both. Some university professors in Peru are biased against President Toledo, despite the fact that they should be the ones most likely to spot the many positive things that he did for the Peruvian Republic, its citizens, and their children. Why? Could it be because President Toledo was of indigenous descent?
That question doesn’t need to be answered; the answer is obvious. But that’s at the university level, and those professors weren’t given any such aptitude test on January 8th, 2007, although the results of that test would likely have been very interesting.
90% of Peruvians are literate – measuring literacy by the international standard: a 6th grade reading and writing level. That 10% is the failure of the Peruvian educational system at the primary and secondary level. That 10% breeds ignorance, racism, populism, and above all, that 10% fuels poverty and hinders economic development.
No one is blaming the students or even their parents for this failure, but the teachers are certainly good candidates for blame; it would be logical to see what sort of work the teachers are producing and, since their work revolves around their knowledge, a good way to measure that would be by administering a test. So far, the Peruvian State hasn’t made any major blunders in its reasoning.
But the United Syndicate of Education Workers in Peru (known and henceforth to be referred to by its Spanish acronym, SUTEP) found great fault in this. Some decried a violation of rights – right to what? Others claimed that it was an unfair stress – but don’t students take tests all the time? Others called it an attack on their dignity – so are students losing dignity when they take tests? SUTEP members proceeded to take to the streets – certainly, these individuals are role models for Peru’s youth – and blocked roadways, created traffic jams, burned tires, burned flags, fought with police officers, etc.
The Peruvian Ministry of Education, perhaps to appease the SUTEP, claimed that it wouldn’t publish the results, although it was vague when asked if it would penalize the many teachers who refused to take the test and instead opted to burn tires in the streets of Lima. However, in a nation marred by corruption, the fact that the test results are to be kept private is worrisome. Who is to prevent the SUTEP leadership from paying off some official to have him announce that the tests, although still to have the results kept private, demonstrated a high level of knowledge amongst the faculty and thus that Peru’s education is intact? After all, the Ministry of Education does have an interest in making the nation believe that it’s doing a great job with the nation’s children by hiring excellent teachers.
Furthermore, as one of perhaps three of Peru’s excellent reporters pointed out on the night of the test, if the results aren’t published – at least on a general percentage level – how will we know the reality of Peru’s educational system? If the teachers are so afraid of taking a test, why should any parent trust them with their children – and with their tax money?
There is an answer to that reporter’s question. According to statistics accepted by the World Bank and other groups such as the United Nations, Peru’s teachers are grossly underpaid when compared to their counterparts in the rest of the Latin American region, even after adjusting for different GDP per capita rates and socioeconomic standards. Even within Peru, teachers are paid much less than other public servants, while in the 1970s, that wage rate was among the highest in the nation.
What does this breed? A high level of illiteracy, for one. Secondly, although Peru has an astonishingly high enrollment rate in the primary and even in the secondary educational level, it would appear that all of this education yields little. The 1990s saw a dramatic rise in school construction throughout Peru under the autocratic regime of Alberto K. Fujimori, yet to no avail. No amount of schools will ever replace good teaching.
And the result of all of this is that the young Peruvians whose performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) landed them in the top 10% nationwide were at the same level as the 60th percentile from Argentina, according to the World Bank (1). Our best students were only able to make it to the top 60th percentile of Argentine students. How badly did our students fair against French students or German students? One can only begin to imagine.
There are some solutions. Some will argue that this means that we need to promote study-abroad programs so that Peruvians can get their education elsewhere, but that will only produce Peruvians educated by the nationalisms and historical portrayals of other countries. Others will claim that we need to build more schools – Fujimori has proven that that approach doesn’t work.
One of the maxims of capitalism is that if you don’t like what you have, throw it out and buy something better. As has been demonstrated, Peru’s economy is performing splendidly and regardless of what lies President Alan Garcia has told, Peru has a budget surplus, fuelled primarily by exports.
Make the teachers take the test again, and those who refuse: Fire them. Make the professors take the test, and those who refuse: Fire them too. If they can’t handle the stress that they put their students through, they don’t deserve to be their role models. Make the general results public and set up a system by which those who fail are either dismissed or forced to take classes. Those who fail are to be replaced by others. Provide funding for students studying education in Peru’s universities, and from there you’ll find your new teachers. Raise their salaries, because a teacher should be held in respect and should not have to drive a cab at night to make ends meet.
Some will argue that the surplus isn’t large enough to cover that, and, although this argument is probably not true, if that is the case the Peruvian State can find other ways to find the funds. It’s true that Peru still faces internal security threats, but the amount of funding that we spend on buying arms to defend ourselves from a conventional war against Chile, for instance, is really unnecessary. There is no conventional war brewing for Peru. The times have changed since the days when we looked south with hatred and fear.
Or the Peruvian State can simply condemn its children to an atrocious educational system and in a few decades, accept the fact that Peru is a failed state.
Source:
(1) - http://www.worldbank.org/oed/education/peru.html - See citation above.
