First Edition Changing the Puerto Rico Public Education System from the Ground Up By Dr. Edgar León iBooks Author Transforming the Schools in Puerto Rico - A National Emergency 1. The students are the reason for being of the edu- The mediocre cational system and the teacher their main resource. teacher tells. The Constitution of Puerto Rico -OrganicAct of the De- good teacher partment of Education of Puerto Rico” Act No. 149 of explains. The July 15, 1999, as amended) superior teacher http://www2.pr.gov/presupuestos/Budget_2012_2013/Aprobado201 3Ingles/suppdocs/baselegal_ingles/081/081.pdf demonstrates. The If children are all different from each other, why do great teacher we force them to learn the same way, the same mate- inspires. rial, from book far from their culture, all at the same William Arthur Ward time without any motivating or interesting ways of teaching? Dr. Edgar León The role of teaching is to facilitate learning. Ken Rob- inson 1 iBooks Author The Condition of Public Schools in Puerto Rico The overall poorer quality of education in Puerto Rico public schools when compared with their private counterparts has be- come increasingly evident, as more schools have entered an improvement program because a large proportion of their stu- dents failed the Puerto Rican tests on academic performance. Currently, 85% of the 1,473 public schools are in improvement programs. This year, 60% of students failed the Spanish tests in their respective grades, 61% failed the English tests and 75% But the Education Department has had three different secretar- failed the mathematics tests. To be in accordance with the fed- ies over a 22-month period starting in January 2009, and eral No Child Left Behind Act, all students in the Puerto Rico seems most focused on meeting the requirements to qualify for public school system must pass the tests by 2014. The sys- federal funds. Meanwhile, the two main teachers’ unions—The tem’s reported dropout rate, meanwhile, is about 12%. In gen- Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR by its Spanish acro- eral, urban schools, especially those located in poorer neighbor- nym) and the Puerto Rico Teachers Association (AMPR by its hoods, tend to do worse than their counterparts located in more Spanish acronym) have either expressed reservations, or op- suburban or middle-class areas or in smaller towns. posed (in the case of the FMPR) the most recent appointee to The Department of Education has a consolidated budget of head the Education Department. $3.8 billion, much more than any other government agency, in- As of August 2010, public schools had 436,741 students from cluding the Health and the Police departments. kindergarten through to the high-school level, roughly twice the number of students attending private schools. In October 2010, more than 200,000 students were enrolled in 1,078 licensed pri- 2 iBooks Author vate schools ranging from preschools to those that offer classes what was left of a country focus to improve. Some people be- at the high-school level. lieve that The US Congress will bail out the Island. This is far from the truth because other mainland states like Louisiana and Ref. Caribbean Business Magazine, Sunday, September 21st, California are also hurting for money. In other words, other 2014 states must come first because they have congressmen who We will attempt to present a snapshot at what has been ob- can vote and Puerto Rico does not. served and documented during two years of work and consult- ing with many schools around the Island. Having the inside look at what really goes on in public schools and the day to day envi- ronment, the teacher interaction, student and parent reality, the influence of central administration, the lack of data organization and security at all levels was an amazing experience. By inter- acting with teachers, students parents and administrators, we have witnessed some barbaric bureaucratic practices and stu- dent abandonment that is definitely criminal. Every problem has a solution if we are all willing to make it happen. Leaders like Ghandi, Luther King and Cesar Chaves had the drive to make these changes during their time. Do people from Puerto Rico have the duty to make things change regardless of political and private interests? We must have all readers answer that ques- North American public schools are not doing that great either. tion. “America’s universities have been taken over by a burgeoning class of administrators and staffers determined to transform col- Puerto Rico is considered the Grece of the Caribbean because leges into top-heavy organizations run by inept bureaucrats,” of its horrible economic status and huge government debt. Multi- wrote Benjamin Ginsberg, professor of political science at John factorial issues have negatively impacted public schools over a Hopkins University and author of the book “The Fall of the Fac- period of more than forty years. Result of the tug of war be- ulty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why It tween the two main political parties have also torn the fiber of 3 iBooks Author Matters.” is the time to uncover all the real situations and condi- their college entry exam to the teaching programs at the univer- tions of our educational system. Now is the time to recommend sity level. Teachers have a rigid curriculum closely compared positive changes. to the medical students in which their teaching are or content is the most important part of their curriculum. In the US and The author seems to agree that the same destructive approach Puerto Rico those who enter the teacher education programs has been applied to public school systems. Millions of dollars generally are from the bottom 40% that are accepted and usu- have been spent to develop hundreds of plans. These plans ally the profession is chosen because of failing in another de- have been written and submitted but very few implemented at gree. It is also known that the courses are highly geared to edu- the school level. The reason being is that every four years cation courses. there is a change in government administration that puts every- thing in hold and also shifts the priorities in all agencies. Puerto Rican youth face numerous social and economic barri- ers and have been concentrated in high schools where stu- There has been an attempt by past government administra- dents have less than a 50/50 chance of graduating on time. tions to build new schools and computer laboratories. But, they These schools also spent less-per-pupil, were more segre- forgot about increasing the per pupil amount for learning serv- gated, and more overcrowded when compared with their afflu- ices to children. They also forgot that students are dropping ent, private school counterparts. out like flies. Now there are new school buildings that are half empty. Just by having new buildings is not a warranty that stu- Kids are disengaged from public education, they don’t enjoy it, dents will start learning. The money had to be placed directly they feel they don’t get any benefit from it and more that 80 per- for quality teaching regardless of the building. cent of those who come to first grade drop out before they graduate from senior year in high school. Finland, the best education system in the world, went over a huge transformation in their educational system. This was Kids that are sitting day after day in a classroom trying to learn more a national effort in which all citizens understood that edu- a very limited curriculum based on limited standards are prone cation was the only way the country could get out of economic to not pay attention. Many of them are being diagnosed atten- depression. They also changed their mentality by recognizing tion deficit disorder. They are suffering from childhood. Kids the teaching profession as one of major importance. In Fin- need to move, need to draw, need to sing, need to perform. All land, the transformation included selecting only the top 10% of these Physical Education, Arts and Music learning activities 4 iBooks Author have been taken away. It also creates a discipline problem Economic Factor Promotes Immigration among the most creative children who want to lead learn on their own but are put a straight jacket as soon as the arrive. Teaching is a creators profession and not a follow a recipe writ- ten by others. Students are naturally curious, but if the system comes with boring sets of tasks that are not engaging for the student and also does not make them curious, it is prone to fail as a system. Teachers are not in the building just to pass information. This is not teaching. Teaching has to have learning as a end result. Learning happens when the teacher mentors, provokes and spark curiosity. The whole point about education is learning. If there is no learn- Puerto Ricans have left the financially troubled island for the ing, there is no education. If kids do not pass the achievement U.S. mainland this decade in their largest numbers since the tests, they have not learned. If they get an F in the class, they Great Migration after World War II, citing job-related reasons have not learned. Maybe the teachers are told to just pass the above all others. information but they were not interested because it was not rele- vant to them. U.S. Census Bureau data show that 144,000 more people left the island for the mainland than the other way around from mid- Teachers must awake the powers of creativity in all children.