Primary Education in Ecuador's Chota Valley : Reflections on Education and Social Reproduction in the Development Era

by Lucas, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9781581121025
• ISBN10: 1581121024
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-01
• Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

Summary

In November 1998, the author arrived in Mascarilla, a small village in Ecuador's predominantly-black Chota Valley, to begin a six-month teaching assignment at the Escuela "Hernando Taquez" (the local primary school). Based both on his own observations and on the assessments offered by various former students, parents, community leaders, and Ecuadorean scholars, the author judges the educational performance of the Escuela "Hernando Taquez" to be grossly inadequate. Indeed, the various shortcomings attributed to the school (and documented as a case study in chapters two and three of this book) are so glaring that the author was led to question how such a dysfunctional school could be allowed to exist in a country where the government states that "to improve education is to improve the quality of life of Ecuador's people." Ultimately, the school's failure to provide quality education to its students forced the author to reconsider the true purpose of public education.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 9
Setting the Stage	p. 13
Finding and Defining the Chota Valley	p. 13
The History of the Chota Valley, 1550 - 1973	p. 16
Blacks in the Chota Valley--Ecuador's Hidden Social Actor	p. 20
The History of Mascarilla, 1956 - present	p. 22
The Present Reality in Mascarilla and the Chota Valley	p. 25
Valle es Valle--The Culture of the Chota Valley	p. 31
Education in the Chota Valley	p. 35
My Introduction to the Escuela "Hernando Taquez"	p. 35
Lost Time at the Escuela "Hernando Taquez"	p. 37
Inside the Classroom	p. 42
Homework and the School Textbook	p. 44
School and Violence--Searching for a Connection	p. 47
Education and Cultural Preservation	p. 51
Evaluating the Escuela "Hernando Taquez"	p. 52
Reforming the Escuela "Hernando Taquez"	p. 57
Understanding Education in Mascarilla	p. 65
Educational Performance in the Developing World	p. 65
The Ecuadorean Escuela	p. 66
Curriculum and Education	p. 70
Racism and Education in the Chota Valley	p. 75
The Value of Economic and Human Resources	p. 79
Government and Education	p. 84
What is the Purpose of Public Education?	p. 87
Why Do People Go To School?	p. 87
Public Education and the State	p. 88
The Evolution of Education in Latin America	p. 91
An End to Illusions	p. 94
The Hidden Curriculum	p. 96
Failing to Succeed, or Succeeding to Fail?	p. 100
Education, Development, and Utopia	p. 103
Education and Development in the Current Context	p. 103
The West as a Model of Development	p. 105
Towards a New Understanding of Development	p. 108
Education and Development Reconsidered	p. 111
Sin utopia la vida seria un ensayo para la muerte	p. 113
Beyond the Status Quo	p. 115
Notes	p. 123
Bibliography	p. 139
Appendices	p. 151
The Communities of Ecuador's Chota Valley	p. 151
Map of Ecuador's Chota Valley	p. 153
Important Dates in the History of the Chota Valley	p. 155
Baile de la Bomba	p. 161
Singing, Playing, and Dancing the Bomba	p. 163
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