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The visit to the local school brought a lot of memories of my good old days in school. Although the smell and the environment it is almost identical of the school that I attended in my country, I noticed some big differences regarding the way of management and teaching. In El Salvador most of the schools are k-12 and the Ministry of Education regulates all of them. Kindergarten is separated from the upper grades due to the fact that is not part of the state’s educational system.
Since the government does not require sending kids to Kindergarten and it is not a prerequisite in order to start basic education, most of the families don’t send their kids to kindergarten in order to avoid expenses, consequently kids don’t have the required stimulus in order to develop the basic but crucial skills until they reach the required age to attend basic education. When kids reach the age of 6, they are required to start their education and It is divided as follow: Nine years of Basic
Education divided in three cycles of three grades each: 1st Cycle: from 1st to 3rd grades 2nd Cycle: from 4th to 6th grades 3rd Cycle: from 7th to 9th grades; which are a transition to secondary education (e. G. Specialized teachers for each assignment). Two (or an optional three years technical program) of Middle Education, called bachelors (Spanish for baccalaureate): Two year General Bachelor’s Degree Three year Technical Bachelor’s Degree (e. G. Accounting, Secretariat, Electronics and Computer Science, etc.
If you want to pursue a higher education once you are done with school you have to attend a minimum of five years too university. There are several options In order to attend to school, public education Is the mall path that every kid follows due to the low Income and the high number of kids every family has, however, Public education Is nevertheless Inconstant In quality, being even extremely poor In rural areas and not so good In urban areas. There Is only one public university In the country; yet, classes are constantly stopped as being a host for retests.
However, the national educational system Is not the only one available. There are also a huge number of private universities as alternatives, but the cost Is high In comparison with the Income per capita; and that Is one of the mall reasons of scholar desertion. Another two big differences that I saw between schools In the US and El Salvador were: Kids are not required to buy books, and teachers are the ones who research the material for the classes, as opposed In El Salvador where we are required to buy and follow a book throughout the school year.
Kids are dwelled In sections based on their learning skills, while In El Salvador every kid goes to the same section regardless of their aptitudes and speed of learning. In general, the education provided In the US Is more organized and updated than the one teach In my country, I still strongly believe that although the level of education Influences who you are and who are you going to become, If you take all the opportunities that life present to you, you will work your way to become someone In life.