ATE MAIS TARDE, BRAZIL!
Today we fly from Salvador to Sao Paulo, where we catch an overnight flight to Atlanta. It has been a great experience, and in one of our meetings yesterday we were asked to reflect on how this adventure has affected us. I've traveled quite a bit, so it's not that I saw things that I haven't seen on other continents. The incredible wealth of a few and the incredible poverty of many is common wherever I go, and whatever the political structure of the country I am visiting. Beijing, Chicago, Salvador . . . it is remarkable how similar the situation is for citizens in both financial extremes.
This trip was different in that I was able to visit schools and see how hard the teachers there work, and how passionate they are about educating the next generation. Brazil has incredible potential and the passion of the teachers and students is what I will take away. Students understand that an education is their way out of poverty. A good public education system will change lives. I think that has been such an important part of the success story in the United States, and I have no doubt that Brazil will keep working until conditions improve, and they find solutions to the issues that are holding them back (lack of qualified teachers for every classroom, huge class sizes, the feeling that teachers don't have a voice, multiple levels of unnecessary bureaucracy, inequality in public education funding, etc.).
Finally, this trip has been daily affirmation that what we are doing in the West Academy for Global Studies is critical learning for our students. Every day, in so many ways, I was able to see that knowledge of one culture, one language, or one way of doing things is just not enough. I really hope that this trip is the start of an international collaboration between Oshkosh and Brazil, and also, the rest of our incredible planet.
This trip was different in that I was able to visit schools and see how hard the teachers there work, and how passionate they are about educating the next generation. Brazil has incredible potential and the passion of the teachers and students is what I will take away. Students understand that an education is their way out of poverty. A good public education system will change lives. I think that has been such an important part of the success story in the United States, and I have no doubt that Brazil will keep working until conditions improve, and they find solutions to the issues that are holding them back (lack of qualified teachers for every classroom, huge class sizes, the feeling that teachers don't have a voice, multiple levels of unnecessary bureaucracy, inequality in public education funding, etc.).
Finally, this trip has been daily affirmation that what we are doing in the West Academy for Global Studies is critical learning for our students. Every day, in so many ways, I was able to see that knowledge of one culture, one language, or one way of doing things is just not enough. I really hope that this trip is the start of an international collaboration between Oshkosh and Brazil, and also, the rest of our incredible planet.
American teachers with our host teachers