Expanding Education

As I read the selection titled Strong States, Strong Teachers?, by Bruce Fuller, I am again reminded of the time I have spent in Trinidad, W.I., a small developing country of the Caribbean. Fuller observed differences in classrooms in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, located in southeastern Africa.

I believe what Fuller is describing based on his observations is how the country's attempt to become modern involves a formal education. However, these teachers, with their limited educational resources, struggle to instruct the students in a useful and interesting manner.

As countries become more developed, and the state's recognize the importance of a formal education in our integrated world economy, the quality of education slowly improves. I was able to observe some of these changes that globalization is bringing to developing countries when I traveled to Trinidad this past summer. Much like the schools that Fuller describes in Malawi, the classrooms in Trinidad were terribly small yet seated a large number of students. Teachers were also on short demand, therefore several grade levels were combined.

In a school with approximated 70 students in 7 different grade levels there were a total of 2 teachers and 1 principal. Between the 3 teachers the 7 grades were divided up. The classrooms were all located in a single room in the school, without any dividing walls.

The government is finally helping the village to build a new school that contains multiple classrooms. We were also able to contribute to the school's educational resources by donating microscopes and other instruments used in science labs (Story here). It becomes clear that without standardization and globalization, these small schools in developing countries would never be able to provide any kind of opportunity (relating to education) to their children.