Education

I was at a faculty meeting the other day. We’ve been having our faculty meetings at people’s houses, which means that we get to visit with each other, eat good food, and get some business done in a less formal setting. It’s been really, really nice.

This particular faculty meeting was at a woman’s condo right on the ocean. It was really nice. It was new and had all the amenities, including a swimming pool and underground parking garage. Pretty swanky. This woman is pretty amazing. She is Cape Verdean; she got her Master’s degree in England; she was the president of ISE for 4 years; and she is the owner of the English Language Institute here. She is a wealth of information, so the meeting at her house was really inspiring.

I learned while we were there her perspective on education in Cape Verde. We were discussing the student teachers who had just finished their student teaching. We were talking about which students did well and which needed more work. This teacher began reflecting on the teaching history in this country. She pointed out that having education in a country is different than instruction. She said this in reference to the school popping up throughout the countries without qualified teachers. The teachers in this country are not required to have a college education to teach, so often times, the teachers are under qualified, especially in remote areas where teachers are hard to find. The point is that while Cape Verde is finding money to build schools, they simply have teachers who are instructing students, rather than actually educating them. Until we have more teachers graduate from ISE, we won’t have qualified teachers in the remote areas teaching students.
This whole concept of hiring teachers without proper educations seems foreign, but at the same time, I am reminded constantly of why I’m here. I have 3 students finishing their senior thesis projects. They each will graduate this year, adding to the pool of qualified, educated, dedicated teachers in this country! It’s pretty exciting when you think about the fact that I am training teachers….I mean, I know that’s what I’ve been doing the whole time, but for some reason, the other day, I was struck with this notion and understand more than ever why I’m here.