Day 78 Fulbright Seminar

Leroy here with a day when we were in Lima that has some interesting statistics.

Saturday 25 Oct 2008

I attend with Teri the Fulbright program entitled: Programa de Intercambio de Profesores Seminario de Orientación (with all those cognates, who needs a translation?). I am thrilled to say that I understand much of it—because much of it is in English. What I really like occurs during the general discussion part of the program when I become aware that one participant after another is switching back and forth between English and español, sometimes even in successive sentences, with such facility, that I find unbidden tears welling up so that I can’t see—but I can hear, and this display of fluent bilingualism is a direct hit on my amygdala and resonates throughout my limbic system until I’m feeling unadulterated awe. How fabulous it must be, I think, to be able to do what these people are doing.

The Executive Director of Fulbright Peru, Henry A. Harman Guerra, tells us that Senator Fulbright started this program in 1946 and it came to Peru in 1956; since the beginning 2200 Peruanos have traveled to the USA and 1100 Americans have come to Peru. Arguably the most VIP of a long list of VIPs from Peru is Alejandro Toledo, former president of the country. At one point Henry says, “In Peru 26% of primary students and 48% of secondary students quit school, therefore, those in this room are teaching the elite of Peru.” Henry’s English has a wonderful British accent and no discernable Spanish accent—he’s good!

After Henry’s introductory remarks, Gabriela Freyre, MA in education from New York University, uses an hour and a half for: El Sistema Educativo En El Perú (lots of cognates again). Three highlights: 1) Illiteracy in Peru is 11% girls, 6% boys, 5% urban, and 16% rural; 2) the range of monthly salary in 2008 for Inicial (Preschool and Kindergarten), Primaria (Primary-six years), and Secondaria (Secondary-5 years) public school teachers in Peru is 600-1200 soles per month; 3) 80% of schools are public and 20% are private, including churches—in infrastructure. But—there are more students in private schools than there are in public schools.

I am floored! I shake my head as if to clear my vision and whisper to Teri, “That has to be dollars and not soles, right?” She shakes her head no—it’s soles per month. Keep in mind soles/dollars are roughly three to one. American teachers complain, rightly in my opinion, that they’re underpaid—try 200-400 dollars a month! In 2008! This is appalling; no wonder Teri’s students arrogantly ask her where else she works, even though it's a private school. Teri and I are now living on about 2800 soles a month (a bit more than 60% of my monthly social security check). Private school teachers make way more than public school teachers but the rumor at Teri's school is that the high teacher salary is about $20,000 USD per year.

At 5:30 we all meet at Parque Kennedy (yes, that Kennedy) in the center of Miraflores and take a night tour of Lima; I recommend it—sitting in the front row in the open-air of a double-decker bus. The highlight for all of us is the Circuito Mágico del Aqua (Magic Circuit of the Water), a park that opened in 2007 with 13 fountains that rival Las Vegas for glitter including one with choreographed light, color, and music and one with a Guinness World Record—the highest rising fountain in the world at 80 meters. The tour is over about 9:30 and we’re all freezing our asses off by that time—but it was a kick! Midway during the tour I started waving to people on the street like a parade VIP and most of them smiled and waved back—especially the children!