The Education System

I got the inside scoop about the Ecuadorian school system from Emily. She is here as an exchange student, even though she graduated from high school this past spring. She attends the sixth course of Benalcazar (High School), one of the most prestigious schools in Quito.

Start with the uniforms. On Monday, she has to wear her formal uniform. That means a gray and plaid pleated skirt (she says “Think The Princess Diaries”), a white shirt, maroon tie, blue blazer, stockings and blue 2” heels. Monday is formal because they have the “civic minute” where they stand in ranks, sing the national anthem (?) and otherwise reflect on their Ecuadorian heritage.

On Tuesday and Thursday, she wears her sports uniform, consisting of polo shirt, windbreaker jacket and pants, and athletic shoes.

On Wednesday and Friday, she wears her casual formal uniform, consisting of the plaid skirt, blue shirt, sweater, navy knee-his and I forget what the footwear is. No tie required.

Her various uniforms cost her $275! That’s American money. Considering that the average family, as near as I can tell, makes between $200 and $300 a month, that’s outrageous.

Emily pays tuition. She says it’s a lot. I haven’t asked. On top of the tuition, she pays $50 a month for some kind of fee. If she rode the school bus, she would pay another $50 a month. And every time a teacher has a handout for homework or for study, they tell the students how much the handout costs to reproduce, let’s say twelve cents, and the students need to pay up before the teacher will make their copy. She says that adds up to about $5 a week. No word on what happens if you refuse to pay.

Two weeks ago, the school commemorated Sports Day. The celebration included parental attendance and refreshments were served. Emily reports that, as a member of the sixth course, she was assigned to help with the refreshments. She was assigned to unload the supplies, which included a number of cases of beer. It appears as if there is no lower age limit for drinking alcohol in Ecuador (haven’t researched that), so parents and students alike were enjoying a cool one. Emily, who graduated from Weston High School—close to Preston, Idaho of “Napoleon Dynamite” fame--was so shocked, she wondered who she could report the matter to. The Administration? Nope, all drinking. The PTA? Nope, all drinking too. So she kept her head down, didn’t serve the alcohol, but when I saw her two days later, she was still muttering, “They served alcohol at a school function!”

Emily’s school is a middle-level school in terms of quality. The high-level schools are prohibitively expensive, don’t require the same rigorous uniforms, and offer outstanding education. All private schools require admission examinations, and Emily says that since children may not be able to qualify to attend the same schools, the children in some families each go to a different school.

The public school system, I’ve heard, is not somewhere you would want to send your child. I don’t have any details on that, other than it seems they run two shifts, and kids either go to school in the early morning or in the afternoon and into the evening.

Emily says she will never again criticize American public education.