The Education System

The new school year in Brazil is starting. At IABC, it started the first week of February. I did not have any students so I helped out with English classes in the school. This experience was a learning experience not only into the educational system but also in the how a boarding school functions.

Students at IABC besides belonging to different grade levels fall into two categories, the bolsistas and the regular paying students. The bolsistas (scholarship recipients) are students who pay their way through school by working at the school in different capacities. Some work in the kitchen, laundry, administrative office, other work as teachers’ assistants, IT personnel, gardeners, janitors among other jobs. They came back to school two weeks before the other students, in order to help prepare the school for new school year. From what I have noticed, though, there are more student workers than actually actual IABC staff.

There are different levels of bolsistas and the level determines the length of the work day. There are many students who would like to become bolsistas but there are only a few spaces because the school needs a specific number of students to pay the tuition to meet the demands of the school. The process is therefore very competitive. The students’ grades are very important and past behavior weigh a lot in the selection process. As a result of working for the school, bolsistas are called on to set an example for other students. Bad behavior or bad grades are grounds for losing their bolsa or scholarship.

I spent all of first week of school helping the school’s English teacher with his classes and I had first hand knowledge into the day-to-day operations of the school. The first very obvious difference between schools here and those in the US/Jamaica is the time schedule. Schools here are either in the morning or the evening for all levels. IABC has classes in the morning. Classes start at 7am and end at 12:30pm. Teachers, however, are expected to be there earlier. There are sometimes classes in the evening for students with difficulties but for an extra fee.

The school system is divided in three levels: our equivalent of Kindergarten, elementary/middle school (1-9) and high school (1-3). I was helping to teach middle school grades 6 to 9 and high school grades 1 to 3. Given that it was the first week of classes and there were several new students, the students had to introduce themselves. During this process, I was surprised at the age differences and the classroom behavior. In many classes the age disparity was as much as 4 years. As you know I love to ask questions, so I wanted to know why the ages differed so much in each grade level. I was told that students sometimes changed several schools during the school year and did not bring up to date school records. As a result, they are placed in specific classes. Also sometimes students are forced to repeat different grade levels because they did not do well in the classes.

The classroom behavior was another shock. IABC is a coed school and off course there will be couples. Given that this was situation, I thought the teachers and school would have rules about how students are to interact with each other in class. Well maybe there are rules, but since it was only the first week they have not been enforced. Anyways in several class couples were sitting together, hugging each other, holding hands and whispering and talking to each other rather than paying attention. I felt like the students here have less respect for the teachers within the classroom. They see their teachers more as friends rather than as an authority figure.

I hope I am not giving the impression the school system here is terrible. There are positives and negatives as in any country also I was only in the classroom for a week so my impressions may be skewed. The good thing though is that the teachers have realized that some of the students are disrespectful and that this is obviously something that has to be improved. The school just hired a new person who is in charge of discipline so they are trying to improve the situation. I must say I admire, the work ethic being developed in the students through the bolsas (scholarships). These students learn to value their education. Many of the bolsistas who have administrative positions gain valuable work experience. One cool thing I learnt about Adventist Education in Brazil is that all the schools in the country have the same uniform. So if a student has to move to another school in another area, they can use their old uniform.

Unfortunately, I was only able to help out in the school for a week. I am leaving IABC for a several months to work on a special project. I will tell you more about this project in upcoming blog posts.