Coming off the bench

Being involved in the Costa Rican education system has made me considerably prouder of my mom. Not that I wasn't proud before, both my parents are amazing parents-and I'd write that even if I knew they weren't reading this blog. But, being involved in an education system that doesn't have substitute teachers (or enough, or use them enough) has made me much, much more aware of how valuable my mom is. That's because, if it's not obvious, my mom is a substitute teacher.

Initially, looking back on one's days with substitute teachers, one might think: what's the big deal, all we did was watch movies or do busy work. Granted. But, that's a big deal, because, the students are doing something. The problem with a system that doesn't have substitute teachers, is, that, the students are doing nothing. Well, that's wrong, they're doing many a thing, but nothing very positive for the school in general. For the record, I'm mostly writing about high schools here. Most of the time, like when the teacher is to be gone for the whole day, elementary schools have substitutes. Sometimes the teacher leaves an hour or two early, and then he'll just let the group go. This generally means the kids will play on the playground and the janitors will keep control of them until it's time to go. But, in the high school, from what I can understand, unless the teacher will be gone for eight days (yes, eight) there will be no substitute teacher. Almost all absences except a surgery and recovery or a pregnancy are for less than eight days, so, essentially, there aren't substitutes in the high schools. 


So, as I was saying earlier, the lack of a substitute means that the kids are NOT sitting in a room doing a review worksheet or silently doing tomorrow's homework (as if there was daily homework, chuckle, chuckle). Instead, the kids are wandering around the high school, as they probably have another class in 45 minutes or an hour and a half and there's no bus to take them home. So, what does this mean? Well, a few things: students interrupting other classes and asking if they can talk to their best friend/boyfriend/girlfriend etc., students playing music on their phones just outside a classroom so everyone inside can hear it, students texting their best friend/boyfriend/girlfriend, urging them to cut class and head to the forest/town center to make out/smoke weed/play videogames, students playing soccer and blasting classroom walls with errant shots, students chasing each other up and down the walkways-making all sorts of noise. In general, when there aren't substitutes, all the kids from that class inhibit learning in the other classes. And, if it isn't obvious, every day without a substitute is a day the students aren't learning new material, or even importantly, reviewing what they've learned. I say that because there is quite a paucity of review activities.


This certainly is not the number one reason that students aren't reading English, and it is something that I can't effect at all. Yet, it is no doubt one of the many problems that is preventing students at the high schools I've worked with from learning what they could be, based on the time and resources at their disposal. And it's a great reason to appreciate substitute teachers everywhere, like my mom :)