Problems and Solutions in Current and Future Education in Chile

We all know about the poor foundation in our educational system. Unfortunately, it's not a recent problem, but rather it has dragged on for decades. Only now, due to supposedly substantial improvements in the past decade because of reforms are there total solutions. When these reforms were evaluated recently, both locally and internationally, short or medium term solutions, which are efficient and effective, are not to be found.

One cause of poor results is due to poor teacher training, although our teacher trainers' performance is recognized internationally. The same occurs with their foreign counterparts throughout the western world, from whom our scientists gather data. Why then are there structural cracks in the reforms that are clearly not working -and I stress- for a long time, with different models which, despite preparation, require certain time periods in order to obtain results which should show signs and trends in order to know how well or how poorly we are following the beaten path. Unfortunately, the signs coming from our status are doubly worrying because the results themselves are depressing and also because of many governmental declarations of those who set and support policies that will turn around our pitiful level of today, like university norms, they do not appreciate amendments of structural approaches, but rather governmental justifications that are arguable and unacceptable as well as a dangerous pitfall of doing "more of the same" on behalf of many researchers, that is to say, insisting on proposing a group of measures that apparently go to the root of the matter but in the long run may turn out to be but a means of maintaining the blatant failures that are common in today's education. As a result, there are many opinions and there are "theorists" galore who provide "macro" solutions and orientation that are all well known but a necessary "mea culpa" is omitted by many researchers and teachers about the adoption and/or adaptation of trends and models and their methodological application that could lead us to a radical-structural solution of our educational system. From the results at hand, there is an evident lack of hands on experience in many of them which translates into shaky teaching methodologies in the first years of elementary school.

The general remedial situation that exists has become politicized on one hand and on the other it has gone off course and its objectives focused on concrete measures that refer not so much what has to be done, repeated by many to the point of absurdity, but rather emphasizing how to face certain subjects and measures and that is where a lack of concrete proposals and errant government party on the course of their alleged reform. In effect, from the government itself on down, an alarming defensive attitude can be observed and a lack of evident leadership as well. A few representatives attribute the measly results to "the poor intellectual capital of Chilean homes" or to poverty which has been disproved by studies as well as local experiences in which poverty has been proven an influence, but it is not a determining factor, in regard to scores obtained by very low income students. And I stress MINEDUC's policy to improve test evaluation systems, which would seem to be a "failure evaluation culture". As for the rest, very little or almost nothing, regarding the transfer of concrete methodological guidelines to teachers. Representatives tell their spokespeople that one has to focus more on classroom activities as if that weren't being focused on for decades. There isn't a clear difference between what is urgent and what is important and how to face both criteria within a set time period.

Thanks to university norms, we have a clearer situation, by means of various diagnoses but their recommendations in general lack a creative focus, which would allow the current situation to be reverted. According to what has been published in the press lately, the fact that the reform is socially unjust given the reality of private and public schools must be emphasized, and it will be unjust, when the teachers of these schools are poorly paid, hardly motivated, and unprepared to do their daily job. But, even when we know that the factors that slow things down are varied and complex, the true core problem (something most experts have not emphasized) is in the application of teaching methods in the classroom, because there is a consensus that is practically generalized that the situation of bad results has nothing to do with a lack of resources. An example of this as well as a poor job in schools is that school textbooks are blamed for the quality of their content, but what should really be examined is the methodological focus of theses books, which is the responsibility of teachers and researchers, more so than the government, who chooses well or poorly from various offers on the market. But from our perspective, the root of the problems in our education is the incorrect application of teaching models, systems, and methodologies in reading/writing. It all starts from there: we do not understand the texts, because our children, in general more than read (which implies understanding) spend their time and are only able to decode certain sentences, because of the current models in vogue. And especially our children (semiliterate adolescents and adults too) don't understand why they are taught to read and write improperly. The main problems vary and are mainly because the student doesn't learn to read well from the outset, because he or she doesn't learn phonetics, or the sounds of our alphabet, just as they are pronounced.

The French scientist Alfred Tomatis, suggested that the base of cognitive development is in being able to hear certain sounds. That explains the poor pronunciation and enunciation in our language. These signs are taught by their names and all traditional models used in this country teach reading by starting off with words, phrases, or even whole sentences and only then single out a letter from one of these words. After numerous exercises, the reading process becomes slow and tedious as well as complex for the student. Some students become dyslexic in the process and there are "automatic promotions" as well, which explain the pathetic comprehensive reading evaluations.

In general, reading is taught contrary to the postulates of science: from the complex (words, phrases) to the simple (letters) which explains the confusion when it comes to comprehension. There is an unnecessary expense in sending dyslexics to "special" schools and the time used waiting for results. The use of "linguistic" and "psycholinguistic" criteria and systems has been exaggerated and are partly to blame for low levels of comprehensive reading and responsible -when applied- for the growing number of dyslexic children who need to see, hear and learn the true sound of an isolated letter and not distinguish it from a "hodge-podge" of them. That is what confuses dyslexic children. In fact it "triggers" their dysfunction, which, if treated well, is temporary. There are also cases of "psycholinguistic trickery" which refers to immaturity diagnosed in pre-school aged children, which makes up a sample of how many children and their parents are confused by erroneous programs and practices. This bad starting point is comparable to bad planning, where everything is done "a posteriori". Everything will fail because the initial design is faulty. This also explains poor math scores because before children are to cope with numbers, they need to read and understand the instructions and laws that govern it. Writing is yet another disaster since there are no clear guidelines for handwriting. It is only a matter of observing our young adults and adolescents' mixture of printing and handwriting with no defined handwriting style.

Until children are taught to read correctly with new and efficient methodologies, any other efforts and actions will merely produce a "cosmetic" effect and any promotion of reading will have a low impact, if low comprehension and inference levels are maintained. These are factors that need to be addressed since the First Grade. Once these practices are corrected, and only then, we will experience education of tomorrow. As Morton Grosser (1994), MIT scientist, stated: it shouldn't consist of a technology injection but rather providing access to technology. We shouldn't introduce more and more things, we should "take away the barriers so that abilities may be discovered" and by teaching our children to think creatively, convinced that those who teach them, that what they read will be a base for new and solid knowledge.

Alicia González Opazo
Elementary School and Spanish Teacher, Reading and Writing Specialist.

Nelson Olaf González
Agricultural Engineer, Adult Education Specialist.

Annette González G.
Teacher, Counselor, Master in Education-PUC.

Dyslexia and School Performance

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