It is hard to comment on how Costa Rica's educational system is different from that in the United States without a perspective extremely biased by my personal experience.

I think that in general, the Costa Rican school system is more relaxed in terms of government standards (and especially in terms of standardized testing) than the United States school system. This has advantages and disadvantages... it can provide more creativity to individual teachers, but also may lead to less learning in classrooms headed by teachers who don't work as hard. I also think that teacher training may not be as stringent or multimodal in Costa Rica... which makes sense since Costa Rica is less developed, and people in general do not aspire to as advanced levels of education, as a rule (this also has tradeoffs, I believe... look at how the Bachelor's degree has taken the place of the high school diploma in terms of what level of education makes or breaks your chances of landing a decent job, here.) I think that our school systems, and governments, can learn from each other.

I believe that Escuela Serapio Lopez Fajardo, where I worked, is actually quite different from many, probably most, other schools in Costa Rica. We visited a public school in a very poor section of the capital city of San Jose during our week of language school, where I observed better-kept school grounds, more well-regulated classrooms, and more school pride and better behavior in these students and their teachers. They may have had fewer resources, but the tone of the school was more positive than that at ESLF.

I've been incredibly grateful for the things I've learned and experienced here. I think that what I've observed (and what I now have burned in my mind to process for the rest of my life) has been an irreplaceable example of what can happen when corrupt people are in power and continually use their power to harm others. And an exercise in trying to figure out what the heck we can do in this sort of situation -- as foreign visitors, as community members, as parents and teachers and students... I've learned a lot from some strong community members with vision, and I've also learned from negative examples. So much has gone on that I also know I'll be doing a lot of self- and group-reflection for years after this, probably.

Okay well... ESLF... the education system at this school is irrevocably tied with the community, the political system, and the actions of the administration. One thing that's been made perfectly clear to me by this experience is what power an administration can have. Administrators decide who is hired, who is punished (or not) for what reasons, and control the money and resources. They can set the entire tone for a school, and by association, for a community. Since kids can grow up with good adult role models, or they can grow up jaded. Or they can grow up seeing that bad things exist in the world, but that they're worth fighting.

Mostly I feel extremely proud of what we have accomplished here, in terms of teaching, relationships we've established, and the huge differences we've helped to make in the school grounds. Improving the surroundings of a school (especially one like ESLF and most Central American schools, where the indoors and outdoors are so seamlessly blended) can make such a humongous difference in school pride and just how you feel when you walk into your class every morning. I have witnessed teachers and students take ownership of the place they are learning, begin to take pride in it, and thereby improve their relationships to each other as well. And I know that this is, in part, because we were able to catalyze the school improvements. We painted a beautiful mural, we built a gorgeous play area with plants, we (tried to... long story) hung up swings (for about a day), we taught kids the alphabet and writing who were writing in hieroglyphics before. We moved the trash bin from the front of the school to a place where it's not the first thing you see and smell when you walk in the gate in the morning. We established a compost heap. We talked to reporters, and will be writing an op-ed piece once we are back in the States and away from the line of fire.