Ernesto's Early Education

Galarza, Ernesto (2011). Barrio Boy. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Pages 53-57, 123-125, 188-195, 200-202

Ernesto spends a good portion of the book describing his life in Mexico as a young boy in great detail. Some of the details he shares pertain directly to his early education.  "Like many other mountain pueblos, Jalcocotàn had no school." Despite sending a petition to the government  in an attempt to obtain a school, which the village was willing to build if a teacher were provided, the village didn't  have a school or a teacher while Ernesto and his family lived there.  It seemed like the people of Jalco valued reading, writing, and math skills; if they didn't they wouldn't have felt the need to provide their children with an education.  Jalco may be a small mountain village containing only a few adults with a 4th or 5th grade education, but their desire to educate the youth is inspiring.  The life style and jobs available and needed to keep the village going may not have required much of an education and it would be easy to dismiss the village as simple.  I think that happens frequently today in the United States.  Of course there are people who want every child to be as educated as possible, but there are also people who think that certain communities (based on race, economic status, and geography/location) are less deserving of a well rounded education. If the desire to learn is there, it should be encouraged.

The readers get an update on Ernesto's education after he moves to Tepic.  He is home schooled by his mother as the colegios were for rich families and needless to say, Ernesto's family was not  in that category.  While Ernesto's mother would work, she would give him math lessons: "As she sewed, my mother dictated the review of the previous lesson. In numbers she called out: "Dos y dos."  I moved the first two beads on the lowest wire of the abacus to the left and hen two more, repeating the name of the last bead - cuatro. So two and two made four." She also taught him to write, read, and spell, learning "vowels and consonants in surprising arrangements, writing the syllables as [he] heard them and then combining them to make complete words." Ernesto also talks about learning words from his mother's cookbook and being excited that the words in that book were items he found in his backyard, like oregano. It is clear that his mother is very committed to his intellectual growth, but the author explains that in his mother's opinion, "to be well instructed was to know how to read, write, and count; to be well educated was to show deference to persons older than yourself." I found this particularly interesting because most people consider math, reading, and writing to be the foundation of education.  When I think about the idea of respect, I am left wondering if this is founded on a cultural influence or a generational influence.  I was brought up to think that my education was founded in math, reading, and writing, but that in the end my education would help me think for myself and question the world around me.  

What captured my attention further, in regard to Ernesto's education, came when he started attending a school in Mazatlán.  Based on the authors writing tone and description of events, he doesn't think that highly of the educational system. He is bored "by the humdrum of the dictation and the chanting of things [he] had already learned at home" and he doesn't like working with "bulky notepads". It also seems that the environment was not overly healthy because the older students, the monitors, made disparaging comments to the younger students.  It doesn't seem to hinder Ernesto's passion for learning as he takes every opportunity to read books and letters to further his vocabulary and overall comprehension, but never the less, it is worth noting.

Ernesto's education up to this point left me in awe.  His life presents him many challenges, like moving regularly, yet he is focused and is able to apply himself to his studies.  I should mention, that he is still very young - he will enter the 1st grade once his family moves to the United States.  The author spent most of the book discussing his life in Mexico and I used this as an opportunity to observe what it might be like to not receive an education the way I did: through the public school system in a Chicago suburb.  I recognize that it is one example and that there are many more examples, but this was enlightening for me.  Things were so different for Ernesto.  I can try to consider what my education would have been like in the early 20th century rather than what it was in the 1990's and certainly things would have been different for me, but looking at the authors experience, reading about his educational experience expands my ability to understand my future students.  I don't assume that all of or any of my students will have the experience I have read about, but more knowledge and empathy only improves my abilities as a potential teacher.