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Can anyone give me some information on the public and private educational system in Puerto Rico? I am interested in knowing about language of instruction, discipline, school culture, ect. My husband was currently offered a 2 year contract in Manati. He would like the whole family to relocate; however, I am slightly hesitant about the relocating. Both my boys (ages 4 & 6) are predominantly English speakers. They understand some social Spanish but not academic Spanish. They are average students: however, I’m afraid they will regress if they transferred to a school PR.
How are schools in Puerto Rico? Just take a look at schools in the states except that the language of instruction is Spanish in the great majority of schools.
Poor kids go to bad schools and better off kids go to better schools, depending on how much you're willing to pay. Like in the states the best and most costly schools are the secular schools, followed by the Catholic schools and finally the Evangelical schools where science is not given much importance and they truly believe gays are spawns of the devil and the earth is 6000 years old because the Bible says so.
As for language, the language of Puerto Rico is Spanish, however English is taught in all schools and kids that go to better schools become fairly bilingual. That's more than you can say for schools in the United States where learning foreign languages other than English is practically un American and kids hardly ever learn another language.
Public schools in Puerto Rico are a joke because its centralized and is highly political just like ALL government agencies in the island. In the U.S. since it varies by state and counties, public schools are better run and control. Just compare the public high schools in the U.S. to the public High Schools in Puerto Rico, no even close. Just look at the buildings from top to bottom. Overall, the High Schools in the states look like top universities in Puerto Rico and the high schools in Puerto Rico look something from a 3rd world country, all are boxes of cement with barb wire fences and irons on the windows for security and the public schools in Puerto Rico lack the money for basic materials because the government can't manage public funds like everything else.
If you want a good education in Puerto Rico, you have to pay for private schools. The fact is they government can't manage their agencies properly and can't supply security at the schools.
Public schools in Puerto Rico are a joke because its centralized and is highly political just like ALL government agencies in the island. In the U.S. since it varies by state and counties, public schools are better run and control. Just compare the public high schools in the U.S. to the public High Schools in Puerto Rico, no even close. Just look at the buildings from top to bottom. Overall, the High Schools in the states look like top universities in Puerto Rico and the high schools in Puerto Rico look something from a 3rd world country, all are boxes of cement with barb wire fences and irons on the windows for security and the public schools in Puerto Rico lack the money for basic materials because the government can't manage public funds like everything else.
If you want a good education in Puerto Rico, you have to pay for private schools. The fact is they government can't manage their agencies properly and can't supply security at the schools.
Like I said in another post, for many people who write here, Puerto Rico is the pits. Take education for example. The United States is 17th among industrialized countries in educational achievement, and lower than that in science and math. How ever you never hear anything like that here.
However if you live in a large city like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago etc, etc. you may have a good pick of schools. But if you live in the bible belt, the rust belt, the deep south or a few miles from larger cities in Florida or Texas, schools may have better facilities than Puerto Rico but I wouldn't send my kids to a public school there if I want them to be really educated.
Just a quick look at the drop outs rates and college numbers on the mainland will be enough to convince anyone that money and being taught only in Englishdoes not make educated kids. In fact if you talk to many university kids on the island they know more about the world then kids in the U.S.who only know about foot ball and facebook. Most are bilingual too.
Funding for schools in the states is based on the taxes each community pays. If you happen to live in a high tax area like Rosalyn Heights, Long Island or Scarsdale, New York you're going to get a good education. If you live in a working class area, like most of the people in the U.S. live, education generally sucks.
For any parent who wants to try a new school on the island, I would suggest you talk to parents and kids in the school you pick. One would be surprised how educated some are. Although we have our fair share of those who who think like folks in Alabama or Mississippi, you also may find parents that know about the world and don't watch dancing with the stars 24/7.
Like I said in another post, for many people who write here, Puerto Rico is the pits. Take education for example. The United States is 17th among industrialized countries in educational achievement, and lower than that in science and math. How ever you never hear anything like that here.
However if you live in a large city like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago etc, etc. you may have a good pick of schools. But if you live in the bible belt, the rust belt, the deep south or a few miles from larger cities in Florida or Texas, schools may have better facilities than Puerto Rico but I wouldn't send my kids to a public school there if I want them to be really educated.
Just a quick look at the drop outs rates and college numbers on the mainland will be enough to convince anyone that money and being taught only in Englishdoes not make educated kids. In fact if you talk to many university kids on the island they know more about the world then kids in the U.S.who only know about foot ball and facebook. Most are bilingual too.
Funding for schools in the states is based on the taxes each community pays. If you happen to live in a high tax area like Rosalyn Heights, Long Island or Scarsdale, New York you're going to get a good education. If you live in a working class area, like most of the people in the U.S. live, education generally sucks.
For any parent who wants to try a new school on the island, I would suggest you talk to parents and kids in the school you pick. One would be surprised how educated some are. Although we have our fair share of those who who think like folks in Alabama or Mississippi, you also may find parents that know about the world and don't watch dancing with the stars 24/7.
Wow, Clip- you have once again managed to roll up a lot of misinformation into one post. First of all, I have attended both US and PR universities ( have you?) and I teach at a PR university, and I can tell you higher education (and education in general) is definitely better in the US.
You know, there area lot of things wrong with the US (Like the current wars and Guantanamo) and some things that can be improved (like education and healthcare), but the US is still far superior to PR in education and healthcare . PR has many amazing attributes, the forests, parks, caves, beaches, fauna, and flora, and I do like living here, and I actually chose to live here, so I am not knocking PR. I do not want you thinking that I am one of those people that moves to another place and bashes it (see below)
Where are all these bilingual university kids? I teach at la Inter and they are not there. I studied at la UPRRP and I did not see them there. Maybe there is a unithat I am unaware of.
I have noticed that you spend a lot of time on several forums bashing the USA,but you said on another forum that you lived there for 35 years! I guess you are just a chronic complainer.Why would you live someplace for 35 years if you hated it so much and why would you abandon your queirido P.R. y sus cafetÃns for someplace you hate? In previous posts you talked about the gringos that come and go here in PR and do not make contributions. What were your contributions to the USA in your 35 years there?
How does the US Census define "bilingual"? How exactly is "the language question" asked? In my household my father fills out the Census form so I have no idea what it even looks like.
As I have said repeatedly before, I was surprised with the level of bilingualism the first time I went to Puerto Rico. Now yes, many Puerto Ricans may not be fully bilingual but most people I have encountered can speak and understand a reasonable amount of English. I have also encountered many people purposely go out of their way to find a 'mainlander' so they have the opportunity to actually speak English with a native English speaker.
Let me put it this way, if only 25% of Puerto Ricans are bilingual as the PPD likes to claim when they go before the Congressional committees then I must have met every single one of those people by now ....
I didn't know you were an expert in the U.S. public school system in every state and every county. Higher taxes doesn't necessarily means a better school system or a better quality of life, if that's case Puerto Rico would have wonderful public services and not all people of faith are ignorant people. You sound like an elitist liberal talking down to people.
The United States has 320 million residents plus over 15 million illegals that the U.S. have to put their kids in our public school system. If the U.S. system is so bad like you put it , why is the U.S. is the TOP economy in the world and the #1 country in innovations and technology and folks opening up their own business?
Test scores doesn't tell the WHOLE picture in how smart a student is and test scores won't show how successful in life he/she will be. There are other factors in life that a TEST doesn't consider. I know plenty of people with good test scores in schools and are not smart or don't have good work ethic or common sense and I know college dropouts that are very smart and have gone far in life with their work ethic and motivation.
If the U.S. system is so bad in education why millions of Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and other latinos come to the U.S.? There are more Puerto Ricans in the states than in Puerto Rico. You don't think part of that is the education system? I think so.
The reason the U.S. public school system in the states is better OVERALL than Puerto Rico is that is not centralized with politics between RED and BLUE, you have more options with charter schools and you have more ACCOUNTABILITY and CONTROL since things are decided at the local and county level. Are there bad public school systems in the U.S.? sure, like any organization in the private sector, you have your good, average, mediocre and bad but overall the U.S. has a very good public education system.
Last edited by Freewill2014; 03-01-2014 at 03:37 PM..
Let me put it this way, if only 25% of Puerto Ricans are bilingual as the PPD likes to claim when they go before the Congressional committees then I must have met every single one of those people by now ....
WIHS , I use functional bilingualism as a yardstick, i.e. is someone able to communicatetheir thoughts, go shopping etc. I am afraid it is indeed very low. In my lowest level Uni classes, I spend 4 months trying to get them to communicate basic ideas orally and in writing (4 or 5 word sentences), and that is after they have taken English everyday for 50 minutesfor 12 years . I have taught at other universities in the afternoons where I was told to give the English class in Spanish.
I know for sure the majority of high school graduates in the Puerto Rican public school system can't pass a basic job interview in English. A simple interview of who you are are, what are your hobbies, what are your expectations for the position you are applying for......just a simple one on one chat.
lets face the reality, if you can't dominate English, you can't find a good job and compete in the market. Even in Puerto Rico, the best jobs requires English. Don't get me wrong, speaking Spanish is a plus especially being bilingual but just Spanish is not going to cut it.
Is just English going to cut it? English is taught in every school in the United States and the U.S. is still way below the most industrialized countries in education and literacy. In fact most schools of higher education that I know of have remedial reading classes because kids can't read or analyze concepts on a University level. Does Sarah Palin or Rick Perry ring a bell?
Lets concentrate on the faulty educational system in the United States and lay off Puerto Rico. Since the island has picked up educational policies from the U.S education on the island has hit record lows. In addition, Puerto Ricans have been in the U.S. for more than 100 years and still their kids fall far behind island Puerto Ricans on every level. In the U.S kids are lucky if they speak English correctly and its awfully weird that these same folks are dictating educational standards to Ricans.
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