Classrooms of Hope

In her early 50s, Guillermina Tinoco has been with MCC Mexico for almost fifteen years. Having the longest tenure in the organization, she is a living history of MCC Mexico’s work. She has interacted with her fair share of interesting and unique MCC workers and country representatives, but her generous spirit fails to ever convey a word of judgment or criticism, only kindness and compassion. She remembers working for MCC when the offices were in Cuernavaca in the 1990s. When she began as accountant, she came into the office about everyday to complete the extensive accounting requirements for Akron and for the state. While she continues to do the same work, I see her in the office only three days of each month, due to the changes in technology, speed of current communication and new operating systems.

When she is not in the MCC office, she volunteers in Naucalpan, an at risk neighborhood in the northeast of Mexico City, at least two hours from the MCC offices. She teaches literacy to adults at a Baptist church through the governmental program INEA (Instituto Nacional de Educación de Adultos, National Institute for Adult Education). In the fall, Guillermina, along with two other women, began Aulas de Esperanza (Classrooms of Hope) for children with different abilities. MCC is financially supporting Aulas de Esperanza through a monthly grant from MCC’s Global Family education sponsorship.

Aulas de Esperanza began after a discussion with Maria, one of the women who attended literacy classes with Guillermina. Unique to many in her situation, Maria is a devoted advocate for her son who is mostly deaf. She recounted to Guillermina the continual struggle that she has encountered to obtain a decent education for her son who is more than falling through the cracks of the public education system.

In cooperation with the local school, Aulas de Esperanza welcomes six to seven students in the small but adequate classroom twice a week in the morning. There is a brief group instruction time, and then individual work stations. The women volunteers receive daily petitions to participate in the program; however, due to limited resources, space and volunteers, Aulas de Esperanza can only attend to the fifteen students that currently attend.

Today as I shared lunch with Guillermina, I sat in complete disbelief as she shared with me the experiences of some of the students who attend Aulas de Esperanza. With my experience in the US public education system, my teacher training emphasized the importance of teaching to all types of learners and to accommodate students with special needs. Differentiated instruction was the phase du jour the last time I was in the classroom. I understood the mandate as a teacher to provide an equal education to all the students who walked through the door, and I was sure to receive a phone call or an email from the parents if I did not.

Maria’s son Luis understands school as a place where he is relegated to the back corner of the classroom. With no hearing in his left ear, and only partial in his right, Luis obviously needs special accommodations in order to learn. At best he is ignored. At worst, he is taunted by the other students, who have as their role model the teacher who is also insulting Luis, adding how stupid he is. He is not stupid, he simply can not hear like the other students. He is in third grade and can not read. He is passed along to the next grade because the teachers seemingly do not want to deal with him.

The 13-year-old Alejandro, one of the oldest children at Aulas de Esperanza, was expelled from school. He and his younger brother live on the streets doing odd jobs and getting food where they can as their mother has left to be with another man who does not want them. Carmen, labeled as dumb by those at school, has had excrement smeared on her by other students. And the stories continue. Since Aulas de Esperanza opened its doors in the fall, more students and concerned parents have emerged, each with their unique story.

Each of the students at Aulas de Esperanza has learning disabilities that hinder their learning in the standard school environment. I know from experience, that it is time consuming to plan and to teach to the diversity in the classroom, yet the treatment of these children is unacceptable. I do not doubt that there are dedicated teachers and administrators in the Mexican public education system. Unfortunately for the handful of students at Aulas de Esperanza, their few hours a week outside of the regular school system is their chance to learn.

What is the hope for these students? Guillermina hopes that they can attend a technical school or learn a trade so that they can eventually provide for themselves in dignity, and not resort to life on the streets that means violence, drugs and poverty. It is my hope that Aulas de Esperanza endures and grows so that more children have the encouragement and opportunity to learn.