El Colegio San Benito

This is the school's current physical appearance.

Kindergarden to Fifth Grade

• Population: around 400 students
• Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Type: Private Catholic School
• Administrators: Passionists nuns
• Grades: Pre-K to 8th grade
• School-day duration: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
• Fun fact: Recess and lunch were combined

The first school I ever attended was “El Colegio San Benito,” also known as “el colegio de las monjas” – or the “nun’s school.” This was a small Pre-kindergarten to eight grades catholic school in a small barrio of the Dominican Republic. Growing up, this was the school I liked the most because of my ability to connect easier to those around me. However, looking back at the experience, there were multiple problematic aspect of the school.

The schools had (and still has) very strict rules about dress code and respect. Students were expected to arrive every day with clean uniform, braids or ponytail. There were weekly nail check-ins, where the teacher would be required to check the length and cleanliness of our nails. The school also had monthly lice checks. I vividly recall when a student was taken out of class and sent home because her uniform was not up to part.  Based on those requirements mentioned above, we would receive a grade label as hygiene. We would also be graded on patriotism and respect. At the beginning of the school day, we would pray and sing the national anthem. During that time, the teachers were expected to keep an eye out to be able to give the students a grade on those categories.

Furthermore, the actual class content was solely based on memorization. I remember studying for a presentation where I conducted research and then was expected to report my findings to the entire school. The strategy I was taught was to write everything I want to say and then memorize it word for word. When we learned multiplications, we were expected to memorize the multiplicate tables and would be tested on it often. I also recalled dreading going to 8^th grade as my older brothers were being asked to memorize the periodic table. The fact that my school was so memorization heavy is the reason why I always avoided having to memorize things throughout the rest of my education.

In Spanish, we refer to the concept of memorizing fact as “embotellar,” or in English to bottle up facts. This concept aligns very closely with Paulo Freire’s banking model of education, which is a metaphor representing the teacher and student relationship as teachers fills them with knowledge. As Freire puts it in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “Worse yet, it [the banking model] turns them [students] into ‘containers,’ into ‘receptacles’ to be “filled” by the teacher. The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is. The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are.” Essentially, the way Freire describes the current education system reminds particularly of my first formal education experience. In part, I think this connection relates to the geographic location as Paulo Freire—being from Brazil—has experience an aspect of the Latin American Education system.

Essentially, from my experience at this catholic school in the Dominican Republic, I learned that memorization is not the right way of teaching complicated concepts as it is not conducive to real learning. It leads us to fall into the banking model, where learning becomes a transaction between the teacher and the student. I learned that students should be given freedom to express themselves fully to the best of their ability. I also learned that students’ home lives should be taken into account to ensure that students are getting the most out of the education. It is not fair to expect uniformity from every single student as each student is an individual.

 

This is how the school looked during my time there.