30371: Pichard (query about education in Haiti) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: mercedes pichard <mercedespichard@earthlink.net>

Greetings list members;

Since I got my doctorate in Education over a year ago at the University of 
Central Florida, with a concentration in Haitian Studies, I have been wondering 
how I could help the country of Haiti in the realm of educational reform.  I 
must confess that I have no desire to work on piece-meal projects and small 
operations, nor to work with one NGO doing X one summer and another NGO doing Y 
the following year.   I deeply admire and respect those who have the courage, 
energy and resources to work in the field in Haiti helping certain groups with 
their development and learning agendas.   Thank you to all of those people who 
have educated me about Haiti and "helping in Haiti" and "loving Haiti" over the 
past 6 years, you are too numerous to name here.  If you have jumped to read my 
request below, and if it sounds presumptuous of me to wish to work directly 
with the Ministry of Education in Haiti, then so be it, and you can call me 
'arrogant', though my intentions are good, and I am basically a respectful 
person.  So please hear me out, because I have been thinking about education 
and educational needs in Haiti for a very long time.

Let me preface my query by saying that I am not so presumptuous (nor naive) as 
to suppose that I could/ would / should tell anyone in any ministry or any 
organization anywhere in the world "what to do and how to do it".   NO.  I am 
not a neo-colonialist nor am I deliberately hegemonic.  I know deeply and 
personally how intelligent and thoughtful most Haitian people are.  I have 
sense enough to listen to others, hear about the 'givens' in a situation, hear 
about the needs, and respectfully make suggestions based on the short-term 
goals and needs as well as those in the longer-term.  ("This system is how some 
schools or districts or countries accomplish this particular goal, but we can 
adapt that to the needs of your place, so let's think about the pieces that 
would work and the pieces we need to change, and then let's come up with a 
plan....")  I would like to encourage and help the ministers and 'the team' in 
the Haitian educational realm to develop visions of progress, by talking calmly 
about one thing at a time, but keeping in mind that one thing always relates to 
another.   I like to consider myself as a thoughtful and practical consultant 
in the realm of education.  I am very practical, I am a logistics-person, an 
appplications-person, not a dreamer, although perhaps still idealistic.  I am 
happy to do research on how a given question has already been solved elsewhere, 
as I do not believe we should re-invent the wheel.   I am aware of "corruption" 
and the scale of it in Haiti, and how corruption and poverty impact attempts at 
reforms.   I am aware of mistrust, resistance and wariness in Haiti; I am aware 
of color and status issues; I am aware of illiteracy statistics and their 
implications for educational reform efforts; I am aware that there are many 
very urgent matters to be dealt with in Haiti (like medical care and potable 
water for all, and ecological issues and economic issues and security issues). 
I am aware of just how giant, broad, massive, convoluted, and long-term the 
many concepts and undertakings of "educational reform" in Haiti will be, and 
that sometimes Education will take a back seat to all of those other very 
urgent matters.

I believe that there is a relationship between schools and society, and that 
students are exposed to intellectual, economic, political, moral, civic, and 
social purposes through their education.  Most societies today would like to 
form future citizens who think for themselves about the issues, problems and 
solutions of the place where they live.   An education with the possibility of 
critical thinking and practical applications for all students would seem most 
sensible for a developing country.   "Curriculum" is defined as who learns 
what, when, how and why.  Dearly as we all love Haiti, it would seem that there 
are some curricular as well as practical issues as yet unresolved on that 
island:  the lack of standardization -- differences in education between 
private and state schools, among the private schools, and between the cities 
and the rural areas; what is taught and how it is taught and how it is learned, 
in Haitian primary and secondary schools; equitable access to sensible and 
practical learning goals for all students in Haiti as well as equal access to 
supplies and instructors;  the lack of systemization of such practicalities as 
students' attendance, promotion or retention, the quality and degree of 
teacher-training and professional development, assessment mechanisms for 
students and for teachers; tuition, salaries, costs; and of course, thinking 
about a rational modern curriculum, curriculum, curriculum: what is being 
taught to Haitian students, how and why, and what good it will do them when 
they are grown-ups.

This is what I bring to the table:  an excellent education and a 
systems-thinking, organized kind of mind.  Long term observations of what works 
in educational settings and how to set these things up, all of the cogs in a 
wheel.  A doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a minor in Educational 
Administration.  A career of 26 years in Education spent both in the USA and in 
Europe, with multiple different ages and groups of learners, together for all 
kinds of tasks and purposes.  Experience training adults in professional 
development forums.  Perfectly fluent written and spoken French and 
understanding of Haitian-Creole.  Ten trips to Haiti on educational research in 
schools and with Haitian teachers.  A love for Haiti and the Haitian people. 
My capability of analysis of what's good and what's not so good, what's working 
and what's not working too well right now, in the educational field in Haiti. 
The desire and willingness to be a team player.

I am willing to offer my services as a consultant to the Ministry of Education 
in Haiti.  Tell me how to do this.   My e-mail is: 
mercedespichard@earthlink.net

Thanks to all for reading and considering such a very long posting to Dr. 
Corbett's Haiti list!


Mercedes Pichard, Ed.D.