What does it mean to "help"?

In my first Down On The Island post, I reflected on the teaching profession and on Jim Cooper's general experiences as an educator. Now, I want to emphasize on the eighth chapter of his memoir: "Helping."

Cooper mentions helping in the context of dealing with students that were consistently cheating on their assignments. He talks about how cheating is something that happens in all schools in all parts of the country. However, he appears startled at just how common this practice was in the island. He claims that he had "never seen it done as openly and outrageously as it was in Puerto Rico." Other American teachers, his coworkers, were more than started; they were downright furious

As one of them exploded after visiting a few classrooms, "No wonder the students don't understand us or know what we're talking about. Their teachers not only let them cheat, they teach them how, they encourage them."

Fortunately, Cooper did not get exasperated. Instead, he acknowledged that cheating in Puerto Rico comes from a very different place in comparison with cheating in the States. Here in the island, he explains, cheating is usually about teamwork and about students helping their classmates. It demonstrates cooperation instead of competitiveness.  

This was in great contrast to the attitudes taught in a great many if not most American families and schools [...] You are in competition not only with your classmates but with the students in other classes and the students in other schools. The way to win, to get ahead is to beat out helping the others, your competition, so you get the prize, the gold star, your name on the honors list. It's the attitude summed up by the old army expression, "I've got mine."

In other words, an American student might cheat by using their own notes, in order to get the best grade. In contrast, a Puerto Rican student might give their classmates the right answer without thinking how that will affect his ranking in the class. People like to think of academic cheating in terms of black and white, right and wrong. But in one instance, is a sign of selfishness, while in another, is a sign of helpfulness. 

One of the younger Puerto Rican faculty members [...] finally summed up what, in a sense, was the attitude of many of the Puerto Rican teachers [...]: "I'm really sick of you continentals saying that we don't care if the students cheat, that we urge them to cheat. You miss the point completely. I'm interested in my students learning the right answers to questions. If they can learn more easily by copying from a neighbor's paper than they can from me, what difference does it make?"

Cooper eventually does find alternate and supplemental ways of teaching English to his students. These methods had varying degrees of success. This has got me thinking on the different "wrong" and "right" ways in which educators can help their students. In our educational system, does helping truly mean? How much help is too much, and how much is not enough?

The more I read texts like these regarding education, the more I think about all the ways in which American/Puerto Rican education should be reformed. There is an ever-growing emphasis on standardized testing, and every year more and more students suffer from stress and anxiety due to these types of evaluations.

I remember when I was a child, asking my parents about what "Montessori schools" were like. Most adults brush them off as "hippie schools," since this kind of educational approach relies more on an independent, organic learning process rather than strictly structured classes. Similarly, many parents reject the idea of homeschooling or "unschooling" because they are afraid these methods won't prepare their children for "the real world."

But what do they mean by this? Are they saying that "the real world" is full of rigid learning environments and standardized testing? Our educational system didn't appear out of nowhere. In its essence, it was created hundreds of years ago and has been barely adapted for modern times. It was made up by us, and it can be changed by us, too. As a society, we make structured learning a requirement in grade school, as well as high school and college. 

At an early age, students learn to memorize huge amounts of information with the sole purpose of writing it all down on one test, and then moving on to the next topic. We've chosen to make these skills an indispensable part of our society. Yet we recognize that the system isn't perfect. This is the education of the real world, we tell ourselves. But is it the education we deserve?

"Those who can, do..."

When I first came across Jim Cooper's Down on the Island, I was... hesitant about reading it. In this memoir, Cooper reflects upon his time in Puerto Rico. More specifically, as a professor in Mayagüez back in the 1960s. I was wary because I kept wondering what his perspective on Puerto Rico was going to be. 

It would be an understatement to say that Puerto Rico has a somewhat complicated relationship with the United States. This is definitely relevant when discussing the history of public education in our island. At one point, American teachers were brought over and were forced to teach classes in English to citizens who were, back then, barely literate in Spanish. 

So as you can imagine, when I first heard that this book featured and American professor in our island, I was curious. I wanted to understand the context behind it. I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that Cooper is an impartial observer of his surroundings. Of course, in a memoir of this type, it is impossible to transform oneself into a completely neutral narrator. But Cooper writes with honesty and respect about his environment, and about all those small particularities that make Mayagüez, Mayagüez and that make Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico. 

For example, he does not write about his living conditions with a resentful tone. He, quite simply, presents what is around him:

[...] my friend Gene Hall and I were sharing one of the casetas on campus. In contrast to quite substantial cement houses lived in by Beck with and other senior members of the faculty, the casetas consisted of a row of five small, temporary wooden houses a short way uphill from the cow barns, which were rented, on very reasonable terms, to junior faculty members. 

Educating others is never an easy thing to do, and Cooper seemed to struggle a lot with his curriculum. He does, however, mention one very important thing: "Despite the failings of the syllabus, we did have one very important thing working in our favor in the classroom. The students wanted to learn English and wanted to communicate in it."

His most poignant and beautiful quote, in my opinion, is the following: "Somehow, without my realizing it, living and teaching at the Colegio had become the real world, no longer in quotes. Not much like the one I had left behind, perhaps, but most certainly real." He captures the essence of immigration, of not just traveling but actually settling in one place. The Colegio was "other", it was distanced from him... Until one day, it was not. Somewhere along the line, it stopped being a separate thing, and became his reality.

That being said, by far what I liked most about the seventh chapter, "Teaching English", is that he is also brutally frank about the struggles he had as a teacher. It seems to me that with each passing day, people find it easier to dismiss teaching as a serious profession. My mother is a teacher, and so I am a fervent defender of educators. While reading Cooper's experiences, I was reminded of the classic idiom, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." What a strange, and frankly demeaning, expression.

Interestingly enough, I believe the opposite to be true. When we're young, one of the first things that we try to do is to teach others. Children teach their friends to play games, they teach their siblings to tie their shoes, they teach their dogs tricks. It's human nature. Yet, most kids (as well as adults) get easily frustrated when they try and fail to educate someone on a particular topic. It seems to me like those who have a natural talent for teaching discover it a young age. The rest of us are the ones who have to find something else to do.

As food for thought, I leave you with Taylor Mali's fantastic slam poem, "What Teachers Make". Here is a link for one of his many performances, and here is a link to the written version of the poem. Additionally, here is a "graphic" (comic book) version of it.

One Room, Many Views

So far, our Journey Into Literature course has been filled with great discussions regarding all sorts of aspects about travel. We've discussed the importance of both internal and external journeys, as well as how different -isms (classism, racism, sexism, etc.) can influence us into "othering" people. The film A Room With A View (1985), which is set in the Edwardian era, seemed like the perfect opportunity to discuss all these social issues. 

 In my small way I am a woman of the world. And I know where things can lead to. - Charlotte Bartlett

Remember the facts about this church of Santa Croce; how it was built by faith in the full fervour of medievalism.  [The Reverend Mr. Eager]

Built by faith indeed! That simply means the workers weren't paid properly. [Mr. Emerson] 

Yet surprisingly, what struck me most about the movie was that it got me thinking about how people used to travel in the early 1900s. How did tourism work back then? In what ways has it changed? How has it stayed the same?

Lucy Honeychurch, our main character, goes on a trip with her older cousin Charlotte Bartlett as her chaperone. They're from the United Kingdom and they're visiting Italy. One of the most curious details I noticed is how some locals in the movie disliked the idea of using a Baedeker, a popular travel guide. I haven't traveled a lot, but I've done a lot of research about traveling. There seem to be two perspectives through which you can explore a different country: either as a tourist, or as a traveler. Nowadays, 

It is obvious that in the beginning of the film, both Lucy and Charlotte are tourists. The opening scene features them complaining about how they were given a hotel room without a beautiful view. This sparks the question: how much time were they planning to stay inside the hotel, that they give  such priority to a nice view? 

The whole point of traveling, in my opinion, is to spend little time indoors and stay all day outside, exploring the city. It can be argued that, throughout A Room With A View, Lucy transforms from a tourist to a traveler, while Charlotte stays a tourist. 

Smell! A true Florentine smell. Inhale, my dear. Deeper! Every city, let me tell you, has its own smell. - Eleanor Lavish

In Lucy's particular case, her external journey and internal journey are tied. She grows, matures, and falls in love all while being away from her home country. Her physical journey is going to Italy, but her personal journey is becoming an independent woman in a time when societal norms limited women's ability to do anything completely on their own.

Nowadays, it's technically easier for women to travel alone. I say "technically" because there is still a lot of stigma. Everyone has seen the movie Taken. Other countries are dangerous and filthy. Criminals are lurking in every corner. Women are always unsafe by default, right?

I refuse to believe that. As a young woman who fervently wants to travel, I do not believe the world is nearly as terrifying as people have made it out to be. Is the world a dangerous place? Yes, but arguably so is my hometown. So is my college. So is my country. I take precautions when I walk alone, when I go out to drink, when I'm out at night. I take these precautions here, where I live. What's stopping me from traveling and enjoying another country while taking these same precautions?

A couple of months ago I read a fantastic comic/blog post titled "Don't let fear stop you from traveling!" It's a bit long, but it's worth the read. In it, a woman named Natalie recounts her experiences as a traveler and hitchhiker. I won't spoil anything else, you'll have to read it to understand why I loved her post so much!

By the end of the movie, Lucy gets her happy ending. She elopes and ends up in Italy, in a room with a view. This won't happen to most of us who travel. We won't necessarily find our soulmate, and even if we did, not all of us would be willing to leave everything behind and move to a new country. But that's not what's important. The important thing is to recognize they way in which trips change us. Most of the time, we come back home from traveling feeling as if what happened there, has to stay there. But we must never underestimate the way journeys can affect and change us. 

Identities

     Since a quick Internet search on "Caribbean islands" indicates that this archipelago is made up of thousands of isles, it is strange to try and fathom a single, unifying Caribbean identity. Yet, within this variety of landscapes, cultures, languages, and traditions, there is common ground. In "The Roots of Caribbean Identity: Language, Race and Ecology," Peter Roberts tackles the many facets of the Caribbean identity and all concepts that it entails. His introduction is clear and concise, and does a good job of putting forward his general ideas. Three of them are particularly interesting: first of all, his comments on the idea of home; second of all, the idea of one group being made to look superior than another; and last, the action of labeling and naming a specific group.

     On the idea of home, Roberts mentions that there's a certain instinct of territoriality within human beings. However, he also adds:

Because the human being does not necessarily remain in one place through a lifetime, home is variable and may be place of birth, place of residence or may be defined by the popular notion 'where the heart is'

While I do agree wholeheartedly with his proposal of home being variable, I would like to take it a step further. I altogether reject the idea of home as one single place. Home, I believe, should be thought about more as a network, as a series of places that hold emotional value for a specific person. Home is not just a shifting, changing thing but rather a collection, in our hearts and minds, of the different times when we have felt belonging and have achieved some sort of personal growth. As we grow up, travel, and move, what happens is that we "accumulate" homes.

     This topic is always relevant when discussing Caribbean identities. Especially considering these islands' histories. When colonizers arrived in the 15th century, Caribbean countries were not empty; they were already homes to the indigenous population. With colonization, our current nations were constructed on the idea of a different kind of home. As more and more colonizers arrived and fewer left, as more generations were born and grew up in the Caribbean, the idea of home changed not just for Europeans, but for Africans and indigenous people, too. Currently, it is important to always keep these issues in mind, since nations such as Puerto Rico are living through times of simultaneous immigration and emigration.

     While Roberts does not elaborate about it in the introduction, is essential to mention colonization and European domination when talking about the Caribbean identity. Apart from relating it to the idea of home, it is of the utmost importance to consider the way this relationship influence society and culture. In our day-to-day lives, sometimes we do not realize how much our perceptions are shaped by European mindsets:

which one group is seen to be or made to look clearly superior in some respect, the instinct for preservation causes the inferior group to concede superiority. This is typical in situations where one group dominates another

When one group reaches a certain level of superiority over another, its opinions and lifestyles are also seen as superior. One example that comes to mind is the perception of beauty. Despite the fact that most Caribbean people look distinctively mixed-raced, facial features such as fair skin and thin, straight hair are still valued. In the case of Puerto Rico, in theory we seem very proud of our heritage: all kids grow up listening to history teachers explain that the Puertorrican identity is made up of Spanish, African, and Taíno heritage In practice, however, there is not doubt that European features are prized and even considered the norm in our society. It is imperative to acknowledge that apart from all the elements that Roberts lists that contribute to the development of an identity, we can not ignore the powerful (and occasionally violent) influences that dominant countries can have on the countries they control. We cannot picture identity as solely as something that is an internal reflection. Outside influences, must be taken into account.

     Finally, Peter Roberts notes the process of naming identities. In our culture, adults are constantly reminding children that labels are inherently bad. How can we reduce a person, or a group of people, to a word? We are taught that it is bad, that it is offensive. Yet this mentality fails to capture the whole picture. In reality, it is vital to stress the significance of personal labeling:

Naming of a group, however, can be done by the group itself or by others, which means that a name may be reelection of a shared experience of sameness across individuals, or on the other hand, it may be projection of beliefs, values and desires on to people without them having any prior consciousness of identity. Whether the one name prevails over the other is a matter who controls the dissemination of information.

There is a significant difference between choosing a label, and having a label imposed on oneself. In the first case, it is about strangers forcing someone into a "box," into a set of predetermined (read: stereotypical) ideas. These strangers will never understand all of the small peculiarities that make up an identity. People who choose to name a difference group usually do it out of a place of ignorance and of willful "othering." In the second case, it is about creating a space, and naming it, and making it one's own. 

     The Caribbean identity is many things. It is mixed, complex, and in constant change. It has a beautiful history, as well as a violent one. It is hard to define, not just from the point of view of scholars, but also from the point of view of actual Caribbean people. Yet we have accepted this; over the years, we have come to terms with the fact that our identity is not easily put inside a neat box. At the end of the day, the most important thing is not which words we choose to describe ourselves, but rather the knowledge that we are the ones choosing these words for ourselves. Historically, many ideals have been imposed upon us, but we have the power to take back our identity and little by little, truly make it our own. 

In the Eye of the Tourist

     They say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Lo and behold, the beauty of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

     Today, I put on a pair of different eyes. For a few hours, I stopped observing my surroundings as a Puertorrican, and started seeing things from the point of view of a tourist. It was a strange experience, but it lead to some interesting conclusions. At first, I was hesitant to do this activity. I do not look like a white American or a white European, which are usually the types of tourists that one encounter in the Old San Juan. As a reaction to this, I tried my best to "look" the part with my outfit: I wore loose shorts, a tank top, sneakers, and a cap. I did the tour with a big backpack and with my camera in hand. Since I didn't physically look like a tourist, my instinct was to at least dress up as the stereotype of a tourist. 

     Looking back, perhaps it was a bit ridiculous. I quickly discovered that being a tourist is much more than just having one specific look. In fact, it can be argued that being a tourist has less to do with how you look, and more to do with how you act. 

     Perhaps I didn't have a tourist "look," but I certainly had tourist eyes, and that made a world of a difference. I was born and raised here in Puerto Rico, so I've always felt like I already know all there is to know regarding the Old San Juan. I knew about El Morro, and I knew about San Cristóbal. I knew about the legend of La garita del diablo and about the history of the Spanish army in Puerto Rico. 

        But from the perspective of someone who is here visiting, it's not just about knowing; it's about observing. There are many, many historical facts that I learned in school. This is information that I know, because it was taught to me with a book (or, occasionally, a field trip). Tourism is about independent observation. If I had to put it in terms of analogies, I would say this: if growing up in Puerto Rico was like going to school, then seeing Puerto Rico from the point of view of a tourist was more like homeschooling. Yes, it's true that there was the option to watch an educational movie or take a professional, guided tour. But there's a certain beauty and satisfaction in personal discoveries; in walking alone, at one's own pace, and learning in one's own time. 

    I did this tourism activity by myself. It was strange at first, because I was used to doing these sorts of expeditions in big groups. But the more time I spent alone, the better the experience got. El Castillo San Cristóbal has many floors and rooms, and everywhere I looked I found plaques that explained the history of the fort. I noticed that these plaques were not organized in any particular order. You could walk around and observe the building in any way that you chose. 

    I noticed the fort's architecture. I noticed the three flags, one of which I previously had no idea what it meant. I noticed tourist, real tourists, walking around and taking pictures. This was another important realization for me: taking pictures. Nowadays, photography has become and informal, casual, fun hobby, because everyone can take pictures with their phone. But once you are a tourist, you being to truly appreciate the environment that surrounds you. On one hand, you can't help but want to take photos of everything. But on the other hand, you also understand that quality is more important than quantity. You develop this urge to take truly good pictures that capture the essence of your trip.

     I do not think "Tourist Sabrina" was treated any differently than "Regular Sabrina". When I asked for a brochure, I did my best to pronounce "Brochure?" and lose my accent. The man in the counter said "Yeah," instead of "Sí, claro" and handed me one... Which I assume means that he believed I was speaking in English. When I was in line to buy a ticket, however, something else happened. I noticed that the guy at the desk was speaking in English to the Americans in front of me. As soon as I walked over, however, he greeted me kindly in Spanish. I hadn't said anything to him yet; I had simply walked over in silence. He also mentioned that an educational video was going to start playing in a few minutes, and that right now the Spanish version would be playing. 

     I did not mind the assumption that Spanish was my first language, but it did confirm my suspicions that, no matter how hard I try, I will never really look like a tourist. But that's OK. If there's one thing that I learned from this experience is that it's not about having a tourist outfit, but rather having a tourist's outlook. It's about being willing to walk by oneself and explore things one by one. It's about learning new things, and taking good pictures. It's about noticing the little details that we usually ignore because of our hectic lives. Most importantly, it's extremely important not to assume that, just because we were born here, that we've already seen all there is to see. Yes, we all took educational field trips when we were in middle school. Yes, we all learned about Puerto Rico's history in high school. But we have this mentality that, just because we were born and raised here, that we don't need to act like "ridiculous" tourists. But being a tourist isn't ridiculous (OK, maybe sometimes it is). But it's also more than that. Being a tourist in entertaining; it's fun. But most of all, being a tourist means being an "observator" of the world around us.