I agree in general with Lothar about the cultural/language benefits of local schools in foreign countries, having had some similar experiences myself. However, I have quite a bit of info about many of the local public schools in the Ubud area, and unfortunately the vast majority of them are abysmal. I'm sure there are good ones somewhere, but they are definitely the exception. The physical plants are typically quite run down, and in some cases (especially outside the major towns) are simply horrifying (e.g. no working toilets, only enough electricity for one bare light bulb, etc.). The quality of the academic education is generally poor. This is not an indictment of the teachers or the administrators of these local schools. The government has just flat out not given them the money they are supposed to give them. Many of the teachers have not been paid their full salaries for years (in some cases, even quite close to Ubud, they have not been paid at all for 2 years). I have met several of the teachers and administrators in the Ubud area, and they are all fine folks, but they simply have insufficient resources to even come close to providing a quality education. A lot of the kids' time is taken up in "make work" activities, such as sweeping the school yard and the road in front of the school - over and over again. In addition, there is often a cultural devaluation of what westerners think of as essential basic skills, e.g. reading. Many families just don't see the value in it, especially for girls. If they find extra resources (translate: money), what often makes sense to them is to put it toward providing education in areas they perceive as more valuable, e.g. dance, art, music, etc. Nothing wrong with those things (I certainly wish American schools put more resources into them), but not at the expense of basic literacy.
At least that's my 2 cents worth - hope this doesn't sound like too much of a rant.
If you want some first hand info from an Australian woman married to a Balinese, with 2 teenage daughters, one of whom is graduating this year, email Cathy Sudharsana at:
[email protected]
I asked her if it would be OK for folks to email her with questions such as this, and she consented. Please understand she runs a hotel (see website at
http://www.klubkokos.com), plus has plenty of other projects going on, so is quite busy and may take a while to get back to you. She is heavily involved in volunteer teaching, fund raising for local village schools, and of course educating her two daughters, so can perhaps offer you a valuable point of view.
Good luck.
Dennis
