An Ode to Education

Experience Blog 4

I love Pisac so much. I was admittedly worried about being in such a small town for so long, as I am a city girl at heart, but I have loved the slower pace and being able to get to know the town better this past week and a half. I thought I would be escaping the bells and gongs and just general NOISE of Cusco, but Pisac has proven to be just as disruptive in the morning (whoever thought it would be fun to ring the bells at both 4am and 7:45am, and the gong at 9am, you suck.). I have experienced so much in Pisac that I’ve enjoyed, from seeing the Inca terraces to helping till the land with the Amaru community, to cheering on our class in a football match against the Pisac Inn house team. However, our visit to Kusi Kawsay Andean School was my highlight. From our class discussion about the visit, it was clear that we were all pretty moved by the visit, and very interested in discussion education.

My educational experience has been broad. I spent the first eight years in the Toronto public school system at my local elementary school, and the last at an all girls independent school outside of my neighbourhood. These two experiences have absolutely shaped me in very different ways; the first taught me resilience, and the second taught me grit, while both fostered in me a strong sense of self and academic drive. I really enjoyed seeing Kusi Kawsay’s approach to education and learning, as it differed greatly from both of my childhood educational experiences, but also reminded me a lot of the positive experiences of both. Children are universal in a way. I loved to see the classroom dynamics at play in the junior-high aged class room, and the nurturing attitude of the kindergarten teachers in theri interactions with the students. The kindergarten classroom reminded me of mine, with little houses, or casitas, for each of the activities, the central play area, and the class birthday chart, which seemed to be set up to resemble a quipus, an element that I was very excited to recognize. The focus on community and cultural education was beautiful to see, and definitely had me reflecting heavily on my educational experience. My schools were both very focused on ethical citizenship and community building, but within a far different educational structure. I really valued getting to see Kusi Kawsay, and hear about their approach to education at each level. I did the Ontario Provincial curriculum, as well as my independent school’s specific curriculum, and I did AP classes, so I have been emersed in a lot of educational systems in my time, but Kusi Kawsay was entirely new to me. Learning about one’s culture and community is vital, especially in childhood, and seeing that fostered in the students in a structured way was really cool. I did find it specifically  interesting that international students also attended the school, given that is is literally called an Andean school. I wonder if these students come out of that school feeling immersed and connected to Andean culture, or if they take the experience as an introduction to another culture that they don’t particularly feel apart of?