Our last “theoretical” Social Issue session explored the consequences of low-quality education. Seeing the participants making notes on the figures and facts about Mexico on the whiteboard carefully and conscientiously, I knew that my thirty minutes of continuous writing on the board was not in vain. The facts were shocking to the participants just as they were to us when we were preparing the session: Mexico only has an average of 1.8 years of effective education while the 5 most competitive countries have an average of 9.7 years; research shows that the school is the second most important institution to combat corruption, which is a problem so serious in Mexico that the average “mordidas” (literally “bites”, bribe acts) reached $138 for each Mexican home in 2007, which meant a family that earned up to a minimum salary had 18% of their household income “bitten off” from them in one year.
But the participants have moved forward from being shocked to being motivated. Tomorrow, they will spend the sessions working on their creative projects to raise awareness for the issue. And I am looking forward to it.
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| Demonstrations |
“¡Marijuana para Mexico!” a boy shouted.
“Di No a Legalización. Huelgo de silencio hasta 11pm…” was written on a cardboard on the other side of the corridor.
The simulation of a society before the referendum of the legalization of Marijuana in the Civic Engagement session was getting more and more exciting.
Interest groups made stickers, put up posters, yelled slogans, protested outside the rooms of political parties and the President’s Cabinet and presented their points of views to political parties. Groups of lobbyists went in and out of the “conference room” of the President’s Cabinet. The first female President of Mexico (in her pajamas, of course, for today was the participants decided that today was the Pajamas Day and that participants and facilitator alike should wear their nightwear) and her cabinet’s “conference” with the lobbyists lasted for more than two hours… The enthusiasm and the quality of the participants’ debates continued to impress us.
“Phew. I’m glad that it’s not chicken…”
It was at lunch in the cafeteria. I guess the movie “Food Inc.” shown in the Nutrition Social Issue Activity was really powerful-- a girl told me that she could not bear looking at the chicken legs for lunch yesterday after seeing how people raise and kill chicken for food.
One more vegetarian for a greener world?
“Swap!”
15 minutes goes so quickly! Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism/Communism and Anarchism could not be possibly explained fully in such a short period of time. But an introduction to each of the four political ideas was made in today’s evening activity. A graph mapping their positions in the political spectrum was drawn in the auditorium too. I learnt a lot, and I believe the participants felt the same. We just wished that there could be more time.
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| Pushing the bus |
“¿Dónde está el camión?” (“Where is the bus?”)
To our surprise, there was only one bus instead of the usual two waiting for us outside the school at the end of the day. After being “sardined” into the bus, singing and travelling for 10 minutes, we saw the other bus on the side of the road, stuck in a hole. More than 20 of us jumped off the bus and started pushing it while the others helped by shouting the supernatural word “Fua!” in support. Five minutes later, the bus finally moved.
Once again, “El Fua” saves the day.
“¿Cómo no?”
Sonia Hoi Ching Cheung (Hong Kong, AC 10-12)
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