Learning To Learn

In between teaching English classes one day, I made my way into the teacher’s area and sat down at a wooden desk that was way too small for me.  Seizing the tranquility of the mid-morning, I cracked open a book I set out to read during my time here in Guatemala.  The title of the book was “Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World”.  For anyone who might be interested, the book mostly explores the impact of development on most of the world’s population since WWII (It has not been a good thing).  I was sure that this book would help me learn why the public school I am volunteering at still does not have electricity, or why we sometimes spend the first hour of school sweeping mud and water out of the classrooms.   

What?

As I made my way through the introduction of my book, clouds gathered over the school.  Eventually there was not a sufficient amount of light coming through the windows.  This caused me to struggle with my reading, and since I could not turn on a light, I was forced to put down the book.  However, it was not long before I was learning again.

Since I have arrived here in Guatemala I have been asked a lot of questions.  People want to learn, so they ask questions.  Some of the questions make me uncomfortable, but most are appropriate.  Meanwhile, I go off and shut myself in a room to learn from a book.  Sounds kind of ridiculous.  Don’t get me wrong; there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning from books.  However, there is something wrong with the mindset that says I have more to learn from a book than from the person sitting directly across from me.

Unable to continue reading, I got up from the wooden desk that was way too small for me and began asking questions to the teachers sitting around me.  “What is it going to take to get electricity?”  “Who will pay for it?”  “Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse?”  I had to be cautious not to be too selfish with their time.  After all, they are getting paid to teach students in a rural village, not a gringo who somehow ended up volunteering in a remote Guatemalan village.

Mealtime however, offers up a perfect opportunity for learning.  I love mealtime where I am staying because most of the time the whole family is present.  Sitting around the table, there is so much to learn including, but not limited to: education, agriculture, nursing, cooking, Kaqchikel, and Spanish.

I cannot wait to take this desire to learn back to the U.S.  What are you doing for dinner this July?