Let me introduce Kilah. She lives in Germany. I connected with her through a college friend that now resides in Germany now. We communicate through email due to the time difference. I texted her this week's question and this was her response:
I worked in Japan as an assistant language teacher and substitute teacher at an international school. In the Japanese schools it was not easy to identify students that live below the poverty line because they all had the uniforms and school materials. The language barrier also made it difficult. On the other hand, at the international school the tuition alone was almost that of a year in a university so I doubt there were students there that were affected by poverty.
In Germany, I do see it though. I am at a small international school and there is a family that has two children that attend this school. Without going into too much detail, I will say that their self esteem and confidence are impacted by their lifestyle. For one of the students there is more aggression and even bullying to compensate for his emotional needs. I have also seen embarrassment on field trips because everyone else has spending money and he doesn't. Appearances are not a big deal here so the worn clothes and style of dress do not cause him any grief.
I am glad Kilah shared with me that she has worked in more than one country. This was very useful information to know because I still have not been in touch with my Peru contact. From our conversation, I learned and gain insight that in Japan it is hard to tell if any poverty exist due to uniforms. Although Kilah stated they all dress the same, many families do not discuss their situations with anyone else, leaving it hard to determine who is less fortunate. Where in Germany, children are acting out and teased due to poverty issues.
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteGood post! I found it interesting that the Japanese students did not notice as much because of the students wearing uniforms but, as you said because of the cost there were probably not poor students there. I wonder if the government gives any assistance for education in Japan? I feel bad for the German student and unfortunately growing up in poverty I can relate. Great post, Thank you for sharing.
Susan
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteGood post! I found it interesting that the Japanese students did not notice as much because of the students wearing uniforms but, as you said because of the cost there were probably not poor students there. I wonder if the government gives any assistance for education in Japan? I feel bad for the German student and unfortunately growing up in poverty I can relate. Great post, Thank you for sharing.
Susan
Thank you for sharing,
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to see the different attitudes towards poverty in each country. I found it interesting that family situations are not discussed outside of the family that coupled with the fact that the students wear uniforms makes it difficult to tell who may be dealing with poverty. I also found it interesting that even though appearance is not important to the students in Germany their economic status is still an issue. It gives you a good look at how poverty is handled in different countries.