A Discussion with Herdy Bravo, Student, Central American University, Managua, Nicaragua
With: Herdy Bravo Berkley Center Profile
August 4, 2014
Background:
As
part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in August 2014 undergraduate
student Gianna Maita interviewed Herdy Bravo, a student at Central American University (Universidad Centroamericana, UCA). In this interview, he discusses
his year of teaching in Chinandega and theories of development.
What
are you doing this year?
This year, with Padre [Julio César] Sosa, I have decided to spend one year of “retreat,” but it’s not spiritual. I am leaving my studies for a bit and going to volunteer with Fe y Alegría. So I am teaching class in a Fe y Alegría high school in Chinandega in a region called Las Mariitas. I am teaching sociology and philosophy classes.
Up to now, what have you learned from your experience?
I also live at the high school, and there is boarding for students who live far away. So I learn professional skills from my classes, but I also learn from living with the students and some of the teachers who live there. I have realized how difficult it is to be a teacher. It made me aware of problems that are in the news, for example the situations of teachers, their motivation for teaching, and the economic problems that people face. I think I am still learning about things like group management.
What motivated you to dedicate a year to this project?
The motive is personal; it was a personal decision. For me, education is the best way to help someone. But it also has to do with a personal and professional search, if I want to be a teacher or if I can dedicate myself to this in the future. It is also a year for me to prepare my thesis and do research. I have free time there, so I am reading more.
What are the connections between your experience and the social responsibility of the university?
Well, I think that when you say “social responsibility”…you realize that you can do something, and that you are ethically obligated to. You have to learn and you have to move, because you are reading about the problem or seeing the problem in the news… [Social responsibility] is not discursive, it is not about talking about it; it has to be a personal experience. I don’t like saying “responsibility” because it makes it sound guilty, like an ethical duty… It has implications of guilt. But to help because of guilt—I don’t know how to say it; I guess it is not healthy.
Is there anything about your experience that I am not asking about?
I have the advantage of being born in a specific context: my mother was a combatant is the Salvadoran war. I grew up in a community of repatriated Hondurans in El Salvador. I was born into a context of support and of development projects in a poor community where people were teaching each other how to read. Thanks to my mother, I have always understood what it means to go to a place and try to improve the conditions of the people there.
I say that it is an advantage because I believe that it is difficult to look at people through statistics. It is necessary to approach people without a paternalist interest, because otherwise there will always be distance. It is something that I try to do, for example. In my case I try to avoid this situation [of paternalism]…because you are looking at people, not a problem.
...I have realized that within education and development, it seems that the problems are less material ones. It seems to me that they are more cultural, educational, or spiritual and psychological. There is an exhaustion of motivation for students. There is a mountain of cultural problems that are external. I believe that it includes the issue of consumerism and that whole capitalist culture that affects every corner of the world. I am realizing that there is not much difference between someone from the city and someone from a rural area. Many people have cellphones and smartphones and those things. This culture of globalization is supposed to be all over the world; where is there a thread between here and there to create profound change? There are themes of gender, too.
…I’m also interested in culture as part of education and formation. I think that there are themes of art and literature that are related to development. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think that culture can be used to make you aware, for example, of your own development as a person… Culture is used as a tool. That is one of my interests. I don’t know if I’ll do anything with it in the future, but I’m interested in it.
This year, with Padre [Julio César] Sosa, I have decided to spend one year of “retreat,” but it’s not spiritual. I am leaving my studies for a bit and going to volunteer with Fe y Alegría. So I am teaching class in a Fe y Alegría high school in Chinandega in a region called Las Mariitas. I am teaching sociology and philosophy classes.
Up to now, what have you learned from your experience?
I also live at the high school, and there is boarding for students who live far away. So I learn professional skills from my classes, but I also learn from living with the students and some of the teachers who live there. I have realized how difficult it is to be a teacher. It made me aware of problems that are in the news, for example the situations of teachers, their motivation for teaching, and the economic problems that people face. I think I am still learning about things like group management.
What motivated you to dedicate a year to this project?
The motive is personal; it was a personal decision. For me, education is the best way to help someone. But it also has to do with a personal and professional search, if I want to be a teacher or if I can dedicate myself to this in the future. It is also a year for me to prepare my thesis and do research. I have free time there, so I am reading more.
What are the connections between your experience and the social responsibility of the university?
Well, I think that when you say “social responsibility”…you realize that you can do something, and that you are ethically obligated to. You have to learn and you have to move, because you are reading about the problem or seeing the problem in the news… [Social responsibility] is not discursive, it is not about talking about it; it has to be a personal experience. I don’t like saying “responsibility” because it makes it sound guilty, like an ethical duty… It has implications of guilt. But to help because of guilt—I don’t know how to say it; I guess it is not healthy.
Is there anything about your experience that I am not asking about?
I have the advantage of being born in a specific context: my mother was a combatant is the Salvadoran war. I grew up in a community of repatriated Hondurans in El Salvador. I was born into a context of support and of development projects in a poor community where people were teaching each other how to read. Thanks to my mother, I have always understood what it means to go to a place and try to improve the conditions of the people there.
I say that it is an advantage because I believe that it is difficult to look at people through statistics. It is necessary to approach people without a paternalist interest, because otherwise there will always be distance. It is something that I try to do, for example. In my case I try to avoid this situation [of paternalism]…because you are looking at people, not a problem.
...I have realized that within education and development, it seems that the problems are less material ones. It seems to me that they are more cultural, educational, or spiritual and psychological. There is an exhaustion of motivation for students. There is a mountain of cultural problems that are external. I believe that it includes the issue of consumerism and that whole capitalist culture that affects every corner of the world. I am realizing that there is not much difference between someone from the city and someone from a rural area. Many people have cellphones and smartphones and those things. This culture of globalization is supposed to be all over the world; where is there a thread between here and there to create profound change? There are themes of gender, too.
…I’m also interested in culture as part of education and formation. I think that there are themes of art and literature that are related to development. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think that culture can be used to make you aware, for example, of your own development as a person… Culture is used as a tool. That is one of my interests. I don’t know if I’ll do anything with it in the future, but I’m interested in it.
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