Monday 31 March 2014

A kindergarden in the forest



When my wife told me that she wants our little daughter to attend a kinder-garden “in the forest” I thought that it was another cultural "Czech singularity". Something connected to their deep love – sometimes craziness – about forests. She gave me only some general information: “they normally meet up in the forest and they spend most of the time outside” in her typical sweet save-words mode. It sounded nice enough to me, I didn’t ask anything else. Next surprise came when she told me that we have to pay 4.000 CZK per month (like 150 EUR, $100.000 Chilean pesos). Considering all my criticisms to the profits in the Chilean educational system I had some doubts...

“What? It is quite expensive to be just a “forest” kinder-garden” I said.
They don't get any allowance from the government. They have to survive with the money they ask to the parents, she replied.

I didn’t say anything else, but I didn’t make any calculation either. I just took my daughter there to see by myself how this “forest” kindergarten looks like. And I was very surprised by what I found and by what I calculated.
Picture of the whole place. Looks like a Franciscan place, very, very modest.
I have to say that the way going there is lovely; it was beginning of autumn before eight in the morning in a sunny but still fresh morning. My daughter took her mini-bicycle and we were talking all the way there, crossing our entire green neighborhood. After enjoying a lot the way I was in a shock when we reached the place. It was not just modest, it looked very poor and literally, in the middle of nowhere.

My first question to my daughter was how much she likes the place. "Si papito, me gusta aqui mucho" (yes dad, I like it here a lot), she said in her sweet spanish-castillan. After that, she ran to join the other children around. I count 15 kids and two teachers. In the whole they have 19 kids, but only few are going the whole week, thus the total amount they collect per month is around 60.000 CZK per month, 30.000 CZK (1.111 EUR) for each teacher, considering that they don’t have further expenses to cover (no light, water, rent or anything else to pay). That salary is around 3 times the minimum salary in the Czech Republic. Less than the average Czech salary, which is around 32.000 CZK. It was very much clear that they were not making any profit (lucro) there but just earning a salary, not a big one by the way. And putting lot of enthusiasm in doing their job.

Maringota (green stuff behind children) is the only indoor infrastructure, a place where children have their naps in winter. 
My wife told me that the plot they use, this peace of forest in the middle of nowhere, is completely for free. They have just few things around, seats made of wood, plus “Maringota” (see pictures). When they need to do indoor activities, they use the municipality's children room, where they have to pay a tiny rent. It is an indirect allowance.

In summer they have their naps outside in sleeping bags.
I have been thinking a lot about this since then. It is an impossible place in a country like Chile, where the quality of the education is measured by the “quality of the educational infrastructure”. It is in the first place and the basic input for all the educational marketing. Second, it is even impossible that with Chilean idiosyncrasy we will be able to send our kids to such place, in the middle of nowhere, without any further facility, like a bathroom (they manage in the forest). But my daughter is completely happy. She spends lot of time outside looking at the living things in the forest, discovering every day something new and getting back home full of new thoughts and ideas. It is quite clear to me that the educational experience is very good and does not have any connection with the “infrastructural quality” of the place. Do we really need expensive buildings to give our children good educational experience? Here everything is just based in this nice forest environment and the passion and dedication of two teachers. Furthermore, without any profit in between. 

They find out door educative activities through all the year, regardless the season or weather. My daughter drawing in the snow.


There have been many confusing attempts to define "profit" (lucro) in Chile, regarding education. Many of those analysis are completely out of focus. All of them seem to be forgetting that "profit" means capital gains, not of the labor force, which is called "salary". Instead, this example is very simple (you don’t need a degree in economics to understand it) and has very clear point. Do you agree
This is how they warm up their food... after collecting wood from surroundings.


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