#1345: questions: Going to Haiti, needs to know.....Grey replies

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Racine125@aol.com

<< I am new to the list and may be going to Haiti for a year or two.  Does 
 anyone have information on good English speaking elementary/secondary 
 schools you could share with me? >>

I taught at both Union School and at American Academy, and both have their 
advantages and disadvantages.

At Union School, the fees are rather high by comparison.  The student body is 
composed of the children of American business people and diplomats, but also 
the children of the right-wing elite - during the coup d'etat years, these 
kids would come in driving their own BMW's at an age when they could barely 
see over the wheel!  Or they would come with armed bodyguards.  And they 
would CHEER the daily body count - they had imbibed the scornful, snotty 
behavior of their parents. Classroom discipline was reasonably good, and the 
school is accredited in the United States.

At American Academy, the fees are much less.  The student body is composed of 
the children of the Haitian diaspora, Haitian-American kids who grew up in 
Brooklyn and Miami and imbibed all the worst attitudes and behaviors of their 
African-American classmates and so were sent back to Haiti by their 
frustrated families.  Discipline in the classroom was very poor, but the 
school is also accredited in the United States.

In both schools, the teachers are underpaid, overworked, and extremely 
dedicated, like teachers everywhere.  There really isn't a "happy medium" 
that I know of.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen
(Kathy S. Grey)

"Se bon ki ra", 
     Good is rare - Haitian Proverb

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