Ernesto Sirolli, a member of an Italian NGO, highlighted the importance of accurate diagnosis to prevent project failures during a TED Talk. He cited the "Waves of the Zambezi" project as a prime example of this principle.
His diagnosis was structured as follows:
- The Problem: Famine in Zambia
- The Symptom: Food scarcity
- The Causes: Lack of training and resources for cultivation
His team analyzed the soils of the Zambezi River valley, which met the project’s conditions. They trained locals and provided them with seeds to plant hundreds of tomato plants. However, when harvest time arrived, around 200 hippos emerged from the river and devoured everything. Observing this, the locals lamented, "This is our problem; we can’t cultivate our land." Surprised, the team inquired, "Why didn’t you mention this earlier?" The locals replied, "Because you never asked."
The diagnosis was flawed because the underlying cause of the famine in Zambia was, in fact, the hippos eating the crops.
I want to draw an analogy between the story of the hippos and the issue of education in Chile.
According to experts, the diagnosis of education in Chile is as follows:
- The Problem: Unsatisfactory learning outcomes
- The Symptoms: Most students struggle to read, write, or master basic math by the end of 4th grade, alongside high levels of violence and disinterest in learning.
- The Causes: Insufficient resources, training, specialists, and low parental involvement in their children's education.
Strategies have aimed to address these causes. While some symptoms have improved, the overarching problem appears to be worsening.
I chose to investigate and understand the symptoms experienced by students, which I categorized as follows:
Behavioral and Attitude Problems:
Misbehavior manifests through inappropriate attitudes and actions. Active inappropriate behaviors include uncontrolled actions like tantrums, shouting, throwing objects, violence, and insults. Passive inappropriate attitudes may present as non-responsiveness, sulking, playing the victim, evading, or failing to greet others.
Emotional Problems:
Challenges in managing emotions, specifically self-regulation and self-control.
Learning Problems:
Difficulties in storing and recalling information for later application. For example:
- Reading: Requires remembering letters and words to construct new meanings.
- Solving Math Problems: Involves recalling numbers, mathematical operations, and reading comprehension.
Demotivation:
A reluctance to engage in necessary tasks to achieve goals, often stemming from a lack of accomplishment.
Like the "Waves of the Zambezi" project, the diagnosis of unsatisfactory learning outcomes among Chilean students is incorrect. The root cause of these unsatisfactory results lies in the failure to form good habits necessary to acquire socio-emotional competencies and develop language and mental calculation skills.
