Costa Rican and US Schools

I find it interesting how involved the Costa Rican government is in their schools.  Not only are policies made but curriculum is provided by the government.  I think this is easier to do because they are such a small country.  It was also interesting to know that religion is an official subject in the public school system.  I wonder if this difference is because there is an official religion in Costa Rica.  I also noticed that the schools in Costa Rica seem to be less rigid in their student management.  Students were running between classes as well as pushing and pulling on each other.  I even saw on student kick open a classroom door.  I do not know if this is a difference in rules or that the students are able to move about the structure without being monitored.   I wonder if this is a cultural view of child monitoring or just in the schools.

The two public schools we observed, San Francisco and San Luis, seemed very similar outside of size.  In both schools there seemed to be a more relaxed relationship between teachers and students than we have in the US while still being respectful.  Despite this the students still went and stayed where they were instructed.  I do not remember hearing a still adult admonish a student. The furniture in the classrooms were also very similar.  The students in both schools felt free to move about the school on their own.

There were also differences between the two schools.  The San Francisco school was quite a bit bigger and because of this had multiple classrooms, some were special subject classrooms.  In contrast the Sam Luis school was made up of two classrooms open to each other.  It appears that all subjects outside of PE were taught in these classrooms.  The San Luis school as laptops for each student but I did not see any individual devices in the San Francisco school.  The San Francisco school also had a variety of faculty and staff while the San Luis school only had a few adults working in the school.

The classrooms in Costa Rica in general looked similar in set up to those in the US.  Students were all arranged in desks facing a whiteboard at the front of the class.  Most of the subjects taught were the same as the US.  All of the subjects taught in the US were also taught in Costa Rica.

Instead of each school district being able to pick their own curriculum as in the US the Costa Rican government provides the school with what and how they are to teach.  There also appeared to be less technology in the classrooms than the typical US school.  There are some additional subjects taught in Costa Rica Compared to the US.  These subjects are religion, foreign language, and home economics.