School Visit

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On Monday, April 21, I had the chance to visit a school in a suburb north of town: El Centro Polivalente de Arte de San Ysidro (escuela media #17). I was invited to visit by my friend, Inés Rey who teaches art there. It is a “collegio” or secondary school. The students I visited were mostly 3rd year, or seniors. The school specializes in the arts. Students take their regular, “polimodal” classes in the morning, then take art classes in the afternoon. I visited in the afternoon and saw a painting class, a printmaking class, a music class and a dance class. In the dance class, I watched the students practice two dances for an upcoming performance: the Chacarera and the Zamba. The Zamba is also a traditional Argentine dance - it is very different from the Brazilian Samba even though it is pronounced the same. The Argentine Zamba is danced with scarves.

I spoke quite a bit with the Director of the School (Ines Durante de Botti). She would be very interested in doing some kind of interchange project with a school in the US if it could be arranged. I learned a bit about how the secondary schools are structured here - the idea of a school focused on the arts is relatively unusual - there are only a few schools like this in the Buenos Aires area.

After elementary school (6 years), there are 3 years of basic secondary school, then 3 years of “Polimodal.” After Polimodal, students might go on to the University and take 2 years of Ciclo Básico Comun (General Education), then enroll in a particular Carrera (what we would call a major). If students don’t go to the University, they might enroll in what’s called “Tercerio” or “Escuela Técnica” which is the closest thing I’ve found to our Community College level. Interestingly, they are planning to locate an Escuela Terceria close to or adjoining the Escuela Polivalente that I visited, to give the students an option to continue their studies of art.

Here is the official web site about the educational system in Buenos Aires:
http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/educacion/?menu_id=9758

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