Colombia
Summary
Since the inception of Colombia, the government has formulated laws to improve schools. These have included such efforts as standardizing educational programs, raising teacher qualifications, and making buildings more sanitary. Unfortunately, for several reasons, the different governments that held power could not implement the measures they mandated. One important reason was that the tradition of regionalism impeded the development of national plans to improve education. A second reason is the historical lack of financial resources and the extreme inequality among the people, which made educational reform difficult.
Unfortunately, educational development in Colombia has not been consistently successful in overcoming political obstacles and finding resources to support reform. For example, during the 1960s and 1970s, the central government took steps to increase its authority. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, maintaining a desire for local control, Colombians adopted measures that prevented central authorities from garnering the control needed to enact widespread improvements.
At the same time, economic improvement was inconsistent. In the 1970s, industry surpassed agriculture as the major contributor to the nation's economy. Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali became the manufacturing centers. Although coffee remained Colombia's most important crop, in areas such as Medellín, cocaine and heroin contributed billions of dollars to an underground economy and stimulated such legal trades such as construction. Thus, although most Colombians had no connection to the drug trade, a large part of the relative economic health of Colombia during the 1980s came from that trade (Williams and Guerrieri).
Colombia enjoys many natural resources and agricultural advantages. Thus, some citizens have achieved worldwide fame, but many other citizens languish in poverty. During the 1990s, Colombia enjoyed the prestige associated with being the home of novelist and 1982 Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel García Márquez. In addition, Colombia supported such world-class painters as Alejandro Obregón, Fernando Botero, and Enrique Grau. Unfortunately, in rural areas especially, children faced inadequate educational opportunities, and a high percentage left school early (Williams and Guerrieri).
Fortunately, opportunities to increase the level of popular learning exist within the culture. In Colombian cities, urban design and architecture is varied and interesting. Distinct regional traditions that have been preserved nurture a rich and varied body of Colombian music. Such cultural resources may sustain dramatic increases in all levels of education that will overcome the political and economic problems afflicting the nation (Williams and Guerrieri).
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—Joseph Watras and Isabel Cavour
Additional topics
Education - Free Encyclopedia Search EngineGlobal Education ReferenceColombia - History Background, Constitutional Legal Foundations, Educational System—overview, Preprimary Primary Education, Secondary Education