Olga Alejandra Zepeda Pérez is 21 years old and about to graduate from UADY (the local university). I met her first when researching the programs for alternative education in Canicab. I was very impressed with her presence and teaching abilities. When I observed her tutoring math she had mentioned that she had issues in high school related to math. One morning we met and she told me a little more about the issues. It is an amazing story of perseverance but the events unfortunately are not unique. I asked her first to tell me a little about her experience in high school. At that time she was training to a become a nationally recognized archer (for the Olympics).
I studied in 2 high schools, the first one was high school # 2 from the UADY and I studied first and second semester there, well 3 high schools, but in 2 different systems, I studied there and then I went to the high sport performance center, which uses the open high school system, you go to class, they give you tutoring and then the last year I got out because I decided to quit sports and I focused on studying at home, but with the same system, which is open high school, which is the one where I’m offering tutoring at now, it’s how I finished.
And well, I entered high school #2, like everyone I presented the admission test and the reason for which I got out was that 2 reasons got together a lot in my life, as I was studying, I trained every day, I was an archer, Monday to Friday so it was pretty heavy because I came home from school, I ate, I got changed, I went to train and then I came back and did my homework. Sometimes training required also Saturdays and Sundays so I didn’t really put much time on school and in the subjects where I didn’t need to study more than needed I did well, like logic, etymology, I just did my homework and there was no problem at all, but there were subjects in which I had certain deficiencies, in math, from the primary school and these deficiencies had never been a problem for me before, to pass subjects, so that together with the fact that, well that’s also a story on its own, I studied in 4 primary schools, I was born in Chihuahua and then I lived in Mexico city, and then here in Yucatan, so I was in 4 primary schools.
It was very cool in Chihuahua, because parents paid a bit more, so we would have music lessons, dancing, in Mexico city I was in a bad school, they made fun of me because of my accent so I changed to another school and I did very well those 3 years, then I changed back here and the cultural shock was very sudden, because, I don’t mean like everyone is like that, but lots of people don’t like it when the people aren’t Yucatecans.
So they didn’t talk to me at school and it was a very strong emotional situation and my teacher, she was so bad, so so bad, she didn’t even, I mean she did gave us class but I don’t remember I learned anything important with her, what I do remember is that there were classes, she had favorite students and some students told the supervisor about this, that they didn’t like it and he defended the teacher, ah but she was so bad!
I got into high school and the first year I had a teacher who, he arrived, he was a math teacher, he opened the book and said “copy these exercises” and the answer was next to it, and it was like, at the beginning I tried to do them but well you did them and handed them and it didn’t matter what your answer was, you’d get an A so you could had copied, cheated, just wrote anything and you’d get an A so it was the same and since you just wanted to pass, I didn’t understand it at the moment, I kept on passing subjects and didn’t see that problem and I think my parents didn’t either, because they saw my grades as a measurement way, “my daughter is doing well” so there was never such an idea that I would need that support.
In second year we had that teacher for a while, and then his contract ended and we were left without a math teacher for the rest of the year. In third year we had like 3 different teachers, because the teacher’s contract lasts 6 months, so they may renew it or not and many times it’s teachers who haven’t studied to be teachers, and not even math, sometimes a math class is given by someone who studied to be an artist or hasn’t finished his secondary school, just because he is friends or a son or daughter of a teacher.
And in third year a very good teacher arrived, who taught in high school and who wanted to help us, but he told us himself “you should already know this, I can’t put you stuff from third year because you haven’t seen stuff from first year” so he tried to help us but to be honest, I also didn’t have much interest in learning, just to pass the subject and stay out of trouble and it was the same, if you did the homework you passed and who didn’t do the homework didn’t pass, but even so I didn’t understand, and when I got in high school, the high schools from UADY are known for being among the best in the state, so you get in and basically they don’t ask, which is also a mistake on their part, what you know and what you don’t have a diagnoses test.
So I arrived and my math teacher explained things based on what I should know, but I had no idea, no idea at all! I didn’t finish seeing arithmetic and they already talked about algebra, it’s the logic which what it worked, I haven’t even started seeing it with arithmetic so for me there was a huge gap.
But it’s interesting because its actually logic, for example, a similar reasoning is used to solve equations and I did pretty well and I simply loved it, I just was lacking theory and study habits. I didn’t have them so I didn’t get to study and I failed first semester and I kept on training, so I didn’t have time to study and the same thing happened with chemistry, so at the end of the year I owed 4 subjects and I couldn’t finish to understand the school logic because each subject is worth a certain amount of points, even if you failed, if you have the minimum you can advance to next year, so I didn’t understand and I remember I asked starting on the induction course to have this explained again to me because I couldn’t understand how could I pass the year with failed subjects, logic changes.
So I didn’t get it and at the end, today, I don’t know if I could had signed in for second year, I understand the logic now but I don’t know, and I tried but at the same time, I was doing a lot of sport and I tried to reunite school with this and to try to skip sport class at school, that would take into account all the training I was doing outside, in some private schools they do it but they didn’t let me so I had to take karate and the pressure was too much because the exam period matched the national and estate period so it was a lot of pressure and when I got to study I felt nothing was getting into my head , I felt I couldn’t do it and I had the idea that I had failed.
It was in that year, those circumstances of having failed, and the fact that I wanted to do sports, I didn’t think about getting in, what career to study, I said I will focus on the school that will allow me to do this, so I began to realize , when I entered and I had a terrible trainer, they changed trainers, one from China arrived and he started training me, it was a very sudden change, because in my mind I had the idea that I had failed, in school and sports, because I didn’t qualify for the nationals that year and at the beginning of the year. I had the goal to do well in everything: pass school and qualify in nationals, at the end I had nothing so it was very hard emotionally.
Many of my training mates decided to leave, because there were troubles with that trainer. I changed trainers and started to get better but I also realized that maybe that wasn’t my thing , because it was very demanding, all your life had to be sports, and I started to see how sportsmen lived , the ones going to the Olympics and well in USA you can combine university and sports, but not here, universities don’t have the infrastructure for it, so you either do one thing or the other.
And many people doing sports I know finish high school by 25 years old because they either study or do sports, I started to realize I didn’t want so much pressure, I wanted to do other things but there wasn’t a middle point, not here, unless you got very good and universities paid you to be there but even so they don’t have the infrastructure so that you can train with them, so I started to think about quitting sports, and I decided to get into the university, and I realized I was pretty behind, so I got out and I studied at home and in a normal school year I finished and in that third year I finished the subjects.
And when I entered the high performance center I had very good teachers, I was surprised, from my experience, and I had a math teacher, she had studied to be a math teacher! So they learn this career, with math then didactics and all that stuff and I really liked it, I saw how it was much more easy that what I thought, it was quite simple with my deficiencies and all because it was more personalized as well, she put herself in the middle and there was a semi-circular table, and we were like 3-4 students in different levels and she was with one for 20 minutes and she gave you exercises and then you did it on your own and then with the next one, and this allowed me to advance with the help I needed, very fast, so I kept her exercises and I use them in Canicab because I liked it so much I kept the exercises for like 4 years, it was very cool.
And the interesting was that the teacher used the same books I used in high school #2 as reference, it was half of the material I used, it was the same I had already studied, but the explanation was so different.
Where did you learn your English?
Where? At school, in a school, but not public school, my parents had to pay for it, a private school, since I was in secondary, middle school, yes middle, but I couldn’t finish because I didn’t have the money to pay the last __ and at the university they didn’t allow me to take English classes because I already had the minimum level, so it was like “but I want to practice” and they were like “you can’t be there”, because they see it like a special service.
But the interesting this is that I had, my colleagues all had the minimum level and they are supposed to be able to talk in English, slowly ok but you must be able to do it, but they can’t read a text in English, they can’t tell you that they can, some teachers gave us some articles in English and they are like “Ok I need someone in my team who knows English” and for example the practice we are doing for research, you know, the resume must be first in Spanish and later in English and they can’t do it, they ask me for help. The thing is that they passed their exam, but they can’t do it, it’s weird.
Olga volunteers at Canicab - a small Mayan village outside of Mérida, When I visited on a Sunday she was working with a high school student who was preparing for a state level math exam. I asked how the student did on the test.
Liliana was so nervous she wrote her name bad, she was so nervous, she told me they ask you your last, last name, you know, your father’s last name and she wrote her name, she was so stressed she couldn’t read well and she told me the exam was not difficult but she was so nervous, there is a logic in the exams, you know they give you a number by student and she never used it, you must fill like little circles and with the numbers and she didn’t know how to do it and she was asking for help every 5 minutes, like “I don’t know how to do this part” and there was this girl who started to help her, and then she was like “ok fine I can do it” and then she was like “Oh I wrote bad my name” and she was asking every 5 minutes for help but she told me today exam was not difficult but she was too nervous, she was the last finishing , and the people who gave her the exam started talking and she was like “ahhh! I must finish now!” and she gave the exam and go away.
So I told her that we are going to train the stress thing for the exam, because we practiced that but I mean, it’s different, it was another school, another person. A lot of stress, yes a lot of stress.
But I told her not to give up, she has a lot of discipline now from the time I met her, to now, I can see a true difference, she hasn’t approved the subject but I can see a big difference, because she didn’t study by herself, she didn’t do it, she was like one week we saw something and the next week was the same and the next week was the same and the next week was the same and then we go do something more, and the next week was the same and it was like 6 months doing the same thing until one guy arrived, an adult who told me “I must finish high school because my son is in middle school and I want a better job so I need to finish “ and in 3 months he passed math and Liliana saw that and said how it was possible that he is doing it and I’m not and she started studying, that’s why. That’s amazing! And I couldn’t convince her to study until she got angry or something like that “he’s doing that and I’m not!”
And that was in November, she was like doing 6 months with 3, no, 6 more units, and I got sometimes so frustrated because of that and I was like “I’m doing my effort but they can do more and they don’t do it” and I was like “I don’t know what to do” until he arrived.
More on Olga and Canicab in the coming up.
I studied in 2 high schools, the first one was high school # 2 from the UADY and I studied first and second semester there, well 3 high schools, but in 2 different systems, I studied there and then I went to the high sport performance center, which uses the open high school system, you go to class, they give you tutoring and then the last year I got out because I decided to quit sports and I focused on studying at home, but with the same system, which is open high school, which is the one where I’m offering tutoring at now, it’s how I finished.
And well, I entered high school #2, like everyone I presented the admission test and the reason for which I got out was that 2 reasons got together a lot in my life, as I was studying, I trained every day, I was an archer, Monday to Friday so it was pretty heavy because I came home from school, I ate, I got changed, I went to train and then I came back and did my homework. Sometimes training required also Saturdays and Sundays so I didn’t really put much time on school and in the subjects where I didn’t need to study more than needed I did well, like logic, etymology, I just did my homework and there was no problem at all, but there were subjects in which I had certain deficiencies, in math, from the primary school and these deficiencies had never been a problem for me before, to pass subjects, so that together with the fact that, well that’s also a story on its own, I studied in 4 primary schools, I was born in Chihuahua and then I lived in Mexico city, and then here in Yucatan, so I was in 4 primary schools.
It was very cool in Chihuahua, because parents paid a bit more, so we would have music lessons, dancing, in Mexico city I was in a bad school, they made fun of me because of my accent so I changed to another school and I did very well those 3 years, then I changed back here and the cultural shock was very sudden, because, I don’t mean like everyone is like that, but lots of people don’t like it when the people aren’t Yucatecans.
So they didn’t talk to me at school and it was a very strong emotional situation and my teacher, she was so bad, so so bad, she didn’t even, I mean she did gave us class but I don’t remember I learned anything important with her, what I do remember is that there were classes, she had favorite students and some students told the supervisor about this, that they didn’t like it and he defended the teacher, ah but she was so bad!
I got into high school and the first year I had a teacher who, he arrived, he was a math teacher, he opened the book and said “copy these exercises” and the answer was next to it, and it was like, at the beginning I tried to do them but well you did them and handed them and it didn’t matter what your answer was, you’d get an A so you could had copied, cheated, just wrote anything and you’d get an A so it was the same and since you just wanted to pass, I didn’t understand it at the moment, I kept on passing subjects and didn’t see that problem and I think my parents didn’t either, because they saw my grades as a measurement way, “my daughter is doing well” so there was never such an idea that I would need that support.
In second year we had that teacher for a while, and then his contract ended and we were left without a math teacher for the rest of the year. In third year we had like 3 different teachers, because the teacher’s contract lasts 6 months, so they may renew it or not and many times it’s teachers who haven’t studied to be teachers, and not even math, sometimes a math class is given by someone who studied to be an artist or hasn’t finished his secondary school, just because he is friends or a son or daughter of a teacher.
And in third year a very good teacher arrived, who taught in high school and who wanted to help us, but he told us himself “you should already know this, I can’t put you stuff from third year because you haven’t seen stuff from first year” so he tried to help us but to be honest, I also didn’t have much interest in learning, just to pass the subject and stay out of trouble and it was the same, if you did the homework you passed and who didn’t do the homework didn’t pass, but even so I didn’t understand, and when I got in high school, the high schools from UADY are known for being among the best in the state, so you get in and basically they don’t ask, which is also a mistake on their part, what you know and what you don’t have a diagnoses test.
So I arrived and my math teacher explained things based on what I should know, but I had no idea, no idea at all! I didn’t finish seeing arithmetic and they already talked about algebra, it’s the logic which what it worked, I haven’t even started seeing it with arithmetic so for me there was a huge gap.
But it’s interesting because its actually logic, for example, a similar reasoning is used to solve equations and I did pretty well and I simply loved it, I just was lacking theory and study habits. I didn’t have them so I didn’t get to study and I failed first semester and I kept on training, so I didn’t have time to study and the same thing happened with chemistry, so at the end of the year I owed 4 subjects and I couldn’t finish to understand the school logic because each subject is worth a certain amount of points, even if you failed, if you have the minimum you can advance to next year, so I didn’t understand and I remember I asked starting on the induction course to have this explained again to me because I couldn’t understand how could I pass the year with failed subjects, logic changes.
So I didn’t get it and at the end, today, I don’t know if I could had signed in for second year, I understand the logic now but I don’t know, and I tried but at the same time, I was doing a lot of sport and I tried to reunite school with this and to try to skip sport class at school, that would take into account all the training I was doing outside, in some private schools they do it but they didn’t let me so I had to take karate and the pressure was too much because the exam period matched the national and estate period so it was a lot of pressure and when I got to study I felt nothing was getting into my head , I felt I couldn’t do it and I had the idea that I had failed.
It was in that year, those circumstances of having failed, and the fact that I wanted to do sports, I didn’t think about getting in, what career to study, I said I will focus on the school that will allow me to do this, so I began to realize , when I entered and I had a terrible trainer, they changed trainers, one from China arrived and he started training me, it was a very sudden change, because in my mind I had the idea that I had failed, in school and sports, because I didn’t qualify for the nationals that year and at the beginning of the year. I had the goal to do well in everything: pass school and qualify in nationals, at the end I had nothing so it was very hard emotionally.
Many of my training mates decided to leave, because there were troubles with that trainer. I changed trainers and started to get better but I also realized that maybe that wasn’t my thing , because it was very demanding, all your life had to be sports, and I started to see how sportsmen lived , the ones going to the Olympics and well in USA you can combine university and sports, but not here, universities don’t have the infrastructure for it, so you either do one thing or the other.
And many people doing sports I know finish high school by 25 years old because they either study or do sports, I started to realize I didn’t want so much pressure, I wanted to do other things but there wasn’t a middle point, not here, unless you got very good and universities paid you to be there but even so they don’t have the infrastructure so that you can train with them, so I started to think about quitting sports, and I decided to get into the university, and I realized I was pretty behind, so I got out and I studied at home and in a normal school year I finished and in that third year I finished the subjects.
And when I entered the high performance center I had very good teachers, I was surprised, from my experience, and I had a math teacher, she had studied to be a math teacher! So they learn this career, with math then didactics and all that stuff and I really liked it, I saw how it was much more easy that what I thought, it was quite simple with my deficiencies and all because it was more personalized as well, she put herself in the middle and there was a semi-circular table, and we were like 3-4 students in different levels and she was with one for 20 minutes and she gave you exercises and then you did it on your own and then with the next one, and this allowed me to advance with the help I needed, very fast, so I kept her exercises and I use them in Canicab because I liked it so much I kept the exercises for like 4 years, it was very cool.
And the interesting was that the teacher used the same books I used in high school #2 as reference, it was half of the material I used, it was the same I had already studied, but the explanation was so different.
Where did you learn your English?
Where? At school, in a school, but not public school, my parents had to pay for it, a private school, since I was in secondary, middle school, yes middle, but I couldn’t finish because I didn’t have the money to pay the last __ and at the university they didn’t allow me to take English classes because I already had the minimum level, so it was like “but I want to practice” and they were like “you can’t be there”, because they see it like a special service.
But the interesting this is that I had, my colleagues all had the minimum level and they are supposed to be able to talk in English, slowly ok but you must be able to do it, but they can’t read a text in English, they can’t tell you that they can, some teachers gave us some articles in English and they are like “Ok I need someone in my team who knows English” and for example the practice we are doing for research, you know, the resume must be first in Spanish and later in English and they can’t do it, they ask me for help. The thing is that they passed their exam, but they can’t do it, it’s weird.
Olga volunteers at Canicab - a small Mayan village outside of Mérida, When I visited on a Sunday she was working with a high school student who was preparing for a state level math exam. I asked how the student did on the test.
Liliana was so nervous she wrote her name bad, she was so nervous, she told me they ask you your last, last name, you know, your father’s last name and she wrote her name, she was so stressed she couldn’t read well and she told me the exam was not difficult but she was so nervous, there is a logic in the exams, you know they give you a number by student and she never used it, you must fill like little circles and with the numbers and she didn’t know how to do it and she was asking for help every 5 minutes, like “I don’t know how to do this part” and there was this girl who started to help her, and then she was like “ok fine I can do it” and then she was like “Oh I wrote bad my name” and she was asking every 5 minutes for help but she told me today exam was not difficult but she was too nervous, she was the last finishing , and the people who gave her the exam started talking and she was like “ahhh! I must finish now!” and she gave the exam and go away.
So I told her that we are going to train the stress thing for the exam, because we practiced that but I mean, it’s different, it was another school, another person. A lot of stress, yes a lot of stress.
But I told her not to give up, she has a lot of discipline now from the time I met her, to now, I can see a true difference, she hasn’t approved the subject but I can see a big difference, because she didn’t study by herself, she didn’t do it, she was like one week we saw something and the next week was the same and the next week was the same and the next week was the same and then we go do something more, and the next week was the same and it was like 6 months doing the same thing until one guy arrived, an adult who told me “I must finish high school because my son is in middle school and I want a better job so I need to finish “ and in 3 months he passed math and Liliana saw that and said how it was possible that he is doing it and I’m not and she started studying, that’s why. That’s amazing! And I couldn’t convince her to study until she got angry or something like that “he’s doing that and I’m not!”
And that was in November, she was like doing 6 months with 3, no, 6 more units, and I got sometimes so frustrated because of that and I was like “I’m doing my effort but they can do more and they don’t do it” and I was like “I don’t know what to do” until he arrived.
More on Olga and Canicab in the coming up.