Dan D Dick wrote:
...It became quite clear our educational levels are not at all similar. She's certainly not stupid, just uneducated.
Bottom line - sometimes it's exasperating explaining what we would consider really simple concepts. On the other hand, she gets frustrated with my Spanish sometimes as well. She's not going to learn English, we're not going to live in the U.S. (visit, perhaps) & I see my old age in a Latin country, SJO, MDE or other(s). We have a great time together, seldom fight, I get along great with her family and I see a long future together. But, if it don't work out, there are plenty more to choose from. I think it would be impossible to "educate" her to a U.S. HS level & I think trying to would be unreasonable. In her country she's certainly in the majority as far a education is considered & fits in perfectly. Bottom line - she's a Latina with a Latina education & will be quite at home anywhere in the Latina world. Why try to change what works?
/dddick
VitaminC wrote:
Costa Rica has the best education in all of Central America and arguably all of South America, and has a 95% literacy rate. You're basically saying that in general Costa Ricans are uneducated, which might be true for some of them just as some US citizens are uneducated. But overall they are pretty well educated on a world scale, and trust me that they can grasp simple concepts just as easily as we can. Maybe the language barrier is what you're thinking equals a lack of education?
Basic literacy is really nothing more than the ability to read and write a little bit. In national statistics of the sort you quote above, many of the people considered literate probably only have the equivalent of a 4th grade education of a decent student in a decent U.S. school. Of course, many Americans at the end of high school only fall into that same 4th grade level.
Compared to most CRTers who on average have pretty good literacy skills, the average Tica (DDD says his is not a working girl) does not. Of course there is a real middle class in CR in which most are literate by our standards, but it's not large. The lower class has lower levels of literacy on average. CR needs to improve this but then so does the U.S.
As for the chicas, whether from CR, Nicaragua, Colombia, or DR, they are for the most part barely literate. Just look at their emails in Spanish if you have any doubt.
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