Struggling to Rebuild

From: Learning Matters
Series: Lessons from Haiti: Schools after the earthquake
Length: 04:38

Most Haitian schools suffered at least some damage in the January earthquake. If they weren’t completely flattened, they’ve since been deemed “structurally unsound.” Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: Struggling to Rebuild
From: Learning Matters

Sopudep_small Some schools set up benches outside and hold classes in the open air. But then, space becomes an issue; schools that once served 500 students may only be able to accommodate, say, 100. And all of this, of course, applies only to kids who went to school in the first place–less than half of Haiti’s youth went to school before the earthquake, and that number has plummeted now that so many families have lost everything.

More from Learning Matters

Caption: Mackenton Louis reads to a group of kids at Lycee Toussaint L'Ouverture in Port-au-Prince, Credit: Judith Scherr/Learning Matters

Read, Read, Read! (07:52)
From: Learning Matters

A group of readers heads out to tent camps around Haiti to read to children displaced by the earthquake.

The Impact of IMPACT (13:01)
From: Learning Matters

What happens when a 24-year veteran teacher is suddenly rated "ineffective" and loses her job?

Generation Plagiarism? (03:43)
From: Learning Matters

The New York Times recently referred to today's youth - the "digital natives" - as "Generation Plagiarism." What do young people have to say about this?

Rethinking Teaching...Looking for Supermen? (11:09)
From: Learning Matters

Paul Vallas thinks the era of teaching as a career is coming to an end. What does the experiment in New Orleans tell us about what it means to be a teacher?

How 'America's Toughest High School' Turned Itself Around (08:18)
From: Learning Matters

Walter L. Cohen H.S. in New Orleans, LA was once called one of the most dangerous schools in America. Not anymore.

Detroit: Fighting like Children...over Children (08:18)
From: Learning Matters

Among Detroit’s many problems: a public school system so deep in debt that last year, the state took it over. Michigan’s governor hired Robert Bobb, a former city manager, ...

Detroit: paying the piper, calling the tune? (05:18)
From: Learning Matters

Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb was brought in to fix a school system that's a big mess. But who's paying his salary? Private foundations that support charter schools.

Life Through a New Lens (03:57)
From: Learning Matters

One actor from the cast of the new HBO television show "Treme" is doing more than just acting.

Kady Amundson - "The Mentor" (06:16)
From: Learning Matters

University of Tennessee graduate Kady Amundson’s days rarely end when school is over. At the start of her Teach for America assignment, her school faced administrative and ...

Colleston Morgan - "The Realist" (04:33)
From: Learning Matters

Meet Harvard graduate Colleston Morgan. His first two years as a Teach for America teacher were highly successful. So why did he leave the classroom to pursue graduate school?

Piece Description

Some schools set up benches outside and hold classes in the open air. But then, space becomes an issue; schools that once served 500 students may only be able to accommodate, say, 100. And all of this, of course, applies only to kids who went to school in the first place–less than half of Haiti’s youth went to school before the earthquake, and that number has plummeted now that so many families have lost everything.

Broadcast History

www.learningmatters.tv

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

Most Haitian schools suffered at least some damage in the January earthquake. If they weren’t completely flattened, they’ve since been deemed “structurally unsound” – too unsafe for children to attend. Some schools set up benches outside of their building and hold classes in the open air. But then, space becomes an issue – schools that once served 500 students may only be able to accommodate, say, 100. And all of this, of course, applies only to kids who went to school in the first place – less than half of Haiti’s youth went to school before the earthquake, and that number has plummeted now that so many families have lost everything. Producer Amanda Thieroff visited a school outside of Port-au-Prince that’s in the process of rebuilding.

OUTRO:

Since the recording of this story, SOPUDEP school has reopened at its original site in Morne Lazarre, and students are attending classes in the courtyard outside of the school. Meanwhile, construction at the new site continues.