The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-09-13

AaSiid4 oltllli, sui VI MI.
and Mrs. j. F. Glenn, of Pres
pect, is one of the % students
from Duke University who part
Creed u voluntary summer
work project in Nicaragua.
Glenn. a 1862 holo graduate
of hanpden Sydney College,
read 4 report of the airplane
that was supposed to have
crashed near Farmville in one
OF the Central American news
papers. The mention of Farm
vile in this newspaper prompted
Glenn TO write the following let
ter to the Herald
l have just firished reading
report Of the airplane crash
near Farmville which came out
N one Of the local newspapers.
This is the first reference to
Virginia which I have encoum-
tered while in Nicaragua. and I
must admit that it is very re-
freshing to discover that the ra-
clal news IS not all that capti-
Yates the interest of Latin edi-
tors.
During by stay here in Ma
ragua | have been considering
writing down some of my i'm
pre sslons III case you might find
space in the Herald to print
some of them.
As you may already know, |
am one OF tWenty-el9ht graduate
and undergraduate st u de n
from Duke University who are
participating in Project Mica
ragua, a voluntary sum m e +
work project The group is di-
Vlded in two. my group berg
stationed in Mangua. the capt.
tai CITY. The other group is liv-
ing on the Atlantic coast and is
primarily concerned with the
construction of a medical clinic
HE Managua group is centeIing
its activities around the Baptist
School and most OF the mem
berS are teaching classes daily
My work is OF great interest
TO me. ! am responsible for IT,.
instruction Of English to all OF
the seventh grade students. En-
llsh is required subject in til
Nicaraguan schools and eaca
student must have at least tv1
years and preferably three
Most Of the stadcnts III II
classes have never studied Enc
llSh before ard equentlv II
directions and lectures are given
In Spanish The students who 3
tend the Baptist S c no o ar
among the fortunate few III this
country. Education is a primary
problem. and one which the At
lance for Progress is working
10 overcome. Only about ter out
Of every one hundred Mica
fauguan children attead schools
Ont Of every one hundred chill
dren Who do manage to attend.
only one win finish high school
Almost all Of the schools in
Managua are privately operated,
either by the Catholic Church or
by other governments. such as
the L S which directs the op-
orators Of the very exclusive
and expensive American School.
7 he Nicaraguan government
maintains only one public school
for the entire city Of some
235 coo population This modern
building IS nevertheless unbear-
ably crowded and must operate
IN shifts way into the night The
bells ale heard nightly rs lat
as eleven O'Clock Local sources
report that the classrooms. with
capacity of forty students. are
generally filled by at least one
hundred students.
Nicaraeuan hools. indeed
most Latin American schools.
are known 10 have a severe dis
cipllne problem Classroom Of
der II Virtually unknown Cheat
lrg is the accepted means of
faSSng difficult courses. No
teacher would ever cons der
LEAVING 4 piece Of Chalk u an
eraser III a classroom for
minute The students conceive Of
plliering as an amusing game to
be INDUCED in in order to break
the monotony of class. Rooms
are always locked during assem-
bly, for the security of the stu