Yes, we've all experienced it every time we return to our home countries to visit the family. Everything seems fine with life, then just as everyone is getting more friendly and familiar, the Good Cousin Dilemma pops up.
"Did I tell you that Jenny has been nominated to be head girl? She is also completing her exams early this year, and Johnny, well, he is now president of the Science club. They're going on a visit to SpaceX next month. How're your kids doing?" Nods in a concerned manner.
"What are the schools like down there? They still go to school, right? Right?"
Granny chimes in. "Are your kids getting a proper education, love? I do worry."
Jenny and Johnny excelling in traditional school setting 😡
You smile politely at both and do your best to avert Granny's fears and not measure your children up against your sibling’s kids, whose lives are clearly not as fantastic and exciting as your kids. Your children are creating memories and life skills that they could never get back home, right?
Right?
But later on, when you're alone with your thoughts, that nagging feeling wanders uninvited into your mind. Am I doing the right thing by raising my kids in the jungle? Or will they be penalised later in life by a society that really doesn't care how fantastic their childhood was? A society that doesn't appreciate how many great beach days the kids had, or that they could go to school barefoot and were physically grounded every day. The thought begins to haunt you,
"Are my kids falling behind?
Are my kids falling behind?
Falling behind?
Falling behind?
In reality, as children get older, i.e passing the early elementary or primary school ages, many families do decide to relocate back to their home countries so as not to let cousins Jenny and Johnny get too far ahead educationally.
Paradise is lost.......
for now, while the kids orient themselves to get some worthwhile and essential accreditation under their belts.
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It’s difficult to be immune to the Good Cousin Dilemma. We all want what’s best for our kids, right?
The question is, what is best?
Will our kids be able to thrive in a big, city University having spent all their lives down here in the jungle?
Will they even be able to get into college having received a non-traditional, eclectic education thrown together by mostly transitory teachers?
At Jungle Academy our mission is to provide globally recognized, worthwhile accreditation for teens living here in the jungle. It is to put parents' minds at rest that their kids can access quality and consistent accreditation, while still enjoying all the benefits of a non-traditional lifestyle.
The IGCSE by Cambridge University, is one of the most widely recognized and respected accreditation bodies in the world. The curriculums for each subject have been thought-out and planned by educational specialists for decades. Each subject's curriculum has been carefully crafted by professionals for academic rigour and robustness. They are the perfect gateway for a child to continue their careers in whatever line they choose, without having to sit further exams to show what they have been learning. Almost no other accreditation system in the world has this level of trust from colleges or institutions globally. We believe we are striking a good balance between academics and freedom. Something that is definitely needed here in the jungle.
It’s a fact that not everyone in the jungle believes that a child's education should be predominantly student-led. One of the glaring characteristics of living here is the transitory nature of teachers and mentors. Whereas back home, it's not uncommon for a teacher to work at a school for many decades or even their entire career; here, learning facilities often struggle to keep a teacher for a single semester, let alone a full year. This obviously affects the delivery of content and the implementation of coherent curriculums, as the quality and motivation of both students and teachers oscillate due to the transitory nature of the community. In such a fluid environment, we believe it's necessary to put in some constants, via a curriculum, in the core subjects of Math, English, Spanish, Science, and a Humanity like Geography.
IGCSE's curriculum guarantees global consistency and quality because, for those of us who have lived here for a while, we know that the urge for both teachers and students to repeat the same old learning patterns becomes very strong and compelling.
Another year, another sloth project, right?
At Jungle Academy, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, or build something entirely from scratch.
Instead we’re trying to maximise and optimise a student’s time in the classroom. so that they can have more time doing all the fun stuff Costa Rica has to offer.
The majority of transitory or temporary teachers are simply not qualified to design and implement curriculums for older students. This is why we know we are making the right decision in following the IGCSE curriculums and exams for our students.