The United States and Central America have differences that have become apparent throughout time. The United States encourages individuals to pursue education and has started to incorporate the Spanish language into classroom curriculum’s. Meanwhile Central America is starting to increase literacy and mass media among their curriculum’s.
Like the rest of Latin America, it is primarily a Spanish-speaking region, but there are places that speak French (such as Haiti, which has another official language, Creole, as well) and English (mostly territories of England and the United States, such as the Virgin Islands) (PSU, 2019). Central America being diverse in many ways goes to show that individuals have learned to adapt to the changing environment. Languages can be barriers when it comes to communication between individuals or groups of individuals. This occurred in a previous place of employment where I had worked as an orthodontic assistant. The orthodontic office primarily had English speaking patients but there was also a portion that spoke Korean. The staff employed at this company spoke English, and when it came to communicating with the Korean patients, we often found understanding one another was complicated.
When it comes to education in Central America, many in the overall population do not receive more than a very few years of primary education (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014, p. 340). Literacy is increasing along with technical education in Central America and competition is high when entering into a university. Great strides have been made in the past two decades in access to education throughout Latin America, but the majority of children in the region are still not receiving a high-quality and relevant education. As a result, too many Latin American youth entering the labor force lack the skills necessary to find dignified work and participate in an increasingly competitive, information-rich and globalized economy (World Fund, 2017). In the United States, education can continue into adulthood and having a degree is valued by organizations and companies. From personal experience, many individuals whom I graduated high school with, went on to pursue degrees and further their education.
Central America has such a diverse culture and resources available to be able to enhance education within the country. The languages that vary across Central America allow the country the opportunity to grow culturally and advance in other ways. As languages continue to be pushed in the educational setting, Central America is well rounded in this area compared to many other countries.
References
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed., pp. 337). N.p.: Routledge.
Pennsylvania State University. (2019). Central America and Mexico: L09 Introduction to Central America and Mexico. Retrieved at: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1964331/modules/items/25821716
World Fund (2017). Education Gap In Latin America. Retrieved at: https://worldfund.org/site/publications/