Lessons Far From Home

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Lessons of an Imported Teacher

Prince George's County needed teachers. Mabel Ventura left the Philippines to fill the gap -- and earn a paycheck to help her family back in Manila.

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All her life, Mabel had worried about not having enough money. The 15th of 16 children, she grew up in a farming village. As a young girl, she carried lunch out to her father and brothers toiling in the rice fields. She remembers her mother waking at dawn to sell fruits and vegetables at the market, even if she was sick. Her eldest siblings dropped out of school to help support the family. Their earnings helped Mabel continue her education, and she won a scholarship to college.

As a teacher, Mabel eked out a middle-class life in a suburb of Manila. After school and on weekends, she tutored to earn extra money. Still, Mabel fretted. How long could her husband continue to work as a van driver, especially since business was down and his vehicle needed repairs? What could she do to help her bedridden mother, sick with Alzheimer's? What about tuition fees for her son and daughters? Could she pitch in to pay for a niece's schooling? If she and her husband couldn't save, would they be a burden to their children later?

At her old school, Mabel saw other teachers leaving for the United States. The first teachers, who left in the late 1990s, got jobs in tough high schools in New York and California. The pioneers encouraged others to follow them, but Mabel didn't want to go if she had to teach in a high school. Then, in 2006, one of her colleagues got a job at an elementary school in Prince George's. Filipino teachers were being hired in a range of school systems, including Baltimore, the District and Anne Arundel and Spotsylvania counties.

When Mabel first talked to her husband about working in America, she never thought she would make it through the application process. Then the recruiting agency told her that Prince George's had picked her for an interview from among hundreds of applicants. Her visa would allow Gary and the children to come with her, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to uproot them right away. First, she had to see whether she could handle the school year and life in America.

She and Gary hashed out the pros and cons of her going to the United States alone. Gary laid out his concerns: What about her high blood pressure? How would the kids fare without a mother? Was she going only because she felt forced to by their finances?

She assured him that she would take care of her health. They could hire a maid for the housework. His mother and two of her sisters could help take care of the kids. And she told him firmly: "This is the best way. My move is not for me. It's for all of us."

As life-changing decisions go, Mabel didn't agonize that much. Going overseas for more money is common in the Philippines. About 10 percent of the country's 89 million citizens live abroad, according to the Philippine Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Three of Mabel's relatives are nurses in Great Britain; four others work in telecommunications or office jobs in Dubai.

Mabel had known that the United States was a wealthy country, but she was still surprised when she first entered Samuel Massie. Several computers sat in each classroom. Each teacher received a laptop from the school system. Textbooks, picture books and curriculum guides lined the shelves. Teachers didn't have to buy their own markers and colored paper; everything was provided.

"If only we had these materials in the Philippines, we would have the best schools," Mabel said, rubbing her hands over the glossy cover of a textbook. "We wouldn't be in the Third World anymore."

Other Filipino teachers and the recruiting agency had told Mabel that many Prince George's students came from poor families. She was still a bit confused. Here, nobody was squatting on land and building impromptu shelters, as in Manila. The streets were not strewn with trash. Samuel Massie had been built just five years earlier.

"Is this really a depressed area?" Mabel asked. "Maybe I have not seen the other parts of the United States."

On parents' night in September, Mabel and her teaching partner stood outside their classroom to meet their students' families. They had covered the door in aqua paper decorated with bright yellow stars. A sign read: "We Are All Superstars." The teachers had planned a word search game with a prize. A sample of work from each student had been stapled together and was ready to hand out. Mabel hoped to talk to the parents whose kids were struggling with the alphabet or flaring into tantrums.