I just finished up my first week at Peru’s Ministry of
Education (MINEDU). I’ve mostly been reviewing academic papers and PowerPoint
presentations in an accelerated attempt to get up to speed. My MINEDU Dropbox
folder has swelled to twelve subfolders, and I’ve learned plenty of new
buzzwords in Spanish (my favorite so far is “retroalimentación,” which is a
very literal translation of “feedback”).
My main takeaway so far? I had no idea that policymakers
took academic papers this seriously. Around the Kennedy School, I feel like
it’s common to hear professors and students lament the divide between academia
and government. In the week that I’ve been here, however, I’ve seen the
ministry draw on sources of expertise as diverse as J-PAL, Pratham, McKinsey,
and the University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. It’s encouraging
and a little sobering to realize that those “ivory tower” debates sometimes
have avid listeners.
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