Teaching Chile

Deirdre Newman

Robert Schilling is not the kind of guy who viewed retirement as a

time to downshift into first gear and focus primarily on himself.

Au contraire.

At first, the Newport Beach resident’s wanderlust inspired him to

roam the globe working on environmental projects for Earthwatch, an

institute that organizes environmental expeditions to help

researchers with their scientific studies.

But the former Spanish teacher and high school administrator soon

returned to his passion of developing curriculum and created a

foundation to help teachers in impoverished areas of Africa and Latin

America.

The Schilling Foundation now focuses exclusively on Chile. It

leads workshops based on specific teacher needs in a country where

the sharing of ideas among teachers is not common, Schilling said.

“We’re the only one that provides training for teachers and brings

them together to discuss stuff that’s important to them,” Schilling

said.

Schilling began teaching Spanish in the La Puente School District

in 1946, then worked his way up to assistant superintendent. He

retired in 1981 on his 60th birthday.

In traveling the globe with Earthwatch, Schilling said he realized

that countries that needed educational help the most were the ones

with the worst educational systems. He created the Schilling

Foundation with the philosophy that just throwing money at a problem

without taking action would not be successful.

The foundation also includes Newport Beach residents Steve Morris,

who helps out with administration, and Chris Bakewell, who lends his

teaching expertise.

After sending letters out to Latin American countries inquiring if

they needed some help with curriculum development, Schilling heard

back from a school in Chile that wanted to establish an oral English

language program.

In 1991, Schilling flew to Chile to implement the program he

devised.

Three years later, an agricultural school in Chile opened a high

school and Schilling coordinated a program to integrate the math and

science programs there.

Through the years, teachers who received guidance from the

Schilling Foundation have helped the organization train other

teachers. Schilling touts the fact that his programs are approved by

Chile’s Ministry of Education

“We want teachers to feel they are important people,” Schilling

said. “Our programs are offered so that they can go back to their

classrooms and implement them the next day.”

Morris said the foundation’s work is so successful that it is

slowly changing the insular attitude of Chilean educators.

“Chile is a little bit different than the U.S. in the sense that

when you have something good going for you, they don’t like to share

it,” Morris said. “But these people have turned that around and have

been so successful that it is attracting attention.”

The foundation also worked with schools in Africa until it got too

expensive, Schilling said. While he regrets pulling out of the

continent, he is heartened by the fact that there are a lot of other

agencies there that continue to donate money and resources, which is

not the case in Latin America, he said.

“Who gives anything to Latin America? Nobody,” Schilling said.

Schilling said the foundation’s continued involvement in Latin

America is very rewarding.

“The people are so [darn] grateful,” Schilling said. “It makes you

feel so humble. They treat you like a king.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.