Only 11 remain. Why?
BECA decided to put on its own little "entrance" exam for the students, just to make sure they had some basic math skills.
We just figured that you had better know how to do the likes of addition, division, and multiplication without a calculator if you want to have an accounting job.
I'm glad we did it, but the results really sucked. These people are high school graduates -- all of them -- but three of them got less than 25%.
What to tell these three? All three eager to study something. All three eager to learn a career. All three eager to grab an opportunity with BECA.
In the end, we said something like this: "Your math really doesn't cut the mustard. You deserve an opportunity, though, so you have a month to come up with another career choice. Okay?"
All three were most gracious. Their faces told it all, though.
In two years here in Nicaragua, it was one of my most unpleasant BECA days.