Chapter Ten-- Investing in Education

Chapter Ten-- Investing in Education

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."-- Derek Bok

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What better way to celebrate the middle of the week than a two hour discussion on Half the Sky? Written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheyrl WuDunn, Half the Sky focuses on "turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide." This week's chapter was on investing in education, a solution that has become very pertinent in our weekly discussions. 

Class began with a brief discussion about what education means to us. Most answers were focused around the act of learning and gaining knowledge.

Our first activity was a "Life in the Village" Simulation organized by USAID (United States Agency for International Agriculture Development). The goal of the simulation was to get an idea about the difficulties people in developing nations face. We broke into small groups, now classified as "households," and were given a a spreadsheet of incomes and expenses, as well as "rules" each family must obey. The task is to simulate four years of financial decision making while enduring unexpected events, thus emulating real life. Below is the spreadsheet full of family information, income, and expenses.

After calculating each year, we reconvened and discussed what we had chosen to do. Some years curve-balls were thrown at families. For example, one family had an unexpected death in the family and had to pay for funeral services which completely wiped out their total savings. Other families were obliged to give money to their cousins if needed, which meant that one could be obliged to pay for his/her nieces and nephews to go to school, thus leaving no money to pay for his/her's own children's education. That really amazed me. That in some countries, family ties are so strong that one could jeopardize his/her own family because of having to pay that stipend. 

 If money was limited one year, households chose to only send one or two (out of three) of their children to school. It wasn't a surprise that most families kept at least one child in school, because we have been focusing on the power education has on communities. However, I did this simulation in my International Agriculture Development class  and every time money was tight, education was the first expense to be cut. When the majority of students (or people in a real world situation) do not understand how important education is, it does not become a priority. I think the decision for cutting education and it's expenses, as done in the International Agriculture Development class, depicts real life situations worldwide. While I fully believe that education is the key to solving all world injustices, how does a family sacrifice buying food to send their children to school? How is a father supposed to justify letting his family go hungry, just so his children can get an education? While my answer to my own question would to be create free education worldwide, that goes off into a whole other topic and creates a much larger discussion. 

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Going back to the simulation, I really enjoyed it because it gave us an insight to how families around the world have to manage their finances. It painted a bigger picture about struggles  people face. There is a Native American proverb that says, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." It is one thing to sit around and discuss how education is important and should be implemented everywhere, but it is a completely different thing to be in the situation where one must choose to get an education, or let their family starve. As far as I'm concerned(and my apologies if I am incorrect), none of us have ever had to endure this.

To relate education back to us locally, we quickly discussed the poverty line in the United States. Even with public education, education is expensive and most families are just barely getting by. To learn more about poverty relating to education in the US, check out this link:  http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/07/12/poverty-rate-still-high-among-us-children-report

We then shifted gears and watched a video titled, Class Dismissed, The Death of Female Education (posted below). It focuses on Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani student and education activist. At the age of 11 years old she wrote a blog about her life under the Taliban rule. She began doing interviews and was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize. Of course this heavily displeased the Taliban and on Monday October 9, 2012 Malala was shot while she was in a school bus on her way to school. She survived the shooting and has gone on to create a petition, using the slogan "I am Malala" demanding that by the end of 2015 all children worldwide must be in school. Malala has won many awards, and in April 2013 she was featured on the front cover of Time magazine as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World." Mahatma Ghandi once said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." To say Malala Yousafzai is an inspiration would be an understatement. Through all of her struggles and battles she has had to overcome, she is still pushing to change the world. 

Key points and incredible facts from the video:

• "Schools are not places of learning, but places of fear and violence." --Anonymous student.
• "There are people who want to stop educating girls through guns." -- Sahudin Yousafzai
• Schools for girls in Swat Valley are under attack by the Taliban.
• Boys schools remain open, but more than 200 girls schools have been blown up by the Taliban.

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After we learn about something going on oversees, we try and relate it back to the United States and then more locally to our UC Davis campus and/or hometowns. We continued the discussion by watching a TEDTalk called How to Escape Education's Death Valley by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken Robinson is an English author, speaker and adviser on education. Originally born in Liverpool, he now lives in Los Angeles. Robinson believes that creativity must be integrated into education. In the video below, Robinson describes three principles that are needed for the human mind to flourish. While Robinson is very accredited, he is also a great comedian! I encourage you all to check out his video

Main points from Robinson's speech:

• Robinson suggests that education has three pillars:
• 1. Diversity, Schools should offer a broad curriculum and encourage individualization, because all children are different.
• 2. Curiosity, All humans are curious, and it is "the engine" of achievement
• 3. Creativity, There should be less emphasis on standardized testing and more emphasis on alternative learning techniques and processes
• "No Child Left Behind Act" is ironic because it is leaving millions of children behind.
• Education under "No Child Left Behind" is based on conformity
• America spends money on education, but in the wrong direction
• Within the American culture it has been a trend to de-professionalize teachers
• Dominant culture of education has come to focus on testing. Emphasis  on standardize tests needs to be lowered, (which is not to say that they should be completely gone).
• Testing should support learning, not obstruct it.

As said many times throughout the book, education is the key to solving all world problems. As humans we should strive to create equal and free access to education systems around the world. As Nelson Mandela once said,"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

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To finally conclude class, we came to a decision about our group project. After being blown away by this book, and considering that there is a "What You Can Do" chapter, our class decided that we wanted to get involved and do something. We have decided to raise money for Camfed, a British based NGO that is dedicated to eliminating poverty in Africa through the empowerment and education of girls and young women. Our class goal is to raise $100, enough for a few girls to get an education. If you would like to make a donation or find out more about Camfed check out the link below! 
https://camfed.org/donate/personal-fundraising/218-uc-davis-first-year-seminar-half-the-sky/