Education is a Privilege
Posted by admin in education, tags: Countries In The World, Education Is A Privilege, Ghana, Mud HutsOver ten years ago, I worked in a private school in Nairobi, Kenya. People who haven’t had a chance to travel often have a skewed vision of Africa. I had certain expectations when I got there but I soon realized that I had been misled by things I had seen on TV about all the different aspects of that amazing continent. In any case, the one thing I can say about my experience there, it that I met the most interesting, most motivated and mature students of my entire carrier. These children, from a very young age, were simply grateful for their education.
A few years ago, I met another teacher who had taught on the other side of Africa, in Ghana, but not in a private school like me, but in a little village school lost in the bush somewhere. One might find this strange but she, also, met the most interesting, most motivated and mature children there.
These children, both the ones I met in Kenya and the ones she met in Ghana could hardly have been any more different. Most of my students’ future was pretty much traced already, with their parents’ business to take over, no doubt of a college education and a promised life of comfort. My friend’s Ghanaian students had none of that but loved school and would have done anything to be there.
In a conversation with a very good Ghanaian friend of mine more recently, we both agreed that in both cases, and in Africa in general, people see education as a privilege, so they make the most of it. She, too, grew up in Africa and came from a better off family than the average African, but she never took education for granted. Over there, and in many other countries in the world, it is never a guarantee, when a child is born, that he/she will be going to school. So when you do, you appreciate it.
It is true that the image that we tend to have of Africa is the less developed side of the continent. We see the way people live in the mud huts and overcrowded vehicles and wild animals surrounding villages in the middle of nowhere. We see also kids living in the streets of big cities having to resort to anything they can to survive. These kids would give anything to go to school. But what are the chances?
I read an article a couple of days ago about two afghan sisters who were walking to school one day and got attacked by men who threw acid at them. They were teenagers, going to school. The men didn’t want women to have an education. These girls are more determined than ever to go to school.
Not so long ago in the United States of America, some people were not given the same access to the same education because of the color of their skin. Up until fairly recently, women also didn’t receive the same level of education in many countries.
There are still many nations with continue reading

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