Education across borders PDF

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Education across borders...

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Education Across Borders May 8, 2019 Throughout this course, I have gained knowledge of other parts of the world that I did not know about. The countries I learned about were South Africa, China, and Afghanistan all of these are different in their own way no matter if it is the way their education is or simply the way they live or what is happening in their everyday life. For every place, we learned about I got to learn about all of them because they are all unique in their own way and one can learn a lot from the information provided. The most powerful lesson I learned from all is that education has to be appreciated because there are others that don’t have the same opportunity as someone else. There are many lessons that I learned from each place but the one that ties them up altogether is to never take advantage of my education. This one is highly important because New York has an education system that is there for us if we want it. That is more than many other individuals in the world can say because of how messed up other educations systems can be. For instance, in South Africa, their system is unfair because it was limited, not everyone could go to school for many reasons. Two examples that affected me the most was the fact that students had to only take one exam and that would determine their future, they would have to prepare for this all year without the necessary resources that are needed. For instance, in 2013 “78% of those who took the exams in 2013 had passed. However, only 31% passed with grades good enough to have the option of university education.” (Molefle). This shows that if a student does not pass there is no future for them. The government makes it difficult for people to be able to support themselves and their family. Furthermore, reasons as to why the government is unfair is because they did not want the people of color to have the same education as the white children did. In

1953 the Bantu Education Act was passed and it changed many people lives because the act was simply to make sure that the children would only learn things that would make them good enough for what the government wanted which was to work in factories and so on. (Baard & Schreiner) This goes to show how unfair and cruel the government is they only wanted people of color to get an education because it would be beneficial to them no one else. The government wanted the people of color to fail but they did not let that stop them they kept striving for what they wanted no matter if it took them their whole life. Surprisingly, after all, I have heard about China I thought that they had a perfect education system but then I realized that it isn’t as great as I thought. Students would be pressured to pursue a life that they had no interest in and that affected them. For instance, in order for them to select a university degree is by choosing the most degree that can accept their score, but that score does not determine what they are capable of (Yang, 2). The education system is not the only thing that played a role in that time period there was also Mao, he controlled everyone but most importantly he controlled the children from China. Chairman Mao changed China by using violence and the children were his guards hence what he used to call them “Red Guards”. They were under his protection so no matter what they did they will not be punished or arrested for it, instead they were praised as heroes and leaders. (Joseph, 11) This caused the children to disobey their parents by going against them and work for Mao. As I was learning this the first thing on my mind was how controlling that time period was for the people of China especially the children. People were making it seem as if it was the children’s fault that they were brought up in a time where they were given all of the power when in reality they did not choose to live like that. Imagine how the children felt with so much pressure being put on them and them constantly being judged for something they had no control over. It was hard to be

young during that time because their life was constantly at risk. Having the opportunity to learn about the history of China and how everything started to then see the transformation of how things are now was humbling. Humble because although I never experienced something similar putting myself in their shoes helped me understand that even if the individuals of China wanted to do something to change the way they are living serious consequences would’ve happened. Nevertheless, the youth of China had to overcome obstacles at such a young age I know that helped them grow up faster than they should’ve but maybe that helped them in the near future. Afghanistan like the other places was a hard place to learn about because of how badly people are being treated in their own home. I found Afghanistan to be one of the most unstable places being that it is a place where war happens all of the time and that affects the way that people live because they are constantly worried about their life rather than living freely. The lesson I learned from learning about Afghanistan is that if you want something in life don’t sit around and wait for it to come to you because you will be waiting forever. The reason being is because some individuals would sit around and wait to become successful while others are grinding every day in order to get what they want and deserve in life. “After he finishes his morning work shift, he walks 10 miles down mountains trails in northern Afghanistan to the first road, where he catches a bus for the last couple of miles to the teacher training institute in Salang. He walks back up the mountain another 10 miles to get home, arriving well after dark, just in time to rest up for his day job. In his determination to formally qualify as a teacher.” (Nordland, 1) That is an example of someone who wants to do better for his community and for themselves, he does not let the fact that the institution is far get to him along as he has the determination that is all that matters. Education in Afghanistan is more unfair than most reason

being is because the opportunity to attend school is not given to girls and this causes the family to make pretend their child looks like a boy so that the daughter can get a chance to have an education. In an article, it states “Mehran seems to have adapted well to her new role. She takes every opportunity to tell those around her that she is a boy. She will refuse sewing and doll play in favor of cycling, soccer and running.” (Nordberg, 2) Being that she was only 6 years old is unbelievable being put through that so young and making it seem as if it was normal. Taking advantage of any opportunity in order to be successful is the key to life although none of this has to happen if girls were allowed in schools, it is sad that they have to be put in this predicament. It takes a lot of courage to do something that you know is affecting you every day but it will be worth it later on in the future. Out of all things I have learned from South Africa, China, and Afghanistan I came to the realization that in every place things are different, there are different types of people who are running the place in their own way and don’t realize how much it can affect their people. Many lessons and ideas can be learned from each but the one that caught my attention the most was each of their education and how it works because education is very important without one there is not much to do in life. It is very eye-opening to see each perspective and how the people strive for success it is beautiful when people work hard for something they want even when it feels like their whole world is falling apart. I have learned to be more appreciative for everything I have because there are people who don’t have it and would do anything for it....