Empower ~ Educate Effect

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” -Nelson Mandela

[educatingtheworld-blog]

I will be attending the iEarn Youth Conference in Doha, Qatar next week and will be presenting on the topic of universal education. There will also be many other interesting presentations! The conference will be streaming live on this link! 

[genderacrossborders-blog]

A lack of infrastructure, missing teachers and poor quality of education in government schools keep many parents from sending their children to school, especially girls. In rural Rajasthan, only 1 in 100 girls makes it to class 12 and only 15% of children can read a simple story. In her presentation Educate Girls founder Safeena Husain will demonstrate with practical, first-hand experience how she creates a sustainable environment for empowerment within the communities that will thus lead to systemic change in the Indian educational scenario.

[educatingtheworld-blog]

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My Art Installation

[firstbook]

[betweenmindandheart]

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EDUCATE TO CHANGE

[educatingtheworld-blog]

Dressings by Leslie Wilson

I thought my schooling should be seamless

And made of rich brocade.

  I dreamed its threads would be spun

Into mutable patterns

Of memory and beauty,

With light and dark shadings

Curving, intersecting,

And joined into fantastic, interwoven designs.

        I saw my education cloth as having a texture --

And a sliding, slippery rhythm

As its folds would sweep and whisper

Across the cutting room table. 

  And with the help and guidance from my teachers

I thought I would be allowed to fashion and sew it

Into a garment that I was proud to wear --

For a lifetime.

         My hands would be able to sweep this majestic cloth

Caressing, feeling and remembering

Its deeply embedded patterns --

Each loop, each wondrous thread

Would be woven to suit my special talents and potentialities.

         I envisioned that I would be able to see the beauty of my garment

Reflected in the awe of passersby,

In the eyes of strangers whom I met,

Expressed by friends and family.

But most of all, see it, everyday

In the visions of my reflected self.

         But I have been given patched burlap rags instead.

Ones fashioned by others

Who either do not know or care

About my internal bends and curves and measurements.

This is base, bare stuff.

Leavings from others, and from long olden times --

It is chaffing, constricting and not suitable for lifetime wear.

These rough-patched raiments

Remind me that they have been passed from hand to hand,

From one time zone into the next.

         There are no subtle threads or majestic shadings here.

No whispered-touch upon my skin.

And no deep, rich-etched patterns

Lie beneath a subtle sheen.

To tantalize my eyes or elevate my mind.

This plain, coarse stuff is spun for functional utility --

Merely a sparse, shabby covering.

Created by greatly sparing cost.

    And I am left

Shivering, cold, disheveled,

Ashamed that others will see

What my schooling dressed me in.

         Is it that I am unworthy of that other kind of cloth?

Am I too base, or low-born

For garments made of richer thread?

Did I ask too much?

Or did I try to reach too high?

        They told me to be

All that I could be.

They whispered --"If only you would try but once again!"

But when I did, they sent me to the ball

Dressed in dirty rags and hand-me downs.

         They wonder why I am angry,

Mad, or disbelieving.

Afraid to dance again to their disheartening and misleading tunes.

But at the ball I noticed that there were others

Who had been clothed in my sweet dreams of rich brocade

        I think my schooling should have been seamless

And made like finely woven cloth . . .

[educatingtheworld-blog]

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

In Katherine Boo's novel, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, a local bridge school meets to teach kids English and try to get them encouraged in further education. However, this is unrealistic. The head of the school, Asha, does not in fact teach, but her daughter Manju does, who is actually probably better qualified. (Chapter 4, Track 3) The school meets, and Manju teaches; however, she does not have the access to teaching materials to properly led a class. Also school comes last in the students’ lives. They have to help earn money to buy food by scavenging or getting temp work which is often long and tiring. Therefore, little time is left for school. Inadequate education extends to the university level as well. Manju is fortunate enough to be taking a class on English literature; however, rather than reading the books, they are given summaries to read, memorize, and recite on the exams. (Chapter 4, Track 2) Corruption is one of the major factors of the poor education system in Mumbai. Teachers and school leaders often take the government funds for the schools and hold class only when officials come to observe. Without a proper education, children lack the means to get out of the slums and to prevent the circle of destruction of poverty.

Check out: http://mweber314.wix.com/issues-of-annawadi

[abretumente]

[educatingtheworld-blog]

MY ART INSTALLATION

Up today till 7:30 at Sewickley Academy

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My cousin Annie singing her original song "Arms Wide Open." Great song with a great message!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TACaZiXaBcc

[educatingtheworld-blog]

32 Million Americans are Illiterate

Two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70 percent of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level.

1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read. 

As of 2011, America was the only free-market OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) country where the current generation was less well educated than the previous. 

Literacy is a learned skill. Illiteracy is passed down from parents who can neither read nor write. 

Nearly 85 percent of the juveniles who face trial in the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, proving that there is a close relationship between illiteracy and crime. More than 60 percent of all inmates are functionally illiterate. 

53 percent of 4th graders admitted to reading recreationally “almost every day,” while only 20 percent of 8th graders could say the same. (2009 study)

75 percent of Americans who receive food stamps perform at the lowest 2 levels of literacy, and 90 percent of high school dropouts are on welfare

Teenage girls ages 16 to 19 who live at or below the poverty level and have below average literacy skills are 6 times more likely to have children out of wedlock than the girls their age who can read proficiently.

Reports show that low literacy directly costs the healthcare industry over $70 million every year.

[smellslikegirlriot]

[adlinapanca]

[educatingtheworld-blog]

Globally, 85% of juvenile delinquents are illiterate