Monday, November 4, 2013

The Language of Life: Finding global education inspiration for your child

WISE Conference
I attended the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, last week at the invitation of Qatar Foundation International. The theme of the conference was "Education Above All." Thought leaders, community activists and parents from around the world convened, to discuss issues of access to education for the world's most vulnerable children; children who are currently battling poverty and times of war, to gain access to education.
During the three days at the conference I couldn't help but think about how fortunate we are in the United States that our children have access to a public school system. Yes, I will admit that we still have problems of equity in education to deal with, but for the most part, a majority of our students can get to schools without their lives being threatened. And teachers can teach without fear of having their lives threatened, or worse yet, being killed.
Many parents can relate to waking their child up early in the morning and having them cry out that they don't want to go to school because they are tired. This is in stark contrast to many children in developing nations who walk miles to one-room schoolhouses, with the hope that an education can change their lives and transform their world. It made me think of the responsibility that this access to education brings and how we as parents of students here in the U.S. can communicate to our children that education is a privilege. As the parents of Western children, how do we engage our children to demonstrate how fortunate they are to be born in a time and place where they have free access to education, while in many parts of the world, it is a rare gift? How can we foster an appreciation for education in our children to instill in them a life-long zest for learning?

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/11/04/5304190/the-language-of-life-finding-global.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/11/04/5304190/the-language-of-life-finding-global.html#storylink=cpy

1 comment:

  1. Hi,Business setup in Qatar needs a valid license to be able to conduct your company's activities.Thanks.....

    ReplyDelete