A DANGEROUS EDUCATION

The USA is the most dangerous place in the Western world to go to school. For the last 20 years, our students, educators, and parents have lived with the reality of school shootings. America’s gun violence epidemic has been infecting America’s schools and this violence is having lasting consequences for millions of American children.

But children across the globe face other dangers in order to get an education.  Many parents know that if their children are to be lifted out of poverty, they need to go to school, no matter the means.  We so take education in our country for granted.

Recently, I came across an amazing series on Amazon, called  The Most Dangerous Ways To School. This series should be shown in all schools for our students to better understand the importance of education. This series shows how determined children can be when it comes to getting an education; especially with the dangerous journeys and long ways home they have to endure

According to UNESCO, progress in connecting children to schools in third world countries has slowed down over the past couple of years. Areas that lack suitable school routes can often flood, making it even harder for kids to commute. Dangerous paths and the obstacles on the way to school are one of the main reasons why many children decide to quit education.

The solution might seem straightforward: build roads and bridges, buy buses and hire a driver. However, the lack of funds and recurring natural disasters in many countries make it difficult to provide children with the solutions they so desperately need.

Facing the most extreme conditions, the children in this series must march, climb or swim their way to school. In doing so, they fear neither brutal cold nor dangerous terrain. They must conquer floods and face wild animals. And yet they have only one goal in sight: a better life. But the path towards this goal is a breath-taking mixture of adventure and danger. These children have the most spectacular and most dangerous way to school in the world: sometimes the most beautiful as well.

"This series captivates through a unique mixture of breath-taking scenery, enormous struggle and danger coupled with childlike curiosity, happiness and inquisitiveness. Everyday routine meets the spectacular. For most, getting to school is just a routine; for these children, it can be a brutal challenge. The difficult, often dangerous way to school, dramatically shows just what some people are prepared to overcome in the hope of a better life. In the midst of the breathtaking nature on one side and the challenges that face the children on the other, it becomes uniquely clear how important the opportunity of education is for so many people in the world. The series shows us some of the world’s most remote locations; The Himalayas, Kenya, Nepal, Oymyakon in Russia and Peru; beginning with their living environment and continuing over the way to school until they reach their goal."

It is hard to say which was my favorite in this series, as each episode gave so much information, but I loved Mongolia, a place with a harsh unforgiving climate of -50 most days of the year.  Only  when temps reach – 54, do the children stay home from school. One family still lives in a yurt, yet the father takes his daughter to school on a motor bike, across ice and snow. Of all the schools, theirs was the most modern and the children learn chess.

Lake Titicaca

I loved watching the Uros Indian children brave the waters of Lake Titicaca in Peru, as well as the children of Papua New Guinea (the snack was a cluster of maggots), trudging through one of the world’s largest rain forests.

Every morning three sisters climb into their dugout in order to row to school. They live on the east coast of Nicaragua, one of the world’s poorest countries, and the youngest of them has just turned five; the oldest is nine.

They row across the Rio Escondido, one of the largest rivers in the country, and one of the most dangerous routes to school. The girls must watch out for snakes lurking in the trees over the river, and while the two oldest struggle against the current, the youngest  must ensure the dugout does not fill up with water – because it has multiples holes and could sink at any minute. I wept at this episode.

3 Sisters in Nicaragua

One of the problems, across the world in these remote areas, is the children are so tired from the many hours exerted in getting to their schools, that when they do arrive, concentration is limited.  The teachers in most cases are very understanding and take this into account.

This series reveals perseverance, faith and  the willingness to face danger in the thirst for knowledge  which drives the young children and their parents to go great lengths to overcome all obstacles. It should be a wake up call for all in our wealthy country to appreciate what we do have!