Conan O’Brien got to go back to elementary school…in Haiti. Watching him with the kids is pretty funny, and watching their reaction to him is even funnier. That look of ‘what in the world is he saying?’ is just classic when he starts pronouncing what’s on the board. And when he gets to pounding on his desk and they go along with it the effect is awesome. Apparently every student in the school is there on a scholarship, so that seems pretty special from the get-go. Schools like this are something unique and quite necessary in some areas where there is no free, formal education that can benefit every child. I don’t really know how it works in Haiti and I won’t pretend to but the opportunity to learn and to better one’s life is always something worth watching.
One thing we take for granted way too much in America is our education. We simply think that our kids will go to school, learn, and then automatically want to be a functioning member of society. Throughout each generation it’s been seen that the constant need to push and force educational standards onto the students has been met with more and more resistance that’s creating a very negative effect, and that is that kids are starting to see their education as a joke. In countries such as Haiti and across the world education is a very important factor of life that tends to separate those that want to succeed in life from those that do not. It might seem elitist, but an education is a very important factor in the success of a person. Even those with no formal schooling that have gone on to greatness have either admitted to missing out on something in their formative years or have remained ignorant and watched their fame and fortune go down the tube from the lack of a proper education that can bolster their given talents.
Education is after all not just about standardized testing and learning the rules of the school and how to be a great student. It’s about bettering yourself through the process of learning new things and then learning how to apply them to the world in which you live. It doesn’t take a high-priced education to be an intelligent person, but it does take the opportunity and the desire to learn. That is what is in danger at the moment, the desire to learn new things and to advance in life that many young people throughout the world are either not taking advantage of or are being disillusioned by. The pressure of being educated has become too much for many people from a young age, and has made them lose all love of the educational process by the time they’ve hit junior high in some areas, let alone high school.
In those countries where free education is either non-existent or not as available however the need and the desire for a good education is something that needs to be nurtured and allowed to grow. Perhaps the US could take a lesson or two from those countries.
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