A WORLD WE DARE TO IMAGINE Part 1
To fix any part of our world, we must fix the smaller aspects before we focus on the bigger ones. If we go by this method, our first task is to evaluate ourselves. If we take a minute, even a second, of our days to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves what we could be doing better as a human being, I believe our society would have some noticeable changes.
The next step that could be a possible game changer within our plan to change the world, is to put more focus on the growth of our children. Yes, education is key. Having a child be more advanced than the international curve is always a benefit. But what about how this child interacts with other people. If I had the chance to make a program, it would be to have students from all social, economic, and geographic backgrounds come together to interact with each other. I think one of the problems we have is the stark differences in our communities. The best way to break down these barriers is to put everyone together and have them learn how to interact with each other.
At the end of the day, the Children are our future. If we can get them into a position where they are comfortable interacting with anyone, problems of classism, racism, and religious discrimination will possibly deteriorate and die. And if we start with the children, we set a good example for the generations to come.
I totally agree that education in diversity is a good solution to the polarization and siloing happening today. How will you, like the woman in Half the Sky, convince parents from all social, economic, and geographic backgrounds to send their children to a school like that though? Would you somehow partner with other educational foundations to boost your credibility? There are colleges that offer full-ride scholarships to all students who are accepted, so that could be a model you could follow for what I'm gonna call your "school initiative". Where do you want to put this "school"? Would it even be a school, or just a place for kids to play together, like a summer camp?
ReplyDeleteWhen you pitch this, you could start with a personal story about being a kid and what you would have liked to see, or maybe what you imagine for a kid like you who will grow up eventually. Personalizing the pitch makes it more interesting and meaningful for us!
I have always thought about how amazing it would be to have some sort of international schooling standard. But as you said we need to begin by focusing on smaller aspects of the problem at hand. Maybe we can start with the US teaming up with another country and created a program that sends kids from each country to study and interact with children in the opposing country. I think if we can familiarize children with other cultures and differences early on we can ultimately raise a generation of kids who will be much more inclined to try and fix the world, one step at a time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this so so much! So much of someone's attitudes towards race, sexuality and gender is based on how they were taught as children, so this is a great idea. I think that Omer's idea is really great- cross cultural communication among children could be a game changer. Starting these communities within schools, that accept everyone, as opposed to focusing on groups that only accept people with a certain ethnic background, would be a great idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts! I agree with you too. The world is such a big place and each individual person only sees a small portion of it and takes that as an all-inclusive reality. Were you planning to make this something like a summer camp? Omer's idea sounds kind of like a studying abroad program. You could use something like that. But is there also a way you can avoid roadblocks such as going to another country only to interact with similar people? No student from USC would want to study abroad and stay in the poorest city with inadequate housing, food shortages, and homeless people. It is likely that the student would stay in a community that is similarly situated as his or her own. Does this make sense? I'm not sure if I'm explaining it properly. My point is that there needs to be a way for not only multicultural interaction, but also multi-social, multi-class, multi-economic standing, and so on.
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