Blog post by Breanna A., Team Ethiopia 2011
As a college student in the United States, I have been in school for 17 years. Though I love school most of the time, there are days I find it dull and boring and I’m tempted to skip class and procrastinate homework. Some of my teachers seem passionless about the subject they are teaching and I question the class’s importance, but I have been fortunate enough to have some excellent teachers that have taught excellent courses. Through the good and the bad classes, I have tried to keep a thankful attitude that I have been blessed with an education, because I know it is a privilege denied to many.
Children who are not educated are highly susceptible to conditions such as becoming child soldiers, being forced into labor or sexual exploitation, or may turn to criminal activity to make money for food. There are many causal issues that lead to a child’s lack of education.
A major cause of illiteracy in children is becoming orphaned. Children are naturally reliant on parents, but a child without parents must find a means of survival, and that usually results in having to leave school to earn money. This child then becomes enveloped in a downward spiral of poverty, with no real means of escape. (more…)
