XS Kids education

One of the main differences between the Third World learning environment and the First World environment  is in some cases at the barest level: The structure.

In the kind of work and research we do, many times we see pictures of very nicely done class rooms that seem to be fully equipped.

But most times when you go out side the door there is a stark difference between what a child in the third world will see than what a first world child will see.

There is also a great difference in the services that they can receive and the laws that they and their parents must follow.

Many in the Third World seem to learn very well and grow up to know most of the fundamentals that is needed to continue their education at a higher level any where in the world if they finish school. As dropping out is also a problem in the third world as well a the first world.

But the difference is in the reasons  and the choices that are available and  are very different. If a child is 11 years of age in the first world they cannot drop out of school in most cases, one day they can, but this usually occurs at about 15 to 16 years of age.

There are always cracks that some can fall through and kids can just stop going. But most times this will be looked at as a mistake, as almost all cases of children who do not go to school in the first world are investigated and the child and their family are forced to send them or to make other arrangements to see to it that the child  receives an education some where.

In the third world the social concept is much different.

At any age and any time children can stop going to school in many nations.

Because there in most cases is a fee involved the parents can just say they do not have the money. If a child in the third world leaves school at 9 years of age they can some times find a job.

Children in the first world cannot.

The idea to the judgment of first world educators in third world settings is this is how this works.

Weather it is fair, right or wrong this is the system. This also means something to people that come from some nations as this is part of their up bringing. If you do not take the time to get involved  and get in on the struggles of poverty then you can in no way know how this person feels.

Their whole life and the life of their family, maybe even less promising siblings who had to work to help pay for the  smarter child's education revolved for many years around school and fee's.

In the course of this the eyes of the child saw many things.


 * They saw children drop out in 2nd and grade 3rd  grade and every grade they were ever in.
 * When they got older they passed these same children and families and saw what became of them too.
 * There are many sad, sad stories in the eyes of one who has received a third world education.
 * Devastating stories of mothers and father pleading with school officials to let the child still go to school even though they could not pay.
 * Children whose care taker got sick; at first to sick to work, then to sick to come out side and  finally to sick to stay alive any longer.

Whole families went one by one down the line until your school chum from two houses down eventually became the head of their house hold and then one day had to leave because it did not work out, a 12 year old being in change of the house.

Children have stolen, sold their bodies, and just about any thing a child can do even shine shoes to pay for their own education.

The difference between education in the third world and the first world is impossible to explain because its not the education but it is the story of a child's whole life.--216.194.7.113 01:23, 7 September 2007 (UTC)