On The Ground - Learning To Appreciate My Learning

On the Ground - Learning to Appreciate My Learning

If you educate a man, you educate an individual. If you educate a woman, you educate a nation. —African saying

WITH LITTLE FANFARE, I was put on a big yellow bus as a little girl and sent to a public school, along with all the other kiddos in our small country town. Just as I barely noticed the miles of grasslands we passed on the drive to school, I also took my education for granted. That all changed on another bus—this one driven through India’s city streets, teeming with people.

As we drove through India, we passed pigtailed girls and handsome young boys as they walked to and from school. In their crisp uniforms, complete with ties, they looked much like the American children who head off to school wearing backpacks loaded down with books. But on the ground, getting an education for a child in India is much more difficult than it appears through the bus window.

Education is free for Indian children as long as their parents can cover the cost of a uniform and backpack—which equals about 43 percent of the average family’s total annual income. Education there is a sacrificial labor of love unlike anything we see in the United States.

Among the little girls of the Dalit caste, the possibility of getting an education was only a distant hope yesterday. Few women in this lower-class caste, as well as the tribal women, know how to read or write. As these mothers walk their little girls to school, they understand that the sacrifice they are making will change everything, both for their daughters and for future generations of Indian daughters.

During a school tour, a group of fourteen-year-old boys and girls confidently shared their hopes and aspirations with us. “I want to be a teacher because I want other children to enjoy the opportunity to learn.” “I want to be a software engineer because technology is important for helping us communicate.” “I want to be a pilot because I love planes.” Listening to these future professionals who walk to school from the jungles or are packed like sardines and bused to school from miles away, I was convicted. Why hadn’t I ever viewed my own education as a privilege and a gift?

Intelligent people are always ready to learn.Their ears are open for knowledge.Giving a gift can open doors;it gives access to important people! (Proverbs 18:15-16)

Looking out my bus window, both as a kid and as a tourist first arriving in India, I never gave enough thought to the blessing of my education. But on the ground in India I learned to appreciate my learning.