Invitation For Holistic Education in India

[SoulRiser]

I got this email yesterday:

Quote:Dear

Warmest regards from the Cohen Foundation, a non-profit educational research and development organization now working in India. We are currently organizing our second annual Children's Day event in India which will take place on November 14, 2008. The purpose of this event is to support an exhibition and conference for change and development of education in India. While we do not seek monetary support, we are trying to find established and esteemed institutions like yours who have a strong reputation for training intelligent, creative, and unique students. With your support we can issue in a new era of academics in India. If you would be willing to help us in improving our event this year by providing new and innovated techniques and ideas for education reform in India, please reply to this letter and we will provide the necessary information. We are looking forward to your reply.

With Sincere Gratitude,

Ms. Sarah Wilson
Administrative Correspondent
Cohen Foundation and Children's WISDOM project
http://www.cohenfi.org/

They sent it to a whole bunch of other people too, some of which I recognize...

Snippet from their site:

Quote:Lower Class communities in India come in many forms; some are in villages while others are in slums in the center of large cities. All suffer from a variety of inequalities that prevent them from developing into a healthier and more self-sustaining way of life. Some of the most marginalized people in these poverty stricken communities are women and children, and at CFI we are committed to redefining the rules of opportunity for these groups by providing services, aid, relief, and knowledge through international community based efforts. At CFI, our global family works to promote growth and development one life at a time.



All children deserve the right to good health and education without consideration to their economic or social class. Yet according to research studies directed by other non-profit organizations working in India, more than half of the children in the country do not finish their primary education, the same as completing elementary school in the United States. Even more disheartening is the fact that over 100 million children are forced to do dangerous or exploitative jobs to support their families, working as servants in sweat-shop factories, as maids for business and private house owners, traded in the sex racketeering industry, and sold as slave laborers. Although we cannot stop this all at once, we can begin to save the children one life at a time, generating support and momentum as a global family.

Women of lower class communities are also suppressed by community censorship and regulations that prevent them from obtaining an education or finding a decent income to support their families; jobs are usually labor intensive and their wages are nearly half that of male workers. As children, women are often raised to be housewives and the parents often decide that an education is unnecessary for a stay-at-home woman. For this reason many young girls never receive an education.

Aside from the general population of women, widowed women are the most repressed group in the lower class communities, and after their husbands death they are forced into complete isolation, separated from their friends and even family.

By working with women and children in the lower class communities in India, CFI and our global volunteers are taking community based action against poverty, working the develop opportunities for children, women, and families throughout Southern India. At CFI, we believe the foundation of life is in the community we build, and the pillars of the future stand as our children, the young men and women of tomorrow. At CFI we serve and support the poorest communities in need, and give them the tools they need to fulfill their own dreams and aspirations.

And they are asking SS for tips...

[Sunbourn]

wat. o_O

[Fire Elf]

Here's an idea for reform: Abolish your stupid ass education system and let people learn on their own. Sure, this might not be what the United States and other such countries that you people probably look up to as "land of freedom and opportunity" (which they are not), but do you really want to take cues from a country that... well, okay, maybe I should stop ranting. It's unlikely that this system will fall apart just from me posting a poorly written rant about it, and prolly also in the wrong place.

But, seriously, they want tips, maybe we should give them the tip that the education system needs to be abollished. You know, spreading the message, that sort of stuff.

[SoulRiser]

The main problem is actually that women are treated as inferiors and they (and most people) don't seem to think they even SHOULD have any kind of education whatsoever. So it's a bit... how shall we say... different.

I'm gonna reply and ask 'em how I/we can help anyway. Not like it can do any harm.

[Fire Elf]

Um... okay, I didn't really read the whole thing, it just seemed like another bunch of foreign weirdos who prolly just got here by googling something with school in it. People who don't know what SS is about. But any opportunity to spread the message... wait, am I ranting again?

[SoulRiser]

Yeah, the first time I read their email I also thought it was some extremely weird spam-like thing. Well, SS is by no means an organization. I think they probably found the link in dmoz.org along with the others (just a guess).

[aaaaaaasd]

SoulRiser Wrote:The main problem is actually that women are treated as inferiors and they (and most people) don't seem to think they even SHOULD have any kind of education whatsoever.

WTF?! That is sexist.

[Fire Elf]

Bad_Engrish_FalconPunch Wrote:

SoulRiser Wrote:The main problem is actually that women are treated as inferiors and they (and most people) don't seem to think they even SHOULD have any kind of education whatsoever.

WTF?! That is sexist.

Unfortunatly, sexism seems to be "normal" in too much of the world.