Privileged how?

Hello Everyone,

For this post, I thought I'd go into greater detail about the idea behind this blog. I don't want the full meaning to go unnoticed since appreciating the privileges {by which we have been so blessed} is a vital step in the process of renewing education, both here and abroad.

So, "Privileged"... what does it mean? Well, according to the Oxford Online Dictionary, {ˈprɪvəlɪʤd} is an adjective that indicates "having special rights {and/or} advantages." If you are reading this blog, the very fact that you can read reveals that you have been at the receiving end of a special kind of privilege, an educational privilege.

Once upon a time in America, and elsewhere throughout much of the world, access to even the most basic kind of education was not a guarantee. Even today, there are many parts of the world where education is an unlikely avenue for large populations of people. As the link above indicates, citizens of countries like Burkino Faso and Mali have less than a 25% chance of being able to read, let alone being fully educated. Fortunately, in many first-world countries and other progressive nations, the privilege of a good education has been made into a basic human right, freely granted and fiercely defended, so that we all may partake of the great advantages such an opportunity affords.

For just a moment, think of a few opportunities you have been granted because of your education, because you'd once been taught to read and write, add and subtract. Would you have the job you have now if you'd never learned those skills? Would you live where you live? Would you even have the friends that you have? The truth is, had you never learned how to read, simple street signs would look like gibberish. Had you never learned to add, merchants could easily take financial advantage of your ignorance. And such simple examples don't even account for the opportunities you'd miss had you never made it to high school or college. Many minimum-wage jobs won't even hire you if you don't have a high school diploma, so, had you not been granted the privilege of your education, would you even be the person you are today? Probably not.

Amazingly, less than a hundred years ago, such disadvantages were a very common reality, even in America. An education used to be a privilege reserved only for those who could afford it. In an effort to remain the world's new leading nation, however, the U.S. government saw the advantage in ensuring that more of its citizens were educated to be competitive in the global market. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that it is a basic human right to be educated. As a ratifying member of this international declaration, the United States has ensured that each of its citizens has access to a complete education through high school {and, if you work hard, perhaps even through college with scholarships}. But the truth is, education isn't really a basic human right. It is only a right when humans collectively defend it as such... but, even in this modern world, not all humans collectively do.

The world into which we have been born, the real world where only the 'fittest' naturally survive, makes no such right to education a guarantee. As mentioned earlier, less than a quarter of some nations' citizens are ever educated and, while public schools have existed in America since the Boston Latin School was founded in 1635, it wasn't until 1918 that all 48 states (at the time) made elementary education compulsory for every citizen in the United States. That means it took 283 years from the founding of the first public school in America to require for every child the provisions of a complete primary education.

Fortunately for us, however, we aren't living before 1918. Many of us are already so blessed as to live in a first-rate country, but on top of that, we have now even been promised the right to what is, in all actuality, an unnatural privilege. That being realized then, education is and always should be considered one of the greatest privileges of our time... and that is the heart behind this blog. Without education, even our founding fathers may have been ignorant of the knowledge they needed to secure our most basic constitutional rights {such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness}. So, if education was the precursor to ensuring such basic rights, it only seems logical that

Education truly is the greatest privilege.

But {and there is a great "but"}... we have forgotten.

The collectively-promised protection of this unnatural privilege is wonderful, but it has also made it so easy to forget the harsh realities of our world and take such a blessing for granted. It is that lack of consideration that is at the core of the troubles we face in American education today. Because it has been promised to each of us, education feels like a given; we no longer convey its value to our students and children, often forgetting its value ourselves, so of course we don't cherish it nearly as much as we should.

This blog is all about remembering that value, the value of a good education. I believe, if we simply change the way we think and care about learning in America, approaching school with a whole-hearted sense of thanks, we will bring back the value that was once deeply treasured in American education. Instead of thinking of schools as hard places we are 'obligated' to go, let's share with our children how wonderful it is that we have the privilege and unusual right of being able to do so. Together, we can Revalue Education.

For more information on the progression of education in America from being a rare privilege to a privileged right upheld for all citizens, I highly recommend the PBS Documentary, School: The Story of American Public Education, narrated by Meryl Streep. Clips and descriptions of this insightful series can be seen here, and the full program is available for purchase from Princeton. Or, you could perhaps take full advantage of the wonderful privilege and read the book instead, :) also available here or at your local bookseller. But of course, don't forget about your local library--they very well might have access to copies you can borrow for free.