Education: It’s Not Just About the Boys. Get Girls Into School.

Thank you for this excellent article, Mr. Alter. I appreciate the effective way in which you???ve summarized the benefits of providing education for girls in the developing world. I work with a non profit organization, AfricAid (www.africaid.com) that does just this: provides primary- and secondary-level education to girls in Africa. We have been supporting Tanzanian girls, specifically, in their educational goals for the past seven years, and we have learned many lessons in the process. Most importantly, we have learned that just getting girls in the classroom is not enough in and of itself to create meaningful opportunities for change. These girls must have access to a high-quality education in order to capitalize on their educational opportunity. This involves ??? as you indicated ??? ensuring that adequately-trained teachers are in the classroom, that these girls have access to learning materials such as textbooks and basic supplies, and that their school experience is tangibly connected with the realities of their political, cultural and economic environments. This means, on one hand, tailoring cookie-cutter models of education to local cultural landscapes in order to help parents understand why schooling might be relevant to their daughters, and what the benefits of education will be for them, individually, and as members of a larger community. It also means ensuring that these young women are equipped while in school with the vocational tools and leadership skills that will open up professional opportunities where they have none today, or enable them to become leaders and role models for others in their home communities. This is exactly what we at AfricAid are working to do.

Jonathan, very informative article. Thank you for writing this. It's been a challenge to explain how important education is in that area, because so many of us in America have a taken-for-granted view of education. I work for an Ethiopian non-profit organization called the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund. The mission is simple and will remain so. COEEF provides a quality private education for mainly females in Ethiopia and other East African countries through a network of sponsors in America and other developed countries. The base sponsorship is $225/year, which covers school fees, uniforms, textbooks and other school supplies. This is under $20/month, but people may not realize just how far that money is going. I get to see firsthand the effects of the donated money as I go over to Ethiopia twice a year to visit students and our partner schools. It's really amazing what it does socially, collectively for their families and mentally for each student. I have plenty of stories I could tell you about how mothers will start to value their daughters once they are being education through our program. The quality of life rises and we are now starting to see some of our students graduate 12th grade in the program. We are really excited to see what starts to happen after a year or two as we know this is going to have a dramatic impact in the country. It's simple, you can't go over and Americanize Ethiopia, you have to empower the children and mainly females, to make a difference in their country. www.coeef.org.

KELLYB are still out there? We've been looking for you. No way we can keep up with McCain. We're still working on Obama. Please come help us. We sent you an invite but are now public.

http://citizensagainstproobamamediabias.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you soon - at least to take the poll. Or if you've set up your own blog - let us know.

Alter - how did you like that end around yesterday? Barry's camp caught with their pants down and mouths open...again. It'd be funny if they weren't actually running for president. Nice to see barry finally woke up and sought some advice from Pres Clinton. It was the major indictment for his lack of experience and humongous ego. He still hasn't shown respect to Sen Clinton and her voters and they've had enough. Barry's ego will decide this election and we can see how far that's gotten him...around the world and Hollywood but not Appalachia. But they can be written off as racists. And the barrybots like Chris Rock (who said he backed Obama because he "voted against the war") who are out there saying the Clinton's aren't doing enough are highlighting barry's weakness and inciting loyal (as in proven voters) Clinton supporters. The idiocy in this general election is staggering. axelrod is so out of his element and everyday it shows. And it appears stupidity has overtaken bitterness and lipstick as an attack on the Republicans. Tell Luke the cameras are always on and You Tube is always uploading.

Now and in the future, countries where everyone succeeds (not just the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer), will invest in human capital. Your article is spot on about educating girls. Now, how can we convince our own government to start investing in its people? Things like national heath care, better schools for every child, better paying jobs for parents? We currently value profits over people. And short term profits at that. We are becoming a banana republic and an oligarchy.

I'm surprised you could write this article without mentioning *Three Cups of Tea* and Greg Mortenson's work with the Central Asia Institute. Education for girls can have a profound effect on empowering women and suppressing the causes of terrorism.