Schooling the World

[narya]

This is a thought provoking hour-long video about the spread of Western education to the rest of the world. It is extremely slanted against Westernization. While the early examples - forcibly removing indigenous children to schools where they are turned into "civilized" people - are unarguably egregious, is there not some benefit in teaching children, both male and female children, basic reading and cyphering skills? Education has been directly linked to lower birth rates and higher standards of living. And as the old song goes - "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen Paris?" Is it right to say to young people, "No, you must stay on the land and keep to your traditional ways," if they want to join the material, Western world?

The video (wrongly, I believe) contrasts a lovely rural agrarian culture with a sad example of a westernized densely populated city. We have 10 times as many people in the US as we did 50 years ago, and the population is now 95% urban/suburban. It was 95% rural in the 1800s. The same no doubt is happening to other countries. The land can no longer support the agrarian lifestyle for all those people.

Full film:
http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/sch ... orld_2010/

Short clip:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10 ... =2&theater