Availability of Tutors and Private Education in Developed vs. Developing Nations

The availability of education is one of the biggest separators between the “haves” and the “have nots” in terms of upward mobility. Not only is quality education not available to most people in the world, but many students (especially girls) are forced out of school in order to care for their families, at a very early age. This creates a cycle of poverty that perpetually keeps whole societies impoverished.

To further separate the “first world” from the developing world is the availability of tutors and private education, specific test preparation, etc. There are tutors available virtually everywhere in the U.S., from Staten Island to San Diego.

This type of “educational luxury”, as I like to call it, is almost an embarrassment of riches. The developed world has so much education, it can spend extra resources for the hard to reach students. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it does indicate the need for a more equitable distribution of these resources.

That’s why I like charities like the Thousand Girls Initiative, which seeks to provide 1000 girls with funding in Guatemala, one of the countries that is most viciously effected by the cycle of poverty that I mentioned above. Girls are forced to exit school at around 10 or 11 years old, and work or provide for their family.

It would be nice to see families that have the means to easily provide for their own people, to devote a small donation to the educational needs of the less fortunate. In fact, I would love to see some of the big players in the tutoring and educational game, like Sylvan Learning Center/etc, make a large donation (they may have, I’m not sure, I haven’t looked into it).

Not trying to slander anybody here, but seeing children not living up to the potential really hits home for me, and I would love to see it change for the better.

I don’t think that’s very unreasonable, do you?