Bridging the Gap: Lessons at Home and Abroad

The issue I've chosen to feature on my political blog is that of female literacy and education. It's a worldwide problem, although the disparities between male and female illiteracy vary from country to country and region to region. The overall fact still remains that 2/3 of all illiterate people on the planet are female. This is the driving piece of information that has fueled many efforts to increase female literacy and education. The topic has been taken up by many famous female political leaders such as Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

The main hurdle for my issue is getting people in the Westernized world to understand what it means to be illiterate and to actually care enough to do something about it. The vast majority of developed countries take for granted their 100% literacy rates. Others who are aware of the illiteracy rates in other countries might not fully understand the implications and consequences of being uneducated.

Click here for a concise list of why girls' education is important, compiled by The World Bank.

Click here for a table of all countries and their respective literacy rates (male and female), compiled by Mr.Downling.com. *Note the correlation with fertility rates.

A public writing piece that might be helpful in overcoming this hurdle would be a simple fact sheet, similar to the World Bank one, that outlined just WHY literacy is important. However, instead of bashing people over the head with more third-world statistics (haven't we heard them all?), I would present the facts in a way that kind of says "Hey, look what you're taking for granted." I think teaching girls in developed countries about their less fortunate comrades in the developing world would also make a big difference. True, fourth and fifth grade girls don't have any political power, but it will help to transform their generation---possibly preventing them from taking their education for granted, and maybe even spurring political activism once they're older. The key concept to keep in mind in any of these information initiatives is to try and make the issue relevant and relatable.

This idea of targeting similarly-aged girls from developing countries goes hand-in-hand with Shamoon's suggestion to "write locally." The issue, if presented appropriately, is very relatable to children of the same age. Young American girls can put themselves in the shoes of young Nigerian girls and perhaps---with emerging telecommunication technology in the classroom---vice versa. This teaching initiative will bridge cultural gaps, provide a truly rich educational experience, show America's youth just how fortunate they are, make them compassionate and empathetic towards less fortunate children, and hopefully foster a more informed and activist future generation. Such a unique classroom initiative would also make it's way into local newspapers and the children and teachers will surely spread the world as well; even a young student sharing their day with their parents would help spread the word about the importance of education and literacy.