Columnists: Mark and Criag Kielburger, Sept 19th

     Mark and Craig Kielburger, the pair of brothers who started Free the Children and Me to We, write a weekly column for The Star that discusses humans rights and the experiences they've had traveling around the world. Their Sept 19th article was A Lesson on the Quality of Education. It tells about an after school program called Superate that was started in El Salvador after the government cut school down to half-days in order to save money. The Kielburgers visited one of these programs and learned first-hand from students that the program has prevented dozens of them form becoming involved in gang activity. The articles written by the brothers are from the point of view of visitors who ask people their stories and learn how a program impacts an individual. It is less statistical and more humanistic, though the statistics are impressive: 76% of the students who graduated from Superate in the last 3 years are in university. What is happening in El Salvador is making people re-think education in developing countries. For years the world has been focused on getting education to everyone; opening as many schools as possible. The problem is getting students engaged and excited about school. If the quality of the education is lacking, children in developing countries won't want to go to school anymore than a Canadian child would. Millions of dollars are spent every year in developed countries coming up with new ways to teach students and engage them in learning. Quality education shouldn't be a luxury afforded only to affluent countries. If a student gets a good education, the impact they have on their community grows exponentially. Andrea Méndez graduated from high school in El Salvador. She earned a degree from Harvard University. Instead of staying in the U.S. and getting a high-paying job, she came back to El Salvador and works in one of the Superate centres. Who knows how many students will graduate from high school because of her? The Kielburgers have unique insight because they are so young but at the same time so experienced. One line in particular seemed to sum up what needs to happen with global education: "Education must be relevant to the unique challenges of students in order to break their cycle of poverty." The issues in the community need to be addressed to find ways to keep children in school.