A Lost Generation of Children

The UNESCO 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report has been released and its numbers are disturbing, to say the least. Worldwide, about 72 million primary school age children and another 71 million adolescents do not attend school. “While rich countries nurture their economic recovery, many poor countries face the imminent prospect of education reversals. We cannot afford to create a lost generation of children deprived of their chance for an education that might lift them out of poverty,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
One problem with the above statement is getting it straight just exactly who the "we" is that can't afford to sit by and do nothing while these numbers arise. One would think the rich countries of the world would realize it really is in their own best interests to help educate the millions who are disadvantaged. Look no further than 9/11 for a stark demonstration of how the disparity between the developed and the developing world can be turned to the advantage of terrorists. I do not believe such groups as the taliban, for instance, could continue so readily to hold in thrall those whose eyes had been opened by education.
Perhaps the problem is still more a case of "out of sight, out of mind". What cares a young, upwardly mobile westerner about the girls so far away in places like Uganda and Nigeria; the girls who are being denied the right to an education? What care the parents of the western world about the plight of the children being denied a basic education halfway around the globe from them as they work hard to keep little Johnny and Susie in possession of all the latest electronic gear?
The acquisitiveness of so many who live privileged lives in the western world needs somehow to be reined in. It needs to be set aside just long enough for those busy selecting their new big screen TV to stop and look at those who may never even learn to read, let alone buy such an extravagance.
I know there are many in the developed world who do see those in need around the globe. I know there are such organizations, for instance, as KIVA that facilitate those with eyes to see being able to reach out to the disadvantaged and offer a helping hand. I also know, however, that there is not enough being done globally to turn around the distressing numbers published in the UNESCO report. “Rich countries have mobilized a financial mountain to stabilize their financial systems and protect vital social and economic infrastructure, but they have provided an aid molehill for the world’s poor,” said the Global Monitoring Report’s director, Kevin Watkins.
Education for all should be of vital concern to everyone, world wide. As long as Watkins' statement rings true, however, we all continue to have a problem, a problem that may someday present itself at our front door and demand a solution.