What I’m Dreaming About - Global Education
One of the things I’ve been thinking and reading about a lot lately is global education.
I watched the tv special on Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy last week. She has received some criticism about it (the selection of the girls, micromanaging) , but I think what she’s doing is amazing. Anybody who is criticizing I’m sure isn’t doing anything in Africa.
This week I read “Leaving Microsoft To Change The World - An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children.” This will probably be one of the best books I will read this year and I highly recommend it. John Wood left his executive position at Microsoft after a hiking trip through Nepal where he witnessed the lack of schools and libraries. He quit his job at Microsoft and started a non-profit, Room To Read.
Here’s my favorite paragraph from the book:
“I had put long hours into this interview, and that time could not be gained back. But I knew it was important not to focus on Bill’s (Gates) performance. There was no way I could ever run a company this large, so I was in no position to be judgmental. What seemed more important was the signal this sent to me.
If I could not make a big difference at Microsoft, then perhaps this gave me even more of a green light to bail out. The children of Nepal obviously needed me more than my employer did. It was time to jump out of the plane and run my own show.”
Education, books and leadership have always been a huge part of my life. When it’s all said and done I want to have played a role in the education process on a global scale.
March 7th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
It’s nice to see a post like this, it’s inspiring for everyone to think about “what is it I want to make an impact in.”
March 13th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Real good book and even better guy. I had a chance to do a quick interview with John late last year http://spiritualhorticulturalist.blogspot.com/2006/10/with-special-guest-john-wood.html
March 19th, 2007 at 6:09 am
Hey I just realized you updated your feed and I was no longer getting it. Thanks to JRat for posting. Anyhow, reading this post and your thoughts about Oprah made me think back to a post I wrote back in January about this whole issue.
I am by no means an authoritative source on the issue, but I am very critical of her efforts, and I do at least have a marginal right to speak, given my experience and continued involvement in education/ministry in Namibia and now in Zambia. I doubt if even Oprah has spent a single day teaching students in a rural school. I’ve got at least four weeks up on her.
Anyhow, I do agree with your thoughts on “global education”. I may not be the smartest tool shed here in the States but I do know that compared to the education I’ve experienced first hand around the globe, there is a huge need for those of us in the West (preferrably Christians sharing the Gospel) to assist those trying so hard and crying so desperately for something more in terms of educational development.