> Well, my personal opinion is that education is the prime problem, and
> the prime solution.
Unfortunately, most school educations don't include courses on how to make
it in the real world, especially for students from disadvantaged
backgrounds.
Any ideas on making USEFUL educations available--not necessarily just for
poor kids, but for all kids who're interested? It might be a worthwhile
Extropian project.
I know a public school teacher in Lockhart, Texas who's using gardening as a
way of reaching kids who don't like books. I interviewed some of the kids
for a magazine article and was told by several of them that they used to
hate going to school but now enjoy it because of the garden (they were
growing all sorts of plants, including food, useful stuff such as gourds,
and native ornamentals), and were in the process of installing a fish pond.
When kids have a reason to learn, they'll learn. These kids had been
inspired by the garden to learn about botany, weather, genetics, chemistry,
folklore, economics, design, math, and more. We're a poor community, and
some of the students are from homes where there are no books at all.
Barbara
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