Education: Right, Privilege, but not a law by Lauren

Education: Right, Privilege, but not a law by Lauren - January 2021 Scholarship Essay

Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan said “Education is a human right with immense power to transform.” Education is a privilege but it should be a legal right that every has. Everyone all over the globe should have the right to an education. The U.S says no child can be denied access to schooling under the 14th amendment. The one thing it doesn’t say is that every child has the right to education. Education isn’t cheap, it’s hard work, and something that not everyone gets. It’s a privilege many experience and it’s a basic human right that should be offered. It’s a right everyone should have, it’s a privilege to have it, it’s not a law that everyone has the right to an affordable education, and it’s not something everyone can access.

At sixteen I understood the privilege of an education. When visiting the “hollers” on a mission trip. Ingrained on my brain is a girl named Corravet. She was six years old and supposed to be in first grade. She lived in what they called ‘hollers’. Her mother was an addict. Her grandmother raised her and her brother. I’m pretty sure she was abused. U.S law has a “no child left behind act”. But what about her? She didn’t know how to read at all and has only been to school 2 day out of her whole life. Many kids from the “hollers” didn’t have a good education. They would often ask me to read things for them. I’m not a good reader but I could read. During my trip to the “hollers” a young man my age, a 16 year old guy who had a speech problem and had a reading level that an average 10 year old should have. Reading to those around me in those moments was a true lesson that education should be a right; but sadly it’s a privilege.

Sadly even in the US the costs of education is high. Schools do not help with finding scholarships, explaining hidden costs of college, or even during the K-12 grade children get left behind in learning even with laws like “No Child Left Behind”. In some environments like in the “hollers” some children do not even make it into the schools. Privilege is understanding going to school I get food, warm classroom, extra help to read, or even doing sports that equipment is purchased for me.

While education should be a right to every person to choose. In this world, kids are still getting married at a young age or never going to school due to gender. The governments should make it a right for every child to get an education. Educating the power to change every mind to empower the ideas of every person.