Thinking Outside of My Bubble
I was watching Euvin Naidoo talk about how we must change our perspective of Africa. Africa has been plagued with a negative image with all the talk of corruption, disease, genocide, and famine. However, this does not offer a clear representation of what Africa is. Africa is a vibrant and growing continent with many individually unique countries. Africa is a place of future growth and potential and deserves to be seen globally as an opportunity for investment. You can watch Euvin here give a thought provoking speech.
Very interesting for me… because I want to create an educational tool that will transform the world. I sometimes get too caught up thinking just in the United States. The challenges that are faced here are much different than the ones faced in other parts of the world. It’s also true that some of the challenges are very similar.
So what does this mean to me? It means I need to look outside of the box. I need to look at problems of the whole world. In my opinion, I think America does not have much hope. Education is simply not valued here like it is in other countries. In addition, growth and opportunities are in other countries.
Thus, I am going to change the focus of the blog to be much more personal. I feel like I’ve been reading too many blogs about American educators dealing with American problems. I need to look outward if I want to instill true revolutionary change.
I’m currently working very hard to build sustainable income to start venturing abroad. This income will be online based, as it gives me flexibility and ties into what I think is the future of education.
Thanks for reading. If anything strikes a nerve in ya, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Carl Zetterlund
carl AT bytedu.com
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August 6th, 2007 at 12:20 am
Not to detract from the importance of imporving education in developing nations, but until you have the finances to travel the world, you can gain perspective while still at home.
Sometimes in our big cities we try to shield ourselves from those who are different from us. As you probably know, there are schools in your own city where it’s normal for kids to barely be able to read when they graduate elementary school, and graduating high school is the exception. Explore your hometown, volunteer, be a mentor, do something because you can’t change the world from your bedside, waiting around for your big success to happen.
Like you said, our problems over here aren’t exactly the same, but at least you might be able to begin to understand what you’re trying to achieve. Keep thinking about the bigger picture, but don’t miss out on opportunities at home either.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Good to hear from you Kenny!
I totally agree that there are plenty of opportunities and challenges around town. I definitely agree that I should get some experience teaching. However, it takes time, and I will have to think of how I can balance revenue generation and volunteering.
Currently, my focus is making money. Once I do, I will try to volunteer in other cultures. I already think I have to good enough understanding of what goes in America. I need some experience in other cultures. Who knows what I will learn.
The biggest issue I have is personally helping people is that it is inefficient. I believe there are only a small percentage of exceptional mentors and teachers out there. Kids need exceptional guidance and not mediocre ones. In addition, I really want to focus my time on something very untraditional. An approach that will probably be initially seen as totally ridiculous.
There are many problems in education. All I know is that I need to focus and tackle one. I could help one person down the street, but I think my time is better served catering to niche and then eventually growing it from there.
Anyway, thanks for the great comment. I absolutely love people who help others around them. I definitely would like to see more people do it.
I’ll catch up with you later.