We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Erika Parker Price of Mukilteo, Washington, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

Bluefields Basic School

By Erika Parker Price
Mukilteo, WA

Each September, as I send my children off to school, I wonder what the year will bring. What will they learn? How will they grow their minds?

In America, we debate school issues vehemently — standardized testing, pay for performance, and class size — but we never question whether children have the right to go to school. Of course they do. All children have that right, but sadly, we dole it out unequally across the globe.

Through ONE, I have been able to lend my voice to the fight to end global poverty in our lifetime. I sign petitions, call my government representatives, and donate to other organizations that build schools for children in impoverished countries. But how do I communicate the importance of these issues to the next generation, my own children, who are frequently lost in their own world of homework, school plays, and baseball games?

Of course I can tell them that school is a privilege, but whenever possible I like to show them in a way that their minds can absorb. When my oldest son Ryan was five years old, our family was fortunate enough to vacation in Jamaica. We were searching for sunshine and white sandy beaches to escape our own cold and rainy winter. Despite our shallow motivations, we also wanted to learn something of the country and teach our children about another culture.

Knowing that our hotel proprietors supported the local Basic School, we came prepared with a suitcase full of supplies to donate. We loaded up on pencils, crayons, books, and musical instruments which we planned to deliver to the school.

When Ryan and I arrived at the Bluefields Basic School, I immediately started cataloging all the differences between this school and his at home. The buildings were smaller. The water came from an outdoor pump, rather than an indoor sink. There was no playground equipment.

Ryan, on the other hand, didn’t even see the differences. He also hadn’t noticed the devastation left by the hurricane that had struck several months earlier. Houses were typically raised above ground with a few uneven rocks stuffed under each corner. Many of them had fallen on one side and looked more like crazy Dr. Seuss houses with floors that angled sharply to one side. Innocence blinded my son to the poverty and devastation. He saw beautiful landscape and interesting people — just as he did at the school that day.

Ryan did find many ways the school was similar to his own. The children sat at desks and ranged in age from three to six, just as they did at his school. They were studying their shapes and numbers. Recess was a chance to run around and play games with friends. In a familiar way, the teachers reminded the children to wash their hands before returning to lessons.

Although they spoke English, the words were rarely intelligible to a five-year-old American ear, but children don’t need language to relate to each other. At recess, they compared shoes, sized each other up to see who was taller, and giggled together.

I had expected my son to see the school as different from his own, but instead I shifted my perceptions after viewing it through his eyes. A school isn’t defined by its size or its playground equipment. This was a safe, nurturing environment for the children to grow their minds and develop into their full potential.

Although this type of school is available throughout Jamaica, the Bluefields Basic School is particularly successful because of the additional support it receives. People come from around the globe to enjoy the pristine beauty of Jamaica, but many also leave behind donations to supplement the funds the hotel already provides to educate the local children. Because of this, the school is able to educate 60 children each year, despite the fact that only one-fourth of the money comes from the families. No child is turned away because of an inability to pay.

School teaches children to read and write, to multiply and divide, but it also teaches them to think, to negotiate, to compromise. They learn to share, to be part of a team, to become leaders. These skills are critical in a world where modern technology and transportation have effectively removed our borders. Products are shipped across oceans and companies employ people around the globe. Many of our plights — war, illness, economic crisis — know no borders. We need to educate our children around the world today to solve the problems of tomorrow.

When I recently showed the Jamaica pictures to my children, now ages nine and seven, they were concerned with what they saw. “Why do they have to go to a school that is only for blacks?” they wondered. I reassured them that it was not a segregated school, but was pleased that they thought enough to question it.

“The native children of Jamaica are black and the school is open to all children,” I explained.

Through education, my children have learned of the errors of our own country’s past. A year after the trip to Jamaica, we had visited the home of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia. The tour guide had pointed out the nearby home of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s best friend from childhood. My boys were shocked to learn that he wasn’t allowed to play with his friend anymore once they started attending separate and segregated schools, because his best friend was white.

“That’s not fair,” Ryan had argued.

“No,” I agreed, “that wasn’t fair.”

Education has taught my children to question the inequalities in life. I pray that I am showing them how to fight for change. Education is a right for all children, but that doesn’t mean that it happens automatically. It is our duty, as citizens of the world, to ensure that each child has the opportunity to go to school. In return, we will all benefit from the contributions these children will one day make to our global society.