...discussing animatedly their teachers.

A girl demonstrates model of a simple rocket that she has made; a boy in a wheelchair tells his friend about the properties of magnets; and another girl explains the medicinal properties of a plant that she has grown in the schoolyard. These are possible but difficult to imagine, especially in poor countries, where most schools have no laboratories, where systemic mediocrity is typified in crumbling infrastructure and teacher absenteeism, and where didactic, rote-based learning that discourages questioning dominates the school classroom, contributing to dropout rates as high as 70 per cent. Beating poverty and underachievement inevitably remains a distant dream for most poor children.

The education systems worldwide need a massive infusion of the creative temper. It is a big challenge, but fortunately an answer lies in the educators' observation that the average person learns 10 per cent of what he or she reads, 50 per cent of what one hears and sees, 70 per cent of what one discusses with others, 85...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



More articles from UN Chronicle
International children: catalysts for change., September 01, 2006
The Republic of Montenegro: the 192nd UN Member State.(Brief article), September 01, 2006

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