Family Sacrifice

[Alex Steinroeder]

Should Nanavi's mother have sacrificed so much just to put her
daughter through schooling?

In order for Nanavi to go to the school in Benin, her family had to
pay $30. Since her father died, it was just her mother and to support
the family. I realize that education is very valued in Benin and in
Nanavi's family, but under the circumstances of having no father to
support the family, was it worth the $30 a year and one less person
working on the farm? Don't get me wrong, being educated is a great
quality to have, but in Benin where almost every female ends up
becoming married to a farmer I think even with an education it would
be hard to break out of this cycle. Unless she became a high powered
doctor, the chance for Nanavi to make a lot of money to support her
family would be very small; would helping to make money now be more
beneficial for her family?

[Jon Mayer]

Alex, I believe this touches on the issue of investing in the future
versus worrying about the present. This is a reoccurring theme in
every place from day to day life up to international relations.
Essentially, Nanavi's mother understands that educating her daughter
may not pay off immediately, but will help to elevate the status of
future generations and increase the development of Benin as a country.
In direct relation to their society, maybe with a solid education
Nanavi can become a general doctor or physician and work in the
villages surrounding the area she grew up in and work making house
calls. This would provide medical services for many people who do not
have access to them, as well as help educate them about basic health
considerations. After that, maybe Nanavi's children can go on to
school and all of them can do well in life; maybe the will even become
surgeons or teachers or businessmen.

This comes at a cost; Nanavi's mother is sacrificing a large amount of
income and an extra helping hand to get her daughter through school.
However, she is considering the long term benefits of this action, as
were outlined above, and she has decided that it is worth it. While
she could make the argument that one more girl going to school is not
going to make a difference in the country, if everyone took that
stance than no one would attend school and the country would not be
able to elevate its political standing and quality of life for its
citizens. Generally, the decision to give up something in order to
send a child to school is an idealistic and moral decision, that is
based on a strong personal belief in education.

There is also the possibility that her mother is simply making her
best attempt to respect the wishes of her father.

[Maya Allen]

I agree with Jon. It is true that there will not be as much help on
the farm, but as I see it, It will help a great deal in the long run.
It's only short term if she stays on the farm and helps her mother,
she will still wake up every day in the same position: being poor, as
sad at it is. But by giving Navani and education, the results could
help the family through their hard times and eventually lift them out
of poverty one day. Navani seemed very determined to become a doctor,
and with that type of determination, she could achieve her goal and
make a better life for herself and her family. And I also agree with
Jon that part of the reason that Navani's mother payed the $30 for her
education was because she wanted to take that slim percentage or her
daughter succeeding, and give her a chance to help them all. And of
course, it was her father's dying wish, too.

[Alex Steinroeder]

Although I agree with both of you that it is a long term investment,
there could be nothing in store for this family in the long run if
they go broke in the present. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe
that the $30 is an annual fee. Maybe next year they won't be able to
pay the schooling fee and then the family is even poorer and Nanavi
still won't have a complete education. If I was Nanavi's mother I
would have done the same thing because it is giving her daughter a
chance to escape from the endless cycle in Benin of being married to a
farmer and being poor; it is just a very risky move to make. Hopefully
Nanavi will complete school and succeed in changing life for the
people of Benin in the long run.

[Dixie Morrison]

Part of what makes humans the dominant species is our ability to, as
Jon mentioned, invest in and plan for the future. Education is not
only a practically guaranteed return, but the benefits it reaps are so
very crucial to getting ahead in this world. Who knows? Maybe if the
annual fee was 40 dollars or if Nanavi had one less sibling to help on
the farm, maybe the return of education wouldn't have been worth it.
But that would have been Nanavi's mother's decision and, not being an
expert on either Benin's economy or Nanavi's family structure, I can't
assay a confident prediction. Especially in poor countries, there are
many arguments for keeping the girls at home to work in the fields and
bear children. But assuming that this is all Nanavi has to look
forward to (and therefore assuming that there is no point in her
getting an education) is just joining in the cycle that keeps so many
countries gender-segregated and third-world. Nanavi should be--and is--
the change she wants to see in her society.

On Sep 20, 10:58 pm, Alex Steinroeder <alsteinroed...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

[Sloane.Brazina]

For girls like Nanavi, school is the best thing Benin has to offer.
Living in high-privileged America, we often take our quality education
system for granted. Some of us even see attending school everyday as
a tedious chore. In the grand scheme of things, education is a gift.
It provides us with the tools we need to better ourselves and become a
positive contribution to society. We learn to think for ourselves and
become independent. Go anywhere around the world and school will
still represent opportunity. Nanavi's parents recognize the
importance of schooling and are willing to make the necessary
sacrifices to educate daughter, confident Nanavi will become
"civilized" and strong.
I agree with Dixie: sending Beninian (Beninian?) girls like Nanavi to
school is a preliminary step towards putting 3rd world nations "on the
map," so to speak. From this perspective, $30 and one less farmhand
doesn't seem too high a price.

[Lucy Fandel]

I agree with Sloane and Dixie about the value of education, especially
in a 3rd world country. In the video, the teacher at her school
explained that it was unusual to have girls like Nanavi stay for so
long in the system. The were usually taken out to get married or help
support the family. The teacher at the school she attended said
himself that even if the students can only stay a year, it makes a
huge difference in their lives. Alex said it didn't seem worth it in
the short term which makes sense, but I really think that in this
case, the short term matters so little because her education will
probably have a huge effect on not only her life but those of her
children. I bet someone who has had the chance to go to school will be
more determined to send their own children to school.
Maybe she won't become a doctor or a teacher, or anything more than a
wife as many other girls in her village are becoming around her but
she now understands the importance and advantages of education and
hopefully she can pass that on and around.

[btay...@colonial.net]

Responding to Alex, the $30 investment by Nanavi's mother would
probably one of the best ones she ever made. In the long term, Nanavi
will probably bring more income into the family with her education
then the farm is worth. Remember it is a small farm. On top of that it
seems that the way alex put it is kind of like saying, why bother
trying? If that was the mindset, then the cycle of farming and poverty
will definitely NOT be broken and nothing will be accomplished. As of
now, what is going on in Benin is not working out too great. There is
a huge percentage of poverty, and it seems that schooling is the
primary idea in breaking this cycle of poverty. It is a new concept,
and may take some time, but in the long run, Nanavi's family will
benefit way more than if she dropped out to help her family.

[janzer]

I agree with most of you in that it is a wise decision to keep Nanavi
in school. This is especially true when you look at the situation in
the context of their culture. A highly educated person, in their
culture, is capable of making very large amounts of money compared to
the average. The highest paying jobs are the ones Nanavi is striving
for. In countries such as Benin, there is often a large gap between
the highly educated and the "average" people. Being a doctor in Benin
is relatively comparable, income-wise, to a professional athlete in
our culture. The gap between that level of income and the average is
great enough to justify taking such a risk, similar to the decision to
pursue a career as a professional athlete in our culture. It is very
admirable that Nanavi's mother is willing to sacrifice to keep her
daughter in school. Given a family strong enough and brave enough to
go against the grain, continuing Nanavi's schooling is their best
option.

[Kyle Calabria]

I believe that sending Nanavi to school is unlikely to benefit her
family economically. If women have just started to receive an equal
education I doubt many equal opportunities in the work place will
exist. Even in the United States women still sometimes experience
sexism and less than equal opportunities as males. Having said that,
it is a wonderful and selfless thing Nanavi's family is doing for her,
and also for the society and for all the women of the future. Nanavi's
education is one baby step towards a more perfect world in which boys
and girls have an equal opportunity to learn and provide for their
families with their minds, and not just through physical labor.
Nanavi's family have made a substantial sacrifice of 30 dollars a year
towards education, and every family that can put a daughter through
school is taking another step towards the common goal.

On Sep 21, 6:11 pm, "btaylo...@colonial.net" <btaylo...@colonial.net>
wrote:

[Lucas Morrill]

I believe that Nanavi's mother sends Nanavi to school in the hope that
through some miracle, she can become a doctor or make something
special of her life. It is quite clear that Nanavi does not have much
of a chance to succeed economically given that she most likely will
become the wife of a farmer. That is not as important to her mother.
What is important is that Nanavi learns a basic education, so that,
through some miracle, Nanavi has a chance to do great things with her
life. The odds don't carry any weight in this situation, only the hope
for a miracle

[Alex Steinroeder]

Responding to Ben,
I didn't say that it was not worth trying. I even said that if I were
Nanavi's mother I would have made the same decision, it is just a
risky one to make, that's all. Touching on Sloane's point, I think
education is something that most of us take for granted in this area
and this is unfortunate. Either don't go to school at all if you are
not going to put the effort in, or cease the opportunity and work hard
to become a more educated person in society.

[Sophia Hantzis]

Alex made a good point. It is very important to get a education but
living in Benin and probably marrying a farmer, what are the chances
of someone having a high paying job? But there still is a chance that
if Nanavi keeps getting a education then maybe one day she could stay
in Benin and get a high paying job, such as being a doctor, so she
could be able to support her family. Although there is a small chance
of this happening i believe that she should take advantage of the
opportunity and continue with her education.

[Dominic Ryder]

I would say that looking only at Nanavi's current family, it is
entirely possible that the sacrifice will not pay off, that will not
have been worth it for them. Nanavi may drop school at any time, and
even if she does not, there is no guarantee that she will find a
career any more succesful than that of farming in her own village.
That her family is willing to risk this much for even a chance of her
succes says much for their selflessness. I do think it is important to
remember, that the point of the education is not necesarily to provide
better lives for individual girls in Benin. I would say that the goal
is to improve the standard of living of the country as a whole. and
for that, a number of sacrifices like those of Nanavi's family could
make a huge difference. Those children who go to school, even if they
dont complete it, learn such things as basic hygiene, which will
certainly improve the standard of living. this will also most likely
start dealing with problems such as high child mortality, which will
help remove even more barriers to girls getting educated.

[Jake White]

I agree with Dominic in that Nanavi going to school will not only help
her in the future by giving her the opportunity to have a higher
paying job, but she will also leave school with basic knowledge of
nutrition and hygiene that will benefit her in the long run. After
school she would be able to have a more educated job that pays more
and she will be able to raise a healthy family that doesn't have to
worry about money to buy food and get by.

[Mark B]

I believe that her education will help her weather or not she ends up
married to a farmer. with her education comes knowledge about hygiene
and birth rates and useful information that may give her a better
chance to support her family. Not only that but with a basic
education she has the opportunity to break out of the mold and not
marry a farmer or end up back where she started. so although it is a
burden on the family it is very important that they make this
sacrifice in order to help her receive an education.

[Phil Lavely]

I don't have too much too add that differs from what others have said,
but I think that it was important for her to go to school. Going to
school for someone in Benin is entirely different than for someone
going to school from Concord. In Concord, it is more of a status
symbol to go to school. The better the school and the more widely
recognized it is will make the family feel entitled to higher status
and better than others. Of course, people are also going to school for
an education as well so they can have jobs in the future. But even
that for many isn't completely necessary, as parents will be able to
bail their kids out. In Benin however, going to school may not be the
most useful thing in the world (as they will likely marry farmer), but
it definitely will widen opportunities for one. In Benin, it will
also, almost like in Concord, be a status symbol, but not to the same
extent. Being known for going to school may help her gain her fellow
tribesman respect. They are not as status hungry, but respect is very
important there. Going to school is not only good for the daughter,
but will bring her and her family respect.

It is very challenging for her to be able to school, especially after
what has happened in her life. However, the cost is worth the end
result. A mothers nature is to look out after her children as well,
and sending a daughter to school is one of the best ways to do this.