For those of you that haven’t seen it, the film is about a group ofblack kids from an “at-risk” area in Baltimore being selected
foreducation at a school in rural Kenya. I honestly expected more from the film and the school.I thought I would be able to use it as a model for the development of aglobal citizenship, but that subject wasn’t really touched on.The way the school was run also didn’t sit right with me, and it wasn’tonly because the teachers at the Baraka School were white, it had to dowith the way that dynamic played out. Although a discussion on race in this film would be good to have, that’s not what I want to talk about.I will say I was pleasantly surprised with the theme on the boys’
interaction with nature, and how that was more transformative thanglobal citizenship and their interaction with Kenyans combined. It “allowed them to be kids” and gave them a respite from the concrete jungle that most get accustomed to in the United States. My interaction with nature was definitely central to my upbringing and personal development in Guatemala.That’s my review on the film, but I wanted to use the film to propose a revolutionary idea.The most interesting statement that arises from this film is that theparents feel as if their children are safer in rural Kenya than inurban Baltimore. That’s certainly not what themedia will tell you considering the tales of death and destruction thatcome from the Underprivileged South. What mostpeople will say after seeing this film as that more Baraka schools isnot the solution, fixing Baltimore is the solution. But, what if we were to flip that? What if schools abroad were used to fix a place like urban Baltimore? What if the governments of the North were to systemically educate kids in the South?I sincerely
believe that this should be done. I believe a global experience could be used as a catalyst for change at the low end of the socioeconomic ladder.Sure there would be problems, especially in the communities these kidswould be going to, but I believe the problems could be minimized andwould pale in comparison with the benefits. Thecost of education materials (like textbooks) would be the same orgreater of course, but the cost would go down for everything else,including what you would have to pay teachers since the cost of livingis dramatically lower in the Underprivileged South. There would be an infusion of capital into areas that need it. I also believe that two years outside of a toxic environment could really help kids overcome the countless obstacles they face.I haven’t described the idea as eloquently as I would have liked orgone into much detail on it, but I won’t go on much longer since I’mnot sure how much discussion this will generate.Imake it a habit to consider how we can begin to eat away at thefarthest reaching, broadest, starkest, explicitly legally enforcedinequality in the world—the inequality that exists just because you areborn in one nation instead of another—and I think this could be onestep in the right direction. Furthermore I thinkthis really could be used as an tool for the empowerment ofmarginalized ethnicities—educating “at-risk” U.S. latinos in Nicaragua,or blacks in Kenya. Just thought I’d plant the idea in people's minds.