In order to broaden students’ views and teach them about the outside world, students must underst education as an idea of a larger scope, something that is not confined to the physical limits of a classroom. While reading about the Met School here, I was amazed to read that the students spend multiple days a week outside of school, working in a job in their community. In fact one of the school’s goals it to have a reciprocal relationship with the surrounding community; students with the help of mentors learn “real-world” skills, and the schools assists with the local community’s needs. Perhaps if schools could be more connected to the world, children would become more socially conscious at a younger age.

I recently attended the Tri-Association conference for American schools in Latin America. The conference directors presented a service award to a school in Monterrey for their community outreach program. For each school year from kindergarten to fifth grade, students participate in a different program that has social awareness objectives. . This special community outreach program bridges the gap between typical school programs and experiencing their effects in the community. For example, it may be normal to collect recyclable goods to raise money for charity at a school; however, the kindergarten children later visit the hospitals to see how the money from this program is helping real people. In third grade, students collect goods in a food drive, but also deliver the goods to the people in a village outside of the city. In second grade, the students learn about, then meet and play with children from the community with Down Syndrome. This links to the fourth grade program in which the students organize and executive a Special Olympics where they again invite the children with Down Syndrome to participate with them.

At my school, the majority of the students are very privileged, and at times, the teachers worry that they live in their own little bubble in Mexico. Unfortunately, and I have done this as well, there is talk of “Just wait until he or she goes into the real world…” With programs such as the H.O.P.E. program in Monterrey, students have an opportunity to experience “the real world” while they are still in school.