Fascinating article
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/04/education/04BOAR.html?pagewanted=1 in the
Gray Lady today about Africans in the U.S. who send their teenage kids back
to Ghana, Nigeria, etc. to be educated. The advantages are tremendous: (1)
the schools are very cheap by dollar standards, (2) the education is
first-rate, (3) the schools are run under strict discipline, with dress
codes, compulsory early-morning jogs, and (I happen to know, though the NYT
doesn’t say so) corporal punishment. Not to mention (4) you get the kids
off your hands for several months a year.
There is actually a great marketing opportunity here for 3rd-world
countries. My wife and I have sometimes threatened our kids that if they
don’t shape up we’ll ship them off to school in China. For a few hundred
bucks a year, plus the plane fares, we could get them into a good private
school in the People’s Republic, with intense academic training and good
discipline. This is, in fact, one of our most potent threats–works
wonderfully well…