Every day, millions of children around the world fall behind their American counterparts in areas of mathematics and science. I want to help close this gap by using my background in math to help underprivileged children develop a foundation in math upon which they can improve their lives. For the SISL project in the summer of 2018, I would like to align myself with with the Barefoot College NGO that operates in India. The Barefoot College NGO was constructed to break the stereotypes which surround children of rural, Indian villages that once had no hope for education. The NGO is dedicated to providing an “as needed” education to children so they can understand basic concepts of math and apply them to their lives. The main focus is on “as needed” education and not an in-depth study because these children will benefit the most from understanding simple concepts such as adding, subtracting, and multiplying, and applying them to their predominantly agricultural …show more content…
Operating in regions of the world where women are often considered second-class citizens, this NGO makes it a priority to treat all genders equally. This basic right helps to establish a foundation for social change in the rural regions of India by empowering reform through education. To emphasize the belief that a common system of education is not the best for these children, Barefoot College believes in implementing planning at the “grassroot level” by allowing individuals to articulate their needs and from that point, an education plan is created. Lastly, Barefoot College emphasizes self-reliance because they want to form individuals who are self-confident and use their confidence to trust themselves. This will be important as the children will continue to develop with age and will eventually have the capability to become the leaders in their communities through their