After his recent visit to Rwanda, my friend, mentor and colleague Jerry Parr, of Willow Tree Early Education Team, offers some reflections on the contrast between US and Rwandan schools when it comes to managing risk:
“In some measures it all came down to expectations… the adults expected the children to be self sufficient, they expected them to manage and prevail in the situations that defined their everyday lives, children were aware of and had respect for the conditions around them and proved, in all challenges, to be competent enough to avoid mishap and mayhem. In every case, in other words, the children rose to the level of expectation set by the adults in their world.”
What do you think?