Image from PIXABAY
This project will be a deep dive into the comparison of Indiana and Kenyan school systems in order to understand how children's freedoms differ. To fully understand these differences, we must first take a look at the comparison of factors such as children enrolled, teacher-to-student ratio, and economic differences within the communities we are exploring. This page explores these statistics in comparison to one another and discusses our thoughts on their relation to freedom's children operate under.
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Breakdown of Public Schools | |
File Size: | 304 kb |
File Type: | m4a |
In Two Concepts of Liberty, Isaiah Berlin speaks of both positive and negative liberties. Positive liberty includes intended or good limitations, leaving you with the ability to shape your own life. During the formative years of a child’s life, parents mostly have control over decisions made, telling them what to do, while also sometimes allowing them to make minor decisions for themselves. Following Berlin’s thinking, children’s positive liberty is limited as their decisions are restricted to limitations from their parents. In the school system, teacher’s take over this disciplinary role for the children when their parents are not present. As seen in the infographic above, the average class size in Kenya is over four times larger than in Indiana. This is due to the small number of schools and teachers in Kenya. This limits the students' opportunity to receive a complete, appropriate, and well-rounded education, decreasing the chance of freedom in the future. From positive liberty comes personal freedom. The idea of personal freedom stems from Orlando Patterson's Freedom in the Making of Western Culture and is defined as freedom without coercion or restriction within the limitations of another person’s desire. As children become adults, they have less restriction on their everyday life, therefore gaining more positive liberties and in turn, personal freedoms. What children do with their newfound freedom as they age, is dependent on the opportunities and lessons they receive through their childhood and schooling.