The Journey These Students Take to School Will Make You Value Education

Most of us caught the bus, got dropped off by our parents, or walked a couple of blocks to school. And most of us have been late on our journeys to school once or a few too many times. When we were late, there was always the excuse of traffic, the bus broke down, or we missed it because we were talking to our friends. Over all, our journeys to school were pretty routine.

When it comes to getting into a routine, we tend to take advantage of things. In this case, our education. We knew the different routes to get to school the fastest and we knew classes would be in session when we got there. We didn’t have to worry about walking through a war zone, journeying for five hours through icy mountains, or tightrope walks above a flowing river to get to school.

At some point we’ve been guilty of not caring about our education and complaining about having to go to school. But after learning about what these students around the world have to experience on their journeys to school, you may just realize how lucky we are and how precious education is.

Children in Sanghiang Tanjung, Indonesia venture across a broken suspension bridge.

Children from Batu Busuk village in Sumatra, Indonesia, tightrope walk 30 feet above a flowing river, followed by a 7-mile walk.

In the Philippines, elementary school students use inflated tubes to cross a river on the way to school in Rizal Province, followed by at least one hour of walking.

Vietnam students swim twice a day across a river to attend school at Trong Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district

In Columbia, kids who live in the rainforest journey to school down steel cables at 50 miles per hour.

It’s a 125 mile journey for boarding school students in China through mountains of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

Parents take their children through the Himalayas across ice and frost to boarding school.

A young girl in refugee camp Shuafat, near Jerusalem, walks to school despite the violence taking place between Israeli troops and Palestinian protestors.

These pictures of various journeys to school are to put some perspective of the common complaint we hear of “I don’t want to go to school today”. While some of us take school and educational opportunities for granted, there are young children around the world whose journeys to school are risky but, to them, it’s worth it all to get to school and learn.

Do you think your education is worth the risk? Maybe instead of teaching students how to get rich or what they need to do to get the best job out there, we should be teaching students how to value education.