The Rich People's School Analysis

Put yourself in the shoes of a little girl in Botswana. You live in a remote poor desert with your grandmother. You are given the gift of expensive education, and are eager to learn. Excitedly, you prepare for your first day of school. Little do you know that within a few short hours, you will be surrounded by kids pointing and laughing at you. The excitement you had once felt turned into an overwhelming rush of disappointment, insecurity, and hopelessness. “The Rich People’s School” is a short story about this very situation. It can teach us about the culture of Botswana through its touching narrative. “The Rich People’s School” reveals various things about the educational systems in Botswana by describing the life of a young, school …show more content…
Her mom left her and moved to the United States with an American man. Sylvia’s mother insisted that the man payed for Sylvia to go to the “rich school” that cost a great deal of money. This school was equipped with swing sets and jungle gyms, flowers and green grass, unlike the government school that was surrounded by dust and broken desks. At the expensive school, a lot of the teachers and students were American and spoke English. Finally, the day came for Sylvia to go to school. The first couple of hours went well, until it was teatime. While the other kids took out potato chips and soda, Sylvia ate her tumbler full of traditional Botswana food. Kids made fun of and laughed at her. Both her tumbler and her dignity were shattered. Even though Sylvia was deeply upset, she hid these problems from her grandmother by skipping school each day and going to sit on the boulders by the riverbed. One day, Sylvia was late returning from the boulders and her secret was revealed. Surprisingly, her grandmother was not angry, but rather she was understanding. Although this is a touching story, it goes even deeper than the plot and characters. It can explain many things about the culture in Botswana …show more content…
First of all, the both systems pride themselves on providing education to everyone (“Botswana Education”). Not only does everyone have access to education, but base schooling is free to the general public. Another similarity is that the board of education in Botswana decided upon four principles to base their schooling on. These principles are democracy, self-reliance, development, and unity, all things that the United States emphasize as well. When one thinks of an southern African country, they usually do not think of a high literacy rate, a rapidly growing economy, and an extremely advanced educational system. Botswana is a country that disproves the stereotypes that hang on African countries by having many similarities to the educational goals of the United States. We see this blatantly in “The Rich People’s School”. The school that the little girl goes to is much like how we would expect a school to be in America. The children played on the playground, the kids wore uniforms, and the students sat at desks and listened to the teacher’s lessons (“Education and Jobs”). In reality, Botswana’s education is very similar to education in the United