Every child is born with an empty mind waiting to be filled with knowledge. From infancy to the beginning of schooling, children are acculturated at various levels. Even though some children come into primary school knowing more than others (ie. basic reading or arithmetic), primary education is the place where these slight differences can be “evened out” and where all children seemingly have an equal opportunity at academic success. Unfortunately, this “standardizing” base knowledge varies tremendously across the globe from curriculum, age of onset, to demographic of students and preparation of teachers.
Primary education is a formative part of a child’s life because it is the first structured educational setting that (most) children are required to attend. However, young girls across the world have continuously had less opportunity to stay in school as long as their male counterparts due to local culture that is often affected by global trends. My research focuses on the gaps in women’s primary education across the world. I argue that primary education is more important for young girls than it is for young boys in terms of shaping a society.
Girls are uneducated for many reasons including society’s larger factors (industrialization), household culture (need to bring in money for family), and other social forces. There are a few main arguments in favor of more primary education for girls including: greater economic growth, slower population growth, increased agricultural yields and labor productivity, lower fertility rates, lower child and maternal mortality. Once combined, the global effects of women’s primary education are significant enough to change the world.
