SENTINEL WATCH March 2, 2009 Issue

EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN

MARYL WALTERS

ARNE DUNCAN, the newly appointed United States Secretary of Education, refers to children's education as "the civil rights issue of our generation" (The Christian Science Monitor, December 18, 2008).

Just as the cause of civil rights for African Americans has called forth passionate response and faithful prayers—and continues to progress as the US elected its first African American President—the right of children worldwide to receive quality education deserves passionate commitment and dedicated prayers.

I thought of this when reading about Palestinian children being trained for terrorism: " 'Martyrdom is bliss,' a child says, referring to a 14-year-old suicide killer" (Harold Evans, US News and World Report, December 19, 2008). At the same time a constant stream of news stories—from a variety of sources—highlight educational concerns worldwide, such as inequitable funding, widening achievement gaps, alarming dropout rates, as well as cultural and religious beliefs that deny girls an education.