Sunday, February 14, 2010

Education in Haiti

Obviously, Haiti is going to be wrestling with the effects of an earthquake for a long time. This report on universities there is just another reminder of the challenges Haiti didn't need but now has to face. It's not just the infrastructural loss of buildings that could have a long-term impact - after all, classrooms are important, but not essential, to the activity of teaching. The loss of hundreds of university professors is hard enough to recoup. Add to that the simple loss of young educated people who died who would have been Haiti's potential teachers, scholars, writers, economists, politicians, and many others lost their lives, and the long-term effects across all aspects of Haitian life become much clearer. It serves as another reminder that, while the world did a great job in offering aid in the immediate aftermath of the quake, Haiti is going to need continued support, financial and otherwise, and even then, some things can never be recovered for Haiti's society, culture, and life.