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| Retrieved from: Welcome to Mongolia. 2016. |
Hello, Everyone!
My name is Maria
Cabrera, and this is my first year with the Center for Global Justice, Human
Rights, and the Rule of Law (CGJ). I am a first-year Masters in Law student
with Regent University. My favorite part of the CGJ is learning about people
and different cultures throughout the world. Currently, second-year law student
Moriah Schmidt and I are investigating the possibilities for home education in
Mongolia.
As I begin the journey of learning about Mongolia and her
people for home education, my youngest daughter begins her senior year at a
local high school. I home schooled my two girls for fifteen years, one of which
is a home-educated graduate. While my youngest chose to finish her education in
a local high school, I am thankful and will always treasure the time I had and
will continue to have with each one of them. Many years ago, my pastor told me,
“Make each year count!”
So where is Mongolia?
Mongolia is a landlocked sovereign nation in East Asia
surrounded by China, North and South Korea, Russian Federation, and Kazakhstan.
According to the website,
Welcome to Mongolia, the beautiful capital
Ulaanbaatar
is the largest city in Mongolia with a population of approximately 1.2 million
people. Ulaanbaatar is a major cultural, political, commercial, and industrial
hub of Mongolia.
Welcome to Mongolia says
that the capital city continues to grow with families moving into Ulaanbaatar
to work because steady jobs in the countryside have become hard to find.
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| Retrieved from: www.worldatlas.com |
While Mongolia is the most scattered populated sovereign
nation in the world, with a population of about 3 million people, 30 percent of
the population is at least semi-nomadic. Grass-covered steppes cover much of
Mongolia, making it difficult to farm the land. The parallel mountain ranges of
Altay and Hangayn sweep from the northwest into the heart of Mongolia with the
Gobi Desert rounding out the southern region of Mongolia.
Who are the people of
Mongolia?
The World Population Review states
that approximately “Fifty percent of Mongolia’s citizens are under the age of
thirty.” Moreover, over one-fourth of that population is under the age of
fourteen! In addition, forty-five percent (little over one million) of
Mongolia’s population lives in the capital of Ulaanbaatar. Author and long time
visitor of Mongolia comments on
The Mongolia Travel Guide how the nomads dress in a traditional
garb and the urbanites dress in hi-fashion attire, yet they go about their
business side-by-side in Ulaanbaatar. Still, about one-half of the population
travel throughout the beautiful grassy steppes and Gobi Desert of Mongolia.
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| Retrieved from: www.mongolia-travel-guide.com |
The website,
Countries and their Cultures discuss Mongolians and their value
of family, parents, and children. Large families help one generation grow into
the next generation; however, today the family size is smaller than in times
past. “All family members participate in the rearing and moral education of
their children.”
What does teaching
and learning in Mongolia look like?
A
blog for
UNICEF states that 98 percent of
the adult population of Mongolia is literate. While Mongolia has done so much
for making education accessible throughout their land, a nation can always
improve learning. Home-education could be an additional option to the present
educational system for the parents and children of Mongolia.
Whether families live in the city or the countryside, they
can benefit from a tailored curriculum of the parent’s choice and provide a
great education for their children.
International speaker and educator Dr. Brian D. Ray states
on his website,
National
Home Education Research Institute that the “home-educated student usually
score 15-30 percentile points higher than their public school colleagues and
colleges are actively recruiting home-educated seniors at an increasing rate.”
I hope Mongolia can achieve its twin interest of ensuring
children in its territory will continue to thrive with an additional choice of
home-education while promoting freedom and competition in the realm of
education. Whether one lives out the nomadic life in the great steppes of
Mongolia, or enjoying the bustling life of Ulaanbaatar, home-education offers
another feature to making education engaging and fun!
#homeschooling #home-education #Asia #Mongolia
