Greg Mortenson Value Of Education Essay

Greg Mortenson and the Significance of Education

Education is widely valued all throughout the world, but especially in third world countries. Many people don’t understand how many kids want to learn, but in first world countries kids think of schools as a burden. Greg Mortenson has always saw the value in education and made some childrens wishes come true by creating safe and comfortable schools that gave them the education they wished. Greg Mortenson spent some of his childhood in Tanzania, but was raised in America. He and his little sister Christa were very close, but sadly she had epilepsy and had seizures very often. Greg often loved taking Christa on trips as a break from her life. He was an adventurer, and when his younger sister passed

away suddenly the night before a trip, Greg made the decision to climb to words second highest mountain, K-2. When he failed to climb the strenuous mountain, he was malnourished and ill, but fortunately he came across a small village and they assisted him back to health. To thank the loving villagers for helping him he made a promise to build them a school (GrassBranches). Greg Mortenson advocated for children's education through his books, Listen to the Wind, Three Cups of Tea, and Stones into Schools.
To begin, Greg Mortenson’s book Listen to the Wind advocated for children's education. In this children's book, similar to Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, Greg Mortenson tells the story about how he failed to climb K-2 and gets help from a small village. He then makes the courageous promise to build schools for children, but particularly young girls (Mortenson and Roth). In the small village, where Mortenson built his first school, the young children had an especially hard time and they once said, “We study in the school that we helped build. Before our school was built, we had lessons outside. We wrote with sticks on the ground” (Mortenson and Roth 1). Before Greg’s generosity to build the children a school, they were using what they had to try and get and education. This is important because it shows the kids that are reading to be grateful and it also explains how much other countries cherish education. It shows that they are very grateful that Greg gave them a school they could learn in seven days a week. All the kids are happy and proud to be in a school they helped build.
To continue, Greg Mortenson’s book Three Cups of Tea advocated for children's education. Similar to the children's book Listen to the Wind, Greg Mortenson tells the story of the courageous act of attempting to climb the world’s second largest mountain, K-2. After he fails to climb the mountain, he is sick and ill, but gratefully he comes across a small town that will eventually inspire him to create an organization for creating schools (Thomson, Mortenson, and Oliver). In this book Mortenson explains how important education is in young girls through this quote, “Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities, but the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls” (Thomson, Mortenson and Oliver 209). This is important because it shows how important education is to children, but especially young girls. The girls will eventually grow up and raise families of their own and pass on the knowledge that they were able to learn in a school they helped build. Education can make such a big impact and when people get educated, they get more informed about how to educate their own peers.
Lastly, Greg Mortenson’s text Stones into Schools advocated for children’s education.

This book starts where Mortenson’s last book Three Cups of Tea left off. Greg is continuing to build his organization, Central Asia Institute, that is working toward promoting education and teaching children the value of a good education. He is working hard to gain funds while tackling making new relationships and even getting abducted for eight days (Description). Mortenson explains that education is valuable for all people through his quote, “So for me, that THE LAST BEST PLACE sticker on my briefcase doesn’t represent a slogan or a marketing campaign to promote the owners of my home. Insead, those words affirm my belief that the people who live in the last places-the people who are most neglected and least valued by the larger world-often represent the best of who we are and the finest standard of what we are meant to become” (Stones into Schools 36). This shows that Mortenson believes that everyone deserves a chance to an education. If somewhere looks unfit for a school to others, Mortenson thinks it's the best place because the future is unpredictable and no one knows who will be taught there. It does not matter where they live, where there from, or what they want to become, they should all have a chance at getting an education to better their

lives.
Greg Mortenson showed his desire to educate everyone, no matter where the place, through his books Listen to the Wind, Three Cups of Tea, and Stones into Schools. He did this by educating children about how important schools are to people in his book, Listen to the Wind and by creating some schools in his book, Three Cups of Tea. He also created an organization to create more schools and even got kidnapped in Stones into Schools. Greg Mortenson is a good man who wishes to have everyone educated. He noticed that kids in third world countries are not getting the education that they deserve, so he decided to dedicate his life to giving them a great education. People in first world countries usually see school as a burden, but what they don't realize is how important education really is. Greg Mortenson sees the value in education for everyone.