Nepal

Watching this video reminded me a lot of my trip to India. Just like they say in the film, there was a child following us down the street asking for money. Our guide turned and asked him why he wasn't in school and began to tell him why he should get an education.
All of the reasons to get an education in India are the same as in Nepal. The reasons are the same everywhere. Many families try to just survive and need their children to work, but education provides a means for those children to grow into people that can not only look out for their own survival, but help others as well. As they say in the film, what all the children have in common is poverty and dreams.
Yet the children of the Stanton school also live in poverty, but it's a very different world. I think that one of the main differences is that children are viewed differently. In the community around Stanton, children are a liability. Other than the education aspect, they're pretty much supposed to stay out of the way of adults. In Nepal, they are extra hands for work. The are around Stanton is largely consumerist. Yes, the parents do work, but their work is unstable and nearly every family has issues with consuming drugs. In Nepal, it seems to me that substance abuse doesn't play a part at all-the way they survive is by working-and resources are much closer to home.
The Riverside School also reminded me of the Free School in its more relaxed approach to education. The students all seem to be very motivated, recognizing that education is such a great privelage, so it doesn't look like there are ever many issues with discipline and behavior like in Stanton and City Springs. They said that education was the key to pretty much everything, and defined education as, "educate in the true sense-where people start questioning and analyzing." (which is very significant in their political situation)