That says, 'I don't do manual labor. Back then, a person could graduate from primary school and be a teacher. That's not the case anymore, but poor parents still tend to think that if their child can just get through secondary school, he or she can get a good job, or go on to college and get an even better job. The reality is that unemployment among such secondary school and college graduates can be as high as 80 percent. That's why Compassion's approach to providing learning opportunities for sponsored children involves more than formal education.
Children learn in three different environments-formal, nonformal, and informal.
The formal setting is where children learn basic literacy and math skills that are so essential for stepping out into a responsible adult life. And just as it's essential in the United States for children to earn a high school diploma, it's also essential for children in developing countries to earn some basic formal schooling credentials to get ahead in life. But that's not enough for a child to achieve gainful, self-sustaining employment. Children also need access to nonformal education, or life-skills learning. The third kind of learning opportunity children receive in Compassion projects is informal.