Reflections

     I've been back in Portland for five days now, long enough to miss Ghana's literal and figurative warmth--the warmth of the climate and the people.
     My principal goal in traveling to Ghana was to find schools and teachers interested in linking their students to students in the U.S.  After visiting seven Ghanaian schools--some of them multiple times--I believe more than before that such relationships will be mutually beneficial.
     Schools in the U.S. do a relatively strong job of cultivating effective individuals.  We produce a lot of brilliant students.  Ghanaian schools put much more emphasis on deference and responsibility and hard work.  Of course one benefit of learning about each others' lives is appreciating a different culture through developing a personal relationship.  But I am also hopeful that the two different styles of education can inform each other.  In the world of today and tomorrow, we all need to learn how to maintain traditions even as we innovate.