7 . The brown paper bag hit the ground. A Michelin engineer picked it up and opened it, revealing a cracked, leaking egg. The third graders at A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School were disappointed when they saw the runny mess.

It was engineering week at A.J. Whittenberg, a public primary school in Greenville, South Carolina. One week per month, engineers from local industries visit the classrooms and talk to students about their careers.

Greenville is now introducing the idea of a career path to students in primary school and giving students the option to follow those programs to middle and high schools. Each primary school focuses on a specific technical skill. The district allows students to attend schools outside of their attendance boundaries as long as space is available, which means students can choose to continue to follow their chosen career pathway at a middle school with corresponding programs.

The effort in Greenville is part of a growing national trend in which school districts partner with local industries to develop curriculum (课程) and expose students to specialized careers at a young age.

Some education experts worry the focus on industry qualifications has resulted in schools taking on responsibilities that should fall to businesses, like training workers for specific job duties, damaging a more comprehensive education in schools. “Schools are to not just prepare people for work and strengthen the economy, but also a place where students should experience art, music and think creatively,” said Jack Schneider, a professor of education at the University of Massachusetts.

A teacher from Greenville, however, said, “Career exposure has a big impact on kids. We’re not really wanting them to make a decision—‘I’m in the second grade and now I’m locked in to being whatever when I graduate from high school in 10 years.’ We just hope students walk across the graduation stage with plans for a career in mind.”

Modern times need modern solutions. When students leave school, they need to be already down their road to college, if that’s what they’re going to do, or schools need to give them something that allows them to get to work and earn a living. Just getting out with a high school degree doesn’t do that.

10 . No poverty, zero hunger, quality education, these are some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)the United Nations(UN)established in 2015. In May 2019, the UN launched the SDG Book Club; each month, it posts on the club website a selection of books that illustrate a particular SDG to help young people interact with these goals.

Batesville Intermediate School launched the Junior Ambassadors (大使) program in August 2019, using the SDG Book Club as a springboard to introduce students to a more global view on world issues. Twenty-four 4^th and 5^th graders met for 30 minutes four days a week to read, discuss, research, and conduct the sharing of knowledge and solutions to these issues. Research activities, special projects, and guest speakers are additional opportunities for junior ambassadors to build knowledge. What began as a desire to help small-town children expand their views grew into a broader program that affected the school, community, and beyond.

The UN’s recommendation of Serafina’s Promise by Ann E. Burg was perfect for the junior ambassadors to begin their study of the first SDG: no poverty. The book is set in Haiti, so members of local Haitian groups were invited to speak to the program participants. Then, the junior ambassadors used their newfound knowledge to create multimedia lessons, sharing them with the other 480 students.

The study of the second SDG — zero hunger — gave junior ambassadors an opportunity to organize and carry out a read- a-thon (a reading marathon) to raise funds for the Grain of Rice Project’s school initiative in Kenya. The nonprofit’s co-founder, Amy Ahiga spoke to and inspired the students with her passion for helping others.

Junior ambassadors use what they learn to engage with their community and the world, earning the school the American Library Association’s 2020 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Excellence in Humanities Programming. They can look back with pride, knowing they made a difference. With increased confidence and skills, these children will know that they can and will continue to save the world — one goal at a time.