Top 10 Costa Rica

Latin America Can Help Itself More

Costa Rican President Óscar Arias was on the mark with his plea for a more relevant and better-funded U.S. policy on Latin America ["Latin America Needs Better Than a Wall," op-ed, Aug. 16].

At the same time, Central America, in particular, would be best served with an inward look as opposed to an outward focus when it comes to improving its education systems. Even if we factor in their relative scarcity of funds, the countries of Central America still spend less on education as a percentage of their gross domestic product and national budgets than almost all other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

If the United States is to put more aid into education — which it should — it should do so only when the Central American countries themselves make education a priority. A good place to start would be with the landmark “Education Decalogue 2021″ on systemic education improvement for Central America — a 10-point plan and regional pact that President Arias signed in 2007 but has done little to advance in his own country.