1. The Students An Excerpt from Soccer in Sun and Shadow By: Eduardo Galeano

2. Background The Students is almost like a sermon on the differences of the poor and wealthy children of Latin America. Eduardo Galeano tells of the hardships of both the rich and the poor, why they are the way they are, and how they cope. You find that although the two economic classes have different problems it doesn’t mean that one is more important than the other.

3. Weighty Quotes “[Rich kids]…Their voyage through their childhood confirms that machines are more trustworthy than people.” “Long before rich kids, stop being rich kids and discover expensive drugs to fool their solitude and fear, poor children are sniffing gasoline and glue.” “[Poor kids] Once they can walk, they learn the rewards of behaving themselves…They are little slaves in the family economy or in the informal sector of the global economy, where they occupy the lowest rung of the world labor market…” “Old age is a failure, childhood a threat.”

4. “[Rich kids]…Their voyage through their childhood confirms that machines are more trustworthy than people.” The wealthier kids are closed off from the rest of the world. They are made to only trust those of the same economical stature, possibly unknowingly destroying a chance to meet someone who would have changed their lives. They begin to rely on eBay and Amazon to fulfill their needs instead of those around them.

5. “Long before rich kids, stop being rich kids and discover expensive drugs to fool their solitude and fear, poor children are sniffing gasoline and glue.” Both the rich and the poor, although having very different problems, deal with their issues the same way. One uses drugs to escape the silence of solitude, the other to run away from the sounds of hunger and suffering.

6. “[Poor kids] Once they can walk, they learn the rewards of behaving themselves…They are little slaves in the family economy or in the informal sector of the global economy, where they occupy the lowest rung of the world labor market…” The less fortunate children immediately after they’re born don’t have a chance of being anything more than workers. They are the backbone of the economy and yet they are treated as though they are scum.

7. “Old age is a failure, childhood a threat.” When the child laborers are young they are in constant fear for their lives and well being and are forced to grow up before their time. They fear everything in their surroundings and growing up because when they are old they are worthless and the cycle repeats itself where they must shove their children into the workforce like they were themselves.

8. THE END