I remember when you guys came to Seattle for the 4th of July two years ago and we all talked with Ben about his going off and joining the Peace Corps. I've done a good amount of this kind of volunteer work myself, and agree completely with the general perspective of his train of thought. It's a very complicated situation with definite exceptions, unfortunately. Having spent a month in Ghana, I can say that the attitude is very much the same, and that's in West Africa -- Ghana is allegedly the model for developing Africa.
Regarding the mentioned administrator-type who proved equally disappointing: I've experienced this as well.
I have a friend who has done work in India teaching kids in open-air schools, and he's told me that he's encouraged a lot of the kids to take school seriously.
Sorry, not really in the frame of mind for a long and drawn out post, but you should tell Ben that I hope I get a chance to talk about this sort of thing with him before too long! Well, hopefully I'll get a chance to see -all- of you guys before too long.
