My childhood was filled with lessons that were given to me by my parents, my schoolteachers and even my peers. The guilt-filled lunches were not unfamiliar as I recall the need to eat everything on my plate. I was taught that waste was a privilege I need not indulge in, because of course, there are millions of starving children throughout the African continent. It was this constant reminder that subconsciously instilled an idea of Western superiority in me from a young age. I believed I was being cultivated to be a responsible “citizen of the world” by being conscious of the good fortune that my circumstances allowed. I believed in the methodology of the “developed” world and was well aware that rest of the world did not yet match our good fortune. I found injustice in unequal opportunity and began connecting my own dots. I rooted the cause of hunger to poverty, poverty to a lack of education, a lack of education as a sign of underdevelopment and underdevelopment meaning they needed our “help”.
After watching “Schooling the World” my preconceived notions were challenged and my perspectives were utterly changed. Like so many other optimistic and well-intentioned souls, I believed wholeheartedly that education was the key to empowerment and equality. A society could only progress once it attained an educated middle class. I had believed poverty would be eradicated by complete access to education and that each community needed to fulfill this human right to basic access of elementary education, so they too could be progressive. However, considering what education might look like, what might be taught, or who sets the standards never crossed my mind. I, like many other Westerners, just wanted to “help” those I considered in need.
Is it possible to help?
I became stumped by this question and the need to find a silver lining. “Schooling the World” portrayed a side of international education that highlighted the grievances of many villages considered to be in poverty— forced to send their kids to school. These villages are losing their youthful populations to boarding schools that are teaching impractical skills and are instilling cultures that are foreign from their own. It strikes a unique cord to realize that these villages are not suffering from poverty but from the forced assumption that they are ignorant and need to develop in order to stay competitive within global markets. I believed that Helena Norberg-Hodge hit the nail directly on the head when she stated within the film that, “It is the creation of development and aid that has created modern day poverty” [1]. My view that some communities are innately poor was radically challenged. Questions flared up for me: Is GDP the best measure of poverty? Why are these countries struggling to compete in the Western market? What sacrifices are being made to ensure that these people are “given opportunity”.
In the film, there are interviews with teachers that have given up their former lives to share their knowledge with these children, principals that are striving to create the best education and interviews with the students who have experienced the system. Watching each of them, it is clear to see the good intention that the teachers hold– wanting each of these kids to rise above their outdated culture and step into the global economy. However, many of these children are being subjected to Western influenced schools that emphasize ideals that are not their own, taught in languages that are not the same as their parents, without practical skills that are transferable to the home lives they have left. Developed countries are giving the “developing world” an education system that does not equalize their middle class, but eradicates their culture and undermines their future.
Alternatives in Education
The need for education was a blind plight that I was ready to venture before watching the film. I believed that English was a language that I could happily teach in Thailand, Malawi or within the rural villages of India. I was optimistic that schools would fight cultural genocide and create opportunities instead of more inequality. Although this film challenged my belief system that all education is good education, there is no reason to fully lose hope that the power of education need always be wielded as a weapon for capitalism. There is a school in Ladakh, founded by a Tibetan monk that believes in an education that need not exploit people but instead, return to the fundamentals of education. As written on their about page, “The Siddhartha School gives the children of Ladakh access to the highest-quality, thoroughly modern education in the region, while also honoring their life-ways and traditions in the curriculum and school activities” [2]. This school teaches in English, Tibetan, Hindi and Ladakhi and fights the notion that all educations must be based on a Western education. Alternatives in international education exist and becoming aware of each option is worth the extra time to ensure that “help” is created by a local community and not a single western goal.
[1] Carol Black. (Director) Schooling the World: The White Man’s Last Burden. 2010. Web.
[2] “About Siddhartha School.” Siddhartha School Project. N.p., 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.