Expectations Met

I came into this class hoping to learn more about how education is and isn’t conducive to development around the world—whether or not it really did lead to a better life for people, or if we as the western world just decided it did. From this class, I came to understand that the Western idea that education improves lives is based on the neoliberal worldview. If every person is prepared to compete in the global market, it will expand, everyone will earn money and lives will improve. Many would disagree with this idea, as evidenced by the movie Schooling the World (among several readings done for the course) where the experts argue that education actually leads to poverty rather than alleviating it because students become, “a semi-literate for another system, to which you have no entry, because you do not belong to the right class, you do not belong to the right privilege.”[1]Being educated does not change how society functions. Education has not led to automatic employment as promised, but many people have spent all their money in order to be educated in the way the Western world says is right. This is what I suspected of the world, and it was interesting to hear other people express it.

Perspectives Heard

I appreciated getting to hear so many different perspectives on this issue. For a couple weeks, it seemed like the only opinion out there was that education is not actually conducive to development. Having Najla come and talk about her personal story about how education made such a difference for her and was now changing her country was like a complete 180 from what we had been hearing and discussing before. She talked about how education not only improved her life and helped her get a good job with the World Bank, but how she was working with other educated Afghanis to improve their country. If development aid is going to be given, it needs to be allocated by those who understand the country’s culture and needs, and who knows better than those who are from there?

Freire Read

I also enjoyed reading Freire’s thoughts on education because I have been frustrated by the same issues for years. I went through the banking model; to an extent, I am still going through the banking model, though less exclusively in university than before. I went through all of elementary school and parts of high school putting in minimal effort and getting almost all A’s, because all I had to do was memorize stuff and spit it out on the test, and occasionally color a map or give a short presentation. I was never expected to actually work to understand what we were learning or figure anything out for myself (with a few exceptions like the one time we had a science fair in seventh grade). We were never taught to form our own opinions, only to accept everything we were taught as absolute truth.

Challenges Faced

This class was challenging for me because I was supposed to deeply understand the readings and develop critiques on them. Even when I did feel I understood and had thoughts on what we were discussing, I had trouble articulating my thoughts, and often just ended up sounding like an idiot. A few times, someone else would follow up with my fumbling words and say exactly what I thought what I had been saying, and everyone would agree with that person, whereas they had just looked at me like I was turning into a llama when I tried to say it. I was only trying to ensure my participation points by talking in class, but I think I may have just ended up reducing them instead. I learned that I participate better as a listener, and appreciated that Jessica recognized that as valid.

Course Vanquished

I really will feel as though I have vanquished a foe if I pass this class. It was interesting material, but perhaps not my strongest subject. I loved that we took off our shoes and sat on the floor together. It made for a much more comfortable learning environment. Thanks for taking on this challenge, Jessica!!