Schooled 'Bout School

I have been raised to value and take pride in my education. Growing up, it was ingrained in me that education was the key to a better and more prosperous life. I never questioned it. Education is a major part of my identity. In many ways, I naturally assumed that this was the way to go.

That foundation was rocked a bit when we watched "Schooling the World: The White Man's Burden", a documentary on the effects of Western education on developing worlds. Specifically, it focused on the Ladakh people in India and how they are being indoctrinated in Western education and ideologies that are ill-suited for their world. Furthermore, the loss of language, culture, and understanding their environments is troubling.

Some interesting points from the film:

1. Western education is creating a "human monoculture" as diversity is being destroyed.
2. Traditional forms of education (by family and community) is slowly dying as children are being indoctrinated by western ideals and prepared for a modern/urban environment
3. Education dividing families and communities into children who 'know' more than their elders and creating issues of inferiority in elders.
4. Modern/urban education is creating more social inequity as students cannot return home and utilize their education so they move to big urban developments where there is a lack of jobs. 
5. Social justice advocates would benefit from understanding how they are truly "helping" people in the developing world.

I could not help but evaluate how my life has been changed by education. As a Cambodian American, I struggle with balancing western values with my traditional Khmer culture and upbringing. It's a never ending battle. On one hand, my family pushed me to pursue education but in many other ways they struggled to keep me cultured in their ways. I'm sure many can relate to these struggles. The education that they wanted for me served in many ways to draw me further away from their reach. My fluency in Khmer suffered--I had never even been given the chance to learn how to read or write. My relationship with them also suffered. There was little we could discuss that we had in common. I understand now the struggles they face with wanting to come here to escape oppression and find opportunity for their children only to deal with struggling to preserve identity and culture in a western society.

I find as my identity is evolving, I have a desire to reclaim some of the culture and language that I have lost. The questions raised by the documentary is helping me to critically think about my education and my experiences. I am certainly realizing that western education is not so appreciative of diversity and culture. It's giving me the drive to make it my life's work to protect culture and help to give it a place within our education system.