More on education in China; NY Times

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/world/asia/in-china-schools-a-culture-of-bribery-spreads.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

No big surprise that capitalist interests dominating education are not an exclusive trend of U.S. higher education institutions on the worldwide level (one has only to look at the recent—and perhaps loudest—student strikes in other parts of the continent such as Chile and Canada). Apparently, this has its place in Chinese educational institutions as well. What is disheartening to learn is that there are some teachers themselves that have come to be corrupted and expect to be given extravagant gifts during China’s Teacher Appreciation Day by parents of students who see their only option as brown-nosing in order to have their child be favored by those same teachers.
I remember an observation made many years ago by a friend with whom I was comparing certain elements of U.S. culture and Mexican culture; one of those observations was that in Mexico, the corruption that occurs can generally be pinpointed or attached to a name or a person who is not very out of reach and not very abstract (i.e. more heavy-handed / iron fist in nature). In the U.S., on the other hand, the corruption is much more subtle, discreet, and typically out-of-reach (i.e. more subliminal, akin to low-intensity-warfare conditions). Is it the burden of the powerful elite of the most powerful nations to continually perpetuate the economic exclusivity of such a fundamental right as education? For those that unceasingly resist this approach, other countries (yes, even those labeled “third world”) among which Cuba is perhaps the most startling example, continue to provide a beacon of hope and concrete example of how simply learning a trade, a discipline or an art is not an exclusive privilege of a select few, but even extends as an “opportunity” to those outside of its own borders, to the point which others of much richer (more “developed”) countries have gone there to become educated doctors, professionals, etc.
What would the world look like if such an example of humanity in education as a right would come to be found in the world’s most “powerful”/”developed” nations? I am sure that if anyone has seriously considered the consequences, it would be the most elite aristocracy of these same countries who would not have their authority put into question. And it is perhaps out of their fear of those same consequences that it is the masses who continue to pay the price, in terms of economics as well as in term s of dignity, for this trend to continue.
“When I give food to the hungry they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist…”
-Hélder Câmara

[Author]

Posts