I am a TCK. To those who don't know, that's an abbreviation for third culture kid. In sociologist David C. Pollock's words:
"A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' culture. The TCK frequently builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture may be assimilated into the TCK's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background."
Yes, that's straight from Wikipedia. Anyway, I'm a diplomat's son, and I have lived significant proportions of my life in multiple different countries. As such, I never really identify myself as a person from one particular place. My parents, on the other hand, are pure, home-grown Nepalis. They love their daal bhaat, and they'll scold me and my brother if we talk in English in front of them. I and my brother never really identified with this, because the average Nepali parent-child relationship is very complicated. Nepali parents and children never really bond until the child comes of age because of the significant scolding (and beating, in some cases) by the parents. However, the biggest reason Nepali parents and children cannot bond is because romantic relationships are not approved until you are old enough to marry. Anyhow, enough beating around the bush (pun unintended); my point is: I have recently started having meaningful conversations with my parents. Talking to them helped me understand their love for Nepal, and it also made me a bit more attached to the country. A recent encounter in particular is of note because it helped me come up with a solution to the education problems in Nepal. In fact, the conversation just happened less than an hour ago, and here I am typing away on my laptop.
"A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' culture. The TCK frequently builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture may be assimilated into the TCK's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background."
Yes, that's straight from Wikipedia. Anyway, I'm a diplomat's son, and I have lived significant proportions of my life in multiple different countries. As such, I never really identify myself as a person from one particular place. My parents, on the other hand, are pure, home-grown Nepalis. They love their daal bhaat, and they'll scold me and my brother if we talk in English in front of them. I and my brother never really identified with this, because the average Nepali parent-child relationship is very complicated. Nepali parents and children never really bond until the child comes of age because of the significant scolding (and beating, in some cases) by the parents. However, the biggest reason Nepali parents and children cannot bond is because romantic relationships are not approved until you are old enough to marry. Anyhow, enough beating around the bush (pun unintended); my point is: I have recently started having meaningful conversations with my parents. Talking to them helped me understand their love for Nepal, and it also made me a bit more attached to the country. A recent encounter in particular is of note because it helped me come up with a solution to the education problems in Nepal. In fact, the conversation just happened less than an hour ago, and here I am typing away on my laptop.
The conversation began when I decided to tell my father my perspective on why Nepal's population is largely illiterate. I explained to him how there were many factors that made each other worse in time. For example, I talked about the whole "doctor-engineer" problem, where parents all over Nepal want their children to become a doctor or an engineer since they receive word of a pregnancy. Now, if you are not a Nepali, you should know that we have another problem where we think older people are inherently smarter and more knowing than younger people. This may not be the case with everyone, but in my experience, it is far too ubiquitous. As such, if a child (of age anywhere between ten to twenty years old) tells his parents that he wants to become an artist, singer, athlete, or any "non-prestigious" occupation, his parents will scold/beat him and force him to become whatever they want him to become. To make matters worse, they generally consult with people that may know little to nothing about you and your capabilities, like your uncle, who happens to be a doctor/engineer. Now, before you scream "make all of them watch 3 Idiots (famous Bollywood movie)", I will move on to the next problem.
Teachers. Yes, that is the next problem. The average Nepali teacher will beat you more than your parents will. Why? If you ask me, I'd say a lot of them are frustrated. Why? Because people that generally become teachers are people that could not make it into the "doctor-engineer" type occupation. I know very few who actually chose to become teachers, and they are, unsurprisingly, better at what they do. Also, teachers are not very respected, but I wouldn't respect a person if they hit me for every mistake I make. Anyhow, this problem ties very easily to the previous problem. Remove the "doctor-engineer" problem and we'll see immediate improvements in this problem. All of a sudden students who want to become teachers are allowed to become teachers, and they won't have to live with the disappointment of their parents, which leads to less frustration and less child-beating. However, that is not enough. Public schools in Nepal are trash. Criticize me if you will, because there may be a few good public schools out there, but most of them are just terrible. Parents that care about their children's education WILL send them to a private school. So why are public schools in Nepal trash? Because teachers get paid less by the government than they are in private schools. So pay them a little more, or a lot more, and they come swarming into public schools because a government job is much more secure than a private job, and it has other added benefits. Increase the number of public schools in the country and suddenly Nepal's education isn't as bad anymore. Nepal's population becomes more literate, and a lot of our problems are solved, including the "doctor-engineer" problem. But wait, who can make this happen? The politicians. Are they making this happen? No. Why not? Because we don't have a constitution. Why don't we have a constitution? I'm not going to get to that, because it would double the length of this already-lengthy blogpost.
Ultimately, you have to tackle a problem at its root. This problem has a lot of roots, so you can start anywhere. However, the people that can tackle these problems are too busy fighting over what to write on a piece of paper, or book, or whatever it is you write a constitution on. In fact, they have been fighting over this for over four years. At this rate, candy will cost around ten Nepali Rupees in a few years.
I will post more on my thoughts on Nepal's politics as I research more about it. Stay tuned!
If a person wants to study Physics or psychology or chemistry at Bachelor Level, I don't think many of the institution here in Nepal offers that and that means either students are forced to change the subject or they will go into the only institution where that course is offered (Which is Tri-Chandra cause though KU offers, the seat is limited there). Now Will you imagine the environment there? Now people will say you have to study yourself and all which I agree. But that's not really a place where many can study. And the result? Less qualified teachers who pass the Undergrad/grad but doesn't know most of the things they studied which makes them underqualified to teach 10th or 12th standard( I think so)..My view: Opening a private University. If you can produce nice undergrads/grads in those fields, they can be good teachers in future..
ReplyDeleteAnd teachers are paid little. We have to economically develop our country to increase that amount..:) -Sohil
Whatever I said about teachers for public schools can be applied to your problem as well. TU is a government-based university, so major changes would be made there too. Teachers would be paid more there as well, and there should also be quality control. Their work will be monitored, and if a large number of students are discontent with the performance of particular teacher, steps will be taken to solve the problems in performance or a new teacher will be appointed for that subject. I completely understand what you mean. Lack of educational depth in higher levels is not just a problem in Nepal, but many other developing countries. As for the economic problems, there are many different solutions, and I will be posting an article about that soon.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say Private because they pay you more. I said it because you can make your own syllabus for every course, you can have your own way of accepting students rather than just sitting for entrance test and admit according to the merit list.
DeleteAnd you said "their work will be monitored....steps will be taken". Go vernment officials are worried about the SLC pass percentage this year as it was the least from past 11 years. It seems like they are trying to do something about it but who knows. They might set up questions much easier to increase that number. They never said they'll monitor and I guess they'll do anything to increase that number. They are worried about pass percentage rather than doing something all the time to improve the quality of education.
It's easy to say that their work will be monitored but I guess one has to come up with precise solution to it.
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