Taken from: http://schoolingtheworld.org/
I just watched this movie questioning about modern education. This topic is very dear to me as I always support education for underprivileged kids in 3rd countries. This film used Ladakh (a place I visited a month ago) as an example, and coincidentally, I also supported a local school in Ladakh.
This is a thought provoking movie.
I had a lot of unanswered questions. The underlying assumption of modern education is to alleviate poverty around the world. Personally, I am an ardent believer of education as I am a beneficiary of a good education. However, this film challenged this underlying assumption that I felt strongly about.
Does education really alleviate poverty?
Is modern education making people dependent of modern economy?
Is modern education removing people's ability to live independently in a sustainable way?
(Think: about the farmers who lived independently for thousands of years)
Is modern education churning out workers for the elites?
Is modern education like a factory churning out homogeneous products?
Is education selling the wrong dream?
(Think: The high unemployment among the undergraduates in USA.)
The fact:
90% of the people in Ladakh educated in modern school will not be doctors/engineers/lawyers. They would most probably be a lowly paid workers struggling in the modern economy. Yet, they have lost their ability to survive in their native land, and they lost their culture.
A Ladakhi girl studying in a missionary school wants to work in a city like Delhi.
A Ladakhi young man working in Delhi, yearns to go back to live in Ladakh.
That's the irony of life.
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There is another scene in the film that disturbs me.
The Ladakhi students in a Christian missionary school have to speak English and they would be punished by the teacher if they speak Hindi or Ladakhi. And there was a scene where all the students were reciting Christian prayer (not sure if it was voluntary or compulsory).
It is really scary to see how kids are being indoctrinated on a daily basis.
I could relate to this as I was studied in a Catholic missionary school for 4 years and I chose to transfer out of a Christian high school after 3 months (There was compulsory preaching every monday). I was on the verge of converting to Christianity as it was easy in those environment (all your teachers and friends are either Christian or Catholic, and I listen to the Christian doctrine almost everyday). Teenage years is such a vulnerable stage in life where you just want to fit in and do not have critical mind.
I was only 15 years old. And my form teacher encouraged me to join her after school to attend her church event. She told me that Jesus/God had opened the door for me, and if I didn't embrace it, it would be closed. And when my grandma was hospitalized, my form teacher would appear on my grandma bedside and started to pray aloud for my grandma - making my grandma very uncomfortable. (On the hindsight, my form teacher was very insensitive to other people.)
Personally, I am against indoctrinating young people with religion (be it Christianity/Buddhism/Islam) in school. These things should not be mixed up with school. It is scary that more than 15 years after I left my school, I still know how to recite Hail Mary.... this is the power of indoctrination at a young age.
It is really scary how education is used to manipulate and control the young mind.
I am raised in such a system.
I am glad that I have seen it through.
If I have an opportunity to meet my form teacher again, I would let her know that her action was inappropriate.
