As most of you may know, I was born and raised in Nepal. Most of my lower level education was earned there – kindergarten, middle school, and part of high school.
Now, the education system there is very different than the western education system. There are many people who aren’t satisfied with the way schools work and what they teach/don’t teach in America. I’m sure there are things that can be done better but that’s not the topic for this post.
I want to talk about how much better the education system in the states is, in some aspects, compared to what we had in South Asia.
Learning or Following?
When I was growing up, from a very young age, students were taught to and rewarded for repeating what the teachers said. Asking questions wasn’t allowed. I say allowed because the teachers never forbade us from asking questions but if someone did ask, it was frowned upon; as if a curious student wanting to learn more is somehow hurting the teacher’s ego in some way...
No level of creativity was encouraged. Music classes weren’t a thing. Physical Education classes were barely a thing and we probably got to play once a week at school. Now, just as a reminder, this wasn’t just in high school. This was since as early as 3rd grade and forward.
We were given one day per week to go to the school library and learn materials outside of classes.
(Fun story: In 9th grade, my science teacher almost smacked me across the face (I dodged so she missed) because I was wearing powder foundation... )
Unnecessary assignments were given to kept students busy over breaks so we technically never got winter, spring, or summer breaks.
Copying pages upon pages straight from a book was an assignment I specifically remember. Yeah, you read that right. Literally had to copy words from my science book in 7th grade onto a notebook, 30+ pages, just so my teacher could put red check marks once school resumed. How did this help me learn anything or made my time well-utilized? I couldn’t tell you. I remember my classmates literally getting spanked because they didn’t copy everything and left out a few pages.
Whoever could parrot out what the teachers taught on the exam sheets would score the highest marks. Whoever followed what the teachers said to do, despite reasonable or not, was the best student.
My cousin, who is 20 years old now, recently told me something that hurt to hear. When I lived back in Nepal, I remember him drawing these impressive cartoons – Pokémon characters, Dragon Ball Z characters, and superheroes. He had talent. However, at school, during art class, his teacher would consistently yell at him and occasionally beat him because he didn’t follow the directions provided. He wasn’t allowed to draw what he wanted to draw.
Fast forward a few years, now he doesn't want to draw anymore because of all the bad memories associated with his childhood hobby.
Creativity Out The Door
Creativity is not encouraged; being a parrot is.
Asking questions isn’t encouraged; sitting down quietly and being obedient is.
Projects aren’t encouraged; memorizing and “downloading” everything out on the exam papers is.
I was a top student and always came first in class till 8th grade. Once I moved to a different city, I was demoted down to be the second-best student haha. My point being, I was a “good” student so I never really got punished or yelled at but I remember many of my classmates getting punished all the time.
I remember one of my close friends from 5th grade who studied a lot and tried a lot to do well but he would just end up forgetting everything he had memorized and would do poorly on the exams. He was called stupid for being the way he is.
Current Situation
I don’t know how the education system is currently; if it has evolved or has stayed the same. However, just like how other aspects of the western culture has slowly crawled their way into other cultures, I think it’s time the education system of under-developed countries be upgraded to a newer version.
As a side note, maybe this is the reason why South Asians are so good at math? Algebra, arithmetic, calculus, and trigonometry are facts so maybe it's ok to regurgitate those on the exams haha
Future
Kids are the future of the nation. Teach them to be independent. Teach them to ask WHY. Teach them to allow their creativity to come out in whatever way they know; art, music, writing, sports, coding, etc.
Stop manufacturing parrots that repeat what you say and sheep that follow the same path as you.
Stop taking out your deep-rooted mommy and daddy issues by beating up kids that are there to learn.
Stop using kids to polish your ego.
Most of all, stop taking away their imagination to keep them from being better human beings; better than you could ever be.
End of Rant
I realize this may be a biased narrative here. However, this is what I went through. This is what I saw my siblings, cousins, and friends go through at school.
Not every teacher was mean like this. I had some very motivating teachers that I look up to even to this day. However, majority needed to punish young kids to feel powerful which is absolutely pathetic.
At least in America, parents AND teachers encourage their kids to follow their dreams. This may not always turn out the best but at least kids here have the freedom to pursue what they truly desire; what they are good at. This is a great step already.
There's so much to work on. There's so many reasons why developing countries are still that - develop-ing. However, I believe that taking a better approach at education would be an excellent step towards a good foundation for the future of a nation. That's how you allow musicians, poets, artists, dancers, rappers, programmers, architects, and many other talents to flourish.
Let me conclude with this extremely relevant quote I found:
"It is because modern education is so seldom inspired by a great hope that it so seldom achieves great results. The wish to preserve the past rather that the hope of creating future dominates the minds of those who control the teaching of the young."
-Bertrand Russell