Global Voices Online » Education

Indonesia: Alternative education

Mong Palatino — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:59:20 +0000

Indonesian blogger Asri Wijayanti muses about the philosophy of education in Indonesia.

Malawi: Reflections on lawyers

Elia Varela Serra — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:35:48 +0000

Mzati Nkolokosa reflects on Malawian lawyers after a meeting of the Malawi Law Society, in which the launch of the Malawi Law Journal was decided. “Law is for people, even the poor”, he concludes.

India: Co-eds and Convents

Neha Viswanathan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Bohemian Rhapsody on the the value of getting educated at a co-ed over a convent school.

Barbados: Honest Politicians?

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:01:12 +0000

“There is a need for present day politicians to reclaim the trust of the people”: Barbados Underground wonders whether “it might be ‘moral character' we need - in politics - even more than Integrity Legislation.”

Kenya: Rioting in schools

Elia Varela Serra — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:30:28 +0000

Ory Okolloh at Kenyan Pundit analyzes on the reports of increasing levels of violence and riots in Kenyan high schools.

China: Official Olympic Security English handbook

John Kennedy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:45:34 +0000

Matthew at Waiguoren Critic of South China notes the lack of lessons on breaking up fights or calming people down before they begin in the official Police Olympic Security English Handbook, but with dialogue like this, a nightly stand-up routine at Olympic Village is an approach Chinese police should probably be considering:

“Police: Why didn't you call the police at once? Foreigner: I was very angry. How could I stand such an insult? I hit him on the head with a bottle.”

Bahamas: Condom Culture

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:36:28 +0000

“The Bahamas has been negatively impacted by the scourge of the HIV/AIDS virus and other STDs via unprotected sex, with a growing number of teenagers being among the infected”: Adrian Gibson at WeblogBahamas makes a case for having condoms available in schools.

Angola: On Africa's oilfields

Paula Góes — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:20:12 +0000

Pitigrili [pt] retorts to an article about Africa's oilfields on a newspaper which stated that few will benefit from Africa's oil boom: “Of course, the Western multinationals don't like the reconstruction deals between Angola and China, where oil is the currency exchange. But the Angolan people finally see asphalt and basic education and health infrastructure making a coming back since the beginning of the 1975 civil war. If we look at the African reality, it's a unique case of reconstruction benefiting the entire population.”

China: Looking back at a campus shooting

John Kennedy — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:57:05 +0000

Desktop pirates might have noticed that last year's movie Dark Matter was chosen by eMule as one of the P2P network's movies of the month [zh] was been getting heavy rotation on Saturday. So that's why you're reading about it now; while the metaphor of dark matter as cultural insensitivity doesn't exactly fit, the connection is probably worth making given all the discussion following the revenge-stabbing of several police officers in Shanghai earlier this month.

First, a 2007 post from film critic Raymond Zhou (周黎明):

本以为这样的独立影片会勇敢地探讨人性的黑暗面、以及文化冲突、水土不服等问题。但真的有点失望，影片把中国留学生刚到美国时的种种不适应，做了最肤浅、最夸张的描写，里面当然有真实的细节，但总体上人物根本不可信。从主题上讲，影片的投机取巧使之失去了原来事件的冲击力。

一个很外向、很容易跟人相处的人，是不会一举枪杀好几个人的。

最奇怪的是，华裔导演陈士争没有给斯特里普发挥演技的广阔空间。众所周知，斯特里普是不需要导演便可以给予极具厚度的角色塑造。影片中一场较感人的戏，是刘烨扮演的刘星来到斯特里普家送礼物，欲说还休，他离开后，镜头只给斯特里普一个侧面。我想，换了别的导演，此处可以出现一个叫绝的镜头，因为那时斯特里普的角色内心非常复杂，而那样的镜头是可以把整个表演提升到奥斯卡水准的。

刘烨的表现还不错，有点像留学生中的乖乖仔。只是很难想象他最终会变成卢刚式的人物。当然那是编导的责任。…

At first I thought this indie film would bravely delve into the dark side of human nature, as well as cultural conflicts and issues of acclimatization to new environments. But I really am disappointed in how the film offers a most shallow and exaggerated portrayal of a Chinese overseas student's problems adapting just after his arrival in the United States. Of course, there are many realistic details in the film, but overall the characters are not believable. As for the subject, the impact of the original incident gets lost in the film's selfish ambitions.

An outgoing, amicable person just doesn't turn around and shoot several people.

The strangest part is, the ethnic Chinese director Chen Shizheng (陈士争) did not give actress Meryl Streep ample space to display her acting skill. As everyone knows, Streep doesn't need a director to be able to fully develop her characters. One particularly touching scene in the film is when Liu Xing (刘星, played by Liu Ye 刘烨) goes to Streep's home and she feigns interest in the skincare products he takes to selling to make ends meet after his study plans are botched; he forgets a sample, and as he leaves, the shot only shows Streep from the side. I think with a different director, this scene would have wowed the audience, because Streep's character's emotions at that point were extremely complicated. Of course, that is the director's responsibility…

In April last year, Sina blogger and media worker Wang Xudong (王旭东) attended a screening of the film followed by discussions with Liu Ye, and at the time had this to write:

讨论的话题围绕，电影文本的并不太多，更多焦点是放在：几年前中国留美研究生枪击美国博导和同门师弟这个新闻事件，能否在国内上画？在美上画的考虑等社会话题展开。
影片，整体的感觉就是稚嫩，尤其表现在导演手法和叙事上。故事是以一个真实的新闻事件改编，在我看来，“卢刚校园枪击案”的事件，很震撼，至少结果很震撼，由于当年咱国媒体只是淡化处理了，我们只知道的是个结果，其中的过程并不了解。本期待着通过影片获得些真实的信息，可影片应该没能完成这个任务。

Topics of discussion were sort of peripheral, and there weren't many about the movie script; most were focused on whether news of a Chinese PhD student in the US shooting his American supervisor and several of his peers could be shown in China, as well as social issues in it having been shown in the US.
Overall, the film felt rather raw, especially seen in the narration and directing techniques. The story was based on true events, which I assume was the “Lu Gang (卢刚) campus shooting incident”, which was very shocking, or at least the outcome was, and because our domestic media only played it down at the time, the outcome was all we knew, left unclear about the events leading up. I'd expected to get some of the true facts from this film, but I don't think that's a task this film as achieved.

Intrigue is part of working life for many people in China, but then isn't it for everyone, everywhere? An anonymous writer on this Baidu thread thinks so, although looking primarily at the academic world:

中国知识份子到外闯的确困难重重: 想要出头果真需要天时、地利、人和. 刘星不过是想改善家人生活和追求知识顶峰罢, 谁料到这种不回头的固执会毁灭自己! 主角不幸遇上一个不容其他人挑战自己、好保著自己学术地位的「名师」(Aidan Quinn) . 教授年青时推翻了老师的理论, 成名多年后是个死守学说、靠留学生替自己研究学术, 但内里极度轻蔑门生的学棍. 并非所有人都同意教授, 只是身在学府, 最重视的是自己饭碗, 靠人脉关系「埋堆」才可以生存. 刘星一心只想研究学术, 不会阅读人性险恶, 他甚至估计不到教授反对通过他的论文, 并不是因为使用何种运算方法, 而是因为锋芒过露, 足以动摇教授的地位. 刘星向教授赞扬美国的老师比中国的更能接挑战, 其实东西方都一样, 都不喜欢学生胜过自己.

Chinese intellectuals have it hard anywhere they go abroad; those who want to stand out really need the right opportunity, to be in the right position, and to have the right support. Although Liu Xing only wanted to improve his family life and reach the peak of intellectual pursuit, nobody foresaw that this sort of blind obstinance would lead to his own destruction! The main character unfortunately coming up against someone with no tolerance for being challenged by others, his renowned supervisor (Aidan Quinn). Having disproven his own supervisor's theory in his youth, years later and having built a name for himself, has become an academic thug forced to defend his own theory, having his PhD students' research do his research for him but despising them at the same time. And not everyone agrees with this professor, but being in the academy, are ultimately concerned about keeping their own rice bowls full, relying on their relationships to survive. Liu Xing lives only to do research, and is oblivious to people's ill intentions, to the point of even not being able to realize that his professor's opposition to approving his thesis has nothing to do with calculation methods, but because of being outdone by talent, enough to rock the professor's position. Liu Xing praises to his supervisor American professors' wider acceptance of being challenged than Chinese professors, when actually it's the same both in the East and West: nobody likes being outdone by their students.

And finally, some cherrypickings from the comments thread from Dark Matter's download page on VeryCD:

Ryancou:
其实看到真实事件和拍摄花絮，心理很难受的，中国大学生到美国大学就读，由于人际关系的纠纷，酿成惨剧。
还有，“初进剧组的那几天，气氛非常诡异，他们私下里都在议论我是不是从中国来的功夫巨星”
为什么中国人和美国人在一起总是那么尴尬呢？
为什么我们中国人和美国人永远不能成为彼此之间互相了解的好朋友呢？

Actually, having seen both the real thing and the footage on the news, it's unbearable, a Chinese university student goes to an American university to study, but then an interpersonal dispute turns to tragedy.
Also, [quoting Liu Ye] “the first few days with the cast were really strange, everyone kept whispering to each other wondering if I was a big kung fu master back in China.”
Why does it always have to be so awkward when Chinese and Americans get together?
Why will we Chinese never become friends who understand each other with the Americans?

demonzion
真人真事，当时很轰动，报纸上说是结业时导师没有给他第一的评价而是给了另一个中国留学生，这位应试教育出身的“才子”就把美国天体物理学的半壁江山毁了。美国老师死就死在不懂中国学生从小就是：考考考，老师的法宝；分分分，学生的命根儿。

Based on true events, it was quite a stir at the time. The newspaper said when the program finished, the supervisor didn't give him top spot but gave it instead to another Chinese student. This “genius” brought up on test-taking education turned half of America's astrophysics world on its head. American professors died for not knowing that for Chinese students, it's all tests, tests, tests, and the magic power for teachers is: score, score, score, it's what Chinese students live for.

wangu571
没有看此片给人第一印象，我心底总感到有辱华的感觉呢，虽然刘烨说没有。

I haven't seen this film, but my first impression is that it's humiliating to China, even if Liu Ye says it's not.

NicholasGunn
Meryl Streep?! 这也成？！必须下了。

They got Meryl Streep to be in it? I have to download it.

kreax:
中国人在美国做出这件事，这部电影对我们国人来说也是一个审视自己的机会和角度……

For a Chinese to have done something like this in America, this film also offers an opportunity and point of view for us with which to examine ourselves……

moolemon:
非常好的电影,发片时期很巧和,和virginia tech的枪击残案.华人导演华人主角,我们应该支持.非常沉重的话题.

An extremely good film, which coincidentally was released at the same time as the horrible Virginia Tech shooting. A Chinese director and Chinese main actor, we ought to support it. An extremely serious subject.

suprakit:
看完了，说两句。大家不要把电影看作当年事件的再现，影片中讨论的是文化冲突，而且强调主人公受到教授的不公正对待，均与事情的本来面目有一定出入。
当时卢刚枪击的受害者中，就有斯特里普扮演人物的原型。受害人单林华，也没听说有片中描述的刻意讨好美国人的行为。
就表现卢刚事件而言，不存在什么辱华的问题，反而对卢刚付出更多的同情。
事件中，卢刚也是受害者，但是我以为不存在太多文化冲突的因素，更多的是他个人性格缺陷的结果。

I've just watched it, and I've got two cents. Don't everybody look at this as a rehashing of the events at the time. What this film discusses is culture clash, and emphasizes the unfair treatment the main character received from his professor, and clearly departs from the original incident. Among Lu Gang's shooting victims at the time was the character played by Streep. Of the victims you only see Shan Linhua (单林华), and I didn't hear any discussions in the film that went out of their way to praise Americans' behavior.
As for the displaying the Lu Gang incident, I wouldn't say that any of it was humiliating to China, instead it puts forth even more sympathy to him.
In this incident, Lu Gang was also a victim, but I wouldn't say that there exist too many culture clash factors, the majority of it was the result of his individual personality defects.

Madagascar:Fistula and Early Marriages.

Lova Rakotomalala — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:42:57 +0000

Mialy, a blogger in Antananarivo, describes the plight of young married girls in rural areas who are subject to health and social concerns stemming from early pregnancy (fr). She explains that fistula, a consequence of giving birth at an early age, results in incontinences and therefore health complications compounded with social rejections. Malagasy laws allowed girls to be married as early as 14 years-old until 2007. Health care costs and lack of education are the two other main aggravating factors.

Tanzania: On language and unity

Elia Varela Serra — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:14:53 +0000

Kenyan blogger Jerry Okungo, writing at Siasa Duni, comments on “the realisation that Tanzanians may not be as good masters of Kiswahili as the rest of East Africa may think” and on last week's decision by the Tanzanian Parliament “that the country had abandoned Ujamaism—the country’s version of socialism”. And he wonders: “Will the end of Ujamaism usher in unbridled greed and high level corruption that has permeated the Kenyan society?”

Jamaica: Patois Parlance

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:56:13 +0000

Transition Sunshine says that “all Jamaicans are multilingual, and while some may not speak patois, they all understand it”. Posted with video to prove her point.

Nicaragua: Open Source Software in Public Institutions

Rodrigo Peñalba — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:50:42 +0000

“Territorio Liberado”, or Freed Land is an expression born in the 1970s to mark the end of the dictatorship or government of Anatasio Somoza in a particular city or region. These days, local Linux and Open Source groups are talking now about a new kind of freedom: the freedom to create and develop their own software and technologies, without restrictive licences or inhibitive costs.

The blogger LEOGG has been working with public institutions to take full advantage of these technologies in order to make them more efficient. In his post “Nicaragua Libre” (Free Nicaragua), LEOGG explains how they helped Jalapa, a rural town near the border of Honduras in the north of the country how to develop and use Linux-based software.

There are two interesting projects that involves Ubuntu there. The first one being the digitalization of thousands of public records using Ubuntu Hardy and XSane. There are 15 computers devoted exclusively to this task.

The other project involves 12 cashier booths with Ubuntu and a custom-made software for receiving and making payments.

In addition, as a first phase of the Migration Project, about 50 desktop computers are being migrated to Ubuntu right now in different departments.

The coolest thing about all this, is that the government office asked us for help, and as a consequence, three of our team members are now full-time employees, giving Ubuntu support to their users.

Photos by LEOGG and used under a Creative Commons license. For more pictures please visit his blog.

The “comuNIdad” (that's how they call themselves) does not focus on rural or government groups only. LEOGG explains in the next post that they are “going mainstream“

Canal 2, Nicaragua’s biggest television network, is going to broadcast a weekly technology show every Tuesday, starting July 15.

The producers of this new show are… yes, you guessed it! …our local LUG (Linux User Group)

The LUG for Nicaragua coordinates linux users from many distributions and disciplines, including developers for Ubuntu, SUSE, Mandriva, and other flavors. Their common website is Linux.org.ni.

You can find more news and insights into the work of this groups in their Press Archive.

Morocco: The Reality of Prostitution

Jillian York — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:48:22 +0000

Morocco has the reputation of having a significant rate of prostitution. While it may not be as high as perceived by many in the Gulf countries, Morocco - with the dual distinction of being impoverished and highly touristic - is home to many young women seeking a “way out.” While some go abroad to study or work, others turn to prostitution. Many work in smaller towns in Morocco and are patronized mostly by fellow Moroccans; others become part of Morocco's large and unfortunate sex tourism industry, from which a number of cases are prosecuted each year. Still others turn to the wealthy Gulf countries for work; some make it as hairdressers or entertainers, but others end up - willingly or otherwise - as prostitutes.

One phenomenon in Morocco is that of the student-as-prostitute. Blogger Words For Change has written an excellent piece on the young rural women of Morocco who, finding themselves in the big city for university, end up involved in prostitution. An excerpt:

In the girls’ dorms, Aïcha learned how to dress, to put on make-up, and to talk like a woman. It is also in the university dorms that she was tempted to make some pocket money to pay for the pretty clothes which can make her look like city girls. The first step to the abyss was going out incognito with older men who invited her to good restaurants, and make her discover her charms and feminity. The deadly stab was when she discovered that she had to pay with her body for the few bills to realize her late adolescence fantasies.

Once Aïcha graduated, it was difficult to leave her well-paid night life for miserable desk work or to abandon the lights of the big city for a small house in Lhajeb. She told me with a bitter voice “When I was studying it was just to make pocket money. I didn’t realize that I am a prostitute until it became my full-time job after graduating”. Aïcha is still now living in the city and working as a prostitute to send money to her family and pay for her charges. Her education and beauty make very rich and well-known men from over the world pay for her services.

Another recent post, by Thejoker, touches on what a prostitute in Morocco looks like - anyone else:

There are in fact prostitutes, a simple word from you will turn them on and they will engage automatically a conversation. What is to deplorate is that many of these girls do study, have a poor family and do the job because of a great lack of money. I have seen once a girl, very young, who appeared to me to be virgin, she was scared someone approches her and at the end someone did speak to her, she continued to be fully contracted. It is a real pity what we see in the streets of Casablanca. Some moroccan people say that if a girl doesn't wear the tchadour [veil] then you can be sure that she is a prostitute. It is not like in Europe where the prostitute are recognised by the law. In Morocco it is a real melting pot we cannot know which girl is a prostitute and which girl is not. I suppose that there are some girls wearing jeans and western clothes and who are not prostitutes but every one has to search before finding real love.

Morocco to send imams to Europe

Jillian York — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:55:34 +0000

Daily Maghreb reports that Morocco will send 176 preachers to Europe to “answer the religious needs of the Moroccan community abroad, to protect them from any speeches of an extremist or irregular nature and shelter them from fanaticism and extremism.”