Global Voices » Education

Puerto Rico: Extraordinary Decisions

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:17:29 +0000

“What do you say when you meet someone you think is extraordinary? You should say ‘Hi!' and then start a conversation,” says Gil the Jenius, who profiles the extraordinary Andrea Pérez, a speaker at the recently held TEDx San Juan.

Hong Kong, China: Netizens Mock the University of Hong Kong

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:18:06 +0000

The University of Hong Kong has finished a review report on the arrangement of China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the university last year for its centennial celebration, or the so-called Hong Kong 818 incident.

During the ceremony, the campus was sealed off by heavy police forces stationed among students and alumni present, and the scene of a student brutally held down by a group of police officers when he tried to join other protesters quickly stirred up public outrage.

The newly-released report now reveals that the ceremony was scheduled to coincide with the vice premier's visit, proving true much public speculation that the ceremony was carefully designed as a political “show” aimed at pleasing the Beijing government.

The comic below is a recreation of the university's logo which has been widely circulated on Facebook this week. Replacing the symbol of the dragon-lion with the flag of China and the school motto, “Sapientia Et Virtus”, with “loyalty to the Party and to the State - the First People's University of Hong Kong City, Guangdong province” (忠黨愛國﹣廣東省香港市第一人民大學), the comic is a mocking reference to the downgrading of a what is currently an international university to that of a third-grade (city level) university in China. (I have shared the picture in my own Facebook Wall).

A satirical comic widely circulated online about the Hong Kong 818 incident

Trinidad & Tobago: Children's Rights

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:23:27 +0000

West Indian Mother thinks that “it's high time we start acting in defense of our children and treat them with the respect that is the right of every human being. ”

Ghana: Three ICT Books Launched

Ndesanjo Macha — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:40:56 +0000

Three ICT books have been launched in Ghana, Seth Bokpe reports: “THREE books on Information Communication Technology (ICT) have been launched in Accra to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject in educational institutions.”

Bahamas: University of the Bahamas?

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:14:56 +0000

Larry Smith at Bahama Pundit wonders what the keep-back is with establishing a Bahamian university, saying: “An autonomous university would be a big step to achieving such a counterweight to political inertia (and I suspect that's the real issue here).”

Video: Sociology Cinema Gathers Videoclips for Lecture Topics

Juliana Rincón Parra — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:50:59 +0000

Online video is being used by sociology instructors at the University of Maryland to teach basic concepts and accompany lectures. In The Sociological Cinema Valerie Chepp, Paul Dean, and Lester Andrist edit and publish posts where video clips are tagged and referenced so that other sociology instructors can use videos to make their classes more interesting without having to spend the extra time finding the right video for a specific content.

In their Facebook page they explain:

The idea of The Sociological Cinema came to us over the course of several conversations in which we repeatedly found ourselves discussing our use of video clips in the classroom. Our experiences in the classroom taught us that videos were highly effective at illustrating course concepts and theories, supplementing analyses found in course texts, and keeping students more engaged. With our experiences confirmed by scholarship on teaching and learning, the pedagogical case for using video in the classroom was overwhelming.

Videoclips or videos do not necessarily have to be short: this 50 minute Al Jazeera documentary on the Bahraini Uprising is suggested as an introduction to the study social movements and “exploring the evolution and consequences of state tactics aimed at quelling the protests - both violent and non-violent.”

When studying globalization, inequality and communities, this next short videoclip titled The Miniature Earth is suggested:

Given that large numbers can be difficult to put into perspective (and thus important information about the world runs the risk of becoming meaningless or unremarkable), this video illustrates for students how the global community fares on such indicators as hunger, religious affiliation, literacy, wealth, education, government expenditures, among many others. The clip is not only useful for helping students understand global inequality and differences, but it also reminds students of the enormity of their own social privilege relative to the majority of the world.

Movies are also sources for videoclips, like this minute long example from Up In the Air, starring George Clooney, which serves to illustrate stereotyping. The Sociological Cinema also provides additional suggestions for reading material to accompany the lessons.

This clip shows comedian Anita Renfroe condensing the phrases a typical mother says to her children in the course of a day to the duration of the William Tell Overture. In the classroom, sociology students can first list role expectations of mothers, and then discuss the roles mothers have and also focus on gender role expectations of fathers.

Beyond being a repository for videos, the site is also a source for teaching advice and shared experiences when teaching sociology. In An Online Video Assignment (that is Fun to Grade!) instructors suggest turning the tables on the students, and asking them to look for videos which they will categorize and tag as a way for them to apply their knowledge:

In the process, students do the same analytical exercise that we do in the classroom with clips found elsewhere on this site. The learning outcomes are for students to 1) become familiar with using and applying sociological concepts; 2) use their sociological imagination to engage familiar content; 3) teach each other through the course blog; and 4) become more critical media consumers. The upside for me is that I have interesting and engaging assignments with which I can evaluate them (of course, the videos must be short to make this a time effective exercise to grade).

Image used to illustrate post is Amo el Cine by Flickr user Román Soto (CC BY 2.0).

Cuba: Bloggers on SOPA, Culture and the Democratization of Knowledge

Ellery Roberts Biddle — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:08:46 +0000

Since mid-January 2012, the proposed anti-piracy legislation in the United States Congress known as SOPA/PIPA has drawn reactions from a broad range of cultural and political perspectives around the world.

Global Voices contributors have given readers a glimpse of responses from open Internet advocates throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas (here, here and here). Open Internet advocates in the U.S. scored a major victory in January when members of Congress agreed to withdraw the bills from consideration.

Teatro Karl Marx, by Edgar Rubio. CC: BY-NC-ND.

In Cuba, where very few citizens use the Internet regularly, and where the concept of a site like Wikipedia or BitTorrent remains foreign to most people, bloggers brought a unique perspective to the discussion. Unlike many SOPA/PIPA critics in the U.S. and around the globe, Cuban bloggers did not focus on the technical implications of the proposed laws. Both independent and state-affiliated Cuban bloggers saw SOPA/PIPA not merely as legal measures that would have stifled online innovation and openness, but also as a powerful statement about how legislators (and the music and film industries) value culture and creativity as part of U.S. society.

Karel Pérez Alejo, writing for Cubadebate [es] and Trabajadores [es], framed the issue as a polemic dividing “society” or “the 99%” and the laws' strongest supporters:

Si bien algunos han analizado el fenómeno como la confrontación entre Hollywood y Silicon Valley, los millones de reclamos de los usuarios hablan de una guerra más profunda, entre una sociedad que busca manejar una información sin restricciones y un grupo de intereses que intentan seguir un obsoleto modelo de propiedad.

While some have analyzed the phenomenon as a confrontation between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, millions of users speak to a more profound war, between a society that seeks to manage information without restrictions and a group of interests that are attempting to follow an obsolete model of property.

Voces Cubanas blogger Regina Coyula drew a connection between SOPA/PIPA and the FBI’s partial shutdown of file locker site MegaUpload (Spanish version here). Coyula argued that such shutdowns, which would likely have increased if the legislation passed, limit access to knowledge and culture for people who otherwise can’t afford it:

[US authorities], with allegations of piracy, encroached [upon] the alleged right of millions of citizens of the global village to download content that they know they should not — or cannot — pay for.

On La Pupila Insome [es], Iroel Sánchez compared the paradigm of intellectual property rights in the U.S. to the Cuban model, remarking on the ways in which Cuba’s education and cultural systems have attempted to “democratize” knowledge, making it easily accessible for all:

Cuba, con una formación masiva de profesionales universitarios….no hubiera podido desarrollar [su] capital humano sin una concepción democratizadora y no lucrativa del conocimiento…

Cuba, with its massive population of professionals in academia….could not have developed [its] human capital without a democratic and not profit-oriented conceptualization of knowledge…

Since they were introduced in the 1960s, the revolutionary government’s cultural policies have generated bitter controversies over the ideological role of artists in Cuban society. But they also have yielded a strong system of support for artists and cultural institutions. In Cuba, one can attend the national ballet for just a few pesos more than it costs to buy a movie ticket. Access to culture, knowledge, and education is meant to be open to all citizens.

However, when it comes to culture and knowledge that is created and exchanged online, most Cubans are far worse off than any U.S. citizen. For those who do not occupy high-level positions in government, scientific research, or academia, Internet access remains limited.

The Internet has become a contested space where government authorities and the official press have denounced the United States’ “cyberwar” on Cuba; the seemingly limitless landscape of culture and knowledge online is rarely mentioned in the public sphere. Cuban authorities have elected to limit Internet use, presumably in an effort to dampen the potential societal effects of independent online political speech and economic activity.

Similar to Sánchez, Coyula alluded to the uniquely politicized nature of Cuba’s cultural policies, but cast a critical gaze on this “democratized” system for knowledge exchange. In closing, Coyula promoted the notion of an equilibrium, in which the interests of the market and the public good could be harmonized with one another:

It’s true that there is a symbiotic relationship between art and the marketing that puts it in the hands of the consumers. But to see art as a commodity has resulted in the promotion of products of dubious quality at the expense of other values. […] At some point, a balance must be achieved between both interests.

China:“Thankfulness Education” for Tibetans

Oiwan Lam — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:16:45 +0000

Weibo post about the Chinese Communist party's “Thankfulness Education” for Tibetans by a Chinese historian, Zhang Hongjie. (via China Media Project)

Vietnam's “Bad Education Stories” of 2011

Mong Palatino — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:57:59 +0000

VietNamNet Bridge posts an article about the “bad stories in the education sector in 2011.” Some of the bad stories include cases of corporal punishment, school bullying, and low performance of schools.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Caring Diaspora

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:46:43 +0000

“Sometimes I have scant respect for Vincentians in the diaspora. They appear to be extremely critical of everything Vincentian, know what's best for us but provide little beyond chatter”: Abeni has found a notable exception to the rule.

Trinidad & Tobago: Principal Charged with Child Cruelty

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:39:38 +0000

Trinidad and Tobago News Blog reports that the school principal accused of “placing the head of two students in a toilet bowl at her school and flushing it” has been charged; Plain Talk comments on “the depravity required” to commit such an act: “Flush it to make a point, to send a message, humble and humiliate at one time, and bring everything and everyone back into the order according to brute force…how can this little country take much more?”

Barbados, Guyana: “Fearless” Freddie

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:33:20 +0000

Barbados Underground has been “following closely what is happening to the man we have dubbed the ‘Fearless Journalist’ Professor Freddie Kissoon,” adding: “The silence of regional media and governments is unacceptable on this matter.”

Bahamas: Same Old Election Game

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:06:17 +0000

Blogworld “regard[s] the incoherencies that pass for election rhetoric with a sense of disgust” and explains why.

Bangladesh: Protest Against Criminalization For Archiving A Banned Book

Rezwan — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:29:19 +0000

Hana at Unheard Voice highlights a petition by twenty human rights activists, academics and members of the Bangladeshi civil society in which they protest the arrest of a Head Teacher for having a copy of Taslima Nasreen’s ‘Lajja’ in the school’s library.

Trinidad & Tobago: Abuse of Trust

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:44:04 +0000

The TnT River says of an incident in which a teacher allegedly stuck a student's head in a toilet bowl: “This is another case of child abuse which comes in a different form and from an institution entrusted with the education and all-round development of this child.”