Flash Back
“Papa, Papa, but I want to go to school!” the 8
years old girl cried out to her father, a Chinese shoes maker and a leather
merchant. Although her father was
fairly well off, but it was in early 1900’s, and Chinese families did not usually
send daughters to school at the time.
That was the cry of my Mother when she was a little girl, a cry that
persisted until her Papa could not stand it any more. He finally said, “That’s fine daughter, you can go to school
but you have to take along your own desk and chair to school on the first day”. That was the story my Mother told
my siblings and me when we were still small. The story imprinted in our minds till these days about the
importance of education (See my blog post March 2014 http://www.bee-attatitude.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-tributes-for-international-womens-day.html)
The cries of daughters are still going on all
over the world today in underdeveloped countries. The cries might not be to their parents, but to their
oppressors such as the story of Malala Yousafsai and her friends. Once again, as Women History
Month is winding down, I would like to tell a few more stories. I would like to tell about steps that
some organizations and young people that I know have made in making education
assessable to young girls and underserved people.
Education
as the Key to Socio-Economic Mobility
My Mother and my own life experiences already
convinced me that education is a powerful key that can break the cycle of
poverty. I am further convinced reading Brooking Institute’s research report of
Hamilton Project by Michael Greenstone, Adam Looney, Jeremy Panasonic, and
Musin Yu: Thirteen Economic Facts About Social Mobility and the Role of
Education. http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2013/06/13-facts-higher-education
The report states: “While
social mobility and economic opportunity are important aspects of the American
ethos, the data suggest they are more myth than reality. In fact, a child’s
family income plays a dominant role in determining his or her future income,
and those who start out poor are likely to remain poor.” The report also shows evidence that
around the world; income inequality is associated with lower social mobility. The report concludes that although
children in both high and low income family group were born with similar
cognitive abilities in their first few years of childhood. But despite similar starting points, by
age four, children in the highest income scored better in tests. Research suggests that these differences
arise largely due to factors related to a child’s home environment and family’s
socioeconomic status. The odds
against low-income families also are higher because of the lack of resources
necessary for investment in their children’s education. Chapter 3 of the report states
emphatically that: “Education Can Play a Pivotal Role in Upward Mobility”.
By now
you probably agree with me about the importance of education that can improve
the social status of low-income children all over the world. But there are so many places all over
the world that women and girls were prevented from having the education that
they need in order to improve themselves and their community.
Women History Month
Before
going to developing world, let’s start here in the US since we are still in
March, which is Women History Month.
It has been a long journey for women here in the US as well. Do you know that although Harvard
University was established in the US since 1636, it was 200 years later that
women first attended there, and only in 1980’s that there were equal numbers of
women as men that attended colleges.
I like the statement of one of the pioneer women, Emma Willard-“But
reason and religion teach that we too are primary existences…the companions,
not the satellites of men, …Education should seek to bring its subject to the
perfection of their moral, intellectual, and physical nature…in order that they
may be the means of the greatest possible happiness of which they are capable,
both as to what they enjoy and what they communicates.” You can learn more about the long
journey of American women from Women History Museum https://www.nwhm.org/html/exhibits/education/introduction.html
Experience
in Other Countries
After I was able to achieve some of my childhood
dreams that I shared in my previous blog, I received scholarship to go to the
US as an exchange student. This
provided me with opportunities to learn not only about the US but also about
other cultures during our ending bus trip through the eastern part of the
United States. All the exchange
students under American Field Service (AFS) met together after spending one
year in high schools that spread throughout the country. The trip culminated with a “Mid-Way”
meeting at the White House Lawn, and the students had an opportunity of a lifetime to meet with President Johnson.
We were ambassadors for our countries, and princes and princesses of
some sort. The experience built
leadership ability and sense of worth and mission for the future for community
and mankind.
After the one-year stint as Foreign Exchange
Student, or should I say Princess-like-Ambassador, I was back to the grind as
an ordinary student trying to pass national high school exam. Students all over the country in
Thailand vied for one of the 50th top spots because it meant a
better chance to get into top universities. It also meant they might be able to win some scholarship for
college education abroad. It was
hard work but I had very dedicated teachers which made it possible for many of
my class mates to receive scholarship to study in the US, Britain, France, the
Netherlands, and so on. For me it
was scholarship to study in Australia.
Girls were still the minority in this group of
students that received the scholarship from Australian government during my
time. There were only 6 female students
among the twenty or so scholarship recipients, who were mostly engineering
students. The majority of the
girls in the group was very smart and was all from economic and socially
prominent families in Thailand. I
was the only one with a humble background. My story of how I got this scholarship is also a story of miracle,
but I will tell you about that at another time.
Again in the University of Sydney that I was in,
out of the whole class of about one hundred and fifty Accounting and Economic students, there
were only five females, and three out of the five were from Thailand and
Malaysia. It also happened that
the one from Malaysia had a father who was a prominent Chinese businessman in
Thailand as well!
Women seemed to be the minority when represented
in global education arena. I was
the only female candidate in a group of postgraduate students of about 15 when I received
a scholarship from the Netherlands, and went to study at the Institute of
Social Studies in The Hague. I
still remember during a field visit to Yugoslavia, we had an opportunity to
visit one of the educational institutions. It was coincidentally International Women’s Day. Since I was the only female
participant, one of the leaders of the institution told me that there was a French
saying about women: “…women are like flowers that should be admired for beauty
as long as they stay quiet.” You
can imagine how I felt when I heard that; I tried hard not to respond harshly but
just said that I respectfully disagree with this saying. I was wise not to get into argument
then since Yugoslavia was a communist country at the time, and I wanted to come
back to Thailand alive.
Organizations
Supporting Women’s Education
Things seem to get better about women
participation in education, but there are much more that need to be done. It was not too long ago that Malala
Yousafzai and friends in Pakistan were terrorized by the Taliban for speaking
out against the terrorists in support of opportunities for girls to have
education. Most of us know that
Malala who was almost killed by the Taliban was the recipient of 2014 Nobel
Peace Prize. Before then, in 2013,
the two friends of Malala, Shazia
Ramzan and Kanat Riaz, who were also injured during the assassination attempt
against Malala, received scholarships from Atlantic College in Wales. Their story was published on BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-23220232
I like this story of how an international
organization responded to these girls whose lives were in danger like Malala,
just because they wanted education for themselves. This particular news story
also brought back memories of my own son who received Prince of Wales
scholarship to study there in the early 90’s.
Atlantic
College's estate near Llantwit Major in Wales includes the 12th Century St
Donat's castle and was once the former home of American newspaper magnate
William Randolph Hearst.
Willem-Alexander, the new king of the Netherlands, was once a student
there as well. That was an interesting
school all right!
These
are the pictures of the 12th Century castle and the coastal cliff
waterfront that my son sent to me during his study there.
According
to John Walmsley, the school principal - “the mission of the school since its founding in 1962 by
Kurt Hahn - is to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures
for peace and a sustainable future,"
"We
have students from over 90 nationalities, with 55% of our students supported by
scholarships.”
The
school seemed to me to be very vigorous in all areas of studies. There are opportunities for adventure
such as sea rescue operation for boats that were in danger in the area. Students can chose their areas of
interest to do research papers. I
read some of these research papers and was amazed at the depth of knowledge
these supposedly high school students had. No wonder their International Baccalaureate diplomas were accepted as
one year of college credits at universities here in the US. I am happy that they extended the
scholarship to young girls that value education like Shazia and Kainat. There are more organizations that
support the efforts to better education opportunities for women and girls like
the next story.
Story of An Emerging Young Female
Leader
There are increasing numbers of female young adults who seek to make a difference in the world. I recently got to know an individual who also had a high
calling. She is a niece of my
musician friend and teacher, David Cowan. Her name is Simone Shanese.
Simone is a recent college graduate originally from
Cleveland, Ohio. She said on her
fundraiser page that
“I always felt that whatever I do in life needed to
be bigger than myself and I’ve finally found the answer. Traveling abroad to
help improve the education of women and children worldwide is my lifelong dream…”
Simone was able to go to Morocco on a one-month
mission in November last year through an organization called “Cross-Cultural
Solutions”. It is a non-profit
that addresses global issues by providing meaningful volunteer services to
communities abroad and contributing responsibly to local economies. Her
volunteer work was in Rabat, Morocco. The place was chosen specifically so Simone
could better understand the socio-cultural issues that were prevalent there. It was a place with a great number of
homeless children in the city and the inequalities between men and women. She volunteered alongside professional
caregivers by providing educational services to children in a number of
settings. By teaching English, helping to improve their access to better
opportunities, while improving their confidence.
Simone’s drive to succeed
continued after the volunteer work overseas. Now she was just appointed an account executive in a top company
in the US. I am very proud of her
relentless journey toward excellence.
Ending
Note
It is getting late, I can go on and on about
education, women and young people, but I need to stop here or this will not get
published before the end of March.
Before I leave the post, I want to say that I am very proud of the first
lady, Michelle Obama, who just recently completed a trip to Japan and Cambodia
as part of her worldwide push for better education opportunities for
girls. It is good to have the
month of March to celebrate and emphasize about the status of women, but we
still have a long way to go. We
should not cease to try to improve opportunities for education for girls near
and far, so that they have dignity and a chance to succeed as boys. The improved status of women will benefit
the quality of life, not only for themselves but also for their families, which
consist of both girls and boys.
This in turn improves the qualities of life of the society as a whole.
