Education in the third world countries

[hekatea]

A lot of people say that the quality of education in my country deteriorates. Isn't it true for almost all countries? Who sets the standard anyway? And how do we define which approach is better considering that we have different cultures? How should a good education look like? What does education try to achieve? Is it to get a good job after graduation? Or is it to teach humanity to become a better person?

Sometimes I feel education has become more and more commercial. Education becomes a tool to further discrimination and create a greater gap between the rich and the poor, the first world and the third world.

If we want to educate the world, what should be its core value?

I want to know what you guys think.

[nairobian]

Wow.. good questions.. Ill try to answer them in order

Who sets the standard anyway?
The people who set the standards are those who believe they are the right authority to make such set standards which are often very unfair for 'third world' countries. 'Educated' people who have no clue how education is halfway around the world sit around a table and set high standards that only rich countries can follow. 'Educated' people who believe education exists purely to get a job..

What does education try to achieve? Is it to get a good job after graduation? Or is it to teach humanity to become a better person?
Ask anyone why they go to school/college they'll say to get an education. Why do theyw ant an ducation? To get a job. To earn money. Some will say to lay food on the table. It's not that that's the only thing that can be achieved from education. People just don't know that education can eb used for sevral other things. People just need money to survive in this world. The only way to get money is to work. The only way to get a job is if you're educated. Simple as that.

If we want to educate the world, what should be its core value?
The core value... good question. It depends, doesn't it? On circumstances such as are the people being educated form 'third world' because to them an education only equals a job. To other people quality of education in terms of what is taught, how it is taught. I do believe that teaching people how to be a good human being should be the core value. But for that you'll just teach kids how to be nice to each other etc. In today's society, the only way you can survive is if you have money. Being nice to people or being the greatest human being will get you nothing. Until such a day comes that money does not run the world, we have to educate the youth with stuff that's gonna help them get a good job and help them earn good money.

_

Honestly, I really don't know. I mean, education is important. Very. But it seems like nowadays the only reason people get educated is the long term result: a job n money. The meaning of education has been lost as money has taken over the world. The experience of learning for the sake of self-growth etc has been thrown out the window in exchange of a rigorous school schedule that includes memorizing the elements, multiplication table, solving complex algebraic problems and horrid horrid exams. All we do is regurgitate info provided by teacher. If you do that well, you'll get into a good uni = a good job. What happened to questioning everything? What happened to thinking in class, instead of just reading a textbook and answering qustions at the end of the chapter?

Ohh question: should education cost anything? at all?

(sorta rambled, I'm sorry.. I hope I contributed positively ...)

[hekatea]

Thank you for the reply Nairobian. While it is important to get a job and be financially stable, I think we shouldn't stop from there, should be? I'm really putting some great thought on education. I know that it's very important but is it enough to know how to write and read and how to comprehend what you read and what you write?

Sigh. There is so much for us to do and so much for us to learn. It makes me wonder how our ancestors lived in harmony...

I believe education should be free, this will be the test of what really it is for.

[darkme]

yes education should be free, and well education should be for self growth but all of these are "should"s!! education has become a trade, just to earn money and to get a good job! it comes with the world today, maybe some it will change, or make it "hopefully" someday it will change!!

[plato123]

One problem is that educated ones are creating too much gap between non-educated ones as a pride, personally I would say that I'm educated to educate others and not necessary to earn money, if people around me are not educated, it still concerns me because there will be no compromising because understanding differs which is the brain child of most world problems we are facing today. I think education should be free and how, simply for everybody accepting to learn and to teach as well to cutail and bridge the gap.

[hekatea]

If I had enough money to put up a school and educate for free, I would.

[diomday]

Certain children in our world ignore what we call a pen.They don't know how to write.On the other hand,education is developped in the countries called developped countries.
I greet the issue that MDGs put in its goals which is "education for all".It's very good and we have to support it.But we don't have to forget that in certain measures ,it is difficult for the poorest countries to reach this goal because there is not way to start the process of MDGs.
The poorest countries are under enormous debt that they have to cancel.When will they arrive to cancel it and then think to build classrooms and schoolS?
I am calling the financial institutions to cancel this debt in order to permit to concerned government to make an effort to create conditions of better education in our countries.

[hekatea]

In my country, there is so much need for teachers. I think the ratio for public school is 1 teacher for every 80 students. And some schools don't have enough classrooms. sadness.

[kahendi]

hi guys. nice discussion.

i think one of the biggest problems about education is that educators (teachers) are given a huge responsibility, but their efforts are not recognized. teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in many countries. in addition, they're often the first to be blamed when students don't perform as expected. is it really surprising that they are demoralized?
hekatea, i have a feeling that if teachers earned better salaries, then more people would be interested in training as teachers. perhaps there wouldn't be such a shortage of teachers as you experience in your country.


there's also another aspect to education; the ideological one. what gets taught in classes is often linked to the national political ideology of the day. if that ideology is not in sync with the way the people perceive themselves, then it creates problems. an example that comes to mind is the educational system in south africa under apartheid. a lot of emphasis was put on european history and languages while those of black south africa were swept under the carpet. that caused a lot of discontent among young black south african students.
i think that if you look at various countries today, something similar holds true: the educational system is disconnected from the reality experienced by the students. ultimately, they lose interest and the quality of education they receive deteriorates.

[AK]

kahendi said:

hi guys. nice discussion.

i think one of the biggest problems about education is that educators (teachers) are given a huge responsibility, but their efforts are not recognized. teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in many countries. in addition, they're often the first to be blamed when students don't perform as expected. is it really surprising that they are demoralized?
hekatea, i have a feeling that if teachers earned better salaries, then more people would be interested in training as teachers. perhaps there wouldn't be such a shortage of teachers as you experience in your country.


there's also another aspect to education; the ideological one. what gets taught in classes is often linked to the national political ideology of the day. if that ideology is not in sync with the way the people perceive themselves, then it creates problems. an example that comes to mind is the educational system in south africa under apartheid. a lot of emphasis was put on european history and languages while those of black south africa were swept under the carpet. that caused a lot of discontent among young black south african students.
i think that if you look at various countries today, something similar holds true: the educational system is disconnected from the reality experienced by the students. ultimately, they lose interest and the quality of education they receive deteriorates.

Welcome to the boards kahendi! Great post I must say.You're right, teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in most countries.They've huge responsibilities and a large workload, but they're paid meagre wages which is not enough to achieve a decent standard of living.In addition to this, our teachers aren't provided with enough facilities and adequate training to deal with the present demands of the system.Teachers are a frustrated and demoralised community.They aren't being given their due.

Nobody wants to become a teacher these days.Given the kinds of conditions the teaching community is facing, its no wonder that they've become money-minded.I feel the education sector is being neglected in most countries of the world.In India, only 8% of the GDP is spent on education, out of which 4.7% expenditure comes from private participation.So you can see that the Government expenditure on education is only 3.3%.

They can spend on wars, weapons, industries - but have no money when it comes to education.Education should be the top priority, but sadly, it is being neglected in most countries.So its quality is bound to degenerate under such circumstances.

Oh yes!Karma for you kahendi!

[hekatea]

kahendi said:

hi guys. nice discussion.

i think one of the biggest problems about education is that educators (teachers) are given a huge responsibility, but their efforts are not recognized. teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in many countries. in addition, they're often the first to be blamed when students don't perform as expected. is it really surprising that they are demoralized?
hekatea, i have a feeling that if teachers earned better salaries, then more people would be interested in training as teachers. perhaps there wouldn't be such a shortage of teachers as you experience in your country.


there's also another aspect to education; the ideological one. what gets taught in classes is often linked to the national political ideology of the day. if that ideology is not in sync with the way the people perceive themselves, then it creates problems. an example that comes to mind is the educational system in south africa under apartheid. a lot of emphasis was put on european history and languages while those of black south africa were swept under the carpet. that caused a lot of discontent among young black south african students.
i think that if you look at various countries today, something similar holds true: the educational system is disconnected from the reality experienced by the students. ultimately, they lose interest and the quality of education they receive deteriorates.

I definitely agree. Teachers are so underpaid and overworked. They are given tasks which are beyond their capacities. They are often abused, especially the ones in public schools. They don't have time for their own family and children and they don't get the right benefits. Yes, a lot of teachers in my country migrate to work as domestic helpers so that they can give a "better" life for their families.

Schools, as Althusser puts it, is part of the ISA or the Ideological State Apparatues. Meaning, the dominant class creates this ideology and uses all kinds of apparatus so that it can maintain it's position. Especially when it comes to war history...sheesh!

[AK]

hekatea said:

kahendi said:

hi guys. nice discussion.

i think one of the biggest problems about education is that educators (teachers) are given a huge responsibility, but their efforts are not recognized. teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in many countries. in addition, they're often the first to be blamed when students don't perform as expected. is it really surprising that they are demoralized?
hekatea, i have a feeling that if teachers earned better salaries, then more people would be interested in training as teachers. perhaps there wouldn't be such a shortage of teachers as you experience in your country.


there's also another aspect to education; the ideological one. what gets taught in classes is often linked to the national political ideology of the day. if that ideology is not in sync with the way the people perceive themselves, then it creates problems. an example that comes to mind is the educational system in south africa under apartheid. a lot of emphasis was put on european history and languages while those of black south africa were swept under the carpet. that caused a lot of discontent among young black south african students.
i think that if you look at various countries today, something similar holds true: the educational system is disconnected from the reality experienced by the students. ultimately, they lose interest and the quality of education they receive deteriorates.

I definitely agree. Teachers are so underpaid and overworked. They are given tasks which are beyond their capacities. They are often abused, especially the ones in public schools. They don't have time for their own family and children and they don't get the right benefits. Yes, a lot of teachers in my country migrate to work as domestic helpers so that they can give a "better" life for their families.

Yes I agree with you hekatea.Teachers don't get their due.They're indeed left with very little time for themselves and their families after all the work pressure and burden from schools and colleges and universities.They aren't even given proper training and facilities.In such a scenario, how can we expect education systems to work?

[darkme]

yes, and I have noticed teachers don't really get enough appreciation and enough salaries! thats one part of it, and then the schools don't get enough money to provide good environments for students so that they can study!! so let's hope sumday it can get better!
any1 heard about the school that Oprah opened in Africa? I thought that was rily gr8... hope it helps children to get good education and make the best of their education!!

[Zach]

Yeah! I heard all about it, such a wonderful idea.. You gotta love Oprah

[AK]

darkme said:

yes, and I have noticed teachers don't really get enough appreciation and enough salaries! thats one part of it, and then the schools don't get enough money to provide good environments for students so that they can study!! so let's hope sumday it can get better!
any1 heard about the school that Oprah opened in Africa? I thought that was rily gr8... hope it helps children to get good education and make the best of their education!!

Yes schools are always running short of funds.It's good that she's opened a school in Africa.When the governments do not fulfil their responsibilities, its the good & concerned citizens like Oprah who step in to make things better for the needy.

[darkme]

the problem is that not many have enough money to follow Oprah's lead. and most people -like us- want to help but do not find the right encourgment!

[alyssamilanofan]

admin said:

Yeah! I heard all about it, such a wonderful idea.. You gotta love Oprah

yeah you gotta love Oprah
I think it's a great project what I don't get though is that she only excepts children with great above average, I get that they will probably be the leaders of tomorrow for South Africa but what about the rest? I know you can't help them all at once but don't the average and under average students need a lot of attention as well, sometimes even more? Don't they deserve the best education possible, like in Oprah's school?
But I have to say it's a great initiative

[darkme]

good point Jenny!! but u know well.... at least it is a step towards bringing the educational level into a higher standared in Africa. and she wants bright people who are r diprived from getting education and that they will do gr8 things for Africa so that then when they take over they wud educate all the kids no matter how bright they are!
but well.... somebody else has to take care of those children now and give them their right of education!
karma for u Jenny ;D

[mitchiko]

It is good to know that there were still some teachers here in the philippines who stands on their principles of teaching and not just for money....going abroad of filipino teachers is very rampant nowadays here in our country....but it is surprising that there are still teachers who even hike-up to the mountains just to reach those children who can't afford to go to better schools....I salute to every teachers, even from the other countries, who stands to their greater value of their profession...........

[AK]

mitchiko said:

It is good to know that there were still some teachers here in the philippines who stands on their principles of teaching and not just for money....going abroad of filipino teachers is very rampant nowadays here in our country....but it is surprising that there are still teachers who even hike-up to the mountains just to reach those children who can't afford to go to better schools....I salute to every teachers, even from the other countries, who stands to their greater value of their profession...........

Right!Many bright and talented teachers immigrate to foreign countries.Like you said, we ought to salute all those dedicated teachers who toil for educating and training children and are not money-minded.It's such teachers who are the saving grace of this noble profession.