Burma will enjoy the fruits of real education
Aung San Suu Kyi spoke to students and academics at Hong Kong University via video link from Rangoon May 30 as part of the university’s 100th anniversary ‘Distinguished Lectures’ series. The Burmese political activist won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and was released from 15 years of house arrest in 2010.
One of my favourite dicta is that people should not be categorised as good or evil, wise or stupid. It would be much more sensible to divide them simply into learners and non-learners. In between the two extremes would be a broad spectrum graded on the degree to which individuals are capable of correct assessment and understanding of the learning material at their disposal.
Here, of course, I’m giving a very broad definition of learning. It would involve much more than what could be acquired from one institution or from any one formal teacher. It would mean a process of gaining such knowledge and experience as would help us cope with the challenges that life throws at us and to find ways of enhancing our own existence, as well as that of as great a portion as possible of all the other occupants of our planet.
To put it in another way, the highest form of learning would be that which makes us caring and responsible citizens of this world, and equips us with the intellectual means necessary to translate our concerns into specific deeds.
The close link between political movements and universities became an established tradition in Burma. When the country fell under military rule, students were among the first protesters calling for the restoration of democratic rights. As authoritarian rule tightened its grip on the country, the position of universities as institutions aimed at fostering freedom of thought, expression and association was steadily eroded.
Yet, after more than two decades of totalitarian governance, it was again the students of Rangoon University who led the movement to free the country from military administration. This was the famous public uprising of 1988. Now, more than 20 years on, the aims of democracy and human rights, for which many students sacrificed liberty and life, have not yet been realised. In the meantime, the standard of education at all levels has fallen and Burma is a country crying out for the potential of its people, especially its young people, to be realised. I might mention here that many leaders of the 1988 student movement still remain in prison today, serving unbelievably long sentences.
Education should be available to all, not just to a privileged few. Education should foster values that will promote human dignity and guide human progress in a positive direction. Education should be a true learning process, not a machine for churning out meek, obedient people incapable of reasoning why justice and liberty should not be the birthright of all human beings.
I am confident that the day will come when we in Burma will be able to enjoy the fruits of real education and to share them with the rest of the world. This will be the day when wisdom and virtue will triumph.
Via University World News. This text has been edited, full text available here.
The more a college does to market itself as ‘hip’ to prospective students through spectacles and similar events, the more it does to undermine genuine student-created culture, ultimately making the college a far less interesting place to be.
Will higher ed forfeit its teaching role to for-profits?
“For-profits are better placed to expand online because they do not have to worry about resistance from academic staff, nor about exploiting their earlier investment in campus facilities. A disruptive technology, which online learning may prove to be, rarely favours existing providers,” said [President of the Commonwealth of Learning, Sir John] Daniel.
That raised the question of whether higher education would split over the coming years into a public sector focused on research and a for-profit sector doing most of the teaching. Daniel said the recent dramatic funding cuts to UK universities was likely to significantly swing the balance in funding higher education towards research and away from teaching.
I’ve been arguing this for years, but I’m not sure the bulk of the teaching will necessarily go to for-profits. There’s a great role for undergraduate-focused teaching colleges in public higher ed, but community colleges are too stretched by their multiple missions, and faculty and administration at universities are much more interested in their research role than their teaching role.
Higher education is now at a crossroads. If public higher education forfeits its teaching role to more nimble for-profits, students will be the losers.
Higher education does not make you happy
Research reports that while vocational training has a positive impact on happiness both during and after training, happiness declines for university students after graduation.
