If you keep thinking that no one is better than yours, then Cambodian future would be in a sad story. Keep fighting each other if you really want Cambodia will disappear from the world map sooner.
On Apr 5, 1:26 pm, PuppyXpress <[email protected]> wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Gaffar Peang-Meth <[email protected]> > Date: Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 10:53 AM > Subject: Cambodian future seems bleak > To: > > *PACIFIC DAILY NEWS > *April 6, 2011 > > *Cambodian future seems bleak > * > A. Gaffar Peang-Meth > > I had begun writing on a different topic for today's column. On Jan. 21, the > U.S.-based International Republican Institute released the results of a > survey > that said 76 percent of Cambodians are satisfied with the direction of the > country, citing infrastructure improvements such as roads, bridges, > buildings > and schools, and 23 percent say it is headed in the wrong direction, citing > corruption, unemployment, poverty and inflation. > > Statistics are awesome. They can be made to say many things. They are > numbers > with no feeling. Only real people laugh and cry. Elite kids spend $2,000 > drinking at a nightclub, others scavenge city dumps for food. Functionaries > write checks for $50,000 like it's nothing while some citizens, evicted from > their only homes, are beaten by police. > > During a coffee break, I read the March 28 New York Times "Tools for > Thinking" > by David Brooks. A day after, Brooks' "More Tools for Thinking" appeared. > Then, an email arrived from Phnom Penh. The writer read my column, "Young > Khmers > key to the future," and said I hit the nail on the head. He described the > country's "visible hardware" -- buildings -- everywhere, bemoaned its lack > of > the much needed "software" -- informed critical thinkers. A strong culture > of > suspicion and mistrust will "cripple society even deeper into a passive > coma," > he said. > > "Even many of the young are now in this unfortunate trend," he wrote. > > His hypothesis about Cambodia's future parallels my own. Cambodia is a > nation of > youth. More than half of the populace is under the age of 21. The median age > is > 22.9 years, but Cambodia spends only 1.6 percent of itsGDP on education. > > An uneducated populace is consigned to low-skill, low-wage jobs -- 4 million > live below the poverty line. As significant is the reality that those who > lack > education also lack the tangible and intangible resources that catalyze > change, > a likely calculation of a regime that breeds fear and corruption and > disdains > its people's rights. > > I scrapped my column on the survey. That email redirected me. > *Symposium > * > As regular readers may have surmised, I don't write this column to win > popularity. I am trying, in my way, to spark some action from Cambodians, > many > of whom seem to have their heads in the sand, so to speak. Cambodia's future > depends on how its people think. In furtherance of my mission, I came across > Brooks' columns referencing a symposium on the mind and society sponsored by > the > Edge World Question Center. > > Columbia University's John McWhorter's "path dependence" got me under way. > "Somethingthat seems normal or inevitable today began with a choice that > made > sense at a particular time in the past, but survived despite the eclipse of > the > justification of that choice," he wrote. > > Creatures of habit, men do what they have always done. When typewriters > jammed > as people typed too fast, manufacturers designed a keyboard to slow typists > down. We don't use typewriters anymore, but with our state-of-the-art > computers, > Brooks noted we still use "the letter arrangements of the qwerty keyboard." > > Evgeny Morozov's "The Net Delusion" says man often tries to solve problems > by > using solutions that worked in the past, rather than looking at each > situation > on its own terms. New conflicts are still seen through the prism of Vietnam, > the > Cold War or Iraq. > > Brooks, who noted that many contributors to the Edge symposium discussed the > concept of "emergence," wrote that "public life would be vastly improved" if > we > relied more on this concept. > > "Emergent systems," he explained, "are ones in which many different elements > interact. The pattern of interaction then produces a new element that is > greater > than the sum of the parts, which then exercises a top-down influence on the > constituent elements." > > Culture is an emergent system, Brooks wrote. "A group of people establishes > a > pattern of interaction. And once that culture exists, it influences how > individuals in it behave." > > Emergent systems must be studied differently, "as wholes and as nested > networks > of relationships," Brooks said. He suggested we think "emergently" rather > than > try to address a problem like poverty through teasing out individual causes. > > *Fast facts > * > I have written about the impact of Cambodia's traditional hierarchical > culture. > Brooks' comments align with my long-held view that culture influences how > people > behave. > > What is supported by the theory of emergent systems is the idea that culture > is > susceptible to change. > > Unfortunately for Cambodians, education and the intellectual capacity that > is > its outcome, are essential elements to cultural change. > > A reminder about how a high-quality education is essential to a meaningful > life > is found in some fast facts on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's > website. > The Foundation notes that a college degree or professional certificate is > critical for most young people to achieve success and security in today's > labor > market. By 2018, 63 percent of U.S. job openings will require college > education, > and employers will need some 22 million new workers with college degrees, > but > colleges will fall short by 3 million graduates. U.S. adults ages 55 to 64 > are > tied for first in the industrialized world in college degree attainment, but > young Americans ages 25 to 34 are tied for 10th. > > Cambodia's future seems bleak. The generation of Cambodians, my generation, > that > profited from at least a basic education, will fade away. The young who are > left > to carry on must grasp the importance of education and find a way to pursue > learning. What they think and do now will determine their nation's future. > > *A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Write > him > at **[email protected]* <[email protected]>*. > *http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201104060300/OPINIO...- > Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc Learn more - http://www.cambodia.org
