Why Are Things the Way They Are?

So many times I’ve asked my students to practice writing second conditional sentences. Now I’d like to propose one of my own. “If I were prime minister of Cambodia, I would fund 5,000 students and young professionals to study or work abroad over the next five years on the condition that they return to work or continue study in Cambodia for at least five years after their return.” Here’s why:

As I pass through a stinky overcrowded market, nearly get sideswiped by motorbike drivers zooming into oncoming traffic, and leave my classroom at 5:00 pm only to notice that every other classroom has been vacant for at least the past hour, I wonder. Why are things the way they are, and why doesn’t anyone in my community seem upset by these conditions? Of course there are numerous factors such as history, culture, and economics which must inform any answer to these questions, but I think a lack of connection to the outside world is another large part.

Last year I asked my students how many of them had been to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, located just 30 miles east of our school. Out of several hundred students, only three raised their hands, and of those, only one has been outside the country. Not only is it difficult (expensive) for many Cambodians to travel, it is also hard to access news and information from around the world. There’s one radio station in all of Cambodia that plays western music, and the slanted pro-government television stations fill their programming with variety shows, singing competitions, local news, graduation and military promotion ceremonies, and music videos with little attention to international affairs. Without speaking English, it’s nearly impossible to learn about the world outside Cambodia, and even with strong language skills, there are few libraries, media programs, or opportunities for internet access for most citizens.

This lack of connection to the outside world means that change and innovation must be thought up and created from within. Yet schools have no outlets for creativity like arts programs or musical groups, and critical thinking seems to be suppressed far more than encouraged in lecture-based classes and ubiquitous hierarchy systems in which challenging authority is unheard of. New ideas are neither streaming in from abroad nor being fermented from within. The result is stagnation.

Instead of comparing systems, implementing best practices, and striving to improve, there’s a general indifference and acceptance. (At least what we have now is better than what we had during Pol Pot’s regime, many people say.) While most Cambodians I’ve met concede that their country has many problems, they’ve lacked the sense of agency to do anything about them. They have trouble stating visions and dreams because it’s hard to imagine something you’ve never seen before, and culturally it’s unusual to think (let alone share and promote) ideas that are different or which break the mold.

One solution that I’ve come to believe in even more over the past two years is international youth exchange which would allow Cambodians to travel abroad and see a different way (not necessarily a better way) of how to do everything from markets to traffic to education. Not only would exchanges empower young people to think critically about their country’s situation, they would also give young adults credibility and templates for growth which could be altered to fit their country’s reality.

In my next post, I’ll highlight an environmental project being planned by five students and one teacher who just completed an exchange program in Washington, D.C. and Hawai’i. The vision, excitement, and knowledge to implement their plan and the eventual benefit to their communities are the direct consequence of an international exchange, and I believe with more opportunities for thousands of students and young professionals to study abroad, Cambodia could take off and overcome the indifference that stymies the country today.