Read more about the article Studies Show Race of Teacher Affects Education of Students in the US. What About Caste of Teacher in Nepal? Probably

Studies Show Race of Teacher Affects Education of Students in the US. What About Caste of Teacher in Nepal? Probably

Studies in the US have demonstrated differential treatment of black students by white teachers affecting their learning outcomes as well as, in the long-term, their lives. 80% of public school teachers in the US are white.

In Nepal, disproportionately high percent of school teachers are Khas-aryas, the hill so-called high caste Hindu. How do they treat students belonging to other castes? Likely not the same way they do their caste and that likely has affected the educational achievements of students of other castes, as well as their lives later on.

Continue ReadingStudies Show Race of Teacher Affects Education of Students in the US. What About Caste of Teacher in Nepal? Probably
Read more about the article How to and Why Educate and Raise Children to be Compassionate

How to and Why Educate and Raise Children to be Compassionate

Given how money has been the driving force behind what a majority do in Nepal and given how little people with power and influence value other people's lives, even during calamitous times -- such the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes and the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic--we in Nepal must education children about empathy at home and school and raise them to be compassionate human beings.

Of course, there are at least a few different ways of doing that.

Continue ReadingHow to and Why Educate and Raise Children to be Compassionate
Read more about the article Adults Go from Awareness to Attitude to Behavior, While for Children It’s the Reverse

Adults Go from Awareness to Attitude to Behavior, While for Children It’s the Reverse

When behavioral changes have taken place in an adult, we say that change has really taken place. When enough adults change their behavior, society changes.

Behavioral changes in adults, however, is a three step process and that's why it does NOT happen readily or easily or quickly. It start with awareness, which then leads to changes in attitude, which in turn leads, finally, to changes in behavior.

What’s interesting about children, however, is that they start with behavior, which adults can instill in them by modelling.

Continue ReadingAdults Go from Awareness to Attitude to Behavior, While for Children It’s the Reverse
Read more about the article Kathmandu University’s Job Advertisement in The Times of COVID-19

Kathmandu University’s Job Advertisement in The Times of COVID-19

Reading the wanted advertisement Kathmandu University put out in early May 2021, you would think that nothing was amiss in the world...like there were no such thing as a pandemic raging!

I tear apart the advertisement in this blog post. It's like the decision makers at KU were a bunch of clueless individuals running a small family-owned and run business, NOT academics!

Continue ReadingKathmandu University’s Job Advertisement in The Times of COVID-19
Read more about the article Physical Abuse and Violence: Harrowing Childhood Story of a Friend

Physical Abuse and Violence: Harrowing Childhood Story of a Friend

TW: Graphic and sustained description of physical violence and abuse against a child, and brief reference to sexual abuse.

Reproduction of a harrowing Facebook account of a Nepali classmate's childhood experiences of abuse suffered in his father's hands.

Continue ReadingPhysical Abuse and Violence: Harrowing Childhood Story of a Friend
Read more about the article When Perceived Success of Education is Actually EVIDENCE of Failure

When Perceived Success of Education is Actually EVIDENCE of Failure

If, as an adult, you are CONVINCED that your academic institution SUCCEEDED in providing an excellent education, BUT has made you an ardent and blind supporter of the institution -- approving of everything it says, does, represents, and stands for unquestioningly -- then it failed you. Here are some examples of that from Nepal.

Continue ReadingWhen Perceived Success of Education is Actually EVIDENCE of Failure
Read more about the article As Much as We are Products of Our Culture, Education, Society etc. We are Also Their Shapers

As Much as We are Products of Our Culture, Education, Society etc. We are Also Their Shapers

As much as we are products of our culture, education, society, and people, and as much as a closed and inward-looking society and people might fail us, as individuals we are also influencers and shapers of our culture and society!

When it comes to verbal, emotional, and physical violence against children is concerned, for example, we Nepalis have a choice. We don't have to follow the dictates of our culture and society. We can instead teach about empathy and compassion and even display them towards our children to end the vicious cycle of childhood violence, a hallmark of child-rearing and educational practices.

Continue ReadingAs Much as We are Products of Our Culture, Education, Society etc. We are Also Their Shapers
Read more about the article Nepal, Cultivate a Child’s Mind Instead of Controlling It

Nepal, Cultivate a Child’s Mind Instead of Controlling It

Cultivating the mind of a child is analogous to cultivating a garden. In Nepal, however, our still very traditional and regressive ways is to tightly control, confine, and constrain the garden of the mind of a child. In order to cultivate the mind, what we must teach and learn to do is to free it.

Continue ReadingNepal, Cultivate a Child’s Mind Instead of Controlling It