Everyday here, it becomes more obvious to me how privileged I am. In class, we learn about laborers from rural areas immigrating to the city to make a living and in Malaysia, I learned that they even go abroad just to send money home to their families and pay for their children's schooling. I also learned about people who commute to the city for hours to sell their products in the city and then commute back to their rural community at night just to start the day all over again. When I bought my bag of jackfruit, I confirmed it. The lady who sold it to me wakes up early in the morning and takes a 2 hour commute by bus to HCMC to arrive by 9am and then gets home by 11pm and starts the day all over again everyday. If I had that kind of lifestyle, I would go crazy. And then where do you find meaning in your life? Or when it comes to that point, are you just living for your family, hoping that you can provide so that they can have a better future? But doesn't it just become a viscious cycle? Living away, you don't get the same opportunities and the same quality education as they do in the city...and the government hasn't provided these opportunities yet to even out the playing field.
There is SO much emphasis on education here. It's a business like in America. "Nhất sĩ, nhì nông." The Vietnamese society highly values people who earn money using their knowledge rather than their hands. Historically, education has been a way for the poor to rise out of poverty, but there are so many challenges to it. They are short on money and time. Today, we had to discuss whether the education in VN is WORTHY for poor people to strive to it. In Vietnam, students are trained to repeat and recite, not to make their own thoughts or question others. It's a shame because one's ability to critically analyze and use that skill outside of school becomes repressed. I also didn't realize how much of a luxury it was to be able to take out loans to go to school. It gives children from poorer families the opportunity to compete in higher education if they have this skills. I've been reading articles full of parents sacrificing their everything, selling their land, separating from their family in the rural area to take their other child to the city to take the test to get into college (It reminds me of the SATs). They also have centers that charge a lot (like SAT classes) to help students review for the test in a cramped room and some provide housing. We may get to interview the parents who are waiting outside during the test taking since it happens in July and I'll still be here.
Corruption. Worried about points and scores, and teachers try to find the test topics to teach it to their students so that they themselves will have a good track record of their students making it into college. This reminds me of California...the fact that we worry so much about the standardized testing scores and teach based on it so that students can score well and the school will receive more funding.
I'm enjoying the people here so far. I've got to talk to one person in the program on a deeper level than the rest, and I'm glad to have gotten closer to someone here. I was called, "poetic" and "super easy to talk to"....very flattered by the compliment. It's always good to reflect and be introspective. Anyway, he invited me out with his family and they were super duper nice, and we came to this "tourist village" that was beautiful...had awesome scenery. It's a place often used to film movies and videos, but when you contrast the place we were at to the buildings we saw on the way....worn down, dirty apartment buildings floors high...I'm reminded of the drastic disparity within the city. You get the best and worst of Vietnam here.
I see prostitutes all around me, younger Vietnamese women with older foreigners. Vietnamese women--one of the famous commodities sold worldwide...the unfortunate truth. But when you're in poverty and want to change your life and the lives of your family, there are not that many options. What about when all the girls around you are striving to marry foreigners?...the thing to do in some provinces. Taiwanese men come on a tour to Rach Gia to pick out their brides and they line up for them to pick. I always wonder what decision I would make in that situation. I never had to make it.
Privilege--being able to make choices, being allowed to pursue what you want, being able to travel to any country you want, being able to go to school without disruption, being able to work for experience and extra money and not necessity, being able-bodied even, being able to exchange your money for a lot more of the other country's money. Those are the kind of privileges I have.
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