World We Dare To Imagine- Part 1
I think education is the most urgent issue to me. Firstly, well-educated citizens are the most valuable treasure to a country as it represents a more stable political environment, a more energetic economy, and more innovative market. The long-term development of countries relies on education. Secondly, education offers opportunities to people who don't have the financial background to enter into a bigger world. It can decrease the income gap and poverty curse in the developing countries. Thirdly, the development of society from all aspect including culture, literature, spiritual life relies on education. Moreover, apart from the "regular" education we mentioned here, the education of some ideas is also important, for example, what is feminism, what is LGBT, how to educate people to accept those ideas in developing countries. Those are challenging work but are desperately needed in developing countries.
Every time when there are social campaigns for equality or political debate, for example, LGBT rights, #MeToo, the anti-discrimination for the female in China, I found interesting scenarios happened in my social network that only specific group of my friends shows enthusiasm in these topics through sharing posts and comments. They are my high school classmates and college friends, who received the best educational resources. Once I thought that should be enough, you have a bunch of friends who can understand your value position and support the campaign for equality. The world can be a better place. However, when I step out from my comfort zone, I realize how many people outside of my friend circle still have deep-rooted stereotypes and can't accept the concept of equality. For example, most of my relatives, generation X, who are born between the early-to-mid 1960s, and the early 1980s. When I talked to them and get to know what are their inner thoughts toward those issues, I found fact that they actually can accept those ideas if I talked to them and explained why their original thoughts are wrong. The reason why they against it at first is that they have never received any education around these areas back in their time. If we spread the information, things would be different.
Every time when there are social campaigns for equality or political debate, for example, LGBT rights, #MeToo, the anti-discrimination for the female in China, I found interesting scenarios happened in my social network that only specific group of my friends shows enthusiasm in these topics through sharing posts and comments. They are my high school classmates and college friends, who received the best educational resources. Once I thought that should be enough, you have a bunch of friends who can understand your value position and support the campaign for equality. The world can be a better place. However, when I step out from my comfort zone, I realize how many people outside of my friend circle still have deep-rooted stereotypes and can't accept the concept of equality. For example, most of my relatives, generation X, who are born between the early-to-mid 1960s, and the early 1980s. When I talked to them and get to know what are their inner thoughts toward those issues, I found fact that they actually can accept those ideas if I talked to them and explained why their original thoughts are wrong. The reason why they against it at first is that they have never received any education around these areas back in their time. If we spread the information, things would be different.
I believe that there should be some kind of course or class, people can take to learn compassion an empathy for others and at the very least acceptance. I come from a very traditional Christian household and my dad is very strongly against anything LGBTQ but I think it isn't our right to judge people. Everyone has the right to live how they want to live and they shouldn't be shamed for doing so. The best strategy moving forward would be to come up with a way to start getting people to understand that everyone has the right to live how they like, despite who they are and who they like.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you wrote in your blogpost, and brought up some of the same points in mine as we'll. For this reason, I am glad to be working together on this project! Schools should teach courses informing others on issues surrounding feminism and LGBTQ culture. Through education we can attempt to teach others acceptance.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with all your points on education! I've also noticed the differences between well-educated and not as well-educated groups in the various communities that I've interacted with growing up- the fear of the unknown often makes people do and think things that may be very shocking to other people. I think that, along with education, it is also important to keep on showing compassion and interest in differing viewpoints, even if they may clash with yours, as keeping an open mind leads to open discussions which are more likely to lead to a change in thought and accepting even those who are greatly different than who you are!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points on education. It is important because education is the foundation of building a better world. It goes with the saying "Children are our future." If they are the future, then we need to do something to make sure they are getting the best education and support to be successful in order to make an impact on the world. We need to be accepting of everyone's opinion, but it is important that they have a strong foundation of education to develop their claims. I really enjoyed reading your blogpost and I like how you used personal examples to illustrate the problem even more.
ReplyDelete