“We shall one day learn to supersede politics by education. What we call our root-and-branch reforms of slavery, war, gambling, intemperance, is only medicating the symptoms. We must begin higher up, namely, in education.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Midterm elections in the United States would most likely bring about a divided Government with the control of the House of Representatives changing over to Republicans.
The Senate, however, is a different story since the state of Georgia will have a run-off election in December and a couple of other states are yet to announce the winners.
Democrats still have a chance of hanging onto the control of the Senate if they can win two of those remaining states. Since the US is the number one economy at present, they have the power to influence political and economic activities of almost all other countries in the world.
Though Sri Lankans may not see a direct impact of the outcomes of US elections on their daily lives, it may not be a bad idea to be vigilant about the decisions of local authorities that are based on directives of the US Government and of other organisations such as the IMF and the UN. Dancing to the tunes of developed economies is something developing countries have come to accept, at least until they can stand on their own feet.
Driven
The economic crisis Sri Lankans have created for themselves has driven the country to a corner with no other choice but to be at the mercy of the IMF. That is a good enough reason to be conscious of political and economic trends of the US.
Education is one of the hotly debated issues in political arenas around the world. If one looks at the way education is perceived by the two parties in the US, Democrats and Republicans, and the reasons for such different perceptions one would even be able to predict the type of policies that would be in the pipeline under the control of each party.
President Joe Biden’s ‘debt relief plan for students’ was temporarily halted by a federal court recently as a result of a legal challenge initiated by the Republicans.
The plan would have allowed more students from low-income families to complete their college education and get into a higher income bracket with better employment opportunities without having the burden of paying the student loans through the better part of their adult life.
Republicans, however, see it as a waste of public funds since one of the priorities in their agenda is to reduce Government spending. At the top of the list of such cuts is education.
Restrict
Not only will they cut federal and State funding down to State colleges and universities but they will also introduce legislation that would restrict courses and programs on gender, sexuality, racial justice, and social skills in protecting minority rights.
Reduced funding for colleges and universities will certainly reduce scholarships and financial aid extended to international students too. In addition to funding issues, anti-immigrant policies supported by most of the Republicans will reduce opportunities for international students in US universities.
Most of the Republican candidates who won the election were seen criticising higher education during their campaigns.
Universities and other higher educational institutions have increasingly emerged as a dividing line in politics in the US as well as in most other countries. Majority (about 56 percent) of university educated voters have voted for Democrats and a similar percentage of voters with only a high-school education or less supported Republicans.
This seems to be one of the main reasons for Republicans to develop a fear of education, though most of the candidates themselves have obtained degrees from top ranked universities of the country. A survey done by ‘New America’, funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation showed that 73 percent of Democrats believed that universities have a positive effect on the development of the country while only 37 percent of Republicans said the same.
Ron DeSantis
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is a graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, won the second term even though he categorised colleges and universities as ideological echo chambers. He has shown a strong opposition to ‘academic freedom rights’ declaring that classroom speech is no different from Government speech. There is a possibility of Governor DeSantis becoming the next President of the United States in 2024.
Why should Sri Lankans be concerned about all this? History shows that the education policies and the standards of a country’s education are clear indicators of its future.
If the US, the country that preachers Democracy, Good Governance, Human Rights, and Equal Opportunity for the rest of the world, sees higher education as the enemy, then it won’t be long before the other countries start following the leader.
Especially the countries which are at the mercy of their funding (US is the largest contributor of member quotas to IMF and hence with the largest percentage of voting powers) will certainly have to follow their directives.
The IMF has already recommended cutting down Government spending as one of the key steps towards economic recovery of Sri Lanka and if that includes funding for education, then the end result will certainly be reflected in the elections to come.
Albert Einstein has once said “we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”. There is no better time for Sri Lankans to understand this concept than today since we are all trying to find solutions to, perhaps, the most serious financial and political problems the country has ever faced.
Citizens
Unfortunately for the citizens of the country, our law makers, the group that has been chosen to manage the country, have not shown any sign of such an understanding yet. More than fifty percent of solving a problem involves understanding the problem and the way it has been created.
Any solution that does not address the root causes of the problem is bound to fail in the long run, though it may serve the purpose of getting the politicians re-elected in the short run. If that happens, then that will show the lack of knowledge and understanding the voters have about the process of solving their problems.
Intellectual discussions, analytical thinking, and collective action with the intention of reaching a common goal (which is in this case getting out of the crisis), are key ingredients in formulating sustainable solutions to any problem.
Unfortunately, for Sri Lankans, their lawmakers have no clue about such things as intellectual discussions, analytical thinking, and collective action towards common good. Only collective action they would agree on is safeguarding their own self-interests, including hanging on to their lucrative positions in the Parliament.
Therefore, it is up to the citizens in general to put their critical thinking hats on, engage in intellectual discussions, and come up with viable solutions that the law makers, as public servants, can formalise through relevant procedures and implement as soon as possible.
Another important concept for the development of human society is ‘cooperation’. The education system of a country must make sure that the concept of cooperation is well understood by the stakeholders.
If a person can have a good understanding about how he/she is going to contribute to the collective efforts of improving the conditions for all living beings on the planet, then it will be very easy for such a person to put the country before his/her self-interests.
Politician
If such a person becomes a politician, then it will be his/her second nature to put the country before the party and the party before him/herself.
It will be easier for such a politician to focus on self-improvement only as a way to better serve, not only his/her family and friends but also the whole nation. Self-improvement, for such a person, would not mean stealing public money or robbing the central bank of the country.
The writer has served in the higher education sector as an academic for over twenty years in the USA and fifteen years in Sri Lanka and he can be contacted at [email protected]