Pakistani Educational Leadership Project at Plymouth State University

The heat has finally hit the Granite State (New Hampshire), making the air feel thick enough to swim through. Clouds have rolled in with dusk, and another evening of thunderstorms threaten. The big event for today was the President’s Tea at Plymouth State. The administrators, friends, and faculty arrived, were served tea, fruit juice, and finger sandwiches, then swirled around Heritage Commons, meeting one another and our guests.

From my experiences around the school, i knew a number of the people there, talked about the time i’ve spent with the group thus far. I told them everything i mentioned in my last post–since none of it has changed and for most, went a step further, suggesting they should come visit us here in Hall and see the community that has been built here on the third floor.

Many replied with a mumble and a head shake, suggesting neither and both. I think there is a certain mystique around our visitors for some people — the remnants of a western fascination with all things oriental. While i dont think Pakistan would count for oriental, i think many people see the Middle East as a vauge place on a map and a handful of vauge recollections from things they have seen and heard: Shaharrazzad, Arabian Nights…and more recently the Red Mosque, Al-Quada, and War on Terror.

For geography’s sake – i linked a map of the Indian Sub-Continent

Three of the countries you see here – India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were all one country until the middle of the 20th Century until they recieved British Independance. The diverse population in the region began to move — most of the Hindu population moving into present-day India, while a large portion of the Muslim population moved into present-day Pakistan.

I’ve digressed a bit from my point i think. The other-ness (to use an phrase picked up in an English class) of our fifteen guests is a result of lack of understanding, i think. This week, interacting with them, ive begun to learn how much alike we are. We have friends we care about, jobs we look to excel in. The price of an iPod is the same in Pakistan as it is here, while it’s cheaper-by far-to get a CD in Lahore than it is in Plymouth, NH. Both cultures love music, burst into song, or dance, at the drop of a hat, and perhaps even more importantly–both cultures work to be the best they can be.

All of our participants show a dedication that is staggering–they work to improve the educational systems in Pakistan, collecting data about schools, participating in outreach–spreading the word on student-centered learning and creating programs to help train people to succeed in their positions in education and beyond.

I hope people stop by, for tea, for a beginning session in Urdu, or to play a round of pool in the Recreation Lounge in Hall. An hour spent with this group of fifteen people is like spending days in a classroom, but where in a classroom so many times we learn second hand about a place or a people, there is a real, live education happening here at Plymouth State

Signing off for the evening,

Sean Robinson

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