Youth and Democracy in Armenia
I just sent a bunch of young adult novels to Armenia the other day. I took the liberty of sending the items Fed Ex, so I hope they get there. I have been praying and at the office daily tracking the package. As of yesterday, the package was in Paris! I did not know anyone going to Armenia right now and I desperately needed to get the books over there because I am starting an on-line novel study with a group of eighth grade students in Chicago and a group of eighth grade students at school # 43 in Erebouni. One of the teachers at that school and I planned the project over the summer and I am so anxious to get it going. We are planning on having on-line discussions about three different novels between the two groups.
The premise of the project is to introduce to students three different perspectives on ideas associated with freedom. A cross-cultural perspective of this topic is necessary since I did not want to limit the study solely to the United State's perspective on this subject. There are many other countries or ideas associated with this topic.
The three books are: 1. The Giver-which is a story about a utopian society where one's life status in assigned. The main character catches on to this ploy and realizes that choice is not apparent but yet essential. 2. My Brother Sam Is Dead- not as dark as the title represents. This story has to do with the American Revolution and how two brothers are involved with the struggle of war and freedom. 3. This last book is about an Indian princess who is confronted with respecting her religion and father's wishes or making decisions according to her own feelings.
I hope this project takes off because I was amazed this summer when I was talking to some of my students and they still were not aware of what living in a democracy means. I was talking to one of the students after a field trip to the zoo. We all know the conditions of the zoo, so I asked the student what he would do to make changes at the zoo. His reply was, " we can't make changes here, the government does everything." I was in awe because apparently, educational reform on this topic is existent, but weak. The literature discusses how all these NGO's are creating re-training programs in the schools, but obviously these ideas are only at the surface. These ideas are important for Armenia's youth; especially if the society is going to progress politically, economically, and socially. The Nov. 27th Referendum is a good test for this cause- will corruption or democracy prevail?
The premise of the project is to introduce to students three different perspectives on ideas associated with freedom. A cross-cultural perspective of this topic is necessary since I did not want to limit the study solely to the United State's perspective on this subject. There are many other countries or ideas associated with this topic.
The three books are: 1. The Giver-which is a story about a utopian society where one's life status in assigned. The main character catches on to this ploy and realizes that choice is not apparent but yet essential. 2. My Brother Sam Is Dead- not as dark as the title represents. This story has to do with the American Revolution and how two brothers are involved with the struggle of war and freedom. 3. This last book is about an Indian princess who is confronted with respecting her religion and father's wishes or making decisions according to her own feelings.
I hope this project takes off because I was amazed this summer when I was talking to some of my students and they still were not aware of what living in a democracy means. I was talking to one of the students after a field trip to the zoo. We all know the conditions of the zoo, so I asked the student what he would do to make changes at the zoo. His reply was, " we can't make changes here, the government does everything." I was in awe because apparently, educational reform on this topic is existent, but weak. The literature discusses how all these NGO's are creating re-training programs in the schools, but obviously these ideas are only at the surface. These ideas are important for Armenia's youth; especially if the society is going to progress politically, economically, and socially. The Nov. 27th Referendum is a good test for this cause- will corruption or democracy prevail?
posted by shelley at 12:24 PM
5 Comments:
This online class is a great idea, good luck with it. I also like bringing good western literature to Armenia. I "release" books with bookcrossing.com messages in them asking people to pass them along. People almost never register the books, but I am just hopeful they are circulating so people can improve their English and read some good books at the same time. I try to bring used books with me when I come - I read them myself, then release them :-)
Bravo Raffi !
It is one useful way of geting the youngsters to learn and progress.
Well done
Vartan
Y
Yes, the youngsters can really progress. I just hope the books get there. I just received an e-mail from the teacher, and the books had not arrived as of yet. Please keep your fingers crossed!
Shelley,
What a great idea! Would be very interested in reading some of their thoughts and ideas on freedom and self-expression. Do you think you’d get their permission to post some of them here?
It is very strange having grown up with the "can do anything you put your mind to" attitude in the west to see children and young adults in Armenia completely resigned to the fact that they can’t change any aspect of their life or surrounding environment. Especially at an age when they should still be ideological and feel that they have the power to change their future and the direction that their country is heading in, at an age when most western kids feel stronger about their beliefs and abilities then at any other time in their lives. It’s important to subjects Armenian young adults to as many different ideas and examples of freedom, democracy and self expression in order to change their "I can’t make a difference" attitude and these small inter-school cooperation programmes are a great starting point.
On a different note, for future reference, I find TNT much faster and much more reliable. Well at least from Europe to Armenia anyway but I'm sure it would be the same for the States. It generally takes about 1-2 days to get there, you'd probably need to add another day or so from the States.
Also the staff in the Yerevan TNT office are much more helpful then those at other courier companies.
I realise this post is starting to sound like an advertisement for TNT but it's so rare to find helpful service staff in Yerevan that when you do it's quite a pleasant surprise and I think we should do out best to encourage it by supporting those companies that understand the importance of good customer service and actively promote it among their staff.
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