I was thinking about education in different parts of the world and how ideology is part of an overall education that is strictly mandated. Too many third world countries have ignored education for decades and now that they realized how important it is to survive as a nation they are helpless in many ways. Even if education reaches to people it doesn’t come without a mandated national ideology of majority. This is not a problem just with the third world countries but of developed countries as well but the difference is that there is flexibility in the developed world to fight such ideology compared to rigidness of developing or underdeveloped countries because of limited choice or no choice. Before I explain myself any further I do want to point out that any nation that wants their people to get educated after decades of ignoring the thought and moving in to poverty, cannot at once empower people with education pouring money in to the system (It is necessary to fund the system). Education happens with time, patience, free minds and it’s a slow process. The problem with education in the developing and under developed countries is recognized by the government but lack of short term incentive to an going education process for years is very minimum.

Recently I was looking at an education program in Afghanistan where the US army built schools for children and the children for the very first time had classrooms with desks and a black board. All the educational material was supplied to the kids with security from Army troops outside the school from Taliban. It sounds good that the children now have everything to give themselves a chance to educate themselves but the problem here is the immediate incentive to the kids who might be overwhelmed by too much information and regulations of the school. The same kid who has been earning $2 a day contributing to the family who attends school will find that the family is now making $2 less. Education doesn’t happen in 6 months or a year. To get a diploma it takes at least 12 years and 12 years of education without monetary support will eventually lead to the child’s withdrawal (either by him or by his family) from the school back to the streets making $2 a day again. The school in Afghanistan had a good initial enrollment in its class room but can they keep all the kids at school for the next 10 years? It’s the same problem in Africa, India and other countries. You will find a huge organization or the government making initial investments in to a school but they fail to understand that they cannot keep all the kids at school with no short term incentives. There are other programs in some countries the one I am familiar with in India is where the state government is providing a stipend if the child stays in school and shows progress making it illegal for the kids of age less than 15 to work (though this is not strictly followed).  The money offered as a stipend is still less than $1 a day, it is still being debated if this has been working or not. There are kids who enroll and stay till the family can sustain a little less income but as soon as they have bigger problems they either drop out or get lost in the ugly streets. As I can see it is not a quick fix. For education to happen there is a need for attitude change.

Going back to ideology in education, even with the children getting education throughout the world there is a deep seeded ideology in the syllabus that is a mandated part of the curriculum. For examples the history books that I have read for 5 years in school are mostly about history of India and the glorified political leaders and great kings (yes, they are extremely important I agree). The scopes of the History books are limited. Language study is the most concerning for me where you don’t read about how the language originated or how to use or learn the language and the books are not about learning a language with grammar but the Language books are filled with citations and chapters from religious books. A very good example was my Sanskrit Text book from 11^th and 12^th grade. Not a single chapter from the book was a general study other than religious citations and chapters from Ramayana books. Educational system has to display diversity of religious study but it cannot limit the study to the one major religion of the country. Socialism, Communism and Capitalism are thought right from the school then people with grows up with the same ideology just like how religion is engrained in us. The only part where education helps is when it gives the ability to the person where he/she can read and learn about other ideology and choose what he wants to follow. This is where I don’t agree with the educational system. You cannot bring up a person with a particular ideology and ask him to learn others on his own and make a choice, certainly not at the point of life where a person becomes busier in his life with family and responsibilities. There is a fundamental problem. The diversity should be thought right when the children are not attached to a particular ideology and that is when they can learn all and it will be easier for them to pick and choose or exclude ideological books from the educational system so that the children can learn what attracted them the most. This is a major problem in the Islamic world, the Madrasa’s teach Arabic and how to cite Quran as a mandatory process for a child before he can go to a proper school. In US the theory of Creationism has been introduced as an alternate theory to evolution but at least the system has a way to challenge the idea of inclusion or exclusion which is not a flexibility that other countries have. Hopefully in the coming decades information is the motive behind education and not Ideology.

”Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?” --- EMINEM

           I won’t let it slip. My uncle in Salem, Oregon came up with a software called F.E.N.C.E (For Every Natural Construction Environment) Landscape Business Management Software. He is gonna launch the product soon, F.E.N.C.E is in beta version now. Once the testing is done the product will be ready for a release. I will be doing a complete web solution for him in the form of a website. As soon as I land in Oregon I will do a study on the product and will try to make the whole product web based. I am excited and I am looking forward to take up the job. This will be my first project at such a grand scale. ASP.NET is something that I am really comfortable in and I am going to make this product web based using .Net environment. F.E.N.C.E has gained an amazing response for its very first demo in Portland, Oregon in its very first promotion phase. I really want to be a part of F.E.N.C.E and I will be the only person taking care of its online version.

More details about this product is gonna come online at http://www.galaxux.com (Is not functional yet) once I am done with this semester exams.

would I be able to capture it or just let it slip? Lets see......... I see the grass green.............