Immigration 4 - Assimilation

I’ve wanted to write this for some time.  Ever since I realized that my posts were becoming rants.

I’m a nice guy.  Really.  And I feel that I know something about fundamental Islam (I’ve lived and worked in Islamic countries).

Fortunately, I am an immigrant who became a citizen ... and I use the word ‘fortunately’, wisely.

It was easier for me to assimilate into Canadian culture, although I don’t usually like to get up on a Sunday morning and drive, half asleep, to a restaurant for ‘brunch’, eh.

But, now, I find myself frustrated by misunderstood Muslims who exacerbate the Islamic Problem.

This isn’t about hate.  Buddhism taught me that ... Christianity too.  It is about assimilation.

Let me conjure up a common scene for you:

A city center on a sunny weekend.  Any large city in Canada (This could also apply, for example, in the U.K. or the U.S.).

Imagine being able to stand in a prominent position overlooking the scene.

Now, scan the crowd and identify a French Canadian.  Possible?  No.

Ok, try to identify an Italian Canadian, a Korean Canadian, or a Mexican Canadian.  Impossible.  Right?

Now, try to identify a Muslim Canadian.  Oh, wow!  That’s easier than eating strawberry ice cream.

But it’s not about numbers.  It doesn’t matter if there are 25 or 25,000, they are identifiable, and it’s got nothing to do with religion.  The Qu’ran demands only that they should dress “modestly”.  Just like my mother, I suppose.

In my opinion, it’s about the Muslims misinterpreted belief that they are different.  That a world defined by Sharia law would be perfection.  Quiet, moderate, Muslims do not loudly decry the Islamic inspired atrocities because they are patiently ... waiting.

Actually, back in the city center, there are a few young Muslims who look like other Canadians but, unfortunately, they are too afraid to be identified by demanding that their imams teach assimilation and not contradistinction ... hopefully, in one of the two official languages.

Is it enough to just simply "hope"?

Education 11 - Qualifications

I have been commenting on Google+ with someone who was advised that using the title Photojournalist was illegal because she did not have any academic qualifications related to such occupation (Even though she was, obviously, highly skilled).  I wrote that this was only a term and, therefore, the question was simply grammatical.  Only by registering a business name, e.g., Photojournalist Limited could it attain any form of legality.

Others joined the conversation to point out that the use of the term doctor was also illegal.  I replied that the word doctor was also just a term unless used in conjunction with an academically related descriptor such as Doctor of Medicine ... naturally from a recognized university.  Otherwise, the term doctor could be used if there is no academic representation, e.g., PfD. (Doctor of Feng Shui) or PcD. (Doctor of Chocolate) and such use would suffer a certain, deserved, humour.  This applies, equally, when using the term accountant or engineer without a degree.  Graduate accountants should become members of professional institutes and, thus, become accredited Chartered Accountants (CA), and engineers would become Chartered Engineers, etc., and the list goes on.

Therefore, if ever someone shouts, “Is there a doctor in the house?”  Please be aware of the real need.

At one time, I was employed privately in a contract position in Bangladesh as a teacher of EFL at a corrupt private teaching hospital that should remain nameless (International Medical College).  An American university also had a contract to, among other things, provide academic faculty.  Thus, they hired an itinerate American individual who was idling in Asia as a teacher without any formal EFL qualification (Undisclosed B.A.) and permitted him to use the title, Professor (Not even Associate Professor) for influence purposes, while I was addressed as Mister, even though I had worthier experience and skills but, unfortunately, without any association with the said university.  Incidentally, the other teacher had never even stepped within the walls the university.  When last heard of, he was studying by Internet with an Indian university, while resident in the Philippines, for a combined, one-year, MA/PhD. degree, that simply required the review of a number of obscure novels ... you may try to figure that out on your own.

In contrast, I know of great numbers of university teachers with credible PhD. degrees who are only Assistant or Associate Professors.  This is solely the prerogative of the university ... and acceptable to most of us.

Now, I must conclude this, perhaps, nugatory post to concentrate on my overdue Culture of Chocolate thesis.

By the way, if there seems to be a sense of victimization within this post, it is intentional ... and would deserve comment.

Quotation - Wisdom

   智  

When the wise man points to the moon 

and asks the fool,  

"What do you see?"  

The fool will reply, 

"Your finger."

Immigration 3 - Emigrate and Immigrate Amendment

This morning, I have been browsing my dictionary (One may usually be forgiven for spending large chunks of one’s life browsing an encyclopedia ... but browsing through a dictionary?).

I had wondered about the words, ‘emigrate’ and ‘immigrate’ as they could be misunderstood in today’s undercurrent of so-called ‘refugee’ chaos.

It was surprising to learn that both words were indicating an unfortunate status of permanence (“... comes to live permanently ....”)  I wondered at the political significance of this fact, and worried at its’ use for illegal economic migrants or ‘so-called’ temporary immigrants ... obviously, the latter cannot exist without an academic amendment to our dictionaries.

It seems to me that these two words should never be used in the context of refugees and illegal asylum seekers.  Acceptance as immigrants immediately grants them permanence ... until an immigration authority (CIC), following strict guidelines, grants them permanent status.

Therefore, it behooves all immigration authorities to, not only, give permanent status, but equally, expedite tough deportation procedures.

The Essay is a 1,000-word Bore

How often have we heard the facetious phrase, usually coupled with a smile, “I knew that.”  Often, it means that the matter had been forgotten.

Students may use this phrase when teachers happily impart useful advice.  Unfortunately, some teachers forget obviously useful advice, and students suffer.

Recently, on the Times Higher Education Website, I read an article by Karen Harris that relates to a subject close to my heart, unexciting essays.  Not wishing to plagiarize, and wishing to have future access, I would like to reproduce it here.

If nothing else. the introductory paragraph should be diligently consumed.

The Essay is a 1,000-word Bore

There is a scene in The Horse and His Boy, one of C. S. Lewis’ Narnia chronicles, in which the fugitive, Aravis, explains why she fled her homeland. As she begins, she switches to a style of speaking that is florid, poetic and quite captivating – for in her country, children are taught how to tell stories, just like English children are taught how to write essays. “The difference”, Lewis tells us, “is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.”

It is hard to disagree with Lewis that, as a medium for communicating ideas, the traditional student essay is fundamentally unexciting. One issue is the requirement for “formal” language at all times – even though academic writers who succeed in engaging with their readers often do so by writing texts that are lively, enthusiastic and frequently irreverent, encompassing the odd anecdote, colloquialism and venture into the personal.

The standard essay structure is an even bigger problem. Its thesis statement and topic sentences act like spoilers, so the reader is afforded little suspense or surprise. And this formulaic pattern, far from making standardised marking easier, may actually undermine fair grading because bored assessors might start assigning grades erratically or arbitrarily.

Moreover, the thesis statement can actually be the enemy of critical enquiry because it straitjackets the writer into a line of argument that has to be defended to the death, blithely bulldozing – or simply ignoring – any tentative “yes, but…” that might get in the way. This is not a trivial issue. The tyranny of being forced to declare one’s position pervades our culture, from the school debating societies to our adversarial parliamentary system, where admitting that the opposing side may have a point is political anathema. This approach is potentially anti-intellectual – for when critical thinking is applied to most issues, it becomes apparent that there are multiple viable perspectives, which can both diverge and converge.

Is there not a case for replacing the traditional essay with something more exploratory and open-ended – perhaps akin to a research project? From an early stage, students could be trained to become more aware of issues such as bias, limitation, validity and reliability; how to select, interrogate and categorise their data; how to connect findings with theory. The structure of a project write-up allows for a deeper consideration of these underlying areas, and liberates the student from the imperative to follow a single cohesive line of reasoning. Reality, after all, does not follow laws of cohesion and – to cite Chekhov – it can be more illuminating to pose questions rather than to purport to have answers.

Another fundamental problem with the essay is that it imposes a rigid, one-size-fits-all framework on to every conceivable topic. Not everything is suited to this linear, verbal model: alternatives could be borrowed from other disciplines and methods of assessment. There might be cases where diagrams and annotated illustrations would express ideas and the relationships between them with greater clarity and succinctness. In other instances, submitting work in the form of – for example – a dialogue, a series of letters, an animation or a documentary might reveal a huge amount of creative potential, originality and insight. Could the message, and the student’s own leanings, occasionally be allowed to determine the most appropriate medium?

Undergraduates now are predominantly digital natives, while the essay comes from a tradition of ink on paper, fixed and immutable. Intellectually and stylistically restrictive, it discourages experimentation with the rich possibilities of communication and does not always serve either the topic or the writer adequately.

Does the academy’s reluctance to embrace radically alternative forms reflect a lack of courage? Possibly. But in a dynamic multimedia age, where so much is in a state of flux and uncertainty, we should be looking beyond the static forms that bored C. S. Lewis more than 60 years ago and at least considering the daunting but exhilarating new possibilities.