Being Privileged?

Few days back I came across Being Privileged Is Not A Choice, So Stop Hating Me For It by Kate Menendez and it got me thinking.

I always wondered if I would have the same opportunities, had I been born in an ordinary family. The education and privileges come with the family and social status in Nepal. I was born in the upper-middle-income family, and the society/community expected me to get education from a private school. The general misunderstanding during those days that a public school did not provide good education. So, my family decided to put me in a Catholic school where the admission was competitive – my parents had to go through the interview process and they always joke about it. I was in that school till grade 10 and enrolled in another school, run by the British Government. These schools are proud of their alumni who are from higher-status and educated society, and the royal families. That may have afforded me exclusivity and accessibility to quality education that the common Nepalese did not have.

Belonging to “the upper middle class” social background, I found find it easier to accommodate to the school system than others, because the language and social norms of the school served me better. I excelled at school – always had honors, editor of the school magazine, vice-president of students’ council, school prefect, and chair of several social clubs. I participated in extracurricular activities – badminton team member, one-act plays, leadership club, etc. I feel that I would not have these opportunities had I came from “the working class” – I would not have access to the school system and financial constraint would have restricted me from attending the schools.

I consider that being “brown” – I was one of the eleven brown boys amongst six hundred – while growing up in the elite school has greatly impacted me and has been contributing factor in shaping me. Though I was in an elite school, I consider that racism somehow made me strong. Once I got into a fight with a classmate who ridiculed me of my skin-color and my ability to do chin-ups. I was able to stand up for myself with the moral support from my class teacher who was a priest. That fight enabled me to gain respect and recognition amongst my friends, but I always felt of “not-belonging” and I always must prove my identity and patriotism (brown people are considered second class citizen who have Indian hereditary).

“Not-belonging” inspired me to be a resolute dreamer of overcoming that factor and be successful. I mastered the language (spoken by the “white” (lighter side of brown) Nepalese), be proficient in English language (that was considered acceptability in higher class) and learned the culture and religion to seek the answers (we refer to our religious scriptures and values to seek answers for any act of discrimination).

I got a scholarship to study electrical engineering in India and did my master’s at the University of Pittsburgh as a Fulbright Scholar and have doctorate from Minnesota. I got the travel bug in India. I feel that if anyone can survive a whole month in a country that is so diverse then (s)he can survive anywhere in the world. India has long held the reputation of being a difficult region to travel. While there is some truth to this, the exceptional beauty, delicious food, and lessons I learned outweighed the difficulties. I can relate my travel experience to critical travel pedagogy framework . My stay in India taught him to accept the unexpected and deal with the difficult circumstances, such as surviving the culture shock, dealing with “lost-in-translations” and getting swindled by innocent “beggars.” The experiential learning came through my international travel, mostly from Africa, India, and Nepal.

I grew up in capitalist environment that advocated for neo-liberal education model focusing in banking system. This was prevalent when I did my undergraduate degree in India and graduate degree in the US. I was introduced to dialogic and emancipatory education system while he was pursuing doctorate. My attitudes towards education dramatically changed only after working in Africa, where I, sometimes, volunteered to teach science in high schools. Poor students not only receive the worst education, but they fall victim to lifestyle and health issues that hinder their ability to learn. I noticed that poverty and its many disadvantages can handicap learners before they even begin school and lead them to fall behind classmates or even quit school in frustration. The experiences in Nepal and India further reinforced my belief of the detrimental effects of socioeconomic status to education. I am currently pursuing PhD in Social Justice Education at Ontario Institute for Studies and Education, University of Toronto because I want to understand the different theories, models and education that can help me to bring changes in education systems in Nepal. Now, I am pursuing my dream to be a social-change agent by acquiring theoretical knowledge on social justice.