Translator: Myo Aung Reviewer: sann tint
In the Christian religion
we believe that the whole universe, everything in this world,
has been created by God.
When I turned four,
I thought,
if this whole universe has been created by God,
who created the Creator, God himself?
I once asked one of the teachers.
At that time, the teacher told me,
"Boy, do not ask these kinds of questions.
A child has to listen and follow what parents, adults,
and teachers tell you.
All children are assumed to agree and follow the lead."
A child has to be quiet.
They are not allowed to interrupt adults talking
And, when teacher are speaking, do not interrupt them.
"Do not question the teachers," is what I was told.
So, what this shows is, we know that children are curious;
they like to ask questions, and explore the things
that are happening in their surroundings.
We can see that they tend to ask a lot of questions.
One more thing it shows:
In Myanmar or the country where we are living,
in our society, in our communities, we have an assumption
that a child is not a full man.
"Hey, do not ask questions the teachers questions!",
shows that child is not yet assumed to be a full man.
So, children are supposed to do what they are told by their parents.
Just do as the teachers say;
do not argue, don't say anything - this idea is instilled in us.
Once it is so, when children begin to ask questions,
when they become curious, we think it is a bad thing.
We think that it is not good, it is a bad manners.
We see it as a negative thing.
But, today I like to think negatively.
I came from a very far away village,
from Chin State.
I am still living in a village in the countryside.
In my country village we have only about 30 houses.
It is slightly more than 20 miles from the town.
In that place, I finished my fourth grade education.
One day, our teacher was teaching us about the Earth.
In that lesson, she told us that the shape of our earth is a round one,
that it is like a sphere.
In my way back home, I was thinking about this.
I do not know anyone here who has been in the mountains.
In the mountains, it is not like as plains;
we have there high mountains.
We have some small hills there.
We have rocky cliffs, creeks, rivers, and valleys there.
The surface is an uneven one.
If it is so, what does it mean that our earth is round?
I could not understand it with my child's brain.
So, at last I had to ask to my teacher.
At that time, the teacher's reply was,
"Be quiet; don't you know that you should not speak to the teachers.
You need to follow what you are told by the teachers.
Any student, all students
have to do as they are told by their teachers.
If they say don't do something, you do not do it,
if you they ask to do, do it. You understand?"
This was the reply I got.
I felt very sad at that time.
I was curious, and wanted to know, but when I asked,
what I got from our teacher was some scolding words.
She was angry with me, she thought bad about me.
Nevertheless, she told me,
"When you will grow up, you will come learn."
There was another moment.
My mother was sick.
At that time, once my mother was ill, I had to take care of her.
I need to boil water. I put the kettle on a fire.
I was busy with my mother, taking care of her.
My kettle was boiling all the time and the water dried out.
I was astonished.
I was looking at the kettle but could not find any leaking hole.
But, when I asked my mother why,
she told me to ask my teachers.
So, when we had our science class, I asked my teacher.
This is what my teacher said:
"It is evaporation," was his reply.
Yes, it is true.
But as I was a child, I cannot accept that evaporation.
I wanted to see that evaporation, I shall accept if I see it with me eyes.
I could not accept it, so I argued to my teacher.
"I did not see how the water evaporated.
Maybe the water went into the kettle?"
I asked again.
Then my teacher's reply was,
"Did not your parents not tell you
that you should not argue with your teachers?
You are a child who is not well raised by your parents."
Then I got more feelings and I became more sad.
It means I am not yet a full human being.
I have no freedom, I do not have a right to speak freely.
I don't have right to freely argue, I don't have right to think freely.
When I realized that, I was very sad.
And so, when I was going to school,
I became scared of my teachers, as if they were soldiers.
I was afraid of teachers as they are like tigers or beasts.
It became so bad that, in our village,
if I see my teacher when I was on my way somewhere,
I had to avoid that way and try to go a different route.
I was very afraid of my teachers.
I finished my tenth grade like this.
After my tenth grade I get entered into a Christian University.
In that Christian University,
in one of our classes,
students from the first, second, third, and fourth courses
we were sitting mixed in a single class.
In our Christian belief we have only one God.
But, we believe that he is Trinity.
Our teacher was standing there
and giving his lecture to explain that.
After he finished his lecture, the teacher asked
any students had any questions,
what else students wanted to know,
if someone does not believe or accept what he had told us.
He gave us some time to ask questions.
I was amazed!
I was so amazed because I had never seen such a thing.
How it could happen?
Then one student stood up and asked, "Teacher, I cannot understand this:
You said God is one,
but he is also the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; how can this be?"
I thought this fellow will get blow, the teacher will scold him.
I was sure to see something negative.
But, the teacher explained patiently.
He gave a lot of examples to explain it.
Even he gave a list of authors and books
which we can find in the library to read, he answered with guidelines.
After that, I was astonished.
After that lecture I followed that student and asked him.
That student replied to me,
"Here you do not need to fear the teachers.
We can discuss things with our teachers.
You can ask questions and speak freely and openly
about anything you believe or do not accept.
You have a right to discuss, you have a right to get advice."
In that way, I attended that college for four years,
after 13 years, I had freedom,
so I was very happy.
In that way I finished my Christian University in four years
and I shifted to CISS, Chin Institute of Social Science
for further studies.
There too I did not find much difference from Christian University.
We were open with our teachers.
When we asked a question, they replied openly to us.
I could criticize them, could put forward my argument, was free to do anything.
But, there was something unusual.
I had never seen such a thing. I shall try to explain.
When I was in school up to tenth grade,
when you arrive at the school, they have a lot of rules.
We had rules to be followed by the students.
Later, in my Christian University it was the same;
there were rules to be followed by the students.
But, when I arrived at my CISS, Social Science,
there were no rules.
We, the students, had to think and decide
how we should live, how we should dress,
how we should communicate with our teachers,
when we should study,
what kind of punishments there will be if not followed.
We ourselves have to write those rules.
So, if we shall consider the situation in Myanmar
and our education system,
in Myanmar too as it was at the beginning of my education,
we did not have rights to speak, or much freedom;
we have to live under the order, "Don't do this or that."
But, now it is opening up,
it is changing, beginning to change.
So, today is good time!
Today is a good day!
Let's start to think negatively.
Thank you very much!
(Applause)