Thailand's National Flower

Thailand's National Flower

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Changing My Mind: An American Perogative

My students need a huge dose of freedom. Wai Kru is a practice here of honoring the teacher, and although it is lovely for the recipient, it may not be so lovely for the one scraping and bowing. I know this is a reversal of my former position, but that's what I like about being American: I get to change my mind.

I've been teaching in Thailand just under three months. In that time I've begun to realize that critical thinking skills are missing from many of my students. They can copy what I put up on the blackboard, but their school lives are separate from their private lives by miles and miles. That seems a complete waste of pop culture and their formal education. It isn't that I want to turn them into cynical Americans, but they would definitely benefit from learning to ask the hard questions. They could start with the question, "why?". They could follow with "how?".  They need to know what things are, what they're called, and to question whether something ought to remain the way it is.

For instance, recently the grounds crew sprayed for mosquitoes just outside our classroom. In Thailand, there are few windows with glass panes. It never gets cold enough to require them.  Rainy season is nearly upon us. On this particular day, chemical clouds came wafting through the open windows of my classroom. First the students began to cough and to cover their faces with their shirts. Then some of the students quickly raced to pull the shutters closed and draw the curtains. There is an open wire grid at the top of the window openings that runs the full extent of the wall, which allowed the chemical fumes to continue pouring into the classroom. I was grateful for the quick thinking of the one or two students, and I was appalled that the spray was used while the students were on site and downwind.  It is yet another way that the least important discover their lack of status in a hierarchical culture.

When I investigated later, I read that in 1995, the production, import, export and possession of DDT were prohibited in Thailand, and in 2003 the use of DDT for Malaria control was prohibited. Yet, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), export of obsolete stocks to Europe continues. I'm not sure if this apparent violation is the tip of the iceberg, compliance on paper only, or a way to get rid of an aging DDT stockpile. Because I'm not sure, I will continue to search for answers. My students know only to close the wooden shutters and draw the shiny fabric curtains. They don't know to protest. Who would listen to them? I'm also not sure how often they are exposed to these chemicals: yearly, monthly? How much is too much? Who decides? How much information does the guy using this stuff have about its danger? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? Right now, my lungs are a mess. I have asthma and my body registers damages within the environment almost immediately. I've learned to pay attention to my body.

A little background: DDT was discovered in 1939 by a Swiss chemist, Paul Muller. It was so effective at killing pests and boosting crop yields and so inexpensive to make that its use quickly spread over the globe. Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1948.

In 1962, Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, was published, and many began to question the wide scale use of such chemicals. Carson, a scientist, issued grave warnings about pesticide overuse, and predicted massive destruction of the planet's fragile ecosystems unless more was done to halt the "rain of chemicals." Many believe that her book launched the environmental movement. In 1972, the U.S. outlawed DDT.

However, the makers of the toxic chemical found buyers for their plants -- in S.E. Asia.

According to Oregon State University:

      "DDT is still widely used in less developed countries. And, ironically, when the last DDT  
      manufacturing plant in the US was dismantled in 1983, it was sold to Indonesia, where it   
      continued to manufacture DDT until Indonesia ratified the Stockholm Convention on Persistent
      Organic Pollutants in 2009, just three years ago; Indonesia is no longer manufacturing DDT. 
      Twenty five developing countries, however, got exceptions allowing them to keep using DDT, 
      because it is the cheapest and most accessible defense against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. 
      This whole malaria and DDT issue is really tough -- between 1 and 3 million people die each year
      from malaria. 

No one wants to say whether DDT is more or less damaging in the long run. It can cause cancer, destroy whole species, and cause developmental delays in unborn children. It takes eons to break down, and malaria carrying pests ultimately develop a resistance to the strain. Is there a way to make safer products more available? Killing people and species with chemicals is not a better idea than letting them die of Malaria. There needs to be other, better solutions.

Oregon State University:

      In some cases, DDT is still effective against the disease-bearing mosquitoes, and many people
      feel that the benefits from continuing to use it for this purpose, which [they think] outweighs the
      risks. However, resistance problems are likely, and ultimately, will force a change in control
      approaches. For instance, there is considerable success with the use of bednets -- mosquito netting
      that is treated with an insecticide and suspended over a person's bed, protecting them during the
      evening and night when the mosquitoes are most active -- coupled with more effective 
      dissemination of anti-malaria drugs. Finally there are common sense measures, such as filling
      chinks in walls that fill with water and provide mosquito breeding grounds. 


There is a dire need for better drainage spaces that will carry the run-off from the pervasive rain, to more useful sites: rice fields, for instance, or through filtering areas that percolate the water safely and naturally. Surely the brain-trust on the planet can come up with cost effective ways, eco-system friendly, to reduce the infectious and disease bearing mosquito population by radically reducing places where it breeds. Perhaps this should be a science project for all sixth graders, all over the world. Problems of disease seem foremost in importance, and thus, a good place to focus our attention. The sooner we get to it, the sooner we will find solutions.

All students, especially in this learning community, need to develop critical thinking skills, because their country is desperately in need of their help. In Thailand, a favor offered is a favor returned. These students are the future leaders. They must learn to ask and answer difficult questions. They must practice these skills often in order to get faster and better at sizing up a situation and knowing what to do about it. They will inherit this country. I fear what's ahead for them if they don't learn necessary survival skills: how to think, question, act.

 



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