For Your Consideration

I really like this article about what is going on in Haiti. It asks some very insightful questions and is very honest about the abismal failure of most international aid.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/opinion/15brooks.html

I especially appreciated what he had to say about addressing cultural flaws (although, he didn't say it exactly like that.) As someone who is currently wrapped up in the education world, the madness of cultural appreciation gets overwhelming. Every aspect of a person's makeup is now considered an issue of culture. (This includes sexual preference and ineptitude in grammar.) The next assumption is that culture is sacred. Even if your culture relegates you and your offspring to perpetual poverty because of its values and institutions, a critical look is tantamount to bigotry. The only response is to assume every cultural quirk has value, and ask no questions. (Whether "value" used in this way actually means anything is never asked.) In this mindset, a person's culture quickly becomes his only value.

I tend to think that a person's value lies in him being a person. If he is born into a culture which will not allow for growth, or which does not capitalize on his gifts and abilities, he would do well to alter his "culture."

I got all caught up in this lately when taking a national standard education examination (an exam on which my certification hinged.) I wrote an essay to the above affect... not really sure why I chose that particular moment to come unglued and go off on the education world. (Usually I reserve those moments for phone conversations with Chelsi.) Needless to say, my essay was not scored favorably. No worries, I made up for it on the rest of the exam and (in an instance of certain grace) I passed.