Hello to all of you again ka. I come back to tell you what I like about Prof. Harari's ideas (https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75) and share a bit about my own thought ka.
From a YouTube program, Prof. Harari said that in education, the pandemic has been the catalyst for universities to go online, what has been discussed over 20 years now. I Well! I thought the West had practiced it far better than us na nia....they too were frustrated and found this outbreak a big positive move na ka.
He hopes to see the nations pick the right 'choice' to render global cooperation (send experts and equipment to help immediately, and sharing key information to stop the spread faster.), not to drag each back to the Stone Age where the least contacts with the outside world were made (and that is impossible!) He said it's time for the governments to win trust from their people in the wise ways....I liked it most when he used, 'It's payday'.....I interpreted it as the price the governments had to pay from what they've abused their power to the destructive ends so we didn't see people ignore governments' policies and directions. Governments have to be transparent and earn the trust from their citizens....and the world na ka!
Prof. Harari talked about 'soap police', making me realize that the discovery of washing hands with soap for human hygiene could be linked closely to communication, discipline, scientific facts, and trust. Once people learn about the facts through effective communication (not to confuse us from different sources...my own version ka:))!) and with the trust in their public authorities, they will choose to do the right thing (become disciplined!) without any need for close monitoring and penalty. He said in the Financial Times that, 'A self-motivated and well-informed population is usually far more powerful and effective than a policed, ignorant population.'
This thinking also leads me to think that democracy, when properly adopted without too much freedom in time of crisis, would definitely help people grow better in the longer terms.
For me personally, I think the Covid-19 won't leave us that soon so our higher education must begin to look into the future now.... to plan on what to learn from policies to platforms and practices. Our faculty have learned so fast and so have our students. I'm glad our higher education community will be much stronger digitally and will be stronger if we carefully capture lessons learned from the mixed approaches used, attention span, preparation of faculty and students before lessons, review sessions, and assessments.
We can't disintegrate our sector, nor can we afford to see it happen among and within one same university. Solidarity is strongly needed. Trusted leaders at all levels must be nurtured and strengthened with new cultural practices (at least to tear down some hierarchical barriers!). Power craze doesn't do any good to any one or situation in the future! How I wish Thailand's deeply rooted corruption DNA could be scraped out altogether too.....a dream that stays on as a nightmare for decades to come mai ka?
I also think globalization could only on the 'minus' side as it won't disappear too fast.
Higher education has to continue its international cooperation (both face-to-face and virtually) with more focus internally and intra-region while retaining our already strong relationships with other regions around the world. This means cross-cutting issues which will threaten the whole world .... 'climate change' and its consequences to human health and lives. They could be waiting in line from this pandemic and in fact alongside each other already in some dimensions. We should focus on 'science and civic education' for people to know how to take care of themselves and the communities with CARING ka.
Prof. Harari said social distancing has exploited the best part of human nature. I think this could be another aspect we should ponder, using our cross-cultural knowledge and skills to their max for us to mobilize with safety yet strong human-to-human relationships that respond well with the specific time, place, and situations.
One last thing that makes me think so hard during this time is our own weakness in administration and management ka. How could we think more systematically, know when and what to centralize/ decentralize plus who to do what well in advance.....in uniformity for one shared goal (not one shared clan/party).....well-being of us...humans and our world?????
Any comments mai ka?
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