Below I have posted the notes that I took this afternoon as a Tibetan friend of mine dictated to me the situation of education among his people, especially those from more rural areas.
This friend and I are planning to do what we can to raise support for numerous Tibetan young people who will not otherwise be able to attend school for more than 2 or 3 years. If you are interested in donating to help send poor, rural Tibetan kids to school, please shoot me an
e-mail anytime.
The Education Situation Among Many Tibetans in China
In the past, Tibetans were typically a people who stayed to themselves, and education was traditionally reserved only for religious students and future leaders of society.
Today, in the modern Chinese world, any Tibetan has the right and opportunity to get an education. In regions that are officially self-governed by the Tibetan people, students are allowed to study the Tibetan culture and language, but its general use is fairly small. Tibetan is not used in any official government work.
Tibetan students these days begin to learn both Tibetan and Chinese from a very young age, almost at the same time. However, the level of education and Chinese that these students learn is very poor compared to Han Chinese regions.
Of those students who major in Tibetan studies at university, only about 30% are able to find work as teachers, and even those are only permitted (or have opportunity) to teach Tibetan within their own Tibetan autonomous prefectures. If these students were to try to find work in another Chinese company or in the government, usually their level of Chinese (although possibly good) is not up-to-par with normal Chinese students who vie for the same jobs. And Tibetan is either not permitted, or is not normally used in most Chinese companies and in all government posts.
The Tibetan students described in these past few paragraphs almost always come from the county seats of their region; or, in other words, the areas with more money and influence.
In rural areas, many children only study for a year or two before their parents pull them out of school to go and have them help with work around the family ranch. Usually these kids start going at 9 or 10 years of age, and are primarily sent by their parents to learn a bit of Tibetan so that they can then be able to read and recite some of the basic Tibetan Buddhist scriptures. Kids and teenagers are often punished by their parents and/or neighbors for not being able to read and recite at least basic Tibetan Buddhist scriptures.
After the parents feel that the kids have learned enough, they are taken out of school to go work with their families, mostly tending sheep and yaks up in the mountains. They are often married off as teenagers and begin to have kids and families of their own. The cycle then repeats itself.
The parents are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They need money to send the kids to school, but they need the kids to work on the ranch to make any money.
Although the Chinese government mandates that all students, including Tibetans, complete at least 9 years of studies, 70-80% of rural Tibetan young people never reach that goal, and many do not finish more than just 2-3 years of studies.
So there are many, many Tibetans who can¡¯t read any Chinese whatsoever. In a large Chinese city, they are unable to even find, either by reading the signs or asking directions, a public bathroom. They are completely Chinese illiterate.
I was told the story today of a Tibetan man who, unable to locate a public bathroom in a certain Chinese city, squatted down on the side of the road to do his ‘business’ just as he would have done up in the mountains. When a police officer approached to ask what he was doing, he covered what he had done with his hat and tried to tell the officer that it was a bird that he had trapped underneath (he did this by waving his arms and making bird noises, because remember, he didn’t speak any Chinese). When the officer finally managed to pick up the hat and saw what was really hidden there, the poor Tibetan was promptly arrested.
— Please pray for the Tibetans. Although they are alive in the year 2008, most have no more knowledge of the Gospel than Tibetans have had for centuries. Pray for laborers and for boldness among those already working in Tibetan areas!
Are those little kids SMOKING?! I’m interested… send me more info.
That girl is has a sucker (lollipop) in her mouth.
However, a large number of Tibetan boys, especially those living in a town or city of any size, do start smoking at a very young age.
To donate, simply click on the “Contact” link under the “Main Menu” section on this page, and follow instructions on how to donate.
Make sure and earmark any donation for “Eugene – China” AND “Tibetan Student Fund”.
In the future we will have a site dedicated specifically for the “Tibetan Student Fund”.
Check out my latest blog post. Thought you’d like to weigh in: jeffgoins.myadventures.org. It’s entitled “Are we saved by grace or faith?” It was a tough question to answer, so I’d appreciate your feedback.