September 30, 2012
September 08, 2012
Between Curiosity and Mandatory Schooling
by Jennie Siat Bev
Our parents taught us early on that we needed to go to school so we could get a good job and live a decent life. In other words, education is the ticket which enables us to climb the social and economic ladder, despite our current class.
Yet the “mainstream” school system worldwide favors conformity, intellectual intelligence and competitiveness — the things that are required in typical, profit-making workplaces.
As Astra Taylor in Unschooling wrote, at school she experienced greed, envy, fear and conformity, all of which overpowered the desirable attributes of childhood: compassion, curiosity, imagination and playfulness.
In Indonesia and the United States, schools have been fashion runways for rich kids, while those who have less must accept that their parents cannot afford to provide them with everything they may want — usually the things they see other kids have.
We call friendships fostered at school, and experiences with bullies: “learning to interact socially.” It may be true that a school is a “miniature society”, yet it is not realistic.
The natural state of learning that occurs when an individual uses his or her own independent thoughts and internal focus of control rarely occurs at school.
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September 06, 2012
This Columnist's Words Travel Halfway around the World
Jennie S. Bev is a typical Mountain House resident - urban, educated, underwater - with a difference. She pounds out a weekly column for a newspaper in Jakarta.
Jakarta, sprawling capital of Indonesia, boasts several papers, even an English-language newspaper war that was sparked in 2008 when the startup Jakarta Globe took on the Jakarta Post.
Bev writes for the Globe. "I believe in my heart that my cause is to quote-unquote enlighten the somewhat conservative Indonesians to broaden their minds," she said.
The rise of a conservative, even radical strain of traditionally moderate Indonesian Islam affects Bev's homeland and her mother, who still lives there.
Born in Jakarta, Bev is Chinese-Indonesian and "Catholic by registration, but quite secular in practice," a minority in a country that's 95 percent Muslim.
Her writing reflects concerns of persecution and human rights. A sample:
"Last September, the unorthodox Muslim sect Ahmadiyah was banned in South Sumatra. ... In July, a 20-year-old Christian theology school was attacked. ... In January 2008, a Hindu temple in West Lombok was burnt down by a mob.
"At this point, the Indonesian government leadership seems to be wearing their best tuxedos while smiling meaningfully to look good on paper and to make strong political statements that Indonesia is a country where human rights are guaranteed and respected. We, the people, must make sure that those are not killers' smiles and torturers' faux friendliness."
Strong stuff.
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Publish Your Freelance Work Abroad
by Jennie S. Bev
Publish Your Freelance Work Abroad
Parlay an international interest in your local viewpoint into a freelance gig
[This article was previously published by Media Bistro (NYC) on June 4, 2008. It has been more than two years, so some details are no longer current.]
By Jennie S. Bev
Today I write bi-weekly op-ed pieces for The Jakarta Post, an English print newspaper based in Jakarta, an Asian metropolis 9,400 miles away from New York. I also guest blog for Asia Blogging Network based in the same city. From time to time, I write articles for Asia Sentinel, an online news site based in Hong Kong, China. Reprints of my articles can also be found in the pages of Korea Times based in Seoul and Asia News Network based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Recently, I have just received an assignment to write for Reader's Digest Asian edition and have been approached by a literary agent to write an installment for The Complete's Idiot Guide. In the midst of all these, I also write for Tracy Press, a community paper based in my hometown as a "Town Crier" columnist, and have published in and mentioned by glossy magazines, such as Entrepreneur, Canadian Business, and Audrey. I was also interviewed and contacted for future interviews by Radio Singapore International, KQED, ABC Australia, and BBC.
I received all these by writing from home in the far east of San Francisco Bay Area. Call me an armchair columnist/commentator, I don't mind. Now let's see how you too can raise your profile by breaking into international publications.
Teaching Online to Raise Your Writing Profile
by Jennie S. Bev
Teaching online is one of the best things that a writer can do to take his or her talents to the next level, raise profile, and be useful for the community. Teaching writing and teaching online have proven to be gratifying for many freelancers. It provides an opportunity to connect, to learn, and to share. For most writers, the Internet and Web 2.0 provide a powerful platform for success.
An online teaching position had enabled me to build my writing portfolio by designing writing curricula, lesson plans, and online interactions. On top of that, teaching equals learning, which provides an unprecedented opportunity to brush up skills continuously. You, too, can be an online instructor while raising your writing portfolio. In The World is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman said, and I should add, "and everybody all over the world is learning online." You can imagine how big the market share is.
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