During preschool years, children rapidly develop the ability to reason about one’s own and others’ mental states. The current paper illustrates the unique developmental pattern of mental states understanding in 3- to 5-year-olds in Singapore, a country influenced by both eastern and western cultures. Study 1 examined the developmental pattern and revealed that Singaporean preschoolers first develop the understanding of diverse desires (i.e., other people may have different desires), diverse beliefs (i.e., other people may have different beliefs), knowledge access (i.e., one may not have the knowledge), and then false beliefs (i.e., one’s beliefs may be wrong). Such a developmental trajectory is similar to that of the west and different from that of the east. Study 2 specifically examined the understanding of belief and knowledge with the appearance-reality, deception pointing, and false belief tasks. Results indicated that most 4 years old Singaporean children performed below chance on the false belief tasks. This is contrary to previous findings in both west and east. Study 3 examined the factors that may influence the development of false beliefs. Results showed that the advanced development of false-belief understanding is associated with the children’s temperament of fearfulness and their parental style of directiveness. Again, these are different from previous findings in west and east. Together, these results suggest that the early development of the understanding of mental states in Singaporean children is unique, possibly reflecting a mix of eastern and western influences.
Educating the Young: Changes and Challenges in Contemporary India
Abstract:
More than six decades after Independence, India’s performance on primary and secondary education remains questionable at best. The paper takes stock of changes and challenges experienced by the country in the last two decades while asking: to what extent has economic liberalization liberalized cultural attitudes and values that have shown to be at the root of India’s position and policies toward children in education and employment? What has happened since liberalization to India’s historical high illiteracy rates, low school enrollment and high dropout rates? Has the belief system of the state bureaucracy been affected by the changing economic climate that encourage some to call India ‘incredible’?
Drawing evidence from census data, governmental as well as scholarly reports, the study shows how today’s reality stands vis-à-vis recent—and past— official rhetoric. In doing so, the author examines if the key notion informing education in India, as suggested by Myron Weiner nearly two decades ago, is still one of “incentives” as opposed to “compulsion. ” Emphasis is placed on assessing the impact and merits of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Program, a major scheme launched by the BJP government in 2001 with the explicit goal of universalizing elementary education by 2010.
Eradication of Poverty through Education – KISS plays a Catalyst – Phase I & Phase II.
Abstract :
Economists, Planners and Social thinkers from all over the world have agreed that Education can be a major tool in eradicating poverty. In Indian context, it is not only true but it is visible. The Scheduled Tribes consisting 8% of the total population of 1.3 billion are the most depriving underprivileged poor people. A proper analysis of the fact suggests that the reasons for such a sorry state of affairs are the lack of education amongst the tribes which leads to other problems. In Orissa, it is more visible because Orissa is one of the poorest states of Indian Union.
With the conviction that Education holds key to do away all with the import problems, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) established with just 125 students in 1993 has now grown into the largest institution of Asia to provide food, accommodation, healthcare and education from KG to PG to 12,000 tribal children absolutely free. KISS today stands out as a catalyst to encourage education for all the tribal children who have remained instrumental in the eradication of poverty. With an aim to reach out every underprivileged children, KISS has an ambitious target to educate 2 million children by 2020 with projected beneficiaries of 8 million people living in abject poverty.
The paper attempts to discuss the world view on Education as a tool for eradication of poverty,and efforts of a single individual Samanta.
This paper looks at female marriage migrants’ adaptation by looking into these women’s involvement in their children’s education in Taiwan. Female marriage migrants must be seen within the context of international hypergamy, which has become an increasingly notable trend in many countries, especially those of East Asia. Female marriage migrants, coming to Taiwan chiefly from Southeast Asian countries and from China, often are depicted by the mainstream discourse of media, government, and school, and even in academic studies, as being incapable mothers, based strictly on their cultural-linguistic difference and arguably low socio-economic status.
Current studies on FMM involvement in their children’s education reflect the views of the public, which address this issue from two perspectives: the FMM’ lack of cultural-linguistic affinity for the new nation, or her receiving family’s low socioeconomic stratum. This present paper hopes to go beyond the debate between the assimilist who stresses the cultural-linguisitc difference and the strucutralist who focuses solely on socioeconomic status, by focusing on FMM’s active role, namely the strategies she adopts in response to the context of reception. Through examining these women’s involvement in their children’s education, the author seeks to reframe such studies by taking into account the female marriage migrant’s active role in shaping her own unique adaptation strategy.
Being a woman in Indonesia carries a myriad of different meanings. Spread across thousands of islands, 230 million people, 300 ethnicities, 250 languages, and religious pluralism, women in Indonesia present innumerable cultural and personal identities. Throughout the archipelago, women tend to be active members of society and visible in public life. As such, they generally attend school and college in the same proportion than men, and work outside the household. However, being in school or having a job does not necessarily mean that women have the capability to study and work into rewarding relationships of mutual respect with other students, teachers, and colleagues.
In this paper, I examine how Indonesian universities shape students’ cultural identities. My interest especially concerns the impact of higher education on students’ perspectives about gender roles. The analysis draws from the theories of critical pedagogy, cultural identity, pluralism, and feminism. After consulting statistics on gender parity in education from the Ministry of Education, Ministry for Women’s Empowerment, UNESCO, UNICEF, and World Bank, I then interview female and male Indonesian students about their perception of gender differences. These students come from various islands and differ in their ethnicity, language, and religion. Their experiences reveal various forms of gender-based oppression as well as a consciousness-raising about possible solutions. The voices of these students remind the reader that gender inequalities traverse all forms of education (including access, survival, output, and outcome) and only a comprehensive effort can foster gender equality.
During preschool years, children rapidly develop the ability to reason about one’s own and others’ mental states. The current paper illustrates the unique developmental pattern of mental states understanding in 3- to 5-year-olds in Singapore, a country influenced by both eastern and western cultures. Study 1 examined the developmental pattern and revealed that Singaporean preschoolers first develop the understanding of diverse desires (i.e., other people may have different desires), diverse beliefs (i.e., other people may have different beliefs), knowledge access (i.e., one may not have the knowledge), and then false beliefs (i.e., one’s beliefs may be wrong). Such a developmental trajectory is similar to that of the west and different from that of the east. Study 2 specifically examined the understanding of belief and knowledge with the appearance-reality, deception pointing, and false belief tasks. Results indicated that most 4 years old Singaporean children performed below chance on the false belief tasks. This is contrary to previous findings in both west and east. Study 3 examined the factors that may influence the development of false beliefs. Results showed that the advanced development of false-belief understanding is associated with the children’s temperament of fearfulness and their parental style of directiveness. Again, these are different from previous findings in west and east. Together, these results suggest that the early development of the understanding of mental states in Singaporean children is unique, possibly reflecting a mix of eastern and western influences.
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