Page 413 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

388 B.C. Luitel and P.C. Taylor

me 5 min so that I can have a quick look at my notes.” Unsurprisingly, Dr. Director
does not wait for my permission and starts scanning his own comments.
It can be any day in the month of March 2005. Dr. Director is ready to talk about
my proposal. I am sitting facing him, sharing the same messy desk that he has been
using. “Well, you have worked out a structure already. Did you consult with
Dr. Authority and Prof. Prescription? They both completed their advanced studies
at The University of the West,” speaks Dr. Director, demonstrating his age-old legacy
of celebrating the western country where he completed his advanced studies.
“Not yet. I am planning to develop a complete draft and make it available to
relevant professionals for their comments. Cannot I share the detail of the program
with Dr. Authority, Prof. Prescription and other professionals after we complete the
official rituals of the University of Himalaya?” I say, with an invisible resistance to
Dr. Director’s view of relying on people who prefer to stick to their old guns.
We do not speak for a while. Dr. Director looks somewhat serious and so am I.
Perhaps, he is busy working out appropriate language to respond to my mild resis-
tance. I am also thinking creatively to pacify my agitating self that interprets
Dr. Director favouring a bunch of professionals who completed their advanced
studies at The University of the West with a tendency to privilege a singular world-
view. My agitating self keeps asking me: Why does he favour Dr. Authority and
Prof. Prescription as there are many other professionals probably more productive
than these relatively “out of touch from reality” professors?
“I don’t know which courses you have done in your overseas studies. Thus, you
need to outsource to The University of the West-educated professionals in the team
otherwise it is hard for me to forward your proposal to the relevant committees of
the university. And, you should know that our department uses exactly the same
system used by The University of the West. You cannot deviate from the system
because quality teacher education is possible only by following a standard global
system of education,” Dr. Director postpones his eulogy to the system of education
of The University of the West for a moment and I console my resisting self to adopt
a strategy of quiet criticality.
I don’t know whether Dr. Director wants me to continue our conversation or
leave his office. But I don’t want to leave the meeting unresolved. As Dr. Director
is busy responding to a caller, I am thinking about possible permutations of words
that I am going to use to respond to his narrow view of globalisation.
“Sir, what should I do then? Please, show me the way. I have no problem meeting
with Dr. Authority and Prof. Prescription. I am conceiving this to be a good Nepali
teacher education program that can be helpful for improving mathematics class-
rooms of Nepali schools rather than a program that mimics foreign models in the
name of globalisation. I believe that I have acquired relevant degrees in mathe-
matics teacher education which help me find ways to identify key strengths and
weaknesses of our mathematics education program and address them contextually.
Overall, I regard myself as a learner rather than a perfect authority of the field,”
I offer a mild dose of criticality, as Dr. Director remains in the world of solitude.
Dr. Director does not speak for a moment, and then turns his chair toward the
cupboard where he keeps some 12 books which he shows every now and then when
we have an academic discussion like this. In the meantime, I plan to request some