Page 414 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

33 “What Is Ours and What Is Not Ours?” 389

suggestions from him so as to incorporate his genuine ideas. Genuine? Well, I
cannot be as presumptive as he is. I may use some of his ideas, although he tries to
justify them as being western originated. Let’s see what the upcoming moments hold
for me.
“Do you have this one? This is a very useful book on student evaluation. I suggest
you prescribe this as a textbook for the mathematics teacher education program.
It includes ways of constructing different forms of standardised tests following
universal methods. And, I think Nepali teachers need to know and implement such
ideas to improve their teaching. I will give you this and another set of four books,
today. They cover areas such as psychology, learning and evaluation. You can also
borrow books from Dr. Authority and Prof. Prescription. Then, incorporate ideas
from appropriate books prescribed by The University of the West. In this way the
proposed program will produce quality teachers as well as provide our program
with a basis for connecting globally. Remember, we need a globally justifiable
teacher education program. And, we need to make globalisation the defining iden-
tity of our teacher education program.”
Our meeting ends on a positive note so that we keep the channel open for
discussion. At least this is good for now. It seems to me that I need to be strategic
to get things done here. But the “real me” hates these things – acting as per the
interests of the other, following unjustifiable bureaucratic procedures, leaving my
professional judgement at the mercy of the other, and making my own vision invis-
ible in the process. As I leave Dr. Director’s office, a support staff, is ready to
share my load of books which we put on the table in my office to check their biblio-
graphical information. Unsurprisingly, all these books are published in the early
1960s and are probably out of print: Measurement and Evaluation, Psychological
Foundations, Behavioural Foundations, Educational Testing, and so on and so
forth...
***

“Being Here: We Need Globalisation, But The Empowering One!” –
Retrospection with Futuristic Agendas

Dear Dr. Director
The story, Being There: We Need A Globally Justifiable Teacher Education,
represents one of our many meetings that took place in the year 2005. Most of the
meetings seem to have ended with your suggestion that I need to make sure that
our teacher education program is designed according to “global standards.” Sadly,
my contestations were not enough! Indeed, having had several meetings with you,
I feel as if you are the truer representative of the west than our own country.
Puzzled by such a narrow view of globalisation, I have decided to write this open
letter explaining my critical view of hegemonic globalisation, thereby offering
ways to conceive a more justifiable and empowering version that may help develop
a vision for a contextualized mathematics teacher education program, particularly
one that is inclusive of the multilingual and multicultural realities of Nepal.