November 17, 2010
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS (Guam)
Eighteen years ago, Elie Wiesel, a Jew from Romania and survivor of Auschwitz, told Boston University graduates in a commencement address that as he walked in the footsteps of those who lived before him, he is "the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you."
Wiesel's assertion that the graduates, too, are the sum total of experiences and quests of the many great men and women before them is a humbling and inspirational reminder. "The knowledge that I have must not remain imprisoned in my brain," Wiesel declared, "I need to pay back what was given to me. Call it gratitude."
Learning that inspires
Call me "fresh from the boat."
When I enrolled as a college freshman in 1963 in an American college, with very little English and no knowledge of the history of the United States, I had 19 years of acculturation in a society, Cambodia, that valued listening, obeying, respecting, following our elders and those in authority. The idea that the goal of education is to develop in students a capacity to think critically was never in my head.
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