Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Give Cambodian Children The Freedom To Be Proud

Children outreach (Photo: The Angkor Photography Festival)
Tue, 6 Nov 2007
OpEd by Santhor
Posted online


Cambodian children should no longer be locked in a small well and view the larger world as big as its rim. Instead, they should be given freedom to grow and develop as a proud citizen of Cambodia. As they enter the dynamic world, making choices becomes a way of asserting themselves into the global society. To be able to experience the freedom to choose predisposes these children to view the world as a less threatening place, and their chances of being "Succesful Cambodian People" are increased.

Developing the freedom to choose offers Cambodian children a big step forward in building self-esteem such as: "I'm not bad...", "I can do it...", "I'm just as smart as other kids in the world...", "I'm valuable...", "I'm loved", "I can be a good leader of my wonderful country when I grow up", etc...

Cambodia has never had a leader for itself in almost a century. The main reason for that is because we, the Cambodian people, have never had the freedom to choose any. Since childhood, our Cambodian anscestors were taught not to think, not to reason, not to choose. As a result of that, many Cambodians today have very low self-esteem and poor self-concept. The country will go nowhere if the people don't know where to go.

"Freedom to Choose"" is a power that gives children a sense of having control over their own lives and a sense of responsibility for themselves, for their families, for their communities and for their country. The Killing Field of the communist Khmer Rouge would not take place if Cambodians had control over their own lives.

"Freedom to Choose" builds "Trust" in children's ability to make decisions and to exercise their own will. The Yuon CPP regime would not exist if Cambodians have ability to make decision and exercise our own will for the interests of our own country.

"Freedom to Choose" also gives Cambodian children a sense of "Identity" and "Self-Concept" as someone with alternatives. These children will become more perceptive of possibilities, which probably leads to not feeling helpless in today oppressive ruling or when facing new situations or new experiences. When Cambodian children can choose for themselves the tasks to do, or the skills to acquire and the means to achieve them, they will put more energy and motivation into their efforts, thus increasing their chances of success and the "Positive Cambodian Image".

Cambodian Children Deserve the Right to Possibility.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is the most stupidest article I ever heard off. Often students will be proud of themselves when they have a perfectly scored grade from school, or when they win a regional or international award for science and technology. No one ever stop them from study hard so that they will feel ashame of themselves.

Anonymous said...

We know who this Animal Viet troller @6:22AM that pretending to be Khmer is. This animal Viet troller will be castrated and then euthanized when time comes.

Go home Viet troller!
Go home Vietcong!

Anonymous said...

The Yuon CPP must go and so the Animal Yuon troller.

Anonymous said...

The Yuon CPP must go and so must the Animal Yuon troller.

Anonymous said...

6:22, I beg to differ. There are two different kinds of people when it comes to seeking attention. One group are those who will work extremely hard, do everything well so that people will praise them and give them attention. The other group are those who feel unloved and feel that no matter what they do, no one will care about them. So this latter group will not have that motivation in life to excel. They will forever amble along, not caring not bothering because they feel no one cares anyway. Or they do all sorts of naughty stuff to attract attention

This article is very true. I have khmer friends and they always feel they are never good enough. People look down on them because they are poor or not smart. Very low self-esteem. And this low self-esteem hampers them from fulfilling their real potential because they are forever telling themselves they are not good, they will never do well at anything and they don't take that first step.

It has been proven that praising and encouraging a child has very good effect on them. Try it on the people around you today. Simple words like 'good job', 'wow, you look great' doesn't require much effort or time. So why not say it to someone and build that person up?

Anonymous said...

Yes, 10:40, you are correct. There are too many overconfident westerner trained Khmer who look down not only on poor Khmer people but also anything that is Khmer. Very rare that I have seen any Westerner trained Khmer talk highly of us (Khmer); this is not to be confused with Westerner trained Khmer talk highly of another Westerner trained Khmer.

Anonymous said...

THAT IS OK bOY 1055aM, IF YOUR FATHER GET DECREE BY GO TO SCHOLL NOT BY GIVE OUT LAND AND RELIGION TO vIET1

Anonymous said...

Wrong, we don't want to go to no retarded school. When we lease and to Yuons, we get lot of jobs and development. And when we give land to Ah Khmer-Yuon criminals we'll stuck in poverty forever.