The ship docked in Phnom Penh last night.
Leaving now to tour city.
Amazing it is thriving after Pol Pot’s genocide and effort to return to 11th century agrarian society.
We will survive our current national nightmare. Pales next to Cambodia.
Perspective.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Indeed. Perspective!
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Hi sister:
It is my dream that I could go on vacation with tour guide and a group of educators like the one that Dr. Ravitch has enjoyed.
I had a stroke so that I keep dreaming, hee hee hee.
Whenever, you, my sister and Dr. Ravitch will go together with all gurus in this website to travel all states in America, America Public Education will definitely improve. This is called NPE’s world tour.
Yes, I keep dreaming because my time is running out. Love you. May
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May,
I was thinking of you in Vietnam. Nearly 2 Million Vietnamese fled the country to escape the Communists. Our tour guide in Vietnam is Catholic. His family suffered terribly and was sent to re-education camps.
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Dear Dr. Ravitch:
Thank you for your thought of me.
I try very hard to be quiet while you are in VN.
There are two important messages from my parents. Both of them learned and experienced with hardship from dictatorial government. My dad left China due to communism. My mom had many acquaintances who lived in communist countries.
Firstly, in the communist (dictatorial) environment, we must remember that all of five senses need to be absent (=no comment, no debate!)
Secondly, food and drink need to be concerned and careful BEFORE we swallow because our stomach is not the same as local people’s stomach.
We need to learn how to adapt and how to survive in all environments.
I hope that you will spread out your spirit of learning and of treasuring both freedom and culture (folk music) from good leadership.
Have a great trip along your way. Love you. May
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Cambodia has had forty years to recover from Pol Pot. I hope it doesn’t take that long for the U.S. to recover from Trump.
Pot Pot’s nightmare in Cambodia ended December 25, 1978, when Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of Cambodia seeking to end Khmer Rouge border attacks. On January 7, 1979, Phnom Penh fell and Pol Pot was deposed. The Vietnamese then installed a puppet government consisting of Khmer Rouge defectors.
I’m sure that alleged puppet government was an improvement over Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
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“…Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion…”. I hope it doesn’t require an invasion to get rid of Trump!
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Who would invade, Canada, the EU?
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Lloyd,
The obvious choice: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
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Ha … Ha … Ha!
North Koreans can’t even make it to Japan alive in their rickety boats.
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Back in ’70s and earIy ’80s I had a few Cambodian refugees, poor traumatized young people some of whom had lost their families in the war. Extended family members took them in. Despite it all, they adapted and were happy to be safe.
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Try some good street food! You’ll meet some real (nice) people along the way.
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Diane, I love this post. I learned about the Cambodian genocide from watching The Killing Fields when it was in the theaters when I was a teenager. It was not part of any school course I took. I did however get edifying exposure to totalitarianism in a mandatory 9th grade course on the Soviet Union (in a public high school), and from reading 1984 and Animal Farm (and, I imagine, from supplementary lectures from my English teachers). In the Common Core era, is there anyone making sure kids get an education in evil regimes? Or are we so hellbent on teaching “21st Century Skills” that this very beneficial knowledge is slipping through the cracks? How can kids get the type of perspective you have without knowledge? Or is there a “having perspective” skill that can be taught independent of knowledge?
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So happy for you. Love this post.
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