Cutbacks in two countries

Yes, you have guessed right. One of the two countries is the United States of America where cutbacks or reduction in spending and increase in tariffs is the order of the day promulgated by President Donald Trump who appears to consider himself king; his porohithaya Elon Musk dictating terms to him. His aim is to make America great again (MAGA) but his maga or path is actually making the rich in the US richer and making life more difficult for the ordinary US citizen with housing and food increasing in prices.

I feel I must explain what cut backs and cutbacks mean. The two word phrase is used as a verb while the one word is a noun.

Among several cutbacks “President Trump has signaled that next set of agencies on the chopping block, as his administration looks to cut down the size of the federal government agencies that serve wide ranging roles in the government, from addressing homelessness to funding libraries. One of these is the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) that funds grants to libraries and museums across the country. The group EveryLibrary – a nonprofit that has advocated for public library funding and fought against book bans – decried the looming cuts to the agency, arguing that IMLS is statutorily required to send federal funds to state libraries based on an Act passed by Congress.”

The present president is so very different to previous presidents like Jimmy Carter who initiated the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services (WHCLIS)

which took place in Washington DC in November1979. It was such a boost to libraries and spread of information and improvement of education all round as noted by a delegate to the 1979 and 1991 conferences in the White House: “a strengthened and increasingly dynamic role for citizen-trustees in guiding library development; the emergence of citizen leadership across the nation, spearheading a new synergy within the library profession: the concept of partnership –building as a means to advance the library agenda; and the use of information as the power to promote increased productivity, economic growth and enhanced quality of life for all citizens.”

The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLS) was an agency in the US government between 1970 and 2008. The activities of the NCLS were consolidated into the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as an independent agency of the US federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the US to advance, support and empower them. Now they are to be stymied by law. “It marks the next step of the administration eliminating government entities Trump deems ‘unnecessary’ and it follows weeks of the Department of Government Efficiency, helmed by Elon Musk, slashing entire agencies, cutting off funds and instituting mass layoffs of federal workers.”

A Sri Lankan woman with a doctorate in Library and Info Science, living in Singapore, co-heads a unit in the American Library Association (ALA). She comments the IMLS was doing great work in disbursing grants to libraries and librarians to explore uncharted territories such as the use of AI. Trump clipping its wings to decrease federal expenses is a disaster, she opines.

Another agency on the chopping list of Trump and Musk is the US Agency for Global Media, which supervises US government funded media outlets globally including the Voice of America (VOA). Trump being a big critic of this agency is well known.

On Wednesday 19^th, I heard a video clip with Fareed Zakaria speaking on cuts on research in universities which he termed Trump’s “fury on academia” which is making drastic cuts on research funding and other funding to State universities in a bid to stop federal spending. Zakaria said that the US had 72% of the world’s best 25 universities. Also quoted was J D Vance who said: “We have to attack universities. University professors are our worst enemies.” (When the VEEP says such, an echo to Donald Musk, I wonder how his wife, an Indian intellectual reacts.)

Proved without doubt is what Sashi Tharoor said while on a visit to the US. He had met and spoken with the Presidents Bush; Clinton and Obama who showed personal mannerisms that distinguished American Presidents. They had statesmanlike gravitas “which I find totally lacking in this gentleman.” Referring to Trump with apologies for an Indian MP commenting thus. Personal not politics, he added.

All this is the bad news of this article. Considering Sri Lanka, we are so fortunate to have sensible persons as head of government and most ministers. You can bet your last thousand rupee note on our government not stinting on essentials like educational institutions and education; bankrupt though we be.

Vetoing excessive use of IT Now for the good news, at least to traditionalists and those averse to, or afraid of too rapid advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We of the Baby Boomer Generation 1946 – 64, even Silent Gen 1928-45, Generation X 1965 -80 are somewhat aghast at how readily, almost frantically, all ICT is grasped and incorporated in business, commerce, even education.

In Sweden they are cutting back drastically on use of electronic devises in schools: “Teachers all across the country are placing new emphasis on printed books, quiet reading time, handwriting practice and devoting less time to tablets, independent online research and keyboarding skills. The return to more traditional ways of learning is a response to politicians and experts questioning whether Sweden’s hyper-digitalized approach to education, including the introduction of tablets in nursery schools, had led to a decline in basic skills. Sweden’s minister for schools, Lotta Edholm, who took office 11 months ago as part of a centre-right coalition government, was one of the biggest critics of the all-out embrace of technology. “Sweden’s students need more textbooks. Physical books are important for student learning.”

So very true, I echo. Not just theoretically but from experience.

We of the school generation of more than half century ago learned in the pirivena style of teaching and learning, where teaching was all important and learning left much to the child’s inclination. Competition was less then and parents left their kids to study at their own pace. By ‘pirivena style’ I mean the teacher teaches (or lectures) and students absorb the imparted knowledge or often fritter their school time away. But from that generation emerged experts in various fields, some of whom made their name overseas too: doctors, astronomers, economists et al.

Education is of course much better and will certainly bring better results if there is insistence on student learning undertaken by each student. Guidance is necessary hence the need for good teachers. The project method of teaching and learning (names of teaching systems would have changed with time) was an excellent way of getting knowledge across to the child. The teacher outlines a subject area, say countries of the world, and gives detailed outlines of what is needed to be found. Students, singly or in groups, work in the library with reference books and write out reports on the country he/she/they were assigned. Submitted reports are edited by the teacher, rewritten, read out by the leader of each group or individual student, and kept available in class. Thus students engage in self-learning and share their knowledge so the entire class knows about the assigned countries. Of course now it would be internet etc that is consulted by the students, but following Sweden’s example, insistence on consulting printed books too needs to be done; and writing.

I heard a British educationist who said she was of the opinion that going back to traditional methods of education in schools is a must since research has proved that IT learning fell short of what education should be. So two of the three traditional Rs should be brought back to importance and incorporated in school education. This is particularly advisable in poor countries like Sri Lanka. We know how some students – less financially able, living in remote areas – were drastically affected during Covid times when teaching was on-line.

I left teaching long ago. Sure the Education Department of Sri Lanka has incorporated new methods of teaching. Good to hear more on this subject.