Let’s face it – STEM education in Cambodia is terrible. First, some statistics: Countries the world are ranked by PISA scores of 15-year-olds in math and science. Of 81 countries measured (Africa excluded), the average score is 472, while Cambodia scores 336 in math and 347 in science – in both cases dead last, far […]
Almost all Cambodian homes have a red cloth talisman, called a yantra (or yo-an in Khmer) hanging in their house. It is covered with all sorts of symbols, the most common of which is a squiggly spiral called an ounalome. Yantra with dozens of ounalome spirals The ubiquitous ounalome is a well-known and revered symbol in […]
Trump slapped Cambodia with one of the highest tariffs, because, he claimed, Cambodia poses 97% tariffs on the US. When you look at a list of Cambodian tariffs on US imports, you see meats and food products at 15%, with other products at 7-15%, nowhere near the 97% calculated by the Trump team. So I […]
I’m watching the Trump circus from afar here in Cambodia. I am observing a couple of Trump actions in light of my experiences in Cambodia. First, I have witnessed NGOs that purport to help disadvantaged people. Some of them (not all) spend 20-30% on the people, and 70-80% on themselves. The people, who don’t […]
Cambodia is a thoroughly Buddhist country. I just took my son to school, which is open on Christmas day, as are government offices and most businesses. And yet, I exchanged “Merry Christmas” with the teachers. In front of the school were a Xmas tree, Santas, snowmen, etc. This happens all over Cambodia. No one was […]
I have already written about some of the evils of for-profit universities in Cambodia and elsewhere. Today I want to focus on the use (or lack thereof) of English in those universities. First, a little background on Cambodia, and many similar countries. The only requirement for university admission is a pass on the public grade-12 […]
The canal will pass through Cambodia and will bypass Vietnam Cambodia declared a national holiday for the start of the new canal, with parades, fireworks, the whole shebang. This canal will allow Cambodian river traffic to avoid passing through the Mekong delta in Vietnam. Phnom Penh will become a major river port, or perhaps some […]
After the Pol Pot auto-genocide, Christian missionaries must have thought that the surviving Cambodians would be easy targets for conversion to Christianity. When I first arrived in Cambodia in 1995, I saw a traumatized people. There were almost no psychiatrists to treat the PTSD that was rampant across the country. Not only had most of […]
If a Westerner observes some act of Cambodian behavior that he finds rather bewildering, my advice is: ‘cherchez le patronage’. Khmer society is governed by a system of patronage, where every person owes allegiance to their ‘bong’, very much like the old European feudal system, or in some ways like Chinese Confucianism. The patronage mindset […]
Here’s a small factoid: Cambodian private debt is 180% of GDP. 180%! In layman’s terms, this means that the average private Cambodian is in debt up to their eyeballs. All those new cars and new houses are not paid for, and as far as I can see, will never be paid for. They will all […]