Letter to the Editor

At Gaeddu College, nobody planned anything. Some professors never wrote lesson plans or planned anything for that matter. Some never used textbooks. I later found out why. Incredibly, even the college calendar was bogus.

I kept count of the unofficial, non-teaching days. I lost forty eight (48) hours or four weeks of teaching the first term. Remember, I taught twelve hours a week. The second term was little better, only thirty five (35) hours, or three weeks, were lost. How can a professor complete his teaching schedule when an entire month was lost? The Administration obviously didn’t care and certainly the students were apathetic about losing class time. In fact, they were happy, they had a free day. I was never able to complete my courses either term.

Gaeddu College of BS was supposed to be a business school but none of the administration, teachers, or students knew a thing about the methods of running a business.

The Director, at first welcomed us, but later he seemed to be angry and oblivious to American teachers. He told Bhutan Bob he didn’t like us and wished we would all leave. The rest of the Bhutanese staff simply ignored us as a minor irritation. There was no cooperation whatsoever.

Certainly, the Dean and Director didn’t know or didn’t care. It was quickly obvious to me the school discipline and academic discipline in the College was a sham and hypocrisy.

The most serious problem, in the future, will be the quality of the teaching. Most of the Bhutanese teachers were incompetent. It really boggled the mind. There was no way any of these college graduates of Gaeddu College should be hired for any position in a business or teaching environment. That plus, most Bhutanese graduates do not speak or write very good English.

Being a control freak, the Director was livid and vowed to make them suffer for the altercation, a draconian action for a simple problem.

I continually had to remind myself that this school was not a real college, only a boarding school wanabe. It reminded me of a junior high school in the States. I am firmly convinced the Administration was more interested in the number of bodies rather than the quality of learning and academic achievement

The Director was angry that we asked some tough questions. He expected us to sit quietly and say nothing. He liked the human values seminar so much that two months later; he scheduled an entire week of that bogus philosophy. And, of course, classes were cancelled. He let it be known that any professor wanting to ask questions was not invited. So much for academic freedom. The seminar was a typical combination of Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and New Age philosophy. The whole thing was a sham

In all honesty, I have never seen any building as dirty as the campus building. I have seen cleaner pig sties.  The students tended to ignore the filth but even they complained about the dirty bathrooms. The Administration response? Well, the bathrooms were cleaned for awhile, and then everything returned back to the usual Bhutanese incompetence.

The Director was a control freak. He would grill professors about where they went and    what they did. He spent more time trying to control people than actually running the school. He was a very controlling person almost to the point of paranoia. Not being a very good educator or administrator, he resorted to intimidation and abuse of his power to fill the void.

The College has continued to pass and graduate business students without regard to their qualifications and abilities. Can the Bhutanese economy absorb all these business graduates – no.

 

Extract from a book by American Professor Fred Westmark who taught in Gaeddu College