Document: Weston High School Invitation Letter to Bhutanese Student Delegation

Update: Update: The Gross National Happiness Program Is Bringing Bhutanese Students and Teachers to the United States

Since we left Bhutan and returned home, we have been working to raise funds for the Gross National Happiness Exchange Program, which we will need in order to bring Bhutanese students to the US this February. In the last month, we have gained the support of Weston High School and the Weston Public Schools Board of Education. With the signatures and backing of both the Royal Education Council of Bhutan and Weston High School, we have begun to reach out to various organizations including the Rotary Club and the Kiwanis Organization. We have also been working to gain funds locally and contact various Bhutanese communities across the US. In addition, we have created a club in our school called the "Bhutan Club", which has over fifty members and is working for the sole purpose of planning, organizing, and raising funds for this exchange program.

Also: If any readers are interested in supporting the goals of this program, please contact me at julianjacobs6@gmail.com.

Document: Signed Weston High School Letter of Endorsement for the Gross National Happiness Exchange Program

Document: Signed Gross National Happiness Exchange Program (Student Exchange Program) Project Descripition

Report: Gross National Happiness Exchange Program 2013

Copied below is the official, written, report for the Gross National Happiness Exchange Program in 2013.

Gross National Happiness Exchange Program

2013 Report to the REC:

Julian Darius Jacobs

As we descended below the mountains of Paro Valley, we watched in awe at the Bhutanese style houses that rested on the vibrant green mountains that now surrounded us. When we finally stepped outside, we were met with a purple billboard advertising the marriage of the king and queen and as we looked around, we felt dwarfed by the surreal and mysterious landscape we now walked in. After making our way through Bhutan’s immigration office and retrieving our bags, we met with members of the Royal Education Council, shaking hands with them and expressing our amazement at the sights we saw around us. From here, we traveled one hour to Thimphu and watched as prayer flags draped in the distance while farmers walked on the side of the road beside their disobedient cows. Still, It did not feel as though we were on the other side of the world, for we had no real conception of our physical distance from home. Instead, it seemed as though we had been inserted into an alternate reality with a culture and landscape that seemed to be too exceedingly different from our own to even be of the same world. Although this initial observation was fundamentally misguided, it does well to capture our immediate reactions to the country. When we arrived in Thimphu, we traveled directly to Peaceful Resort, where we would be spending the first few nights of our trip. We found this hotel to be thoroughly relaxing and pleasurable, a nice treat after nearly 30hours of traveling. Over the course of the next few days, we were able to get an initial taste of Bhutanese culture before we began our work in the schools, which would take up the vast majority of our trip. This consisted of traveling to an archery match, getting acquainted with Bhutanese food, and purchasing our Ghos (something we took much delight in). We also worked with the REC during this time and began to prepare our materials for the schools that we would be working in. Beyond this, we finally met with the host families we would be staying with while in Thimphu. They were all extremely kind and generous and all of us enjoyed our time with them over the course of the two weeks that we were together. The small period of time that we spent traveling around Thimphu, which lasted four days, was crucial to our trip because it provided us with time to get acquainted with Bhutanese culture before we actually went out and experienced it. After this time had ended, we traveled to Punakha where we would be working in Tashidingkha Middle Secondary School as teachers of specific subjects. Still, before we arrived there, we had the opportunity to visit the famous Tzong that Punakha is home to. This allowed us to peer into the religious life of the Bhutanese and begin to formulate our understanding of how Buddhism impacts Bhutan itself. Immediately after our trip to the Punakha Tzong, we climbed up windy and bumpy roads to reach Tashidingkha, where our work in Bhutanese schools would finally begin. Upon our arrival, we met with our three hosts, the principle and two teachers, over a cup of tea. We discussed what subjects each of us would be teaching and organized an elaborate schedule to plan it out. I (Julian) led a philosophy course, Kei taught politics, Jun led technology classes, Kuba held lectures/ interactive discussions on sports (and the culture that it is surrounded by), Nathan introduced music in the form of an after school club and a real in class course, and James taught art. Each of us had prepared our teaching material prior to our arrival in Bhutan and we were happy to see that our work there provided an excellent medium for exchanging our ideas with the students and making friends. In order to communicate the concepts of each topic we discussed, we had to readjust our discourse to one that the Tashidingkha students would be able to connect with. As a result, our work in the schools actually helped to accelerate our integration into the Tashidingkha community. It was from the basis of teaching that we were able to begin actively conversing with students. This new level of interaction consisted of playing basketball/soccer games with the Tashidingkha students to simply conversing and laughing with them after class. Ultimately, our stay in Tashidingkha, which lasted over ten days, proved to be one of the most substantial and life changing parts of our trip, if not for the simple reason that this experience lasted over ten days. Immediately after our time Tashidingkha drew to a conclusion, we found ourselves back in Thimphu and in the wealthy Druk School. Upon our entrance into this middle secondary school, we immediately noticed the contrasting physical differences between it and Tashidingkha, which, unfortunately, did not have nearly the facilities or quality of education that we found in Druk. Although we did not teach there, or play as active a role as we did in Tashidingkha, we were able establish a connection with the students in Druk school within the one day that we were there. This was an obvious result of an increased overall proficiency in English, which translated into a more bold and outgoing student response to our presence. Even as we stepped through the school gate and looked at the well-kept turf field that sat behind the principles office, it felt as though we had been blasted centuries into the future and all we saw before us was the modern interpretation of the Bhutanese culture we had witnessed in Tashidingkha. When the weekend finally came, we now had found groups of Bhutanese students to have lunch with and meet for events (such as the soccer finals between Nepal and Bhutan). Although our stay in Druk School was short lived, it proved to be a powerful one nonetheless. The following Monday, we attended International Youth Day and found ourselves interested in the discussion of youth migration in Bhutan. We were just as eager to hear what each official had to say about this issue as we were to participate in the proceeding discussion of it. After this interesting start of our day, we began attending classes at Pelkhill Higher Secondary School, where we were, once again, exposed to an entirely new perspective and conception of Bhutanese culture. Here we found a school that, while modernized, lacked most of the resources that had made Druk School such a stark contrast to Tashidingkha. In connection with this, the students here did not seem to be as academically motivated as we had seen in the other schools and we were shocked to here about the gangs and drugs that the school’s students seemed to have an unfortunate reputation for facilitating. This raised many interesting questions in our mind about why Pelkhill, which still has more resources and higher teacher quality than Tashidingkha, would be prone to these issues. What made this even more interesting was the fact that the students who actually professed to be in a gang were just as nice as anyone we had met in other schools. As a result of this interest, we began to investigate as to what the source of these issues is derived from. Although there were numerous unknowns (like what type of family each student was coming from), we noticed that the students of Pelkhill were not very patriotic and were far more westernized than those at other schools. Here many students could tell us more about specific American musicians and cultural figures than we could. If westernization is, as we expect, some source of the issues that plague Pelkhill, an interesting question in our minds is; how does a country balance westernization with modernization?  This is a question that we kept in mind throughout the remainder of our stay in Thimphu, which would conclude following our two-day stay in Pelkhill ended. At this point, we said our goodbyes to our host families and friends before departing to Paro for the remainder of our trip. It was here that we had the opportunity to visit Tenzin Higher Secondary School (our second non-urban school) and hike up to the well-advertised Tiger’s Nest on the weekend (our most visually stunning experience in Bhutan). After already spending significant time in Bhutan, we felt well acquainted with Bhutanese culture and the Bhutanese style of living. As a result, our transition into Tenzin was rather smooth as we were able to make friends quickly and almost seamlessly interact with the students. This was partly due to the unprecedented warm reception that we received in Tenzin. Not only were the staff and students extremely open with us, but they also were the only school to draft a day to day itinerary for our stay there, which actually helped to make it much more productive. This schedule included the Tenzin Idol (talent show), a speech competition, and a basketball match, each of which we were able to participate in as oppose to simply observing. We truly felt like we were part a community and in the two and a half days we spent at Tenzin, we made some of our closest friends on the trip. Needless to say that as we departed for the US on the following Tuesday, we had made many friends and had experienced a culture and way of thinking that had previously been totally foreign to us. Our time in Bhutan was absolutely life changing and we think, as a result, it is essential that we succeed in raising money to fund the stay of Bhutanese students to the US this coming winter. Beyond this, we hope that other students, from all over the country, will be able to experience the richness of Bhutanese culture in the same way that we have.

Article: What Is Gross National Happiness?

As we descended down from the clouds, passing by small villages and farms, into the Valley of Paro, Bhutan, our group of six Weston High School students watched as the mountains rose above us, blocking our vision of the world beyond. So as the wheels of the “Drukair” plane finally touched the ground, it seemed to me as though we had just entered a land completely isolated from the outside world. Although I knew that the society altering power of the Internet had become present in Bhutan just a few years ago, the two months I had spent last summer as an intern for the Royal Education Council of Bhutan failed to help me comprehend the ever changing scale of this relatively new influence in context of the country’s traditions and, more specifically, Gross National Happiness.

The vast majority of the people who have heard of Bhutan have only done so in the context of its idealistic notion of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and, as a result, it becomes very difficult to comprehensively assess this form of measurement in perspective of Bhutan itself. Even throughout the early stages of my initial trip to Bhutan, I identified myself as, predominately, an explorer of GNH as oppose to one of Bhutanese culture. A year later, I now understand that such a belief could not be more misguided as GNH is entirely dependent on Bhutanese culture and therefore acts as little more than an attractive label for a set of ideas that have previously been set. That’s not to say that GNH has no practical application, it is just confined to Bhutan and therefore has very little influence beyond capturing and maintaining traditional conceptions of the world that may, or may not, actually be helpful for the country. What I mean is that the 9 domains that collectively define GNH (standard of living, psychological well being, good governance, health, education, community vitality, cultural diversity, time use, and ecological diversity) are, for the most part, little more than a series of abstract and immeasurable qualities that intrinsically range from country to country (or village to village).  This, therefore, makes it impossible for GNH to serve as a practical international form of measuring wealth. Beyond this, many of its ideas, such as community vitality, have actually been used as a means of creating political and social stagnation in Bhutan, as GNH can be considered a euphemism for conservatism and traditionalism under the guise of a moral constitution. This accusation was clearly validated a few years ago, when youth gangs roamed Bhutan (particularly the urban capital city of Thimphu). This time highlights a period of cultural change for the country and, as I have mentioned, because GNH is fundamentally tied to Bhutanese cultural (like the Rupee is to the Bhutanese Ngultrum), any massive societal change effectively renders the ideas behind GNH void and obsolete. This is exactly what has happened in Bhutan. The disgruntled youth and the unemployed roam around and wreak havoc while GNH drapes lazily over them as a curtain that few foreigners see through.

Bhutanese culture is extremely rich and absolutely worth exploring and experiencing, however, people must realize that GNH merely highlights some of the more attractive aspects of this culture and is, in many ways, a distraction of from the modern attitudes present in Bhutan. Effectively, GNH can be described as the extremely attractive ticketholder (somewhat literally) to a ship that has already set sail.
Still, the people of Bhutan are exceptionally kind (not a result of GNH) and willing to help and such an attitude should absolutely be spread around the world. If GNH succeeds on any level, it is because it manages to create an attractive cultural package for export to other countries. Again, it has little to no impact within Bhutan but still manages to lure in interested foreigners for the true Bhutanese experience, which is far more substantial and worth exploring. As one student I interviewed put it, “GNH is more important for the country than it is for the people living in it.”

Update: Day 29

We watched one last time as Bhutan's massive Himalayan Mountains sunk beneath us as we rose above the kingdom that we had just spent one month experiencing, working in, and learning from. Although we could not entirely suppress the sadness we felt in leaving all the friends that we had made behind, we left with a sense of fulfillment under the basis that we had taken part in, and helped lay the foundation for, the first exchange program between Bhutan and the US. Through the many classes across Bhutan that we were fortunate enough to interact with and teach, we feel that we have left a lasting impact and have succeeded in our goal of exchanging our ideas and beliefs with the Bhutanese students through our work in their schools. Beyond this, Bhutan presented us with entirely foreign and unique belief system and has impacted the way we view the world as well as our communities local, national, and international. In the coming months, we will be working to bring the first group of students from Bhutan to the US through the exchange program, which we hope will prove to be a systematic means of exposing students from completely different cultural backgrounds to the ideas of another country.

Update: Day 28

We spent our final day resting for our flight back to the US. Most of us slept in and ate a late breakfast at our hotel. For lunch, we went to an Internet cafe and did a little work on the blog. Some of us bought gifts for our friends and family, in Paro. We returned to the hotel to pack our bags for an early flight out of Bhutan. After packing, we played volleyball with the hotel employees. Tonight, we begin preparing ourselves for adjustment to US timezones. We've come full circle, returning to the place we began our journey. It's hard for us to believe that we landed here a month ago. We're all eager to go home and see our family and friends but we will miss the sprawling mountains of the land of the thunder dragon. We hope to revisit our Bhutanese friends one day.

Update: Day 27

Today, we climbed the Tiger's Nest. The Tiger's Nest is a temple that is treacherously built into the side of a mountain. We had to wake up at five to beat the sun. The whole hike was about two hours. On our way up the mountain we got great views of Paro below us. The trail was very steep and fresh mud covered the trail because of heavy rain the previous night. When you finally reach the top, you get an amazing view of the temple and the trail below. To reach the temple, you must climb down a staircase that is no more than two feet wide. On your sides are 300 foot drops down to the forest below. Our guide told us that we had to move quickly because rocks would fall from the cliffs above us. Next to the Tiger's Nest was an impressive waterfall that sprayed you with mist as you passed underneath it. Upon reaching the temple we were denied entry into the temple. Since we knew it would be hot during the hike, we all wore shorts. Unfortunately, to enter the temple, you need pants. We ended having to put on two pairs of pants and entering the temple in pairs. Photography was prohibited in the temple so we were required to leave all electronics behind. Inside the temple, there were 9 shrines to pray in. The craftsmanship of the shrines was absolutely amazing. Many monks and Bhutanese nationals prayed at the shrines. Most of us were quite unfamiliar with the prayers and had no idea what to do. Students from Tenzin HSS had joined us on the hike that day and explained the prayers to us. Some had brought food as a gift to their god. We visited the shrines and then began our descent. The descent was obviously much quicker than the ascent. We ended getting down in about an hour. By the end of the hike we were all very tired and spent the rest of the day resting at our hotel.

Update: Day 26

We drove up Tenzin Higher Secondary School’s bumpy dirt road for our final day (a half day) at the school. With only three periods, we immediately jumped into classroom with the students in an attempt to get as much interaction with them as possible in the remaining time we had. Throughout the course of the day, we received requests from students to come talk in their classroom and, as a result, attempted to go into as many additional classes as possible in the limited time we had. Although we did not plan specific material to discuss, today proved to be one our most effective day in Tenzin as the students asked hours and hours worth of questions about issues or ideas that they were especially interested in. Such questions ranged from politics to music to girls and through this, we were able to gain insight into the students’ character and culture and understand a bit more about where their often-romanticized conceptions of the US are derived from. The first part of our day was a blur as we moved from class to class, constantly looking at new set of faces and listening to new voices until the lunch bell, which marked the end of the school day, ended academic work for the day. After a quick meal with some friends from grades 11 and 12, we walked to the school auditorium building where a speech competition was being held. Throughout our stay, the Tenzin principle had been very keen on placing us into various school programs (like the Tenzin Idol and Basketball game) so it came as no surprise to us when he asked for two volunteers from our group to join the competition. Ultimately, Kei and Julian chose to participate, soon finding themselves on stage looking in front of the entire school’s student and staff body. In this speech competition, students would randomly pick a number out of thirteen (number of participants) corresponding to their turn. Immediately after their number is called upon, they will be given a topic to speak on followed by one minute of preparation and three minutes of talking. After being randomly assigned their numbers, Kei was chosen to go first and Julian eighth. As their turns approached, their stomachs churned as they sat in anticipation, hoping that the topic they were given was significant enough to be discussed for three minutes. Ultimately, Kei was given the question of ‘How does education shape our character’ while Julian was asked ‘What do you think is the best school in your country’.  By the end of the completion, and numerous rounds of applause (and occasionally laughs) later, Julian won the speech competition (coming in first place), while Kei came in second. It was an invigorating experience for both the crowd and the participants as well as an incredibly opportunity to insert ourselves into the school in a way that we had not anywhere else. After the speech competition ended, we were given six copies of the school’s list of rules as a gift and were met by flattering roars of applause as we stepped foot outside the school, bidding farewell to our friends, wishing them the best, and thanking them for the unmatched hospitality that we received on our visit.