(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Bangladeshi Students' Association in Korea Gathers for the First Time Since the Pandemic [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-18 Proud Graduates Honored for Their Hard Work (I am the guy with the gray hair) I live and work teaching public administration in South Korea at Incheon National University. Following an earlier 1997-99 stint, I took a break to go to grad school in New Jersey, but suspended my studies to return to Korea in 2001 less than a month before the 9/11 attacks. I started working at the University of Incheon at the start of 2003. It was becoming fairly clear by 2006 that I was unlikely to resume my studies at Rutgers, but I was invited to work as a guest professor in the Public Administration Department. One of the benefits dangled in front of me was that I would be able to earn a PhD in Public Administration while working. This may have felt like a stretch, but I had been studying industrial relations so I was able to work on a teach courses like leadership and human relations that were common to both fields while teaching English classes like English for Social Sciences and English for Public Administration to prepare students to study in English. I was also initially able to teach administration history and comparative administration classes that were not too much of a stretch, given my background. The Ministry of Education was pushing for more university classes to be taught in English and my department, with all but one professor having studied in the United States, embraced the process and was enthusiastic to get me on board. I was an oddity in grad school, though I was nowhere near unique as a foreigner in my department, if not in my school. The only other foreign student I knew of at the time was in my department, and a couple of years ahead of me. He was from Bangladesh, named Sohel Iqbal. We did not share a professor, but we felt close as the only non-Korean students in our classes and on campus. I called Sohel 형 (hyung), Korean for older brother. He was not alone in Korea. His wife was also a PhD student, at nearby Inha University. They had a lovely little daughter, and graduated together before going back to Bangladesh, though I did not get to know them as well as I would have liked. Second Secretary Mispe Soren and me handing out certificates Sohel helped me adjust to the department, get to know the other students, and what was and was not okay. I did a lot of English proofreading and editing for him. I worked closely with his professor and continued editing and proofreading their work so I felt like I was in regular contact. He later came back to Korea and visited, and I included him on my syllabus as a guest lecturer for the Special Lecture Series I taught. He lectured about Bangladeshi history, culture, and administration. After Sohel left Korea and I graduated, but remained in the department, my professor took on a Bangladeshi student of his own. Hasan Mehedi first helped me on a titanic project, the third and most successful book I co-authored with our professor. I also edited and proofread a lot of work for him, and then went on to co-author some work with him as he graduated. I knew his wife better but have not been in as close touch with him since he returned to Bangladesh. Mohammad Rubel, a student from my department, was one of many students who wanted to pose with the invited guests I have had more difficulty with work in recent years, suffering setbacks and a return to a very precarious work status. I have since met, taught, and written and published with Mohammad Rubel, also from Bangladesh. He is active in the Bangladeshi Students’ Association in Korea (BSAK), founded in 2011, the year I received my degree, but long after my friend Sohel had graduated and left Korea. I recall Hasan telling me about BSAK but I do not know how active he was, though I think he was on one of the operating committees. Mohammed is active and is one of the organizers. He was excited about the receding pandemic allowing BSAK to convene a regular vacation meeting again. I was honored to be invited by BSAK to deliver the convocation address for Winter 2023 graduates. I was joined by the Second Secretary from the Embassy of Bangladesh, as well as representatives from other foreign students’ associations in Korea (Kirghizistan and Ghana), as well as BSAK members and their family from all over Korea. We were joined by a representative from the Ghanaian Students’ Association I am under no illusions that I was invited as one of the most famous professors in Korea-I teach Mohammad, he is an organizer, and the venue was closest to our university. However, I did prepare in earnest, and did my best to say relevant things for the audience, which packed an event building in an island hotel catering to group events near the beach (not really applicable in Korea in January). Some of the event was conducted in Bengali, particularly the more emotional addresses by some of the young people, but most of it was in English. I started my address by noting that I had a limited history with Bangladesh, limited to a few friends. I mentioned that my mother had no memory of Bangladeshi independence, presumably because the war of liberation started only two weeks after she had given birth to my little brother. I noted that that made it easy for me to remember Bangladesh’s age as a country, it being as old as my brother. I then went through a brief version of the history I outlined above. I noted that I, as an American (a model minority in Korea), did not have the same difficulties as my Bangladeshi friends. I had plenty of resources and was treated with a high degree of privilege for a foreigner in Korea. I noted that I would have benefitted from an organization like BSAK, but did not have the same pressing need for it. BSAK is a collective organization for providing mutual aid. It helps students come to Korea, helps students find funding, helps students get settled and adjust to life in Korea. BSAK is registered with the Korean government and regularly works with both the Korean and Bangladeshi governments. Furthermore, it uses its clout to gather resources and contribute to charitable causes, such as buying warm clothes to comfort poor children during the cold winter months in Bangladesh. As I said, I did not have any such admirable organization providing mutual aid when I was a grad student in Korea, but I would have been proud to have been a member of one. Second Secretary Mispe Soren and me handing out certificates I noted that I am in an unusually privileged position as we face the unprecedented crisis of global warming. South Korea has not bee hit very hard yet, and the US has massive resources to adapt to climate change. Some of my family and friends live in areas affected by fires, droughts, and flooding. Even so, the people of Bangladesh are on the front lines of the crisis, with vast heavily populated regions subject to the rapid disappearance of their land. In this situation, my education and my skills are a tiny drop in the bucket of the educated human capital the US has to deploy to fight global warming. On the other hand, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh places a much greater premium on the knowledge, skills, and abilities of those graduating from advanced industrial and post-industrial countries like South Korea. Someone with an advanced degree from South Korea can make a real difference in Bangladesh. My friends Sohel and Hasan do great work and have a real impact. A degree from a Korean university is a kind of privilege for a Bangladeshi and confers many advantages. Those able to study in South Korea have been uniquely blessed with good fortune and they have a responsibility to return that good fortune to the rest of society and leave the world better than they found it. Second Secretary Mispe Soren and me handing out certificates That does not mean that the new graduates have to live for others, but that they should not lose sight that their good fortune has been made possible by the sacrifices of others, many of whom they may not even be aware of. At the same time, I noted that they should not become too attached to plans. I studied Russian thinking I would devote my career to helping US-Russian understanding working for the government. I graduated in 1988 when the US government was not aggressively hiring Russian speakers and US businesses were not yet operating in Russia. I ended up barely using any Russian in my career. What I have done is help train Korean government (and private sector) managers, encouraging them to learn the lessons of US decline, which has been evident during most of my time in Korea. The BSAK graduates have great plans now, but they do not know where the world will take them. My point was underscored by one graduate who related his own story of finding success at work in Korea unrelated to his major. I heard other stories, from new students having a hard time in Korea, and advice from those who had adjusted well. It was a cold event and you can see me with a warm muffler, but the sentiments were warm all around. The evening was topped off with a delicious meal of Bangladeshi cuisine that tasted like it was from a nice restaurant. I sincerely hope that I can offer further support to the kind and generous members of the BSAK, who welcomed me so kindly into their community on such an important occasion. 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