12950: DeGraff to Nadal (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michel DeGraff <degraff@MIT.EDU>


I am grateful to Nadal for the explanations he has given us. I find
this passage particularly interesting:

> Education starts at home when you are a child of one year old.
...
> Education is universal.  Teachers also have an major role in giving
> kids a good education.  Now what I was trying to say to Mrs Dorce is
> that in Haiti, you have educated people in all classes or sectors of
> life.  It is not because you are a bourgeois that you are more
> educated.

This seems to contradict an earlier statement that, in my
interpretation of it, equated "bourgeoisie" and "education" and linked
both to some sort of genetic transmission that would exclude anyone
born in the `wrong' family:

> Unfortunately what we are facing with Lavalas every day is their
> lack of education and their mediocrity.  They are jealous and would
> like to live like the bourgeoisie.  Corruption is all over. But
> don't forget that you don't buy education like you buy a house or a
> car. Education is transfered from generation to generation from
> fathers to sons and daughters .It takes time.

I myself don't care to defend Lavalas.  I am just trying to understand
Nadal's "bourgeois" views on education, and what these views may
symbolize for Haiti's age-old social malaise.  I do seriously take
this as a live exercise in understanding Haiti's social structure.

Now, Nadal brings in an interesting historical perspective on the
"bourgeoisie" and its potential role in Haiti's development:

> We have some bourgeois but we do not have a bourgeoisie functioning
> as a responsible class toward the haitian community. The cause is
> fear. The haitian bourgeois have been threatened the last fifty
> years by the haitians politicians. Many of them left in exile while
> many others are lying six feet underground. The fact that our
> bourgeoisie is not playing its role fully, it is because we are
> receiving all kind of threats every day from an incompetent,
> irresponsible ,terrorist and most corrupted lavalas dictatorship.

I surely agree that the "bourgeoisie" in any country has a great deal
to contribute to their country's economic and intellectual
development.  What I am not so sure about is how "bourgeoisie" is
being defined here, as if it categorically excludes certain
individuals. And I am quite puzzled by the above contradictory
statements regarding the link between "education" and "bourgeoisie".
I am also puzzled by the postulated separation between the
"bourgeoisie" and the "politicians".  Do these two groups necessarily
exclude each other?  Does a "bourgeois" stop being "bourgeois" when he
or she becomes a "politician", and vice versa? Why would that be?

More generally, I am confused because I am not sure I understand how
Nadal uses his terms, even though I am certain that there must a logic
behind them since Nadal is surely "educated".

Since it's a rare occasion to have a self-declared "proud Haitian
bourgeois" so candidly shares his views with us, we would surely all
benefit in having Nadal elaborate on his expert perspectives on the
Haitian "bourgeoisie" vs. the rest, and what he believes separates the
two groups. I'd also like to ask him to tell us a bit more about what
he considers the most important contributions of his own "bourgeois"
clan to Haiti's development through Haiti's history, including
contributions to those he may consider un-"educated" or without
"educated" parents.

Again, this is all in the interest of our education.

Thanks again,

                                 -michel.

P.S.  Oh, by the way, Nadal argues that:

> In french we say, I translate for you, education is transfered "De
> pere en fils"," from fathers to sons". it is just a sentence.

No, it's not "just a sentence".  It's an un-ambiguously _sexist_
sentence going back to a time when only men were supposed to be
educated.  So its English translation is also sexist.  But I am sure
that the mothers on Corbett-land will graciously accept Nadal's
heartfelt apologies.

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