Student Union
Fawad and Buzkashi Boys: Does Hard Work, or Fate and Coincidence, Create Success?
As I surf my Facebook newsfeed, a photo catches my attention. Two Afghan boys smile broadly as they board a Turkish airplane. The boys are Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz, the lead actors in "Buzkashi Boys," an Oscar-nominated short film about friends who dream of becoming horseback riders in Afghanistan’s fierce version of polo. These two young actors are traveling from the dusty streets of Kabul to the red carpet at the 2013 Academy Awards in Hollywood.
This journey is especially auspicious for Fawad, a 14-year-old who sells maps to foreigners on the streets of Kabul, and was chosen for the role because director Sam French, who lived in Afghanistan, would bump into him on the street (French described him as “the kindest and most warm-hearted street-kid”). The youngest of seven siblings, but also a breadwinner for the family, Fawad is about to make his Oscar debut beside prominent movie stars such as Daniel Day-Lewis, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence.
However, this picture soon kindles other thoughts in my mind. I ponder over the matters of destiny and coincidences; what would have happened if director Sam French had not met Fawad on the streets of Kabul? Was it fate or mere coincidence that took Fawad to the red carpet?
The questions evoke in me a nostalgic memory, a memory as vivid as my accounts of yesterday.
***
I have just confirmed my spot at a university after a protracted period of anxiety and uncertainty. I now have to go through the ordeal of receiving my I-20 form, getting my visa and tickets, and bidding farewell to all I was leaving behind. I know that soon I will be leaving this place and will call another country home for the next four years of my life.An urge to record memories of the city I live in propels me outside. I set foot on the narrow street that connects my house to the main road. It is near dusk and the beams of the fading sun permeate the thick smoggy air and shine on the façades of the muddy and marble-clad houses that sit next to each other as uncomfortable neighbors. As usual the dust penetrates my skin and my lungs. It tightens my chest and burns my eyes. The atmosphere is further polluted with the honking of cars and buses, the sound of cart wheels on the paved road, and the cacophony of shopkeepers advertising their products.
Soon I will leave behind these realities and start on my path towards a successful future. I feel elated that my hard work has finally paid off. I think about all the time I spent sharpening my English skills, writing numerous essays, cramming for the SATs, and filling out applications.
I start to peruse the expressions of the people in front of me – those I will be leaving behind: the youth in their tight jeans and colorful t-shirts, the old men with their turbans and wrinkled faces, and women of all ages, some draped with burqas and some with scarves.
These youth grew up fancying a world, on the other side of the oceans, where people lead comfortable lives, where violence is not a ubiquitous reality, and where freedom is an inseparable human right. So many would, and some will, risk their lives to travel across those oceans, legally or illegally, in search of better futures, and yet in the older generation I see the harsh truth – most will have to sacrifice their dreams of success for mere survival.
***
That day, despite my heartfelt sadness for all the challenges they faced, I merely wished them good luck as they passed by. I had hoped that life would start to treat them better.But as I reminisce now about that day, I realize that mingled in the crowd I saw that day could be so many people much smarter than I am, but who did not have access to the opportunities that I have had. Kids who had to give up school in order to work and support their families, or kids whose dreams did not extend beyond being allowed to attend a school.
I know that I worked hard to achieve what I have, but I also know that I am lucky to have the opportunity to travel halfway across the world and pursue the highest quality education. I catch myself wondering: was it just my hard work, or is it an invisible hand of fate that earned me my modest successes? Am I the beneficiary of sheer coincidences and luck?
And this raises even more questions in my mind. How many of these kids who wander on the streets have the possibility of receiving a decent education, if any? How many of them will have the luxury of learning English and applying to American universities like I did? Wouldn’t I be one of these street children, had it not been for a fluke of chance?
Perhaps under the desolate figures of each of these children who labor on the streets lurks a talent that has not been given a chance to flourish. Perhaps each of these kids could have enjoyed the opportunities I did and could have ended up at a decent American university instead of me.
Each of these kids who walked around me could be a Fawad, if only Sam French had bumped into them on the streets instead. How many talents worldwide perish undiscovered just because they are not recognized?
I have begun to question the role fate and chance play in our lives. I remember that the settings in which we are born and the coincidences that happen to us significantly shape our futures. After all, we could as easily have been born a peasant in China or a beggar in an Indian slum.
And I am left wondering how much of our successes can be attributed to hard work, and how much to destiny and coincidences.
See all News Updates of the Day
US remains top choice for Indian students going abroad
About 69% of Indian students traveling abroad for their studies chose the United States, according to a Oxford International’s Student Global Mobility Index. Other popular choices were the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Education Times reports the main influencers for deciding where to study abroad – for Indian students and others – were parents. (April 2024)
Malaysian official: Schools can’t turn away from global tensions
Zambry Abdul Kadir, Malaysia’s higher education minister, said protests spreading across universities in the United States show that schools can’t ignore political tensions.
Helen Packer, reporting in Times Higher Education, said the minister reminded educators that universities are key in the development of leaders, individuals and societies. (April 2024)
Social media breaks are difficult, but necessary
Between online classes, maintaining social connections and working on projects, college students can have a hard time disengaging from the demands of technology.
In Florida International University’s PantherNOW, Ariana Rodriguez offers strategies for taking a break from social media. (April 2024)
- By Melos Ambaye
Many master's degrees aren't worth the investment, research shows
Nearly half of master's degrees have a negative financial return, according to new research by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, an economic research organization.
The study indicates that many graduate degree programs do not increase lifetime earnings enough to be worth it.
While 23% of bachelor’s degree programs yield a negative financial return on investment, 43% of two-year degrees and master’s degrees fail to deliver a return, according to the study by Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at FREOPP.
Cooper assessed the return on investment for 53,000 degree and certificate programs to determine whether a student’s lifetime earnings outweigh program costs and the risk of not completing their degree.
His findings show that a student’s field of study was the overriding indicator of return on investment at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Engineering, computer science and nursing bachelor’s degrees have high financial returns on investment, while programs in education, fine arts, psychology and English usually have low returns.
Graduate degrees in medicine and law tend to have strong payoffs. But a large share of master’s programs, including the MBA, frequently have low payoffs, according to Cooper.
Although workers with master’s degrees earn 16% more than those with only bachelor’s degrees, Cooper says the figure fails to account for students who had “higher preexisting earnings potential.”
“MBA students typically have high preexisting earnings potential, having often chosen high-ROI undergraduate majors such as finance and economics,” Cooper writes. “So the MBA adds little value on top of that.”
The study indicates that high starting salaries are predictors of high returns on investment. Degrees with starting salaries of $57,000 a year or more deliver the best lifetime returns.
But the return on investment of a degree can vary depending on the educational institution.
“Students interested in fields with low average pay can still find some schools that do well transforming those fields of study into high-paying careers,” Cooper writes.
The quality of an institution also matters, said William Tierney, professor emeritus of higher education at the University of Southern California.
“An MBA from Harvard is a likely ticket to a good job,” Tierney told VOA. “An MBA from the University of Phoenix, less so.”
But students pursue graduate programs for more than just financial reasons.
“Some degrees open up careers in fields that students may enjoy, such as in the performing arts,” Robert Kelchen, head of educational leadership at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, told VOA.
“Others can help gain access to social networks or simply help students learn about a topic that is of interest,” Kelchen added.
Cooper told VOA that it might make sense for students in degree programs with low returns on investment to switch majors if they can still graduate on time.
He found the worst outcome for a student’s return on investment is dropping out of college “because they must pay for one or more years’ tuition and spend time out of the labor force.”
Lawmakers who fund higher education have a responsibility in ensuring “higher education delivers on its promise of economic mobility,” Cooper said.
Nearly a third of federal funding, including Pell grants and student loans, pays for higher education programs that fail to provide students with a return on investment, according to the study.
Cooper’s view is that “some schools should shut down low-ROI programs and reallocate institutional resources to programs with a better return.”
“There's definitely this narrative out there that higher education is always worth it, and you should always try to get that extra degree because it will increase your earnings,” he told VOA. “That's reinforced by colleges who make lofty promises regarding their graduate degree programs' outcomes, which all too often fall short.”
Harvard students end protest as school agrees to discuss Gaza conflict
Protesters against the war between Israel and Hamas were voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard on Tuesday after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment, bringing a peaceful end to the kinds of demonstrations that were broken up by police on other campuses.
The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a statement that the encampment "outlasted its utility with respect to our demands." Meanwhile, Harvard University interim President Alan Garber agreed to pursue a meeting between protesters and university officials regarding the students' questions.
Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments, calling for their schools to cut ties with Israel and businesses that support it.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel's military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Harvard said its president and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Hopi Hoekstra, will meet with the protesters to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.
The protesters said they worked out an agreement to meet with university officials, including the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the world's largest academic endowment, valued at about $50 billion.
The protesters' statement said the students will set an agenda that includes discussions on disclosure, divestment, reinvestment and the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies. The students also said that Harvard has offered to retract suspensions of more than 20 students and student workers and back down on disciplinary measures faced by 60 more.
"Since its establishment three weeks ago, the encampment has both broadened and deepened Palestine solidarity organizing on campus," a spokesperson for the protesters said. "It has moved the needle on disclosure and divestment at Harvard."
