Educational Observations from an Expatriate

Educational Observations from an Expatriate
By: Melissa Raymond


Padmini Coopamah, a Mauritius native, may seem to have settled into the quiet campus of Sweet Briar College, but she continues to travel and research around the world. Coopamah is a professor in the International Affairs department and specializes in comparative politics. The young professor has lived in the U.S. for about ten and half years and has taught for seven and a half of that time. Coopamah grew up on the small island nation of Mauritius, just east of Madagascar which towards the southern tip of the continent of Africa. Growing up on the francophone nation and now teaching at Sweet Briar has provided Coopamah with an outsider’s outlook on the American educational system.


Professor Coopamah and I meet for lunch at the newly opened Bistro on Sweet Briar’s campus. Before the interview is conducted, we capitalized on opportunity catch up on each other’s winter breaks and the status of the SBC’s Model United Nations club in which she is the advisor and I am the president. According to Coopamah, “the educational system is based on the British System but in French of course. So there are six years of primary school which is co-ed, and seven of secondary school which is single sex. And then it takes three years to get a bachelor’s degree.” She nibbles at the wrap she ordered, careful not to drop anything on her classic Parisian style, black and lavender sweater. She continues, “And there are no gen eds. It is a very specialized system. There is a national exam and based on the ranking, it determines the school you get into. You take private lessons to prepare for the test. I got into the top girl’s school in the country. Then we take the Cambridge exam. It’s all very competitive.” After taking one her classes and getting to know her on a personal and professional level, you quickly find that she is always prepared for any difficult questions that a student, including myself, may try to challenge her with. So it is not hard to imagine a young Professor Coopamah studying to make sure she had every small detail of her school work not only completed, but perfectly executed.


After teaching in America for several years, she is developing her own sense of what to expect of her students.” In America, the system encourages active roles but not memorization. Over here the level is a little lower with rare exception for the standout students. I don’t know if they have too much else going on in their lives or not as well prepared for college?” As a former student and president of the club she advises I was not such much slighted by the comment as I was curious as to why thought American students did not live up to her standards. “Well here they just don’t fulfill their potential, they are not as prepared, don’t push themselves. It’s nice that there are different paths any many ways to get into college but the top falls short. Here it’s like good enough instead of the best.”


In addition to teaching at Sweet Briar, Coopamah has been eager to do research in her field, comparative politics. Over the college’s winter break she traveled to Botswana to commence her last project. I was interested in how she narrowed her research to Botswana of all countries. “Prior to going, books were my only education on it. I went for two weeks to establish contacts. I am researching global private partnership. I am looking at the relationship between HCAP, the Gates Foundations, with Bill and Melinda Gates, Merck, a pharmaceuticals company, and Botswana. They are working together on fighting and preventing HIV/AIDs. I want to see how the partnership works, projects, and why is it a success?” She is looking to find the
explanation as to why HIV/AIDS programs have been so successful in Botswana and if that success can be spread throughout Africa. Professor Coopamah will return on a few more occasions in the upcoming years to complete her research.


Traveling, Coopamah believes, provides a different, more hands on educational experience. “I think what I’ve realized traveling is that every country has a different culture and ways of working and it is very easy to have misunderstandings. And no matter what, you are going to have misunderstandings. With all the norms and culture, you have to be very careful with trying to do things your way. And it’s not always easy.” In the classes she teaches, she is always sure to add as much cultural context as the curriculum allows providing the student with a fuller concept of a country’s governmental development. Coopamah begins to lean in closer and lifts her voice emitting passion for this subject area. “You cannot go up and ask them what is
your culture and norms, because that is all they know. They have no way of comparing ways of doing things. The more you travel the more you know what to ask.”


Coopamah also believes in going beyond traveling and believes living in a foreign country provides an even more enriching experience. She joking explains three phases she thinks every tourist goes through while venturing to a new country. “Everywhere you go, there is a honeymoon phase. Like oh, this is so new and interesting and beautiful. Then there is intense disillusionment. You just want to get out of there. Then you finally come to accept it and go about your day like everyone else. Tourists only get to see phase one, maybe two, but never really settle. Living there you get the real idea of how everything functions. You get actual equal to equal partnerships.”


Coopamah finds that the college experience, especially for her young Sweet Briar students, is greatly enhanced by studying and living abroad. “[The benefits] are personal, professional, and intellectual. You learn more about yourself, culturally, interacting with others, it gives you something to compare to. You revaluate things for the better or the worse. Intellectually, you experience something else, the way you live. You see a different history and culture.” She explains further that racism is in other countries is much more prevalent than in America. She also relates her experiences to gaining a competitive edge in the globalized job market. Coopamah examines, “I don’t think Sweet Briar is as exposed to different cultures and ethnicities.” She explains that people tend to make unfounded claims about America’s standing in the world and in particular health care. “It’s an informal comparison. They are just uttering other people’s opinion or hearsay. The pink bubble is a bubble and whatever helps you to get out of the bubble it good.”


Building upon the knowledge she gained through her international study, Coopamah hopes to transfer her love for discovering new countries to students so they understand the complexities of the cultures each place had to offer. She has found a home in Sweet Briar College, but she will be forever exploring the far reaches of the earth.