A Cautionary Tale for International Development Students - Pacific Standard

1/21/16, 12:17 AM

Pacific Standard

POLITICS & LAW

A Cautionary Tale for

International Development
Students
Your perspective might change, but the world wontnot until you
leave the classroom.
HERSHAL PANDYA OCT 23, 2015
I took an excessive number of international development classes throughout my time in University. I say
excessive not because Im aware of some sort of unspoken, socially agreed-upon quota, but because I
know instinctually that six is too many. In the early stages, my motivations were noble. Like many young
people who harbor guilt about being born into privilege, Id saddled myself with grandiose ambitions of
changing the world and wanted to learn tactics that I could use to achieve this goal.
Unfortunately, my disillusionment eventually got the best of me and, toward the end, my only remaining
motivation was obtaining an easy credit. Speaking from experience, I can explain to you how each of these
classes unfolded.
Each term, a group of wide-eyed students would congregate in one of the less-loved buildings on campus,
eager to learn strategies they could use to help improve the standard of living among impoverished people
in developing nations. Then, halfway through the semester, wed proceed to learn why it is stupid and
nave to believe that any of these strategies could possibly work. The arc of my study was not spiritually
uplifting.

The problem with trying to teach a class about international

http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/international-development-students-beware

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A Cautionary Tale for International Development Students - Pacific Standard

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development is that there isnt that much empirical evidence to

support any of the theories being taught.
To help you appreciate what I mean, here are a few examples of development strategies my professors
lectured about at length, before eventually pulling away the curtain and revealing how utterly useless they
are in affecting change:
Nations should implement powerful, independent anti-corruption agencies: Because its totally in the
best interests of corrupt regimes to institutionalize strong checks and balances....
Diversify economic drivers of growth: I wonder why Sierra Leone hasnt figured this one out yet. Hard to
understand why a country that is primarily populated by uneducated miners hasnt branched out and
become a global robotics research and development hub.
Remove barriers to trade: In theory, this is supposed to facilitate development by forcing developing
nations to discover where their comparative advantage lies in the global market. In practice, it allows
foreign companies to dump their excess supply of low-quality merchandise into developing nations at
incomprehensibly low prices, leaving local manufacturing companies unable to compete.
Invest heavily in education: Of all development theories, this is probably the most logical and forwardthinking. Unfortunately, even this one comes with its own set of problems: 1.) Many children in
developing nations are forced to work to help support their families. Convincing them to leave these jobs
and go to school can be difficult. 2.) There is a high probability that the few people who do obtain a degree
in higher education will simply leave the country, ensuring the nation never sees a return on its
investment. 3.) If a nations government had the capacity to invest heavily in anything, it wouldnt be
considered a developing nation to begin with.
The problem with trying to teach a class about international development is that there isnt that much
empirical evidence to support any of the theories being taught. From a cursory glance at the state of the
world, its clear that the international development community hasnt been particularly successful at
achieving its goals. I dont mean to say that zero progress has been made; there are a number of countries
Botswana, Chile, South Korea, et al.where progress has been encouraging, but there is no evidence to
suggest that it is possible to generalize the specific set of circumstances that facilitated progress in each of
these cases.
In the classroom, however, generalizations are unavoidable. Professors are forced to cover nuanced topics
like the appropriateness of using foreign aid as a development toolin 90-minute lectures, while also
leaving time for class discussion so that some white girl named Susan can humanitarian-brag about the
three weeks she spent doing relief work in Haiti. I hated Susan so much. (It made me furious to think that
shed spent three quarters of her time in Haiti cultivating Instagram likes from the plight of poor Haitians
yet shed still managed to do more to help the world than I had.)

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To be honest, though, the constant interruptions were a much-needed break from the incredibly soulcrushing content of the lectures. Professors, it seemed, werent content simply to describe the flaws of
traditional development theories; they insisted on reinforcing their arguments by integrating devastating
case studies into their lectures. I cant count the number of times I heard a story about a nation that was
finally on the path to recovery when, without warning, a rebel group decided to overthrow the
government and begin ethnically cleansing part of the population. As far as impediments to development
go, this is arguably the most powerful. Imagine a scenario whereagainst all oddsa local non-profit
organization is able to help a homeless man get back on his feet by finding him a job and an address.
Then, just as this man is about to save up enough money to make his first rent payment, an arsonist burns
his workplace to the ground without provocation. In the first world, this is really the only comparable
scenario.
As you can imagine, routine exposure to such horror stories culminated in desensitization. It simply
wasnt sustainable to allow myself to be affected emotionally each time I heard a new, harrowing tale. If I
had an international development lecture at 10 a.m., I couldnt exactly write the rest of the day off just
because I was feeling sad; I had other schoolwork to complete. I can only imagine how this excuse would
have gone over with my professors:
Me: Professor, can I get an extension on my paper?
Professor: Its unfair to the other students to grant you an extension unless there were some extenuating
circumstances that prevented you from getting it done on time.
Me: There were! I sat down to try and write it but I was too debilitated by my awareness of global
destitution!
Professor: I dont think that qualifies as an extenuating circumstance. Maybe if you can convince a doctor
to give you a note...?
Doctor: So, what seems to be the problem?
Me: I came in here today because I was unable to turn in an assignment on time and I need a note.
Doctor: Did you have an urgent medical issue?
Me: Yeah, I sat down to write my paper, but I couldnt do it because I was too debilitated by my awareness
of global destitution.
Doctor: Are you serious? I have a Leukemia patient in the next room

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Me: Yeah, Ive really found that it hinders my abil

Doctor: What are you even talking about?! Get out of my office!
Toeing the line between being desensitized and being a complete sociopath, however, is a precarious
balancing act. I know this because I eventually found myself having to dial it back a bit after I became a
little too casual in the way I was procrastinating my assigned readings. I recall an instance where I took a
break from reading about a devastating case of genocide to watch a YouTube
YouTube
YouTubeclip
clip
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ofDJ
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tragedy less than watching a clip of DJ Khaled talking about sausageYouTube
biscuits.clip
In my
defense,
reached a
McDonald's
point
where reading sinister, soul-crushing articles like this had become a part of my daily routine.
Provoking a visceral reaction in me had become all but impossible because there was nothing you could
say to me that I found surprising. I was like one of those annoying story-toppers, except all my stories
revolved around the plight of the most unfortunate people on Earth.
It eventually became clear that Id have to do something to re-gain a balanced sense of empathy. The first
step, of course, was to put an immediate end to all international development learning. Luckily, this was
easy enough to accomplish because there are little to no withdrawal symptoms associated with this
particular type of cold-turkey abstinence. Next, I made a concerted effort to remain painstakingly
uninformed about the nuances of global geopolitical/socioeconomic affairs. Three years into this pursuit,
I can report that it is much more difficult than you might imagine. The goal has been to remain
uninformed enough so as to avoid reinforcing my desensitized, pessimistic outlook on the world, but
informed enough so as to avoid looking like an idiot in society. Its a difficult balance to strike. As a semiconscious individual with an Internet connection, its unacceptable for me to walk around society not
knowing what Boko Haram is, but its also very difficult for me to learn anything about them without
being emotionally overwhelmed by the horrible acts of evil it's committed.
Gallows humor aside, I do tend to wonder what the lasting effects of oversaturating my brain with
information about international development have been. Id like to think that I havent abandoned all
hope of making a difference altogether, but if anything, my education and experience in the job market
have allowed me to develop a more realistic understanding of what difference-making actually entails.
It certainly doesnt, as Id previously thought, entail working for an international NGO that conducts
high-level policy work. After a year and a half of attempting to bridge the gap between researchers and
policymakers, (a mission statement that, as it turns out, means carrying out extremely insular, theorybased projects for whoever was willing to give us money), I began to notice many of the same trappings as
I did in the classroom. When I compared my day-to-day responsibilities with those of some of my friends
who were working on a more grassroots level, everything finally clicked.

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The people who are effecting change in the world arent sitting in a classroom debating whether or not
Chiles economic miracle was indeed a miracle; they arent entertaining misguided notions about a onesize-fits-all policy prescription to address systemic poverty; they are on the ground in developing nations,
working on small-scale projectsunderstanding that change occurs incrementally, rather than in broad
sweeps. As someone who presently spends most of his time writing Web jokes about popular culture, Im
skeptical of my current suitability as a grassroots activist. I hope one day I can regain the resolve to jump
back into it.

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