Sun-News of the Northland
December 3

Liberty High School Eng-lish teacher Vicki Jones spent three-weeks paying a reciprocal visit to Uzbekistan as part of an American delegation. In the spring, North Kansas City High School, New Mark Middle School and the Liberty School District teachers hosted several Uzbeki teachers as part of the State Department's American Councils for Inter-national Education program.

"It was some of the hardest traveling I have ever done," Jones said. "I stayed the longest period in Nukus - 10 days - with my host family and it was remote."

Jones said she embraced the unfamiliar.

"It felt like a village setting," she said. "It was fun to see what they thought was pop culture, especially Arnold Schwarzenegger and Britney Spears."

Jones said felt disappointed to learn many older students and teachers had left to pick cotton, and the Aral Sea once had thriving ports, but diverting its waters to irrigate cotton had shrunk the sea and left several ports dry.

But the children and teacher trainees won her over.

"The children in schools were delightful," she said. "I had a class of 8-year-olds sing 'America' to me."

As a visiting dignitary, Jones met with the mayor and the education minister, which appeared on their evening news.

Jones spent four days in Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital. She presented the mayor with a proclamation from Liberty Mayor Stephen Hawkins and handed out Liberty School District pins. She received gifts of scarves, hats and slippers.

"Family is big as are social rituals," she said. "There is a ceremonial hands washing and a prayer to end the meal. There is a lot of grace."

Jones talked about multiculturalism and literacy, special and gifted education, and American educational goals.

"The one area the training teachers seemed interested in is critical thinking skills," she said. "This is probably from the remains of communism where independent thought was not stressed.

Older children speak Russian, English and Karakalpak, the native tongue.

"Teachers are paid about $30 a month, clean their rooms and buy many of their own supplies. They read Shakespeare, Dickens and Mark Twain," she said.

Jones said she learned much culturally.

"Professionally, I can see a need for American teachers there," she said. "We were told in a debriefing at the State Department, 'Peace is sustained through one-on-one contact.' I can see that so much development in education needs to occur for democracy to be sustained."

Jones shares her experience with her colleagues.

"We need to celebrate what is best with our education," she said. "They are superior in language acquisition, but we are so strong in critical thinking. It was a humbling experience. My host family had a baby in the house. I would learn four new words every day, right along with him. This trip was worth it."

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