Obama to speak at Myanmar campus scarred by past

In this picture taken on Friday, Nov. 16, 2012, repair work progresses at Yangon University's Convocation Hall, in Yangon, Myanmar. Inside the school's Convocation Hall, where President Barack Obama will deliver a speech on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, is a riot of staple guns, buzz saws, sandpaper, hammers, spackle, drills, brooms, and fresh paint. But the facade of the building remains cracked with a black crust. Local superstition holds that scrubbing the building clean would unbalance the resigned calm that has settled on the campus and spark another round of unrest. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

By ERIKA KINETZ

Associated Press / November 19, 2012

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There is a real hunger for learning among many young people in Myanmar.

Aung Kaung Myat, 19, studies English at Yangon’s University of Foreign Languages. ‘‘Everything is messed up,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t want to blame my teachers. They are just the things in the system.’’

Literature class involves reading out loud and poetry is mostly memorization, he said. For books in English, he heads to the well-stocked library of the American Center, a cultural outpost of the U.S. Embassy in Yangon. He got so frustrated at the poor syllabus and teachers who seemed to know little about their subjects that he wrote an angry letter to the Ministry of Education, which he convinced a bunch of his friends to sign. His professor found out before he could send it, called his parents and threatened to expel him, he said.

Still, he'd like to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Yangon.

‘‘Maybe it’s better than the Yangon University of Foreign Languages,’’ he said.

July San, 23, is pursuing a master’s in computer science at the University of Yangon. She said there are only 5 students in her class.

‘‘We want more students. More and more and more! And we don’t want to see this long grass anymore,’’ she said, gesturing at the weeds behind her.

‘‘We should thank Obama,’’ she added. At least he managed to get the Convocation Hall spruced up in time for her graduation.

Associated Press writer Todd Pitman contributed to this report.