“A Chilling look at Cambodia’s infamous Killing Fields”

By: Matt Lee ‘16, Elon University

One of the worst massacres in history: millions of people taken from their homes, tortured for information, forced to work, brutally killed and buried in mass graves. If you think I am talking about the Holocaust, you are mistaken. Thirty years after the Holocaust, another genocide occurred—only this time in the remote country of Cambodia.

This summer I traveled to Cambodia to see a country famous for its ancient Angor Wat temple. However, one stop on my tour included the Killing Fields. I had never heard of the Killing Fields, so I did some research and watched the 1984 movie “Killing Fields,” depicting a tragic event that happened in Cambodia.

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge, a communist group led by a man named Pol Pot, took over the capital city of Phnom Penh. The Cambodians rejoiced as the civil war had come to an end. However, three hours after the Khmer Rouge victory, all civilians living in the cities were forcibly evacuated to the countryside, signaling the reign of terror. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge planned to bring the country back to “Year Zero” creating an equal society comprised of one agricultural class. Every intellectual Cambodian became an enemy. If a Cambodian had on glasses, knew another language, had foreign friends, or held a job other than farming, he or she would be tortured in prison. Those that refused to cooperate were executed. Those that did cooperate were sent to the fields to work 12 to 15 hours a day with only watery porridge to eat. Many workers in the field died of starvation, exhaustion or were murdered.

The Khmer Rouge ruled under the motto, “To have you is no benefit, to lose you is no loss.” An estimated one to three million people died in what became known as the “Killing Fields.” I visited the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek where 20,000 people were buried. It was gruesome to think that I was standing on top of a mass grave where underneath lay thousands of bodies. What was even more disturbing was that the field I visited is just one of 343 “killing” fields that have been discovered. If that isn’t horrifying enough, imagine this: every time it rains, bones and teeth fragments wash up from the field. Unfortunately, it had rained that day. As I walked around, I could see bone fragments and rags sticking out from the ground.

Later, I came across a beautiful tree, but was dismayed to learn that the Khmer Rouge used it to bash in babies’ heads. However, children weren’t just victims, many of them were the executioners. The Khmer Rouge brainwashed children into becoming Khmer Rouge soldiers. They taught them to hate their parents and many of the child soldiers’ first victims were their own parents.

The genocide under the Pol Pot regime ended in 1979 when the Vietnamese invaded the country, liberating the Cambodian people. Every single Cambodian I talked to knew exactly how long they endured the horror: 3 years, 8 months, and 20 days. Today, they are still struggling to cope with their losses. Almost 20% of their population was killed, most of whom were from the educated class. Many Cambodians have no idea where their family members are, assuming they died in the Killing Fields. There is even a reality TV show reuniting families torn apart during the regime. Many Cambodians are still waiting for answers, realizing that they may never know why those terrible things happened, how their family members died or where their loved ones are buried. Pol Pot died in 1998 without answering for his crimes. Only a few Khmer Rouge have been put on trial today, the rest are still living in society or even working as government officials.

How could this have happened or should I say, “How could this have happened again?” The same type of events happened during the Holocaust. Only this time it was Cambodians killing their own people. Then there was Rwanda in 1994 and Darfur in present day. Where will the next human genocide occur? While the Cambodian people wait for justice, they hope that their suffering is not repeated. So far we have failed them.

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 Wrote an article for NBC News on the development of the film “Crazy Rich Asians.” See the full article here: https://nbcnews.to/2wDXA3U

Bestseller to the Big Screen: Warner Bros. Acquires ‘Crazy Rich Asians’

by Matt Lee / Oct.20.2016 / 4:27 PM ET

The film adaptation of “Crazy Rich Asians” will begin production in spring 2017 in Singapore.

Wrote a front-page story for Elon University’s newspaper The Pendulum. Check out my full story here: http://www.elonpendulum.com/2014/01/grade-inflation/

Grade inflation: Are A’s too easy to come by?

By Matt Lee

If you are one of the students who made the President’s and Dean’s Lists over Winter Break, don’t celebrate just yet.

The President’s List consisted of 718 students who received straight A’s, and 1,256 students received no grade lower than a B- in a minimum of 12 semester hours while maintaining a 3.5 GPA, landing them on the Dean’s List. Combine those numbers, and you’ll realize more than 35 percent of students are making either the President’s or Dean’s List — that’s more than one-third of the student body. According to Elon University’s student handbook, the Dean’s Lists exists to “encourage and recognize excellence in academic work.” But with so many students making high grades, is the distinction still an honor?

This isn’t the first time Elon has encountered this issue. In 2008, Elon reported a shocking statistic: more than 40 percent of the grades students received were A’s. The number of A’s had been slowly increasing over the years, but passing the 40 percent mark warranted some administrative concern.

President Lambert quickly responded in a letter titled, “Who is an ‘A’ student today?” saying, “Clearly, we must remain committed to maintaining standards of excellence.” Six years later, the percentage of A’s has only gone up.

Elon’s student handbook outlines grades as follows: an A indicates a distinguished performance, a B an above-average performanceand a C an average performance. This fall, 45 percent of the grades given out were A’s, a 5 percent increase since President Lambert’s letter. Based on the handbook’s standards, those grades would indicate that almost half of Elon’s students have demonstrated a distinguished performance in class, and only 9 percent can be considered average (9 percent of grades given out were C’s). This overwhelming and increasing amount of academic success has led many students, faculty and staff to question the extent of grade inflation at Elon.

Grade inflation occurs when grades go up despite student performance not improving. The value of a letter grade decreases, and higher grades become less challenging to attain.

The problem

According to the Elon student handbook, “an Elon student’s highest purpose is Academic Citizenship: giving first attention to learning and reflection, developing intellectually, connecting knowledge and experiences and upholding Elon’s honor codes.” But is the university doing enough to challenge its students, especially now that most students are considered above-average? Sophomore Maggie Liston doesn’t think so.

Liston, a French and international studies double major minoring in political science, believes that academic rigor is lacking at Elon.

“I currently have a 4.0, and I don’t think I deserve it,” she said. “And, for me, I feel guilty, because I know that sometimes I’m not putting forth my best work, but it doesn’t influence my grades at all.”

During her first semester at Elon, Liston was shocked to discover her college courses were not as challenging as those she took in high school. She even requested outside coursework from her adviser in an attempt to push herself academically where her classes were not.

“I just had these expectations coming from high school that college would be this fountain of knowledge that I could soak up and that everyone would be as excited as I was, and it wasn’t that way,” Liston said. “So that upset me, and I definitely wondered if I was in the right place.”

Liston is not alone. Junior Delaney McHugo also sees a problem with grades at Elon.

“I think that a lot of the caliber of work that students do here is not necessarily matching up to the standards of grades,” she said. “Yet professors feel obligated to give students those grades for various reasons.”

The university has made efforts to combat grade inflation. One of the school’s mottos is “Engaged Learning,” which aims to expand astudent’s knowledge outside the classroom. Students are studying abroad, listening to guest speakers and engaging in extracurricular activities. Even with these initiatives, students like Liston don’t think that makes up for the lack of academic rigor.

“I think Elon has made significant strides, and I don’t want to discredit them, but my high school was harder than what I’m doing now,” Liston said.

Dr. Steven House, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, recognizes the abnormally high amount of A’s and is concerned.

“[The high number of A’s] does a disservice to the ones that really, truly do have a distinguished performance,” he said. “They are trying to set themselves apart to be the ones to go to graduate school.”

Why?

One of the possible reasons for grade inflation is that professors purposely inflate grades to boost their performance on student evaluations, and Dr. House recognizes this as a possibility.

“I do believe that there is a perception with faculty that if I grade easier I will get a better student evaluation,” he said. “But I know that that is not always the case because some of our toughest graders are our most highest-rated faculty.”

Yet, the university’s toughest graders are definitely in the minority, especially with more than 70 percent of the grades falling between the A and B range.

Business professor Scott Buechler believes one reason for grade inflation is actually smarter students.

“Academic rigor I think has gone up, but I also think that the quality of students has outpaced the increase in academic rigor,” he said.

There is no doubt that Elon’s academic reputation has increased. In 2005, the average GPA for an incoming freshman was 3.72. Today, the average GPA for an incoming freshman is a 3.9. Perhaps the curriculum has not adjusted enough to the improved quality of students.

Nonetheless, McHugo believes the university will be hesitant to adjust the curriculum.

“It’s something we are kind of sweeping under the rug to kind of keep our overall image of having this intellectual climate, because people are getting good grades, and people are doing well in their classes, and that looks great,” she said.

How can we fix it?

Grade inflation isn’t a problem only at Elon. It’s an issue on a national scale. A recent Teachers College Record study shows that across a range of 200 universities, more than 40 percent of all grades awarded were in the A range. For Elon to address its grade inflation issue, it would require cooperation from the administration, teachers and students. The administration would need to enforce stricter grading standards, teachers would need to ensure the grade fits the standard, and students would need to do more than the bare minimum.

“I just think that we do whatever we can to pass by, and we’re paying thousands of dollars to go to this institution so it can challenge us academically first and foremost,” McHugo said.

The administration isn’t opposed to changing the system, but students need to come forward if there is a problem.

“I wish students would, in their student perceptions of teaching, indicate that they are unhappy,” Dr. House said. “Say, ‘I got an A in this class, but I was disappointed in the way things were graded.’ Those are the kinds of things that will get things changed.”