I am inspired by Prof Debi's question, to ask this question and to gain more understanding from all of you.  Please provide info and related links for your OWN country.  Thanks very much.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_indicators_can_be_used_to_measure_the_power_distance_in_an_organization

http://qatar-weill.cornell.edu/cpd/archive/on-Self-directed-learning.html

Dear Dr Shanmugam, we will wait for the experts to come in.  It's good to be patient.  Since SDL is “In its broadest meaning, SDL describes a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes” we can agree with all the 4 graphs.

Autonomous learners and citizens are likely to lead to high individualism, high GNI and GDP; and autonomous citizens and workers are likely to desire low power distance.  I see that India is on the chart :)  Let's wait for specific info and links, thanks.

Knowledge is an Asset

• To Individual
• To Organization
• To Family
• To Country

When the Individual contribution to "Self directed learning" grows the Power distance reduces; increases the National per capita Income  (moderately) and GDP (more steadily).

Dear @Umachandran and Prof Kamal, do you have papers concerning GDB and GNI of your countries, in relation to SDL?  That will be helpful to my research.  At pre-university, I am actively training students in SDL, so that they can survive well in university.  Thanks.

All this is so new to me. Thank you for this interesting question, I will learn a lot just following the discussion.

GDP was developed as an indicator of market activity during the Great Depression and a war-planning tool during the Second World War, when the primary objective of government was to stimulate industrial production.4 Based on its utility during the war, it became an official instrument of US economic policy in 1946. Originally intended as an index of industrial growth, growth of GDP came to be regarded as synonymous with an improvement in a nation’s economic health and the welfare of its people.

GDP is simply a measure of the total of finished goods and services produced in the monetized segment of the economy valued on the basis of cost, regardless of its relative importance or benefit to human well-being, and without making any distinction between productive and destructive, essential and trivial, sustainable and unsustainable activities.

GDP per capita takes into account the value of all financial transactions at market prices, including categories of expenditure such as military spending and general administration that are not directly related to household income and expenditure. Human economic welfare can be more accurately assessed by focusing on that portion of national income which relates directly to households, namely disposable income, consumption expenditure and net savings plus that portion of government expenditure related to health, education, housing, environment and social welfare.

For cross-country comparisons, the most widely available and reliable data concerns household consumption expenditure (HCE) and human welfare-related government expenditure (HWGE), which includes government expenditure on education (Ed), health (He), housing and community amenities (HC), social protection (SP), environmental protection (EP), recreation, culture and religion (RCR). This omits expenditure on general public services, defense, public order and safety, and economic affairs. The sum of the above two components is divided by the total population to derive per capita human welfare consumption expenditure (HWE/c), which is converted to PPP constant international dollars to facilitate cross-country and historical comparisons.26

HWE = HCE + HWGE (Ed + He + HC + SP + EP + RCR) --------------------- (1)

When applied to a cross-section of OECD and developing countries, we find that the value of HWE ranges from a low of 41% of GDP in China to a high of 88% in Russia, but for most of the sample countries it falls between 60 and 80%. HCE omits information regarding NHS, net household savings after deducting the total of all debt by households in the country, a crucial piece of information needed to assess overall human welfare and progress. Net household savings reflects the amount of financial capital available for investment by households in their future economic welfare. Combining household expenditure and household savings, we derive personal disposable income per capita (PDI): PDI = HCE + NHS.

Table 1 compares total GDP per capita in 2005 international dollars with human welfare-related household consumption expenditure (HCE/c), welfare-related government expenditure (HWGE/c), net household savings (NHS/c) and personal disposable income (PDI). India has the lowest GDP per capita, 45% less than China’s, but India’s PDI is only 10% lower. This dramatic change in relative welfare results because Chinese households receive only 50% of national income as PDI whereas Indian households receive 82%. This is consistent with the frequent assertion that growth of real wages is being suppressed by undervaluation of China’s currency.27 China’s low HCE is offset by a high rate of capital formation (40%), which is twice the USA level and nearly three times the level in Russia, reflecting a strong political commitment to investment in GDP growth. China’s low level of household consumption expenditure and relatively high household savings rate (24%) is fueled by uncertainty over provision of pensions, and the rising costs of healthcare and education.28 Government welfare-related expenditure (HWGE) is nearly the same in both countries as a percentage of GDP and India’s net household savings rate (30%) is 6% higher. These facts indicate that human economic welfare in India and China is much more similar than the wide gap that GDP figures reflects, but they do not invalidate China’s remarkable economic gains. They only suggest that a larger proportion of those gains have thus far gone for investment in public goods than for the personal consumption and welfare. It may be justifiable as a temporary expediency, but as a long term strategy it can be used to subordinate human welfare to national economic and political power.

Table 1: Values for GDP per capita (GDP) vs. household consumption expenditure per capita (HCE), welfare-related government expenditure per capita (HWGE), net household savings per capita (NHS) and personal disposable income per capita (PDI) in 2005 international dollars PPP. Values are for the year 2005.

http://www.cadmusjournal.org/files/v1i1articleimages/indicators_table1.jpg

Thanks @Umachandran for an explanation that I can understand.  I wish all Indian friends a happy festival of lights.  We need light to scatter gloom and darkness!

Gross domestic product (GDP) and Gross National Income (GNI), are comprehensive measures of economic production of any country.

GDP is a measure of the total of finished goods and services produced in the monetized segment of the economy and valued on the basis of cost.

Gross National Income (GNI) is GDP plus income paid into the country by other countries for such things as interest and dividends.

Thanks Prof Mahfuz.  So we can agree that independent and self directed workers and citizens tend to increase GDP and GNI.  What are the ways either GDP and GNI can grow, in relation to the education of citizens of a country?  Please discuss with us.  It will surely be helpful.

Dear @Miranda, please give the links to the graphs in your thread's explanation. Thanks!

Dear Profs and friends, the link is here.  My country, Serbia, Jordan, and many other countries aren't on the graphs.  But Australia, Germany, Singapore and UK are shown.  I can't say for sure that my country is like it's neighbor, Singapore in terms of SDL, GDP and GNI or In..... what do you think?

Prof Ljubomir, please put some info and links on Serbia GDP and education/SDL, thanks.

http://qatar-weill.cornell.edu/cpd/archive/on-Self-directed-learning.html

My dear @Miranda, there are no such links available for my country. Google became so hot in searching process, but no linked results as you needed! I will try again, as you know, I do not give up!

Thanks very much Prof Ljubomir.  I know you will try when you can; we cannot be quick in some things.  The economic growth in my country seems to have slowed down a lot in last 10 years.  Many students are average, and I spend a lot of time to help them, even though I advise them to be self directed learners.  But my friend teaching at Universiti Malaya has said to me, no one among the UM lecturers will do provide the extra coaching classes in university.

Dear Miranda I believe you need other indicators than the GDP that is coming quite obsolete to indicate genuine progress. See 'Time to leave GDP behind'

R Costanza, I Kubiszewski, E Giovannini, H Lovins, J McGlade, K Pickett, ... Nature 505, 283-285.

Further: http://rprogress.org/sustainability_indicators/genuine_progress_indicator.htm

What if we defined success not by the money we spent and the goods we consumed but by the quality of life we create not only for ourselves but for everyone with whom we share the planet? What if we added up the positives of economic growth and subtracted from them the clear negatives, so we had a better picture of whether we were headed in the right direction?

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) does exactly that. With 26 indicators, the GPI consolidates critical economic, environmental and social factors into a single framework in order to give a more accurate picture of the progress – and the setbacks – we have made.

From the costs of crime, pollution, commuting and inequality to the value of education, volunteer work, leisure time and infrastructure, the GPI helps us understand the true impacts of our policies and will lead us on the path toward a genuinely sustainable economy.

There are 26 separate indicators that comprise the Genuine Progress Indicator. The following description of each indicator is drawn from the latest national GPI report.

Economic Indicators

Personal Consumption Expenditures

Income Inequality

Adjusted Personal Consumption

Cost of Consumer Durables

Value of Consumer Durables

Cost of Underemployment

Net Capital Investment

Environmental Indicators

Cost of Water Pollution

Cost of Air Pollution

Cost of Noise Pollution

Loss of Wetlands

Loss of Farmland

Loss of Primary Forests and Damage from Logging Roads

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Damage

Cost of Ozone Depletion

Depletion of Non-Renewable Resources

Social Indicators

Value of Housework Work and Parenting

Cost of Family Changes

Cost of Crime

Cost of Household Pollution Abatement

Value of Volunteer Work

Loss of Leisure Time

Value of a Higher Education

Value of Highways & Streets

Cost of Commuting

Cost of Automobile Accidents

Thanks Prof Gianni for good advice to leave behind OBSOLETE THINGS :)  I LIKE YOUR POST below, but in my learning research, that was the info I obtained.  

'What if we defined success not by the money we spent and the goods we consumed but by the quality of life we create not only for ourselves but for everyone with whom we share the planet? What if we added up the positives of economic growth and subtracted from them the clear negatives, so we had a better picture of whether we were headed in the right direction?

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) does exactly that. With 26 indicators, the GPI consolidates critical economic, environmental and social factors into a single framework in order to give a more accurate picture of the progress – and the setbacks – we have made.'

Thanks dear @Gianni for introducing the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) into this discussion. It fits!

http://www.donellameadows.org/genuine-talk-progress-and-the-gpi/

Thanks very much Prof Ljubomir and friends.  I will get into the link.  Unlike some, I will glean useful things from all the links that you have provided.  And let this discussion run its natural course.  Many of us are open to learning and to make changes in our thinking.  I am very busy with writing, but I will surely get back when I can, thanks.

Dear Dr. Miranda,

 It is unfortunate that this is the first time I see this important question of yours. I usually receive a message about question sharing from you but I do not remember getting a message about this one. I am really surprised that the responses of dear RG colleagues have been limited to 11 (without including your other 8 contributions). My sincere advice, to all RG scholars, is to follow up the SDL with more interest. It is time to change the educational process from sender-receiver or from spoon feeding. The teacher ought to look at his/her job from the angle of helping the student to learn & not from the angle of  I teach & you listen. Few years ago, I was astonished by a single isolated case: A teacher, who graduated from our Department, bringing the school's chemistry textbook for me to answer a good number of questions. The questions were not in my topics of interest. I helped him as much as I could but I encouraged him to depend upon himself  later on.

Assume that a teacher wants to cover 300 pages of a textbook. When the students acquire the skill of SDL, they will be capable of learning probably 100 pages by themselves.  Self-directed learning (SDL) is a topic that needs to be emphasized relentlessly. Many times I ask the students a certain question, they do not answer it, and then they ask me to give my answer. I refuse, sometimes, telling them to go to the library or to just "Google it". A summary of SDL follows:

According to( Knowles) the pioneering education scholar  “In its broadest meaning, 'self-directed learning' describes a process by which individuals take the initiative, with or without the assistance of others, in spotting their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human & material resources for learning, choosing & implementing proper learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes."

Major concern of SDL is that the learner takes 1) the initiative to pursue a learning experience, and 2) the responsibility for completing the learning. Once the initiative is shouldered, the learner assumes complete responsibility & accountability for defining the learning experience and following it until its conclusion. This does not exclude input from others, but the final decision is the learner’s. Self-direction does not mean that the learner learns alone or in isolation. The crucial aspect, here, is the fact that the learner matures to steer the whole learning process.

Dear Dr Nizar, thanks for a great answer.  I believe that by training my students to be independent and self-directed, it will increase intrinsic motivation.  SDL is a precursor to lifelong learning, and I have a few students who are likely to be lifelong learners, just like us. But generally, my students are materialistic, and extrinsically motivated.  Here, our people have yet to achieve safety needs and psychological needs.  (Recently we had GST, and the prices of goods have increased, and badly affects my students.)

3 years ago, I taught Mohan.  I encouraged his class to be self-directed.  Now he has completed 2 years of medical school.  He came back last Friday, June 5th.  He gave a talk to my present students on SDL that he has been practicing.  I liked best his sharing that learning is exciting.

Well done. It is satisfying to see the fruits of your work. You are in the right track of giving the students the ultimate goal of learning(the SDL) which agrees with the Chinese wisdom "Give a man a fish, and you have fed him once. Teach him how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime."