
Modernization has also changed the monastic system. Before the third King introduced secular education, Buddhist monastic training provided Bhutan's only formal learning system - usually restricted to the sons of privilege.
At this time, monks held great status and power as teachers, landlords and government officials. Now the urban Bhutanese want their children educated in English, not the monastic languages of Dzongkha and classical Tibetan; and their children attend secular schools, a prerequisite for prestigious government positions. These days, most monks come from poor villages and many of the urban youth, educated in English with civil service expectations, fail to make the cut and end up hanging around town, unemployed.