Archive for April, 2007

Some years ago, the U.S. government started a hodge podge of initiatives to bring about democracy in the Muslim world. Several of these initiatives were collectively known as the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI).

MEPI’s objectives included reform of the education systems in Muslim countries in ways that would help produce democratic / progressive leaders and tolerant societies. But the programs have not been on a perfect track thus far.

In my opinion, the original idea of investing in progressive education systems in Muslim countries is not assailable. There are indeed schools in Muslim countries that teach the opposite of tolerance and subject kids to rote learning.

To its credit the MEPI programs have funded such things as girls’ education, helped provide books to schools that needed them, and started some vocational training programs. But many of the MEPI programs focus on such ethereal things as digital classrooms in relatively poor countries, or student exchange programs, while overlooking more thoughtful initiatives that could get to the heart of the issues: unfavorable economics, a.k.a. poverty, paltry government investment in schools with progressive curricula, or in schools in general.

Key problems with education systems in Muslim countries lie with the rarity of quality public education and the popularity of Saudi-funded Wahhabi madrassas in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

It is worrying that several thousand madrassas in these countries teach rigid and extremist brands of Islam to kids between 5 and 21. While madrassas may not always graduate terrorists, many do graduate pupils who empathize with acts of terror. In political and social arenas of Muslim countries too, there is a stark divergence of views of modernists and Islamists.

The education systems in Muslim countries, as well as the problems with them, are similar. Public schools tend to offer unmotivated instructors, disorganized curricula and poor educational materials. Private schools, modeled after colonial era institutions have slightly better standards, but cater mostly to moneyed classes. In the meantime, madrassas are a cheap or free alternative–most even offer free room and board–and the strict educational leadership of zealous clerics often gives the appearance of structure and organization.

U.S. efforts, instead of relying solely on book donations, wired classrooms and exchange programs should look for smarter ways to reform education. They could focus first on building trust and collaborating with reform-minded local citizens and educators to demand far-reaching curricular reforms that promote exploratory learning.

Also needed is big money to expand the availability of public education in remote, rural areas, combined with a push to get governments to commit more resources and funding to public education. There should be greater push for accountability so that no institution is allowed to operate without licenses, and minimum standards for teaching certification must be set for instructors.

Overarching efforts, though, should focus on addressing poverty in ways that don’t necessarily involve sweeping changes. For example, one great way to go could be to expand school lunch programs in existing public schools, e.g. check out the McGovern-Dole program.

For interested U.S. citizens, a campaign for McGovern Dole is in full swing and a vote is coming up soon in Congress.

It’s a true world of “survival of the fittest” in our increasingly more capitalistic global economy. The gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is yawning wider as economic inequality increases within countries such as the United States, China and India. To make it into the coveted winner’s circle of those who are benefiting the most from globalization, you’ve got to compete. And you’ve got to compete ferociously.

And you can’t wait until adulthood to start competing. You’ve got to get on the racetrack in early childhood, if not sooner.

This past weekend’s New York Times provided some excellent coverage of the intense competition it takes to get into elite colleges. The article “Re-education” describes how Chinese schools are adopting more Western-style educational practices in order to produce well-rounded students who have the creativity, flexibility, and critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in a global economy (and get into Harvard). Meanwhile, the article “For Girls, It’s Be Yourself, and Be Perfect, Too” showcases the lives of overachieving girls at one of the best public high schools in the United States as they compete to get into the nation’s top colleges.

The message from both these articles, as well as from the everyday experiences of anyone who lives in a community of college graduates, is clear: In today’s world, teenagers must compete harder than ever to get into a good college. And the price you pay for not getting into one is very high.

Earning a 4.0 grade point average, scoring in the 99th percentile on the SAT, being class president, playing on the tennis team, acting in a school play, winning numerous academic awards, and volunteering at a homeless shelter are no longer good enough. You’ve also got to help build a health clinic in Kenya, start some kind of business (preferrably an online one), and complete a near Ph.D.-level science project to even have a chance of catching the eye of the director of admissions at the nation’s top universities.

There is no room for error. You must not strive for excellence; you must strive for perfection.

This is madness. But it’s also reality. In a world with fraying social safety nets, you’ve got to compete to survive. And the competition is cutthroat.

Some may argue that this “Be perfect, or else you’ll fail” mentality is all hyperbole. OK, perhaps so. But just talk to parents and teenagers, and you’ll discover it’s at least the mindset you need to adopt if you want to get into the best colleges.

Competition is one of the world’s most powerful motivators. It’s what put the U.S. flag on the moon.

And at the present time, those who don’t take competition seriously will be left in the dust.

So I tend to like most things Persian - Kiarostami, miniature paintings, khoresht, the excessive use of nuts and saffron in “polow” - and almost all of whatever I have been exposed to - of Persian architecture, arts and literature. I also love how Farsi sounds.

I was chatting with a Professor of Islamic History and he pointed to me, how political Islam has had an uneasy relationship with both Iranian and Bengali society. Perhaps.

I suppose the presence of long secular cultures, very productive in the arts and literature, true for both Bengal and Persia, might create problems for certain kinds of Islamisms. Of course, the history of political Islam in any Muslim country is nothing if its not inconsistent and checkered. So it’s hard to generalize.

Another interesting analogy between Bangladeshi and Persian societies is the central role Dhaka and Tehran University have played in defining their states’ religio-political cultures.

Dhaka University, founded soon after the first Partition of Bengal, to uplift the Muslim masses of East Bengal, went from strength to strength and played a pivotal role in nationalist politics leading up to 1947. After 1947, the university changed character dramatically, as many Hindu Bengalis vacated faculty positions and were replaced by an expanding Bengali Muslim intelligentsia. An intelligentsia that was increasingly secular in the way it imagined a raison d’etre for East Pakistan, and if not that, at least culturally very proudly Bengali. In 1952, the University became a central hub of demonstrations against the Pakistani State. Again, in the ’60s, throwing their weight behind an increasingly outspoken Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the University students and faculty came under the radar of the Pakistani State. Little wonder then that many of the Pak Army’s worst atrocities were carried out on the campus during Operation Search Light.

Tehran University was founded roughly sixty years before Dhaka University. The University was formed by integrating various independent faculties and schools. Initially, heavily influenced by French curricula, after WWII, it tried to Americanize its system more. Tehran University also became a battleground on which various religious and political skirmishes were fought by those struggling for state power. Of course the students have been more than pawns in these great games - they have played a central role in them.

In 1979, when the world watched a revolution as momentous as the French or Russian, a lot of impetus to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s anti-Reza Shah rhetoric came after mass-atrocities on the TU campus. The campus fell under the control of anti-state guerrillas who made weapons and Molotov cocktails . Of course, the agitation had deeper roots. The leftist, liberal Tehran University elements also witnessed the 2,500 year-old celebration of the Persian Empire as Reza Shah threw a party to end all parties. Pro-American, anti-leftist, anti-Islamist, Reza Shah alienated many, and as draughts raged in Baluchistan and Sistan, he had two hundred chefs flown in from Paris, served a ton of caviar and spent between $50 to a $100 million dollars for lots of corporate guests, both Western and Iranian. Students of Tehran University weren’t very impressed.

Of course, the students of both Dhaka and Tehran University continue to be politically active. Although politically conscientious voices are fast disappearing on the DU campus, as Shibir cadres are increasingly ensconcing themselves there. Still DU remains a hot-bed of anti-state politics. As does TU, witnessed by the violent protests against against the closing of the reform-minded newspaper, Salam, and more recently against Mr. Ahmadenijad.

Academically, both universities are formidable with a former alumnus/a in each case, bagging a Noble Peace Prize recently: Shirin Ebadi in 2003 and Muhammad Yunus in 2006.