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Arab Education Displays Its Discontents

[Daily Star-Lebanon] Raja Kamal and Tom G. Palmer - The Saudi religious curriculum, which couples rote memorization of texts with uncritical acceptance of tribal practices, keeps the country backward. It does not prepare students to cope with modernity, nor to be productive participants in an increasingly global economy. The greatest culprit is the suppression of critical thinking, coupled with limited and weak exposure to math and science. Each year thousands of students graduate from universities with degrees in Sharia (Islamic law) or Arabic literature. Thinking for oneself - a precondition of both entrepreneurship and of democratic participation - is suppressed. Raja Kamal is senior associate dean at the Harris School for Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. Tom G. Palmer is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
2009-04-30 06:00:00
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