From the Beirut Daily Star: “Arab education displays its discontents,” by Raja Kamal and Tom G. Palmer
Arab Education and Its Discontents
2 Responses to “Arab Education and Its Discontents”
Leave a Reply
From the Beirut Daily Star: “Arab education displays its discontents,” by Raja Kamal and Tom G. Palmer
Saudi is a deeply troubled place.
When I lived there I used to save funny items from the newspaper. Here’s a typical example, which should give some more insight into the country. This is an article from circa 1993. The place has sadly gone further downhill since:
Ministry confiscates obscene T-shirts
JEDDAH – The Commerce Ministry confiscated a large quantity of blouses, T-shirts, bags and accessories carrying objectionable pictures and phrases in Madinah, Al-Eqtisadiah reported Wednesday. A number of T-shirts, blouses, bags, stockings with imprints of obscene expressions such as “Chorus Girl”, “I am Trash” and objectionable photos of the Titanic heroine were impounded in a surprise inspection of the market by the ministry officials, said Abdul Aziz Mogharbil, director of the ministry’s office in Madinah.
Steps are being taken to pin down the source of these items of clothing, he added. The Committee for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has warned young people not to wear such apparel and accessories and has distributed a translated list of obscene and objectionable expressions being imprinted on such articles.
The following are some of the objectionable words: Vixen, Nude, Whore, Hussy, Chorus Girl, Kiss Me, I Am Ready For Sexual Offers, Lust, Adulteress, Bastard, Charming, Buy Me, Pussy Vice, Bawdy, Eccentricity, Flirt, Socialism, Christian, Christmas, Cupid, Bible, Vicar, Atheist, Madonna, Atheist, Dram, Spirit, Brandy, Tippler and Nike.
Excellent article, and I am in agreement.
May I nevertheless offer a technical quibble? Economist Lant Pritchett has a paper that seems to show that education itself does nothave high economic returns.
http://wber.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/15/3/367
Similarly, the Soviet Union did a fine job of promoting general literacy & numeracy, and also managed to generate very large numbers of people well-educated in physics and similar disciplines. Even so, their economy collapsed… education and entrepreneurship are two distinct things.
Education is valuable, but neither necessary nor sufficient for economic success. OTOH, free markets and entrepreneurship are necessary and sufficient.
The benefits of education are more subtle than simply “education => growth.” Good education makes one better able to tackle difficult ideas, and that is a prerequisite for (although not a guarantee of) discerning truth.