[Vision2020] Iraqi Higher Ed in Shambles

[Melissa Hendrickson]

How many centuries did Christians kill each other over "stupid" 
sectarian violence?  Christians may not resort to physical violence to 
settle differences between groups in our current era, but there are 
still plenty of us who will not sit at the same table as others, who 
belittle and berate our brothers and sisters in Christ because we do 
not agree with their theology.  If we as Christians cannot come to one 
table and put our differences aside who are we to judge another 
religion?  Especially when our past is just as bloody, if not more, 
than our Muslim cousins?  

I am just as guilty of talking poorly of other Christians, I have been 
hurt deeply by those who profess to be Christians, yet hurl slanderous 
and hate filled words and deeds in my direction.  We are all driven by 
our bias and prejudice, we have the choice to continue to live 
according to our bias or look at ourselves and work against that bias 
and move towards conforming to Christ.

--Mo




----- Original Message -----
From: Dick Sherwin <rvrcowboy at clearwire.net>
Date: Thursday, October 5, 2006 0:14 am
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Iraqi Higher Ed in Shambles
To: Vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>, nickgier at adelphia.net

> This is too bad.  It is sad the Muslim world chooses to turn in on 
> itselfand eat its own.  No wonder nothing of value to mankind 
> comes from such a
> situation.  The Muslim world has been killing each other for 
> centuries over
> sectarian stupidity.  I doubt anythng will ever change that.  Of 
> course, the
> far left will put the blame on Bush, even though this carnage has 
> been going
> on long before he was even born.
> 
> Dick S
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <nickgier at adelphia.net>
> To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 11:11 PM
> Subject: [Vision2020] Iraqi Higher Ed in Shambles
> 
> 
> > raq's universities and schools near collapse as teachers and 
> pupils flee
> >
> > Peter Beaumont in Baghdad
> > Thursday October 5, 2006
> > The Guardian
> >
> > Iraq's school and university system is in danger of collapse in 
> largeareas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in 
> the face of
> threats of violence.
> >
> > Professors and parents have told the Guardian they no longer 
> feel safe to
> attend their educational institutions. In some schools and 
> colleges, up to
> half the staff have fled abroad, resigned or applied to go on 
> prolongedvacation, and class sizes have also dropped by up to half 
> in the areas that
> are the worst affected.
> >
> > Professionals in higher education, particularly those teaching the
> sciences and in health, have been targeted for assassination. 
> Universitiesfrom Basra in the south to Kirkuk and Mosul in the 
> north have been
> infiltrated by militia organisations, while the same militias from 
> Islamicorganisations regularly intimidate female students at the 
> school and
> university gates for failing to wear the hijab.
> >
> > Women teachers have been ordered by their ministry to adopt 
> Islamic codes
> of clothing and behaviour.
> >
> > "The militias from all sides are in the universities. Classes 
> are not
> happening because of the chaos, and colleagues are fleeing if they 
> can,"said Professor Saad Jawad, a lecturer in political science at 
> BaghdadUniversity.
> >
> > "The situation is becoming completely unbearable. I decided to 
> stay where
> many other professors have left. But I think it will reach the 
> point where I
> will have to decide.
> >
> > "A large number have simply left the country, while others have 
> applied to
> go on prolonged sick leave. We are using MA and PhD students to 
> fill in the
> gaps."
> >
> > Wadh Nadhmi, who also teaches politics in Baghdad, said: "What 
> has been
> happening with the murders of professors involved in the sciences 
> is that a
> lot of those involved in medicine, biology, maths have fled. The 
> people who
> have got the money are sending their children abroad to study. A 
> lot - my
> daughter is one of them - are deciding to finish their higher 
> education in
> Egypt."
> >
> > It is not only in Baghdad that the universities are beginning to 
> sufferfrom the security situation. In Mosul, too, professors 
> complain of a system
> now approaching utter disarray.
> >
> > Mohammed U, a 60-year-old science professor who asked for his 
> full name
> not to be disclosed, spoke to the Guardian after returning from 
> the funeral
> of a colleague, a law professor and head of the law faculty, who 
> died in an
> explosion.
> >
> > "Education here is a complete shambles. Professors are leaving, 
> and the
> situation - the closed roads and bridges - means that both 
> students and
> teachers find it difficult to get in for classes. In some 
> departments in my
> institute attendance is down to a third. In others we have 
> instances of no
> students turning up at all.
> >
> > "Students are really struggling. To get them through at all, we 
> have had
> to lower academic levels. We have to go easy on them. The whole 
> system is
> becoming rapidly degraded."
> >
> > The situation is reflected in many of Iraq's schools. "Education 
> in my
> area is collapsing," said a teacher from a high school in Amariya, 
> who quit
> four months ago. "Children can't get to school because of road 
> blocks. The
> parents of others have simply withdrawn them from the school 
> because of the
> fear of kidnapping.
> >
> > "If children have to travel by car, we are much less likely to 
> see them.
> When I left, we had 50% attendance. We see parents when they come 
> in to ask
> for the children to have a 'vacation', and they admit they are too 
> scared to
> let them come.
> >
> > "Between September 8 and 28 two members of the staff were 
> murdered. The
> staff was supposed to be 42. Now there are only 20."
> >
> > It is hardest of all on young Iraqis, most of whom are desperate 
> for an
> education. Ala Mohammed, a high school student from Zafaraniya, 
> had hoped to
> go to university this year. But her college is in Adhamiya, a 
> neighbourhoodnotorious for violence, so she has been forced to ask 
> for a deferral. "The
> journey is too long and too unsafe. I don't know whether I will be 
> going to
> college or stay jailed at home."
> >
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