25 June 2004
International Community Must Support "Education Renaissance" in Iraq
Comments by former CPA education adviser to Iraq John Agresto
By Erin Block
Washington File Writer
Washington -- John Agresto, the Coalition Provisional Authority's former senior adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education, has appealed to universities, professors and scholars around the world to support the "education renaissance" in Iraq.
"Professors in Iraq have been disconnected from the outside world and they are desperately trying to make connections," said Agresto at an American Enterprise Institute panel in Washington June 23. "They want to be fresh in their fields again; they want to learn about what they've missed in the past years."
The former president of St. John's College in New Mexico said that the international community cannot desert Iraq after sovereignty is restored and U.S. advisers depart the country.
Agresto urged the continuation of educational reform in Iraq through professor and student exchanges, book and computer donations and international travel to conferences and panels.
Agresto wrote in an article published in April that international education leaders must answer the call from their Iraqi colleagues and "send them books, laboratory equipment and supplies, invite them to conferences, advise their students, teach with them in Iraq and generally help them back on the road to academic parity."
During his nine-month stay in Iraq, Agresto worked to establish partnerships between Iraq universities and American universities.
He said 20 American universities have paired up with Iraq universities. He said Duke University has sent books and Western Michigan University and East Tennessee State have sent people to help in the medical field.
Agresto would like to see additional partnerships made and established relations strengthened once security in Iraq is improved.
"Hopefully the very difficult security situation will improve," and education reformers can better do their job, he said.
Despite obstacles, Agresto said he felt "entirely optimistic" that higher education in Iraq is going in the right direction.
He noted that 20 public universities and 43 technical institutes in Iraq recently finished up a full school year, and first-year enrollment figures saw an increase from 63,000 students to 97,000 students.
Also, the Fulbright Scholarship Program has been reinstated after a 14-year absence and 25 scholarships were given for students to study in the United States in 2004, he said.
In the Kurdish area, there are plans to establish the first liberal arts university in the country. Courses such as philosophy, human rights, comparative religion, Western civilization and the history of democracy will be taught, said Agresto.
The Coalition Provisional Authority also has tried to build civil society in Iraq by organizing women's organizations, NGO's and youth organizations such as Boy Scouts.
But Agresto sees a need to educate the society about democracy and freedom before these organizations can be successful.
"We know that a culture of dependency grows out of tyranny," said Agresto.
He said a university president in Iraq told him that tyranny has "infected the minds of the people in this country."
Agresto said that the teaching methods used today in Iraq are similar to the pedagogical practices of Saddam's regime and are not helpful to a democratic society.
"The method of instruction is listen, memorize and repeat. Any variation from the teacher is demoted," said Agresto.
Iraqis learn in the mosques, at home and in the schools to not question tradition, beliefs or authority, said Agresto.
"The Iraqis were happy to be liberated, don't think twice about that, but we liberated them," said Agresto. "They didn't liberate themselves and I think that's at the heart of our problems."
Educating the Iraqi people about democracy, helping them to understand what democracy is and how to be a democratic people will lead to a free Iraq, said Agresto.
Eleana Gordon, vice president of Communications and Democracy Programs at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, participated in the same panel discussion with Agresto. She encouraged other democracies to share ideas and not be shy with educating Iraqis about democracy.
"People were so hungry to know" about democracy, their rights and their freedoms, said Gordon in reference to Iraqi women she met at a conference in the spring.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=June&x=20040625171614rekcolb0.5884821&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
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