CAN WESTERN-STYLE EDUCATION TRANSFORM THE MIDDLE EAST?
By: Rusty Wright If you only learn to repeat what you’ve been taught – and not to think for yourself – you may be ill prepared to vote. That’s the lesson the Jerusalem-born librarian conveyed as we sat in her office in a brand new boarding school near Madaba, Jordan. When Afaf Kazimi moved to Jordan many years ago and could vote for the first time, she simply cast her ballot on another’s recommendation without knowing much about the candidate. “I voted for the wrong person,” she concluded in hindsight. Much of her early school education had involved rote memorization – learning facts for tests, as is common in the Middle East – and had lacked training in critical thinking, skills she developed later. Now she’s excited to be part of a new experiment that blends Western analytical emphases with traditional Arab culture, helping students avoid the educational path she and others had to take. Jordan’s King’s Academy opened in 2007 with goals of helping students from many nations and differ
