Three Cups of Tolerance

Schools should teach children to think, not to believe. My Biases

Last week I finished reading Relin and Mortenson's (rightly) popular book Three Cups of Tea. Biography, adventure story and political tract about a single individual's efforts to build schools in poverty-strickened northern Pakistan, this compelling tale is absorbing and important. Check it, and the children's books base on it, out.

Given the popularity of the title I had not planned to write a blog post about it, but then I read Paul Krugman's recent NYT column, The Big Hate. Krugman suggests that the right-wing media is feeding the violent, fringe elements in our own country, and asks:

What will the consequences be? Nobody knows, of course, although the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s — that thanks, in part, to the election of an African-American president, “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years.”

And that’s a threat to take seriously. Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.

Whether coming from the left or right, the ideological demagogues are pretty damn scary. Pakistan has the Wahabi madrassa schools that inculcate mindless intolerance in students; we get Fox News and Air America that attempt to engender intolerant rage. Same, same. Whether media or mullah, the philosophy is requiring people to believe, not to think.

I thought it interesting that Mortenson changed the subtitle of his book from the hardback to the paperback editions, from "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time" to "One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time." After reading how the fundamentalist schools in central Asia work as recruiting tools for the Taliban and other Islamic extremist groups, I think the first subtitle is more accurate.

Both the book and the column ought to make all of us think about the primary purpose of education in our own countries. Are about simply about the 3 Rs - Rote, Restrain, Regurgitation - or about giving kids access to a multiplicity of voices and views and then allowing them to form their own conclusions, opinions and values?

How's that one right answer thing working out for us?

Comments

[Paul C]

In a perfect world there is a balanced news media which filters through all the information to provide a reasoned assessment. Let's hope that's a chief lesson which students are receiving in school. Great rewording of the title of Mortenson's book and an excellent overview of the importance of critical thinking.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Paul,

It was your blog that put me on to the book! Thanks so much.

Doug