Schools: Educating or Molding?
Peace be upon you
Dear viewers, we're still on our
"Women in Depth" journey
We've now arrived at
the 'Education' station
Let's review the history of
modern school education
which is the foundation
for university education
But why are we changing the
topic (away from women)?
It's not a change; we're just
laying the groundwork
to see if modern education
equips a girl to become
a woman of the future?
Does it help her perform the roles
she was created for?
Does it benefit her and provide her
with serenity and happiness
in this life and the next?
Today's episode is about
education in general:
men and women;
young kids and teenagers
We'll review the features
of learning and education in Islam
—stemming from Revelation—
and keep them in mind
as guidelines, as we
discuss the development of
modern school education
and its worldwide spread;
including in the Muslim world
We have the right to know
what brought us
to these classrooms
in which we spend 12-14
years of our young lives:
the most critical stage in
forming our characters
We have the right to wonder
what role did the schools play
in producing the corrupt doctor,
cheating engineer, thieving
merchant, embezzling official,
skeptic physicist, atheist biologist,
feminist doctor and others?
The first verse that Allah revealed
to Prophet Muhammad,
Peace & Blessing be upon him
is, "Read in the name
of your Lord Who created."
(Quran Translated Meaning 96:1)
O Mankind: Read and learn
about the universe and life
and perceive them
in the name of your Lord
based on your belief in Him
as a Lord Who educates you
He created you
from a clinging clot,
guided you to acquiring and
sharing knowledge by the pen
and granted you
an innate nature and a mind
capable of recognizing truths;
as it's created by a Perfect Lord
It's not a mind that came
by random chance
but a mind prepared by
the Most Gracious Creator
Who wants Man to learn
what he doesn't know
Read to benefit yourself
and others with knowledge
and use knowledge to deduce
the Greatness of Allah, thank Him
and achieve the purpose you
were created for: Servitude
in its comprehensive sense
to attain virtue in life & beyond
A universal vision that harmonizes
soul, spirit, emotions and mind
so that all abilities are directed
toward achieving the ultimate goal
A vision that stems from
belief in the Oneness of Allah
to produce a monotheistic soul
and concentrated perception;
not disoriented or fragmented
Driven by this vision
Muslims made huge contributions
to all forms of Ilm (knowledge)
"The Journey of Certainty"
lists many sources
that acknowledge the Islamic roots
for many sciences and inventions
including the
Experimental Method itself
This is acknowledged
even by (unbiased) Westerners
The Islamic education system has
safeguards against corruption:
First: Education is
servitude to Allah
whether it is in Shari'a
or natural sciences
Thus the culture:
"Read in the name of your Lord"
was widespread in society,
in families,
in Quranic schools (by educators),
mosques, education circles
and in schools
founded in the Islamic eras
This leads us to the 2nd safeguard:
The shared responsibility
Everyone shares the
responsibility of education
It doesn't rest solely
on the shoulders of the state
Shared responsibility immunizes
against the spread of corruption
—even when the governing body
is corrupt—
because society is founded on:
"All of you are guardians...
responsible for your subjects."(Bukhari)
Thus, every pious guardian
strives to
minimize the damage
to those under his care
even when leaders are corrupt.
And parents and educators continue
teaching in servitude to Allah.
This protects the roots of Muslim society
even when the branches become corrupt
as healthy branches can
regrow from the protected roots
Third: The authenticity and
permanence of the reference
"Read in the name of your Lord..."
(QTM 96:1)
Revelation is the reference
so the values and standards of Ilm
remain unchanged
Based on Revelation
the state provides
the necessary environment to
spread true knowledge,
empower qualified
individuals and protect
people from the peddlers
of ignorance and misguidance;
because protecting the mind is one
of the five imperatives of Shari'a
The state sets boundaries
then, flexibility within these boundaries
and the ruler's accountability
is regulated by Revelation
There is a reference:
The reference of Revelation
which no ruler can alter in any way
Rather, the ruler is
required to attend to
people's affairs based on this reference
If the ruler violates it and commands
teaching something that
goes against public welfare, then:
"There is no obedience to any human
being if it involves
disobedience of Allah." (Ahmed)
He must be stopped
and forced to submit
to Revelation
as his authority is not absolute!
Rather
"...If you disagree over anything,
refer it to Allah and the Messenger..."
(QTM 4:59)
Fourth: Islam instructs that wealth
should be distributed fairly in society;
not stolen or controlled by a
ruling circle or group of capitalists
Islam fights the concentration of
wealth in the hands of a select few:
"..so that wealth should
not circulate only
among those of you who are rich..."
(QTM 59:7)
Giving people financial security
and independence means that
students and
people of knowledge, in all areas
can speak freely
as they are not threatened
in their livelihood
Their salary doesn't come
from a ruling group
that can withhold it
if they refuse to submit to its whims
This free environment enabled Islamic
charity endowments to play a great role
in education; with wealthy Muslims
allocating money
—as an ongoing charity after death—
to fund students who devote
themselves to the pursuit of knowledge
This helped social institutions
retain their power
and role in developing
scholars in various fields
even in times of regime deterioration
For example, Al-Azhar
—before it was corrupted
by British colonialism—
was funded by endowments
The fair distribution of wealth
prevents education
from becoming a tool in the
hands of a pack of tycoons
Instead, the concept of servitude in
education is present in full force
The goal is for the Ummah
to achieve servitude
to Allah, in its comprehensive
sense, as we discussed
This takes us to the fifth feature
of Islamic education:
The output of education
is not measured by the qualification
of individuals to serve
investors and multi-national corporations
i.e. slavery in disguise
but by the achievement
of Quranic objectives:
The welfare of people
in this life and the Hereafter
and the righteousness of
their souls, spirits and morals
Thus, the Islamic scholar is valued
and the mother is valued
even though they have
no value in the capitalist system
as they don't serve materialism
This sets the scene for
the empowerment of Muslims,
the emergence of Muslim influencers,
and the production of generations
of free people
who studied in society's
distinguished education centers
and whose financial security is
assured by society's economy centers
Their sole criteria for
accepting or rejecting
what they are asked to do is:
'Is it right or wrong?'
They are not taught
servitude to other than Allah
nor are they threatened
in their livelihood. So:
1) Education is in the name of Allah
2) It's an act of worship by everyone
and it's everyone's responsibility
3) Revelation is the source for
existential truths, the driving force
for ilm and a permanent
constant reference that never changes
4) Education that harmonizes
the components of humanity
with a goal is to achieve servitude
to Allah in its comprehensive sense
5) Education supported by a just
economic system —not a monopoly
by a privileged few—
with safeguards against the deviations
and corrupt ideologies imposed
by unjust tyrants on generations
What was happening in
Europe during that time?
It's important for us to know
because a completely different model
of education was being formed
When our attachment to Revelation
weakened, the European occupiers
were able to dismantle our Islamic
education system,
destroy its strengths
and remove its safeguards
and replace it with their system;
but with a systematic
distortion to keep us as followers
who always lag behind
Europe had a feudal class system:
Masters and workers
Education was limited to the aristocrats
If the workers were taught anything
it was only to increase
their productivity for the Masters
Then, during the Renaissance in Italy
(1400 - 1600 AD)
a revolution against old authorities
took place
Countries with citizens were formed
instead of masters and workers
People were given a brief respite
until another class system slowly
emerged: Capitalism
Before, education was restricted
to a specific class
but under capitalism
the most economically feasible solution
to provide free education
for Europeans
was to establish formal schools
whose goal was:
State indoctrination of generations
and increasing the productivity
of the working class
to empower the state,
power factories and control
colonized countries that
they invade to rob their resources
To this end, the so-called
Factory Model School was established
to create a submissive human being
fashioned for factory work
The first of these schools appeared
in Prussia, Germany in 1717
You can read more about this
school model by researching the
"Prussian Education Model"
The second half of the 18th century
saw the first industrial revolution
Women were taken out of their homes
and given contraceptive pills
to increase their work time in factories
In 1807, schools in Prussia
were compelled to
submit to the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and teach whatever the state dictated
The German philosopher
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
in his book, "The General Nature
of the New Education", says,
"The schools must fashion the person,
and fashion him in such a way that
he simply cannot will otherwise
than what you wish him to will."
This is at a time when Germany was at
war with France and losing heavily
Fichte believed that the gravest error
leading to the poor upbringing of Germans
was the students' free will;
because it leads a person
to hesitate between good and evil
In contrast, a good upbringing should
be based on eliminating free will
since the goal is for students to be
fashioned to empower the state
Thus, in morning assemblies, students
stood in lines like 'military formations'
and performed mandatory rituals
to sanctify the state
About a quarter of a century later
in 1830, the German Friedrich Fröbel
established the first kindergarten
—because his father had remarried
after his mother's death
and he lived a miserable childhood
neglected by both his
father and stepmother—
Around this time, in 1835
while India was under the British
colonization —following the Muslim rule—
the British historian and
politician Thomas Macaulay
presented a report to the
British ruler in India, titled:
"Minute on Indian Education"
It stated,
"We must at present
do our best to form a class
who may be interpreters
between us and the millions
whom we govern,
a class of persons Indians
in blood and color
but English in tastes, in opinions,
in morals and in intellect
To that class we may leave it to refine
the vernacular dialects of the country,
to enrich those dialects
with terms of science
borrowed from the Western nomenclature,
and to render them by degrees
fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to
the great mass of the population."
There you have it! The goal of
establishing schools in colonies is
Maintaining the intellectual
occupation of a country
even after the military
occupation is over
Keep in mind this precise description
by Thomas Macaulay
as we talk about the current
international schools in Muslim countries
During all these developments
much ilm
was transferred from
Muslims to Europe
after severing it
from its religious origins:
from the roots of,
"Read in the name of your Lord..."
The new slogan became: "Read in
the name of the state and its power"
which in reality was
'read' in the name of the human,
his desires and his tyranny
In 1843
the concept of Factory Schools
moved from Prussia
to America and Europe
Then, between 1852 and 1917
compulsory education and public schools
were adopted in the American states
starting with Massachusetts
and ending with Mississippi
In 1892, in America, the Committee
of Ten (consisting of ten people) decided
to shape school education
in the way it is today:
Twelve years that include teaching
the Greek curriculum modified
with the modern English
language, science and history
This 12-year-system is still
in use worldwide!
We have a right to ask:
When this system, developed by the ten
was copied over to the Islamic world
did anyone ask:
Who are they? What is their reference?
Why should we adopt what they adopted?
What goals were they trying to achieve
when they set up this education system?
To answer these questions,
we revisited the biography of
of a prominent member
of the committee of ten:
William T. Harris
the U.S. Commissioner of Education
He submitted a dissertation titled:
"Indian Education"
on indigenous Indians;
the original inhabitants of America
We read the original
document of his dissertation
As a historical background
America's original inhabitants
are the American Indians
When Europeans invaded
they carried out genocides
killing millions of American Indians
—a bloody history covered
in another episode—
Even after Europeans
were relatively settled
conflict continued with the remaining
Indigenous American tribes
In this report, Harris,
Commissioner of Education, and
Gen. Thomas Morgan,
man of war
put forth a solution to dissolve
the new generation of American Indians
into the new American civilization;
so that they no longer form
a threat to the invaders
who became the
'legitimate' residents of America
The ideal solution suggested
by the authors was
to impose a radical system of education
by taking control of the
Indians at an early age,
secluding them as much as possible
from tribal life
and subjecting them to
compulsory en masse education
Harris says,
"One year or two years or even three years
of school education, is not so economical
as five years or ten years
of school training...
Because the short period
of school training
will make little impression
on the form of tribal life...
it will not form a society founded
on productive industry...
Our civilization must
protect itself from the
dangers of that lower
form of civilization
by supporting military
forces...[with] a continual
heavy expense,
or, on the other hand, the
cruel policy of extermination."
So, Harris suggested the Christian
missionary approach
in dealing with the Indians
i.e. imposing compulsory education
and taking them away from their
families for up to ten years
as a means for civilized integration!
This is William Harris
one of the top ten who founded
today's global educational system:
Sending children to schools
from an early age
and keeping them there
for extended periods
The main goal is
to weaken the power
of the tribe
and the parents' influence;
and impose
state policy on them
If societies achieve these goals
peacefully, then well and good
If not, this model will be
shamelessly enforced
like what's happening in China nowadays
with the Uighur
Muslim children
separated from their families,
raised by the communist state,
and stripped off their
religion and history;
so that they become docile human
robots, like other Chinese citizens
Harris admitted that people were
fashioned through the
school education system
In his book, "The Philosophy
of Education", he says,
"Ninety-nine out of a hundred people
in every civilized nation are automata,
careful to walk in the prescribed path,
careful to follow prescribed custom."
This isn't a coincidence, "This is the
result of substantial education,
which, scientifically defined,
is the subsumption of the
individual under his species."
He went on to suggest
treatments for this 'fashioning'
Some might say,"Who cares about Harris
and Fichte? This is all in the past.
The West now values
freedom of thought.
This molding and stripping of
free will is a thing of the past."
Thing of the past?!
What about the molding and brainwashing
that students are subjected to nowadays on
the issue of homosexuality, for example
after their brains and wills were molded
to accept adultery as personal freedom?
If it's justifiable to strip away
students' free will, as Fichte wants
and blend them culturally and dictate
their values, as Harris wants
—all in the name of
'Reinforcing the State'—
and there isn't an authentic reference
from Revelation to govern values
then values will change
with the change in times
Accepting homosexuality, for example,
is now a civilized value that
students must be molded and
brainwashed to accept
when, previously, it was
completely unacceptable
Compare this to the correct
Islamic scenario where
Revelation is the scale
and reference
that never changes
or alters with time;
where "Read in the name of your Lord..."
(Quran Translated Meaning 96:1)
is everyone's motto;
in a society where
children are protected
from the whims and subversions
of a ruling minority
Up until 1954
black children in the U.S.
were not allowed
to share the same
classrooms with white children
When the Supreme Court
mandated integrated schooling
many whites were enraged
and protested
with banners reading:
Stop Race Mixing
Race Mixing is Communism
When the little black girl
Ruby Bridges, entered her classroom
white parents objected
and pulled their children
out of school; leaving her
alone in her classroom
Ruby is still living!
Just imagine!
We're adopting this system
as a basis for school education;
without much filtering!
We're following a system that
—until recently— practiced
blatant discrimination
based on skin color
while we're the Ummah of
"...the most noble of you
in the Sight of Allah is the most
righteous of you..." (QTM 49:13)
Umar Ibnul Khattab, may Allah
be pleased with him, said,
"Abu Bakr is our chief, and
he manumitted our chief"
meaning Bilal, who was a
black Abyssinian (Bukhari)
One might say,
"You only list the cons
of this education system;
not its pros. This is biased."
Our goal here
dear viewers
isn't to review the academic history
and cover all details of the topic
but to focus on the points where this
education system differs significantly
from the concept of education
and learning in Islam
and to highlight the ruinous effects
the world is suffering from as a result
We aren't the only ones to criticize
this system and its outcomes
Some Westerners have also
raised objections
In 1983, the US National Commission
on Excellence in Education
submitted a report to the American nation
and the Department of Education, titled:
"A Nation at Risk:
The Imperative for Educational Reform"
Its author, James Harvey
said,
“The educational foundations of our
society are presently being eroded
by a rising tide of mediocrity
that threatens our very
future as a nation and a people.
If an unfriendly foreign power
had attempted to impose
on America the mediocre
educational performance
that exists today,
we might well have viewed
it as an act of war."
Was the education system
actually reformed after that?
Perhaps the answer is in
John Gatto's book
published 8 years later
in 1991
Based on his long
teaching experience
Gatto wrote the book,
"Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden
Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling"
to criticize the academic
curricula in American schools
The book spread widely and
a second edition was published in 2002
Here are some abstracts from the book
so that you can realize the
magnitude of the crisis:
"Schools and schooling
are increasingly
irrelevant to the great enterprises
of the planet [Earth].
No one believes anymore that
scientists are trained in science classes
or politicians in civics classes
or poets in English classes."
Meaning that schools were not a
factor in people's success in these areas
Gatto further says,
"The truth is that schools
don't really teach anything
except how to obey orders."
'Fashioning'
as we discussed!
He continues,
"The institution is psychopathic
—it has no conscience.
It rings a bell and the young
man in the middle
of writing a poem
must close his notebook
and move to a different cell
where he must memorize that humans and
monkeys derive from a common ancestor."
Thus, students learn
contradicting information:
In literature and language classes
they see their unique human abilities
that distinguish them from animals
then in science class
they have to memorize that
these lowly animals are
siblings from a common grandfather
This lack of a unified vision
based on authentic Revelation
results in a disconnection between
the various components of a human
and his consciousness.
The polarity of the different subjects
is the norm in school curricula
across the globe
especially in schools that play on public
emotion by including religious subjects
while dictating to students
the agenda of the state
and pseudoscience fabrications
about the universe and life
In his book
John Gatto also says,
“No large-scale reform is
ever going to work
to repair our damaged children
and our damaged society
until we force open
the idea of 'school'
to include family as the
main engine of education."
So, every guardian is responsible
for the education of his charge
On education in general
he says,
"...it should make you spiritually rich.
It should teach you what is important,
how to live and how to die."
This is something the school
system doesn't teach
as it cares more about
material aspects than human ones
Even from a purely materialistic
production prospective
is this education system successful?
Criticism is strong regarding
its shortcomings
even in this regard!
In 2006, the International
Adviser, Sir Ken Robinson
who was knighted in appreciation
of his services in education
gave a TED Talk
—with the highest number
of views in the history of the program;
more than 70 million thus far—
titled: "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"
In it, he criticizes
the school education system
that produces students terrified of
making mistakes; thus killing their
courage and creativity and ignores
children's need to move and play
Furthermore
the rigid hierarchal structure
of school subjects does not explore
talents, but squanders them!
Robinson says:
“Our education system has
mined our minds,
in the way that we strip-mine the
earth for a particular commodity."
If not found,
the student might be labeled as sick
while he may be gifted in areas
other than those mined by the school
In his talk: "The Failure of Success"
Dr. George Land told the audience
how the US space agency (NASA)
had asked him
and his colleague Beth Jarman
for a test to examine its
employees' creativity
He and his colleague
developed the test
then decided to test it on children
They found that the more children
learn at school, the more their
original creativity is destroyed
In 2013, Robinson gave
another TED Talk:
"How to Escape Education's Death Valley"
Some might say, "How can they accuse
the education system of killing talent,
when we're witnessing great advances
in inventions and discoveries?
We say: Allah endowed humans
with significant abilities
Today's discoveries are the result
of accumulated knowledge
—with major contributions by Muslims—
across many centuries
Thus, the advance in discoveries
isn't testimony for
the success of
the school education system
The book "Cradles of Eminence"
published in 1962
studied the childhood of more than 400
influential personalities of the 20th
century and found that 3 out of 5
i.e. 60%
were not satisfied
with schools or teachers
For your information, Thomas Edison
was described by his teacher
as a 'misfit':
unfit for school education
Edison didn't finish his schooling
—he left after elementary school—
and this 'misfit' went on to become one
of the greatest inventors in modern times
with 1,093 US patents
under his name
Albert Einstein's Greek teacher
pronounced him
'intellectually hopeless';
adding that Einstein
should leave school immediately
and stop wasting everyone's time!
I wonder how many talents
—across the globe—
were buried
by the school education system's
incompetence in exploring
and nurturing talents
There have been some attempts
to escape traditional schooling
such as the Waldorf Schools
which avoid using technology
and focus on cultivating talents
A number of Silicon Valley
employees enroll their children there
The founder of these
schools is Rudolf Steiner
who was influenced by
Eastern philosophy
So, it's no surprise that
the nursery schedule
includes a song at snack time
where students thank the sun, the earth
and the water for the food they eat
This happens even here
in Muslim countries!
May Allah be pleased with Ibn Taymiyyah
who said, in his book,
"Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim"
—in explaining the Wisdom
of Allah's command
not to follow the disbelievers—
"It is enough that corruption at the
roots must corrupt the branches.
Whoever notices this may
know some of Allah's Wisdom.
He who is sick at heart may
have doubts (about not following them)
because he can't see the benefits."
"The truth is that all actions
and affairs of a disbeliever
must have a flaw that prevents him
from reaping their benefit.
If any of his actions were
righteous and complete,
then he would have deserved
their reward in the Afterlife.
But all his affairs are either
corrupt or incomplete."
Here, a Muslim may express surprise,
"Why do Allah and His Messenger
Peace & Blessing be upon him
command us not to
imitate the disbelievers?"
We aren't talking about
benefiting from their discoveries
but about imitating their
education methods
that are based on their perceptions
of the universe and life
Imitating them in these aspects
may result in distortions
that aren't apparent to all
"as their affairs are either
corrupt or incomplete"
Muslims should develop their
own methods of education
using Revelation as a reference
One of the attempts to escape
the prevalent school education system
was presented by Salman Khan:
A Bengali American
with high qualifications
and a simple explanation style
He criticized the education
system in a TED Talk
and in his interview:
"The History of Education"
We've used both as references
Salman Khan established a free
international education platform
that teaches many sciences
in a style that considers
individual differences in comprehension
It allows students to watch
topics they want to study
and replay topics they
didn't understand;
with simplified explanations
As soon as his platform became popular
it was contained by the
sharks of capitalism
including Google and Bill Gates
who invested in it heavily
As expected, the funding served the
sponsors' intellectual and moral agendas
On the 50th anniversary
of the LGBTQ pride tradition
—celebrated by Google and Microsoft—
Khan Academy danced
to the same tune by promoting
LGBTQ people on Instagram
CBN NEWS reported how the platform
pushes this agenda in children's lessons
In English, for example
a blank space is left
when the discussion involves 2 women
for the student to choose
the linguistically correct answer
i.e. 'her' wife'!
So, each woman
went to lunch with 'her' wife!
Another form of indoctrination
involves brainwashing
the children into accepting
the values dictated by capitalist sharks
Last year, the academy again
celebrated LGBTQ Pride
by coloring their Twitter logo
with the 'rainbow' flag
As long as change remains
confined to style and form
and stays away from motives,
goals and reference
the desired reform will not happen
As long as countries
remain unconcerned
about teaching students
what benefits their faith and life;
and their focus remains
on indoctrination, molding,
instilling state values in children,
and teaching them obedience
—as in Ayman Abdul-Rahim's
lecture:
"Society Without Schools"—
the desired reform will not happen
International programs
such as IG, SAT and IB
emerged; but they all maintained
the following common features:
(among all forms of
education mentioned today)
1) The separation between
knowledge and Revelation
2) Blocking the natural path:
from knowledge to the Creator
3) The absence of servitude to Allah
in the quest for knowledge
4) Molding and indoctrination
in the values derived from
the ever-changing agendas
of capitalists and power-brokers
5) Continuously-shifting values
6) Measuring education's output
by grades and marketability;
not by the student's integrity
and ability to achieve
servitude to Allah in
its comprehensive sense
6) The separation and contradiction
between the different fields of
knowledge in many curricula;
such that what students
learn in Biology
contradicts with
what they learn in religion
on the origins of the
universe and life, for example
What is the alternative then?
What education do we want?
What are its pillars?
What's the woman's role in all of this:
To influence or be influenced?
This is what we will discuss
next episode, Allah willing
It is important to mention
that much of
the information in this episode
comes from the
compilations of brother
Dr. Abdul Rahman Zakir:
a psychology and education therapist
who's interested in studying
the soul and education
I also benefited from a discussion with
brother, Professor Anas Sheikh Krayyem:
a specialist in Shari'a and
educational psychology
as well as the efforts of
other brothers and sisters
who helped me investigate and
research information for today's episode
May Allah reward them all
Peace and Mercy of
Allah be upon you all