Globalization and Educational Rights An Intercivilizational Analysis 9780805838817, 0805838813, 9781410606020, 1410606023, 0805838821

Table of contents :
Content: Contents: Preface. Global Education and an Intercivilizational Analysis. China: Confucius, Mao Zedong, and Socialist Modernization. Equality and Freedom in Islamic Education. Natural Rights and Education in the West. India: Education, Human Rights, and the Global Flow. A Constitutional Provision for Educational Rights.

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Globalization and

Educational Rights

Globalization and Educational Rights A n Intercivilizational Analysis

Sociocultual, Political, and Historical Studies in Education Joel Spring, Editor

Benham/Cooper • Indigenous Educational Models fo r Contemporary Practice: In Our Mother's Voice Benham/Heck • Culture and Educational Policy in Hawaii: The Silencing o f Native Voices Books, Ed. • Invisible Children in the Society and Its Schools Borman/Stringfield/Slavin, Eds. • Title I: Compensatory Education at the Crossroads DeCarvalho • Rethinking Family-School Relations: A Critique o f Parental Involvem ent in Schooling Gabbard, Ed. • Knowledge and Power in the Global Economy: Politics and The Rhetoric o f School Reform Glander • Origins o f Mass Communications Research During the Cold War: Educational Effects and Contemporary Implications Grant/Lei, Eds. • Global Constructions o f Multicultural Education: Theories and Realities Hones/Cha • Educating New Americans: Immigrant Lives and Learning Lipka/Mohatt/The Ciulistet Group • Transforming the Culture o f Schools: Yu’p ik Eskim o Exam ples Luke • Globalization and Women in Academia: North/West-South/East Meyer/Boyer, Eds. • Education Between State, Markets, and Civil Society: Comparative Perspectives Nespor • Tangled Up in School: Politics, Space, Bodies, and Signs in the Educational Process Nieto • Puerto Rican Students In U.S. Schools Peshkin • Permissible Advantage?: The Moral Consequences o f Elite Schooling Peshkin • Places o f Memory: Whitman's Schools and Native American Communities Pugach • On the Border o f Opportunity: Education, Community, and Language at the U.S.-Mexico Line Reagan • Non-Western Educational Traditions; Alternative Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice, 2nd Edition Roberts • Remaining and Becoming: Cultural Crosscurrents in an Hlspano School Shapiro-Purpel, Eds. • Critical Social Issues in American Education: Transformation in a Postmodern World, Second Edition Spring • The Cultural Transformation o f a Native American Family and Its Tribe, 1763-1995 Spring • Education and the Rise o f the Global Economy Spring • Globalization and Educational Rights: An Intercivlllzational Analysis Spring • Political Agendas fo r Education: From the Christian Coalition to the Green Party Spring • The Universal Right to Education: Justification, Definition, and Guidelines Weinberg • Asian-American Education: Historical Background and Current Realities

Globalization and Educational Rights An Intercivilizationa! Analysis

Joel Spring

New School University

R Routledge

Taylor & Francis Group

NEW YORK AND LONDON

Copyright © 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher. First published by Law rence E rlbaum A ssociates, inc.. Publishers 10 industrial A venue M ahw ah. NJ 07430 This edition published 2012 by Routledge 711 Third A venue, New York, NY 10017 2 Park Square, M ilton Park. A bingdon. O xon, O X 14 4R N

Routledge is an imprint o f the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Spring. Joel H. Globalization and educational rights : an intercivilizational analysis / Joel Spring. p. cm.-(Sociocultural, political, and historical studies in education) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-3881-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8058-3882-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Right to education-Cross-cultural studies. 2. Comparative education. I. Title. II. Series. LC213 .S66 2001 379.2,6—dc21 2001018942 CIP

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Preface 1 Global Education and an Intercivilizational Analysis Illustrating the Growing Uniformity of Global Education: “Not One Less” An Intercivilizational Approach to Defining Equality and Freedom of Education: Confucian, Islamic, Western, and Hindu Universal Declaration of Hum an Rights as an Intercivilizational Document Human Rights in the Global Flow and the Global Culture The Intercivilizational Character of Global Education Human Rights Statem ents on Equality, Freedom, and the Right to Education Conclusion 2 China: Confucius, Mao Zedong, and Socialist Modernization The Confucian Tradition Equality in Confucian Education The Litigious Versus the Self-regulated Society Confucian Educational Ideal Freedom of Speech, Scholars, and the Good Society Inequality and the Oppression of Women

xi I 2 3

5 7 10 14 19 20 23 24 27 28 30 32

CONTENTS

vi

Chinese Nationalism: “Western Function, Chinese Essence” Chinese Constitutionalism: Equality of Pleasure and Pain Mao Zedong: Thinking Equality and Freely Expressing Truth Socialist Modernization and Human Rights Equality, Freedom, and Socialist Modernization Gender Equality and Inequality Conclusion: The Contribution of Confucius, Mencius, Mao Zedong Thought, and Socialist Modernization to Ideas of Equality and Freedom in the Global Flow 3 Equality and Freedom in Islamic Education Q ur’anic Arabic: The Language of Islam Islam and the West Islamic History and the West Education, Pan Islam, Arab Nationalism, and the Islamic State Equality and Freedom in Iran’s Constitution Islam and Women’s Rights Equality of Educational Opportunity in Iran Equality and Freedom in Islamic Constitutions The Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights and The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam The Reality of Educational Opportunity in Islamic Nations Conclusion 4 Natural Rights and Education in the West Western Concepts of Equality and Freedom Equality and Freedom in the Western Enlightenment Equality and Freedom in the United States

34 36 39 46 48 52 53

57 58 59 61 65 68 71 74 74 78

80 84 89 90 92 98

CONTENTS

Equality, Scientific Racism, and Educational Discrimination The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the Bill of Rights Equality of Opportunity Equality Before the Law Equality of Educational Opportunity as a Human Right in the West Freedom and the Right to Education FYeedom of Choice and The European Union’s Right to Education Conclusion

vii

99 102 103 105 107 111 111 114

5 India: Education, Human Rights, and the Global Flow Anglicized Leadership and the Struggle for Freedom and Equality Inequality Based on Caste and Gender Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar: An Untouchable in Search of Equality Ghandhi and Theosophy in the Global Flow Gandhi: Education in the Global Flow Gandhi: Equality and the Reform of Hinduism Nehru Constitutional Provisions for Education The Pursuit of Equality in Indian Education The Case of the Missing Women Conclusion: The Lessons of India

115 116

6 A Constitutional Provision for Educational Rights Conclusion

152 16 1

119 122 128 131 I 35 140 145 147 149 149

Notes

163

Index

177

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Preface

I became interested in an intercivilizational approach to educational rights while reading the reaction of Asian scholars to Western concerns about hum an rights violations. As these scholars pointed out, Western history is filled with h orror stories of inquisitions, genocide, and the rape of colonial lands. The West is hardly a model for the safeguarding of hum an rights. Then I began to think about the 1948 Universal DeclaraUon of H um an Rights as an international project and not simply a Western project. The “natural rights” tradition of the West considered rights to have originated from a lost state of nature. On the other hand, "human rights” are considered the necessary conditions for promoting hum an welfare. Focusing on hum an welfare broadens the scope of rights doctrines from "natural rights” to rights that are considered es­ sential for hum an existence. The Western natural rights tradition never made education a right. In contrast, education in the 20th century is considered by m ost national constitutions a necessary condition for the promotion of hum an welfare and, therefore, is identified as a right. As a global idea, the m eaning of educational rights varies between civiliza­ tions. In this book, my intercivilizational analysis of educational rights includes som e of the w orld’s m ajor civilizations, namely Confucian, Is­ lamic, Western, and Hindu. Educational rights are included in national constitutions written since the global spread of hum an rights ideas after World War II. Most European constitutions now include an article on educational rights in contrast with the continued neglect of educational rights in the United States constitution. The constitutions of China, India, and all Islamic countries contain statem ents on educational rights. International hu­ m an rights statem ents, including the Universal Islamic Declaration of Hum an Rights, include educational rights. However, there are civilizational differences over the m eaning of educational rights. In the book’s first chapter, I consider educational rights as p a rt of the global flow of ideas and the global culture of schooling, and the tension this creates with different civilizational

X

PREFACE

traditions. In chapter 2 , 1examine the m eaning of educational rights in the Confucian tradition, the recent history of China, and in the Chinese ConsUtution. In chapter 3 , 1 look at educational rights in the context of Islamic civilization and as presented in the constitutions of Islamic countries. There is a sh arp contrast between the religious orientation of Islamic educational rights and those of China and the West. In chap­ ter 4 ,1explore the problem s created by the Western natural rights tradi­ tion and the eventual acceptance of educaUonal rights as represented in European constitutions. One focus in this chapter is the development and prom inence given in the West to the relationship between school­ ing and equality of opportunity. In chapter 5 , 1 investigate the effect of global culture on India and the blend of W estern and Hindu ideas in the Indian Constitution. I highlight the problem s created by centuries of discrim ination against wom en and lower castes for the fulfillment of educational rights. And finally, in chapter 6 , 1p re sen t an educational rights statem ent based on my intercivilizational analysis and on my exam ination of constitutions. It is my intention th at my statem ent of educational rights will serve as a model for the inclusion of educa­ tional rights in national constitutions. —Joel Spring

I

Global Education and an Intercivilizational Analysis

What is the goal of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Hum an Rights declaration that “Everyone has a right to education”? What is the m ean­ ing of equality and freedom as related to this goal? Do hum an rights, equality, and freedom have the sam e meaning in all civilizations? Is there an evolving global purpose for education? In answ ering these questions, I examine differing civilizational con­ cepts of education, equality, and freedom. Also, I study the educational rights provisions in a representative sam pling of national constitu­ tions. Based on these analyses, I propose constitutional am endm ents to ensure the im plem entation of a right to education that affirms equal­ ity and freedom of education. My analysis includes Confucian, Islamic, Western, and Hindu civili­ zations. These represent the m ajority of the w orld’s people; I did not include, for reasons of time and space, the w orld’s indigenous civiliza­ tions. For my purposes, civilization refers to “religions, languages, eth­ ics, and custom s that influence thoughts and behavior of people transcending national boundaries.”1 Within this meaning, Confucian civilization refers to those Asian people who are influenced in their thinking by centuries of Confucian teachings. Islamic civilization is held together by the teachings of the Q ur’an and the use of Q ur’anic Arabic. Western civilization is a product of Judaic-C hristian ideas, and the legacy of the Greek and Roman cultures. I selected Hindu civiliza­ tion, which rests on ancient Hindu laws, because the current constituI

2

CHAPTER I

tion of India is a p ro d u ct of the clash betw een W estern and H indu civilizations. B esides being a p ro d u ct of intercivilizational exchanges, the Indian constitution provides im p o rtan t insights into the problem s of establishing sta n d a rd s for the im plem entation of the universal right to education. ILLUSTRATING THE GROWING UNIFORMITY OF GLOBAL EDUCATION: “NOT ONE LESS” A m idst these civilizational differences, there is a growing uniform ity of global educaUon. T his uniform ity is a reflection of global econom ics. T hroughout this book, I d iscu ss the interaction betw een the unifor­ mity of global education and differing civilizational concerns about ed­ ucation. Also, I w ant to consider my opening q u estions on equality an d freedom of education in the context of global educational tren d s. T his discussion will sh arp en the differences between civilizational concepts of education and global tren d s. T he C hinese m ovie “Not One Less" provides a good illu stratio n of the u se of equality an d freedom in global p a tte rn s of education. In the movie a 13-year-old su b stitu te teacher in a p o o r a n d desolate village in ru ra l C hina excites h e r charges w ith the arith m etic problem of d e ­ term in in g how m any b ric k s m u st be moved in a nearby factory to earn enough m oney for the teach er to travel to the city in search of a m issin g stu d en t. After moving 1,000 b rick s, the p u p ils and teacher sto p a t a sto re to buy som ething to d rin k . Being p o o r a n d grow ing up in ru ra l isolation, the teach er an d stu d e n ts d o n ’t know w hat can be bought to quench th eir th irsts. T he sh o p k eep er acts a s an in stru c to r in m o d ern co n su m p tio n . She p o in ts to a sh elf of Coca-Cola®. The teach er a n d s tu d e n ts then engage in a n o th e r arithm etic exercise and determ in e th a t they can afford two can s of the liquid refreshm ent. The teacher a n d s tu d e n ts experience th eir first taste of Coca-Cola®. L ater in the film, after the teach er h as slept on city stre e ts a n d on a tra in statio n floor in search of h er m issing stu d e n t, a local television stu d io d ecides to u se her to highlight p ro b lem s facing ru ra l education in C hina. A ppearing on the p rogram “C hina Today,” the frightened girl sta re s sp eech less into a video cam era m ark ed w ith the Sony C or­ p o ratio n logo. A Sony b ra n d television conveys h e r image to the lo st stu d e n t w ho is in a stre e t re s ta u ra n t having been helped by its com ­ p assio n a te owner. The film’s concluding credits th an k the financial su p p o rt received from the Coca-Cola C orporation, the Ford Motor Company, and the Sony C orporation followed by a general request for donations to help su p p o rt education in ru ra l China. Obviously, these three m ultinational corpo ratio n s would love to change the lives of ru ral p easan ts so th at

GLOBAL EDUCATION, INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

3

they could earn enough money to buy their products. In the film’s final scenes, “China Today’s ” film crew arrives in the village with the teacher and lost student accom panied by a truck full of educational m aterials. The students use colored chalk from the new supplies to write m es­ sages of appreciation on the classroom chalkboard. “Not One L ess” suggests th at the universal right to education m eans learning to be m odern w orkers who are able to purchase pro d ­ ucts of m ultinational corporations. Of course, at one level, there is nothing wrong with this goal. The movie’s im poverished villagers do seem to lack adequate nutritio n and health care. Certainly, education and economic developm ent could help solve these problem s. On the other hand, will the villagers be happier if they are educated so that they can work to purch ase canned soda d rinks, televisions, and cars? Furtherm ore, it is through education that the teacher and students acquire a taste for these p roducts. They learn to w ant and need these commodities! The film’s overall m essage is that educational and economic devel­ opm ent will provide equality of opportunity in the labor and consum er m arkets. Rather than being lost and begging in the city's work and con­ sum er world, educated students will have an equal chance to compete for jobs and money, and the freedom to buy. Education will save the ru ­ ral peasantry! As reflected in "Not One Less,” equality and freedom in education are frequently thought of as preparing students for equality of opportu­ nity in the competition for jo b s and income and the freedom to con­ sume. However, I do not feel that these definitions should represent all the goals implied in Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Hu­ man Rights. Equality of opportunity and freedom of consum ption, I believe, fail to adequately express the full range of m eaning of equality and freedom existing within the w orld’s civilizations. AN 1NTERCIVIL1ZATIONAL APPROACH TO DEFINING EQUALITY AND FREEDOM OF EDUCATION: CONFUCIAN, ISLAMIC, WESTERN, AND HINDU Do all civilizations share a com m on m eaning regarding “hum an rights,” “education,” “equality,” and “freedom?” To answ er this ques­ tion, I will apply an intercivilizational method suggested by Onuma Yasuaki, a Professor of International Law at the University of Tokyo. He argues for an intercivilizational approach because the people of West­ ern countries assum e that they are the reason for the global presence of hum an rights doctrines. O num a Yasuaki argues that Asian coun­ tries that are denounced for violation of hum an rights “were once u n ­

4

CHAPTER I

d er colonial rule an d the victim s of m ilitary intervention and economic exploitaUon by developed co u n tries.”2 O num a charges W estern na­ tions with hypocrisy w hen charging nations such as C hina with hum an rights violations. He stre sse s that, “For those who have experienced co­ lonial rule an d interventions u n d er such beautiful slogans as ‘h u m a n ­ ity’ and ‘civilization’, the term ‘h u m an rig h ts’ looks like nothing m ore than an o th er beautiful slogan by w hich great pow ers rationalize their interventionist policies."3 O num a contends th at finding a hum an rights trad itio n in W estern societies is very difficult because of the West’s long history of feudalism , colonialism , enslavem ent of other populations, genocide of indigenous peoples, an d discrim ination against w om en. Certainly, the very existence of H itler and the Jew ish H olocaust raises d o u b ts ab o u t the su periority of W estern societies over o th ers in the a ren a of h um an rights. H um an rights, m eaning rights provided to all hum an beings including w om en an d children, is not p a rt of the n atu ral rights m ovem ents in W estern societies as they originated in the 18th a n a 19th centuries. W esterners, O num a contends, assu m e only non-W estern religions and cultu res have to be exam ined to discover h u m an rights traditions. For instance, W esterners do not attem pt to “find" h u m an rights in C hristianity o r W estern cultures because they assu m e th at they are a distinct p a rt of those traditions. W esterners w rite books and articles th at attem p t to identify h u m an rights trad itio n s in such religious and cultural trad itio n s as B uddhism , Confucianism , M uslim ism , and Hin­ du ism .4 R epresenting w hat he feels are the d o u b ts held by m any E ast Asians ab o u t the West’s claim to superiority in h u m an rights, O num a writes, "Prior to the tw entieth century, the history of h u m an rights is the h is­ tory of qualifications. The m ale-dom inated French N ational Assembly of 1792 denied the D eclaration of the Rights of Women, and the West-centric Versailles Conference of 1919 rejected the Ja p a n e se p ro ­ posal for including a racial equality clause in the Covenant of the League of Nations. The century and a half following the Am erican Dec­ laration of Independence and the French D eclaration of the Rights of Man an d Citizens ... w itnessed the peak of colonization by Western pow ers.”5 For in stan ce, w hen it w as p ro claim ed in th e 1776 A m erican Dec­ lara tio n of In d ep en d en ce th a t “All m en a re c re a ted e q u al” the W hite citizen s of th ese sp a rse ly p o p u lated a n d relatively unk n o w n g ro u p of B ritish colonies ow ned slaves, an d they w ere engaged in w a rs of genocide ag ain st a local native p o p u la tio n .6 T he p revious year, colo­ n ist P atrick Henry, ignoring the plight of slaves a n d Native A m eri­ can s, d eclared , “I know no t w hat co u rse o th e rs m ay take, b u t a s for m e, give m e lib erty o r give me d eath !”7 The w o rd s w ere in ten d ed for

GLOBAL EDUCATION. INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

5

the e a rs of fellow slave-holding V irginians w ho w ere d ebating re sis­ tance to the B ritish crow n an d no t th o se of enslaved A fricans and Native A m ericans. In reality, the h um an rights m ovem ent of the 20th century resulted from interaction between civilizations. In fact, the 1948 DeclaraUon of H um an Rights w as a p ro d u ct of a dialogue betw een m em bers of the United N ations. Of course, Western natio n s participated in the dia­ logue and exerted influence. But, given the painful history of Western violations of h u m an rights, it would be difficult to m aintain the argu­ m ent that the West is the sole source of ideas abo ut hum an rights and of concern ab o u t protecting the welfare of all h u m an beings. Consequently, I take an intercivilizational approach to defining equality and freedom in education. As I will dem onstrate, every civili­ zation h as given different m eanings to these concepts. From this intercivilizational approach I extract universal concepts of equality and freedom in education and I dem onstrate the problem s and p ro s­ pects for their applicability in differing civilizations. THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AS AN INTERCIVILIZATIONAL DOCUMENT The intercivilizational n atu re of equality, freedom , and hum an rights was exemplified by a sym posium hosted by the United Nations E duca­ tional, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ju s t prio r to the issuance of the 1948 D eclaration.8 The p u rp o se of the sym posium was to find a com m on ground am ong various intellectual traditions for the su p p o rt of h um an rights. China w as rep resen ted by Chung-Shu Lo, who in his sym posium essay dem o n strated the difference between Chinese and W estern concepts of rights. He observed that “the pro b ­ lem of h u m an rights [as conceived by W esterners] were seldom d is­ cussed by Chinese th in k ers ... T here w as no open declaration of hum an rights in China ... until this conception w as introduced from the West.”9 In fact, according to Chung-Shu, there w as no Chinese equivalent for the w ord rights. The C hinese translation of rights in­ cludes two w ords C huan Li, m eaning “pow er an d interest.” Lo claimed this tran slatio n w as done by an u nnam ed Ja p a n e se w riter on Western public law in 1868 because J a p a n also lacked any equivalent w ords for the W estern idea of rights. However, d e sp ite the lack of any clearly id entifiable h u m a n rig h ts trad itio n , C hung-Shu suggested th a t so m e tra d itio n a l C hinese ideas could be co n sid e re d close to W estern ideas. For in stan ce, he quoted the C hinese classic. B ook o f H isto ry : "Heaven sees as o u r people see; Heaven h e a rs a s o u r people hear. H eaven is c o m p assio n ate to ­ w ard s the people ... Heaven loves the people; an d the Sovereign

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CHAPTER I

m u st obey H eaven.”10 B ased on th is q uote, C hung-Shu argued th a t the C hinese people believed in the right to revolt ag ainst ru le rs who did n o t serve th e w elfare of th e people. C hung-Shu stated th a t the C hinese rela tio n sh ip of the ru le r to the ru led p aralleled som e E u ro ­ p ea n tra d itio n s. He claim ed th a t “h u m a n ” rig h ts d o c trin es could be su p p o rte d by C hinese tra d itio n s. C hung-S hu o bserved, “T he so v er­ eign a s well a s the officials w ere tau g h t to reg ard them selves a s the p a re n ts o r g u a rd ia n s of the people, an d to p ro te ct th eir people as they w ould th e ir own c h ild re n .”11 O ther essayists to the UNESCO volume objected to the W estern n a t­ ural rights traditions. S.V. P u n tam b ek ar p resented a H indu concept of hu m an rights that em phasizes the sp iritu al n atu re of hum ans. He criti­ cized the W estern s tre ss on reason and science that m arked the em er­ gence E uro p ean rights doctrines. In criticizing the Western tradition for su p p ressin g the spiritual n atu re of life, P u n tam bekar wrote, “We shall have to give u p som e of the su p erstitio n s of m aterial science and lim ited reason, which m ake m an too m uch this-worldly, and introduce higher sp iritu al aim s and values for Ihu m an jk in d.”12 P u n tam b ek ar derived a set of hum an rights from Hindu traditions. He identified five social freedom s and five individual possessions or virtues n ecessary for achieving the good spiritual life. Each social free­ dom w as linked to an individual p ossession o r virtue. P untam bekar provided a list of social freedom s and individual virtues; this is p re ­ sented in Table 1.1. Also concerned abo u t Western claim s to originating hum an rights ideals, Islam ic leaders are divided between those w ho w orry th a t the hum an rights m ovem ent is a n attem p t to im pose Western values on them and those advocating an Islam ic b asis for universal hum an rights. International legal scholar Ann Mayer w rites, “One finds M us­ lim s w ho disparage h um an rights as reflecting alien, W estern values. In

TABLE 1.1 Hindu Concept of Human Rights13

Social Freedom s

Individual Possessions or Virtues

1. Freedom from violence

1. Absence of intolerance

2. Freedom from want

2. Compassion or fellow freedom

3. Freedom from exploitation

3. Knowledge

4. Freedom from violation or dishonor

4. Freedom of thought and conscience

5. Freedom from early death and diesease

5. Freedom from fear and frustration or despair

GLOBAL EDUCATION. INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

7

their view, international hum an rights are incompatible with Islam, Muslims m ust reject them .”14 However, Islamic scholars do identify traditional ideas that are de­ signed to protect the rights and welfare of Muslim people. For instance, a num ber of Muslim countries participated in the writing of the 1981 Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration recog­ nizes the benevolent and protective aspects of Moslem traditions.15The 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam declares, “Funda­ mental rights and Universal freedoms in Islam are an integral part of the Islamic religion and that no one as a m atter of principle has the right to suspend them in whole or in part or violate or ignore them ... ”16 Some Westerners recognize the intercivilizational character of hu­ m an rights ideas. For instance, Paul Gordon Lauren equates hum an rights with a regard for the general welfare of people. In other words, hu­ man rights are those ideas in each civilization designed to promote the welfare of all. Lauren uses this approach in his book The Evolution o f International H um an Rights. For example, Lauren finds in both Chris­ tian and Hindu civilizations prohibitions against hurting others. He states that “the first and foremost principle of Hinduism ... is noninjury to others. The edict is stated directly and universally: ‘Noninjury ... is not causing pain to any living being at any time through the actions of one's mind, speech, or body.'”17 Initiating the spread of Buddhism al­ m ost 2,500 years ago, Lauren argues, Siddhartha Gautama criticized the existence of social inequalities and urged followers to become a fra­ ternity of equals dedicated to compassion and charity. Lauren also states that Confucianism em phasizes the responsibility of each person to promote harmony, maintain the welfare of others, and recognize that all people are of equal worth. In addition, Lauren considers hum an rights to be a concern of 10th century Islamic scholar Al-Farabi, who en­ visioned a moral society “in which all societies individuals were en­ dowed with rights and lived in love and charity with their neighbors.”18 In using an intercivilizational approach, I equate concerns about hu­ man welfare with concerns about hum an rights. Each of the major civili­ zations discussed in this book have traditions that speak to the issue of hum an welfare. However, as I discuss, all of these traditions contain cer­ tain ideas that hinder the full development of humans. All civilizations also have educational traditions, but these traditions contain ideas that have sometimes limited equality of educational opportunity and freedom. HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE GLOBAL FLOW AND THE GLOBAL CULTURE Along with the intercivilizational approach used in this book, I use Arjun Appadurai's concept of ideoscapes in the global cultural flow.19

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CHAPTER I

Trained as an anthropologist, Appadurai substitutes the expression global culturalflow for the term global culture. However, I believe that the term global culture rem ains useful in denoting the growing unifor­ mity and homogenization of the w orld's cultures. I think of the global flow as a conglomeration of ideas, technology, media, and money that envelopes the world. Inside the global flow is a loosely coherent thread of global culture that som etim es is clearly de­ fined and at other tim es is diffuse and opaque. The global culture is a magnet attracting people to a particular ideology regarding economic opportunity and consum ption. Global culture denotes the standardization and homogenization of cultures that is occurring with the spread of m ass consum er goods and economic development. I imagine the thread of global culture winding its way through the confusion of the global flow. Unlike the global flow, this identifiable thread of global culture appears uniform and stan­ dardized. drawing people and resources to it while creating a sam e­ ness and uniformity to worldwide economic growth. I have heard travelers comm ent of the growing sam eness of con­ sum er goods and popular culture. In my own country, I see sim i­ lar-looking m alls with identical stores selling identical products. No m atter what cam pus I visit, college students melt into the sam e image. I find this increasing uniformity wherever I travel. Visiting Taiwan, I heard the sam e rhetoric about schooling as I do in the United States. Walking the streets of Taipei I passed Starbucks coffee shops, McDon­ ald's fast-food ham burger em porium s, and Seven Eleven convenience stores. The sam e hotel and clothing chains are everywhere. I could find only a Kentucky Fried Chicken open on a Sunday afternoon while driv­ ing around the C arribean Island of St. Lucia. At the time, I thought of lines of people around the world all waiting to eat chicken cooked ac­ cording to the sam e formula. Resisting the pull of globed culture, som e people reach into the global flow seeking social and economic alternatives, or they try to re ­ m ain rooted in their local culture and language. O ther people, p artic­ ularly those in underdeveloped countries, try to grab hold of the thread of the global culture only to find it outside their grasp because of economic deprivation or political oppression. W hatever their cir­ cum stances or desires, the w orld’s people feel the attraction of the global culture as they try to define their place in the stream of w orld­ wide events. In coining the term global Jlow, A ppadurai’s purpose is to denote constant change and to indicate that the meaning of ideas is dependent on historical, linguistic, and political contexts.20 He purposely uses the suffix -scape in identifying ideoscapes, ethnoscapes, m ediascapes, technoscapes, and financescapes as major p arts of the cultural flow

GLOBAL EDUCATION, INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

9

because -scape implies the fluid and irregular shape of a landscape. Also, -scape is m eant to signify the varying perspectives of the w orld’s peoples. For instance, ethnoscapes refers to the movement of people as tourists, im m igrants, refugees, and others. The meaning of these ethnoscapes depends on the perspective of the viewer. Certainly, tour­ ists and im m igrants view local people differently than local people view the tourist and the im m igrant. Television, movies, and other convey­ ances of fiction and advertising move across the global landscape hav­ ing different effects on the imaginations of the w orld’s peoples. Technoscapes and financescapes, as their nam es imply, represent the uneven effects of rapid technological development, m ultinational cor­ porations, and global capital. Ideas of equality and freedom are p art of the global flow. Appadurai considers them m aster term s in the "political narratives that govern communication between elites and followers in different parts of the world.”21 However, they have differing meanings within different civili­ zations. The confusion over the meaning of equality and freedom, and the current tendency to em phasize equality of opportunity and free­ dom of m arkets (or consum ption), should not obscure the importance of these concepts in the global flow of ideas. The w ords have an emo­ tional aura that prom ise all things to all people. Using the w ords equal­ ity and fre e d o m as they exist in the global flow of ideas meaning different things in different contexts, people dem and social change ranging from sim ple improvem ent of living conditions to revolution. As emotional symbols in the global flow, equality and freedom can be invoked to defend a wide range of political and economic actions. Their meaning depends on the user and his or her goals. Ignoring their historical and varied usages, people can attend to the w ords equality and fre e d o m in the global flow and use them to serve their own inter­ ests. Today, political leaders can declare the goal of equality while only planning for the equality of a few. Freedom of economic m arkets can result in restricted freedom for the poor and w orkers. Ironically, the words equality and fre e d o m can be invoked to create their opposites: inequality and oppression. Unfortunately, A ppadurai m akes the very m istake w arned about by Onum a Yasuaki. A ppadurai claim s that the West introduced concepts of h u m an rig h ts, equality, an d freedom into th e global flow. Ideoscapes, according to Appadurai, “are com posed of elem ents of the (Western! Enlightenm ent world view ... (where) the diaspora of these term s and images across the world, especially in the nineteenth cen­ tury, has loosened the internal coherence that held them together in ... [the] Euro-American m aster narrative.”22 According to his argument, ideas such as equality and freedom originated in the Western Enlight­ enm ent of the 18th and 19th centuries and flowed around the world

10

CHAPTER I

with the expansion of E uropean an d U.S. colonialism and the creation of international organizations an d m ultinational corporations during the post-colonial period. While the West cannot claim responsibility for introducing h um an rights concepts into the global flow, E uropean an d U.S. colonialists did have a m ajo r influence on speeding ideas through the global flow by at­ tem pting to force W estern languages and ideas onto other countries and by causing the d iasp o ra of large n u m b ers of the w orld’s peoples. W estern colonialism will be a them e throughout this book because of its effect on the global flow of ideas and the reaction to it by Confucian, Islam ic, an d H indu civilizations. THE INTERCIVILIZATIONAL CHARACTER OF GLOBAL EDUCATION The global culture of education is a uniform th read in the global flow. There is a tendency for the w orld’s school system s to em brace an edu­ cational m odel th a t em phasizes h um an capital accounting and eco­ nom ic developm ent. T his global m odel is a resu lt of colonialism , global contacts, an d international econom ic planning. It envisions schools educating w o rk ers for jo b s created by econom ic developm ent. Because econom ic and technological developm ent an d change are oc­ cu rrin g at a swift pace, it assu m es th at stu d e n ts m u st have life-long learning skills. W ithin the h um an capital m odel, life-long learning re ­ fers to the ability to constantly learn new skills as job requirem ents change. Life-long learning should not be confused with d ream s of scho lars lying u n d e r trees reading great literature an d philosophy. Life-long learning is an econom ic concept.23 From Korea to J a p a n to China to Singapore to India to the E uropean Union and to N orth and South America, schools are evaluated by poli­ ticians as su p p liers of hum an capital for econom ic developm ent. Using busin ess concepts, the outcom es of investm ent in education are m ea­ su red by test scores, on-the-job perform ance, and the congruence of instruction w ith lab o r m ark et needs. In th is global m odel, the “knowl­ edge society” is one w here the level and quality of education is m atched with p erso n al incom e. P arents struggle to en su re th at their children do well on high-stakes tests by providing special tu to rs and sending their children to cram schools. Test resu lts d eterm ine the presUge of the school the child will attend which, in tu rn , affects the child’s future in­ come. The overall quality of the school system determ ines, it is argued, the p ro sp erity of the nation. However, there are d issen ters to this m odel, particularly am ong those w edded to indigenous educational practices. As I d iscu ss later in this book, m any Islam ic schools follow traditional m ethods of in stru c­

GLOBAL EDUCATION. INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

II

tion. In addition, indigenous groups are struggling to restore their tra­ ditional educational practices after experiencing years of cultural genocide. In a 1996 meeting of representatives of the world's indige­ nous peoples, alternatives to the global hum an capital model were pro­ posed. They are described in Indigenous Educational Models fo r Contem porary Practice: In Our Mother's Voice. The volume’s preface expresses a clear alternative vision to global corporate education: Indeed. Native peoples, like the individual flowers entwined lovingly into a fragrant lei, must value our interconnectedness and work collectively to assure that our unique histories, languages and traditions are not lost. This book is an offering to that personal responsibility and commitment each of us has to look with and teach out.24

In addition, scattered throughout this book are discussions of re­ peated attem pts to protect local m oral teachings from what were con­ sidered the decadent influences of outside cultures. The global culture of education is a result of a complex interaction between nations and international economic organizations. It is an on­ going intercivilizational process. The World Bank and the Organiza­ tion for Economic Development and Cooperation are m ajor advocates of hum an capital approaches to educational planning. I have described these developments in detail in Education a n d the R ise o f the Global Econom y.25 Therefore, rather than rehashing that study, which would divert attention from the goal of this book, I will provide a few brief ex­ am ples of the interplay of the world's educational systems. In 1983, the United States government published A Nation at Risk, which blam ed the country's public schools for falling behind in eco­ nomic competition with Ja p a n and Germany. The report declared, “If only to keep and improve on the slim competitive edge we still retain in world m arkets, we m ust rededicate ourselves to the reform of the edu­ cational system for the benefit of all.”26 C orporate and educational leaders declared the Japanese school system to be superior to that of the United States. As a result, U.S. schools began to model the test-driven Jap an ese schools including the development of cram schools to prepare for high-stakes tests.27 Ironically, which American leaders often failed to note, the current Jap an ese school system was forcefully modeled after the U.S. educational system by the occupa­ tional governm ent following Jap an 's defeat after World War II. J a p a ­ nese education had been influenced by E u ropean im perialism . However, during the 1960s, a conservative Jap an ese government re­ instituted central control of a national curriculum through national testing, as opposed to the U.S. model of local school boards and local control. This Japanese examination tradition and the use of schools as

12

CHAPTER I

a system of m oral control was, in part, a result of Confucian traditions resulting from past influences from China. In chapter 2 , 1 explain this Confucian tradition. Also, it m ust be pointed out here that the J a p a ­ nese m odel of education illustrates that the global culture of education is not a one-way flow. Japan ese education was not only shaped in im ­ portant ways by global influences, b u t also has influenced the educa­ tional system s of other nations. Prior to its defeat during World War II, Japan ese im perialistic policies included the introduction of Japanese education throughout Asia.28 O ther exam ples abound around the globe. Singapore’s Prime Minis­ ter Lee Kuan Yee declared him self a Confucian. His government and m oral instruction in Singapore’s schools were modeled on Confucian principles. At the sam e time, Lee adopted a hum an capital approach by linking education directly to economic development. Singapore’s 1997 M aster plan for Informational Technology, designed to capture a large p a rt of the international com puter software m arket, directly co­ ordinated changes in the school system’s curriculum with the needs of this new industry. Slogans such as, “Future Wealth Will Depend on Ca­ pacity to Learn” slip easily off the tongues of educational leaders. Re­ flecting the cro ss-cu ltu ral n atu re of Singapore’s endeavors, its governm ent’s outside m odels are Japan ese and U.S. schools. In addi­ tion, British colonialism left the legacy of English as the language of higher education.29 E quality of opportunity is an im portant concept in hum an capital education. Equality of opportunity m eans th at everyone should have a chance to com pete for positions in the labor m arket. Supposedly, schools will be the instrum ent for ensuring equality of opportunity. It is my contention that the growing uniform ity of global culture in­ volves an acceptance of definitions of equality and freedom that are, respectively, focused on equality of opportunity and freedom to con­ sum e. These concepts are basic to the hum an capital model. The con­ cept of equality of opportunity b reed s uniform ity because it requires uniform ity of character and actions. The assum ption is that all peo­ ple will be motivated to com pete for wealth. The p hrase “equality of opportunity” m eans equal opportunity to accum ulate wealth. Of course, th is version of equality resu lts in a society with economic in­ equality. The rules of the game are the only thing equal about equality of opportunity. Consequently, the concept of equality of opportunity requ ires the individual to have a character stru ctu re com m itted to the life goal of com peting for wealth. Implied in this global concept of opportunity is th at the com petitors will use their wealth for the con­ sum ption of p roducts. Therefore, h ard work, p u rsu it of wealth, and consum ption are the uniform and principle hum an values accom pa­ nying sp read of global culture.

GLOBAL EDUCATION. INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

13

Education, as reflected in the movie “Not One Less,” is considered by m any people to be the m eans for instilling the character structure required for participation in equality of opportunity. Political theorist C. Douglas Lummis concludes that world economic development is driven by the idea “that everyone in the world is or ought to be playing the sam e game."30 He argues that this requires a transform ation of cul­ ture and personal values: “For the peoples of the world to play the de­ velopment game, they m ust first be m ade over into players.”31 Global p lan n ers sp eak openly of the necessity of a p articu lar character stru c tu re required for econom ic developm ent. An advo­ cate of econom ic developm ent, Lucian Pye, states “Part of the p ro ­ cess of m odernization involves the learning of new skills ... the acceptance of new ideas ... new values and the changing of p refer­ ences. A still deeper dim ension of the process calls for a fundam en­ tal change in m otivations and in the direction in which it is felt the hum an energies can properly be directed."32 In co n trast to Pye, Loom is bem oans the cu rren t situ atio n w here the "whole teem ing m ultiplicity of the w orld’s cultures, developed through the labor and im agination of all hum an history, is now to be placed u n der a single sta n d a rd of value.”33 The idea of “freedom of consumption" also contributes to global ho­ mogenization. Equality of opportunity is prem ised on the idea that the wealth gained under the rules of equal economic competition will be used to exercise freedom of consum ption. Im portant economic values are implicit in the concept of freedom of consum ption. The economic goal is not simply adequate nutrition, housing, medical care, and phys­ ical com fort for the world’s population. If this were the goal, then con­ ceivably at some distant future there would be an end to world economic development. The steady desire for and purchase of con­ sum er goods is the motivating force behind equality of opportunity and freedom of consum ption. This motivation is based on two im portant economic requirem ents. The first requirem ent is that people learn to need new products. In the movie “Not One Less,” the children learned to d rin k Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola becam e a learned need for these ru ral students. In recent years, the w orld’s population h as learned to need com puters and w ireless telephones. The assum ption is th at economic growth is driven by the constant developm ent of new products. Consequently, the industrial and financial system s will be sustained only if these new p ro d u cts are purchased. T his m eans the constant learning of new needs. This, in turn, requires that the hard w orking consum er continually exist in a state of dissatisfaction waiting to purchase new products. If consum ers were completely satisfied with existing goods, the system might collapse.

14

CHAPTER I

The second requirem ent is that consum ers are motivated by what Thorstein Veblen called conspicuous consum ption. As the term im­ plies, conspicuous consum ption m eans the purchase of consum er products that serve as public displays of one's wealth and status. The brand and model of autom obile a person owns usually serves as a pub­ lic symbol of their social class. C onspicuous consum ption and equality of opportunity are inter­ linked. The goal of equality of opportunity is to enable individuals to am ass wealth in an economic system that requires constant consum p­ tion. Being m ore successful at am assing wealth m eans winning the game. But how is anyone going to know that a person is a winner? In the global culture, the sym bols of achievement are consum er pro d ­ ucts. The bigger the winner, the bigger the consumer. Conspicuous consum ption is the public reward! M ultinational corporations foster uniformity bred by personal com­ m itm ent to hard work, competition, learning new needs, and conspic­ uous consum ption. Their products drive the whole system of work and consum ption. Multinational corporations desire uniformity in m arket and labor values. Multicultural education for international corporations can simply m ean learning to m arket goods in different cultural settings. In this context, cultures are treated as instrum ental for the m arketing of a product. Local cultural icons might be added to an advertisem ent to appeal to local populations. However, no m atter what the message, the m edium and product are the same. Advertising attem pts to convey consum er values related to a particular product. If advertising has an effect, then m arkets, despite original cultural differ­ ences, begin to look the sam e. Also, m ultinational corporations look for sim ilar values am ong their w orkers. The purpose of m ulticultural education in this situation is to teach different cultural groups how to work cooperatively. The sharing of w ork values, sim ilar to the sharing of consum er values, ad d s another dim ension to the growing homoge­ nization and sam eness of global culture. HUMAN RIGHTS STATEMENTS ON EQUALITY, FREEDOM, AND THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION There is a tension between the global culture of education and hum an rights statements on education. In the global ideoscape, formal schooling has existed in various forms. Today, the association of education with eco­ nomic development, such as plans promoted by the World Bank, fre­ quently conflicts with educational rights provided in hum an rights documents. It is im portant to note the formal statem ents on educational rights before proceeding to an intercivilizational analysis. These formal statements of educational rights provide a framework for reflecting on the

GLOBAL EDUCATION. INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

15

meaning of equality and freedom in education. They will also provide an­ other lens for looking at the conclusions of my intercivilizational analysis. There is not only tension between hum an rights statem en ts and the global direction of education, b u t there are unresolved conflicts within the hum an rights docu m en ts them selves. The idea of educational free­ dom generates the m o st troubling conflicts as it ru b s against differing civilizational concepts of education and collides with the issue of reli­ gious freedom . Most cultural, political, and religious groups have diffi­ culty with the educational freedom granted to children u n d e r the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations in 1989. Articles 13 an d 14 of the Convention provide for freedom of thought, expression, and access to inform ation. T hese Articles define a child as a p erso n u n d e r the age of 18. Article 13 1.

The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art. or through any other media of the child's choice.

Article 14 1.

State Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.34

Obviously, religious leaders, p aren ts, and governm ents often object to these rights because they w ant to control the inform ation an d ideas received by the child. B ut how will this control be exercised w ithout vi­ olating the sp irit o f these educational freedom rights? For instance, in the United States there exists a religiously based m ovem ent to exclude theories of evolution from the public school curriculum . There are also attem pts, som etim es successful, to remove d iscussions of b irth con­ trol from sex education co u rses.35 Would these actions violate the statem ent of rights in Articles 13 an d 14 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child? O r w ould they be in keeping with the following qualifica­ tions added to these two articles th at provide for cen sorship by govern­ m ents and p aren ts? Article 13 2.

The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:

16

CHAPTER I (A) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or (B) For the protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of public health or morals. Article 14 2.

States Parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.

3.

Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.36

Do the above qualifications to freedom of expression, thought, and access to inform ation m ean that a governm ent can institute a highly nationalistic and propagandistic form of education in o rder to ensure "protection of national security or of public o rd e r? ” Do they allow p a r­ ents to restrict a child’s knowledge of evolutionary theory? Can Islamic countries restrict the religious education of children in the nam e of “public safety, order, health or m orals?" How does the concept of the right to freedom of expression, thought, and access to inform ation com pare with global tren d s in education? Hum an capital and accounting approaches do no t consider the issue of intellectual freedom . Governm ent exam inations control the content of the public school curriculum . There is little room for exercising in­ tellectual freedom w hen you are cram m ing for high-stakes tests that will determ ine your place in the economic stru ctu re. Whoever controls the content of the governm ent exam inations exercises m ajor influence over the content of stu d e n ts’ m inds. Can there be intellectual freedom in religious societies? Or, stated another way, should the right to intellectual freedom exist in religious societies? Is there a basic conflict betw een the right to freedom of ex­ pression, thought, and access to inform ation, and religious rights? Clearly, e d u catio n al freedom is a very c o n ten tio u s right bo th in the context of h u m a n rig h ts an d , as I will d isc u ss, in the context of intercivilizational analysis. E d u catio n al equality, on the o th er h an d , is su p p o rte d by h u m a n rig h ts d o ctrin es. T he p ro b le m for ed u c a­ tional equ ality is one of definition an d positive governm ent action. Basically, ed u c a tio n a l equality m ean s th a t everyone h as an equal chance to receive an equal educatio n . T h is is called e q u a lity o f e d u ­ ca tio n a l o p p o rtu n ity .

GLOBAL EDUCATION, INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

17

However, the m eaning of equality of educational opportunity is com ­ plicated by the necessity of specifying w hat is an “equal chance” and w hat is an “equal education.” One way of defining "equal chance” is to specify th a t race, gender, language, religion, and social class can not pose b a rrie rs to receiving an education. T his I call the “access to educa­ tion” p a rt of giving everyone an equal chance to receive an education. E qual access to education is clearly delineated in the United N ations’ 1960 Convention Against D iscrim ination in E ducation. The Conven­ tion states: Article 1 1.

For the purposes of this Convention, the term "discrimination" includes any distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference which, being based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, na­ tional or social origin, economic condition or birth, has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing equality of treatment in education and in particular: (A) Of depriving any person or group of persons of access to education o f any type or at any level: (B) Of limiting any person or group of persons to education of an inferior standard....

2.

For the purposes of this convention, the term "education" refers to all types and levels o f education, and includes access to education, the standard and quality of education, and the conditions under which it is given.37

Article 1 of the Convention Against D iscrim ination in E ducation p ro ­ vides a very clear an d forceful statem ent abo u t equality of access to ed­ u ca tio n . As I will d is c u s s , a m a jo r in te rn a tio n a l p ro b le m is discrim ination against women in education. T here is an o th er aspect of “an equal chance” to receive an education which is related to the idea of an “equal education.” First, I m ust point out the difficulties in defining an “equal education.” Does an equal edu­ cation m ean th a t everyone receives the sam e education? Or does it m ean everyone receives an education th at reflects their abilities, inter­ ests, an d life-goals? For instance, m ight stu d e n ts with special needs re­ quire an education th a t is different from oth ers? Som e stu d en ts m ight w ant to go into tra d e s while o th ers m ight w ant to go to college. What does an equal education m ean in this context? An “equal chance" and an “equal education” are dependent on the d is­ tribution of educational resources. The equal distribution of resources is com plicated by the possibility that som e stu d en ts might require more

18

CHAPTER I

educational resources than other students. ArUcle 4 of the ConvenUon Against D iscrim ination In Education attem pts to resolve this problem : The States parties to this Convention undertake ... (B) To ensure that the standards of education are equivalent in all public educational institutions of the sam e level, and that the con­ ditions relating to the quality of education provided are also equivalent.38

Article 4 leaves u nansw ered the problem of providing additional re ­ sou rces for previously neglected populations, such as African Am eri­ cans in the United S tates. In m any p a rts of the w orld, wom en have suffered from centuries of educational neglect. Adult female illiteracy ra te s are high com pared with those of m en. In India, as I will discuss, lower castes, both m en and wom en, were traditionally excluded from schools. T hese populations require additional financial reso u rces if they a re to overcom e centuries of educational neglect. Will additional fund s for these groups be considered as providing unequal educa­ tional opportunity? A nother im p o rtan t aspect of “equal education" is the language of the classroom . Is th ere an equal education when a m inority language s tu ­ dent is taught in the d om inant language of the country? For instance, is a S pan ish -sp eak in g stu d en t being taught m ath in English receiving an equal education as com pared to an E nglish-speaking stu d en t in the sam e classroom ? A nother problem is a language-m inority stu d en t’s being denied in struction in the d o m in an t language. The Convention Against D iscrim ination in E ducation ad d re sse s this issue by p rotect­ ing m inority language rights an d providing for the right to learn the dom in an t language: Article 5 (C)

it is essential to recognize the right of mem bers of national minor­ ities to carry on their own educational activiUes, including the maintenance of schools and, depending on the educational policy of each State, the use or the teaching of their own language, pro­ vided however:

(i)

That this right is not exercised in a manner which prevents the m em bers o f these minorities from understanding the culture and language of the community as a whole and from participating in its acUvities, or which prejudices national sovereignty;

(ii)

That the standard of education is not lower than the general stan­ dard laid down or approved by the competent authorities; and

(iii)

That attendance at such schools is optional.39

GLOBAL EDUCATION, INTERCIVILIZATIONAL ANAYSIS

19

CONCLUSION Equality, freedom , an d hum an rights are powerful em otional sym bols in the global flow, sym bols th at prom ise relief from oppression and poverty. The w orld’s peoples can use these sym bols to dem and politi­ cal an d econom ic justice. However, the em otional power of the con­ cepts can often o bscure the tw ists and tu rn s in logic and m eaning th at have allowed som e people to use these sym bols to justify exploitation and tyranny. Concepts of equality of opportunity and freedom to con­ sum e heighten the uniform ity an d the hom ogeneity of the th read of global culture runn in g through the global flow. Acting as a m agnet a t­ tracting w orld resources, the global culture stan d ard izes hum an life while destroying the environm ent and creating m ore econom ic in­ equality. E ducation is being stan d ard ized along the thread of global culture. The goals of equality of opportunity an d freedom to consum e are p ro ­ ducing sim ilar educational system s aro u n d the world. E m bedded in the global culture, the proliferating language of schools aro u n d the w orld is hum an capital, life-long learning, and the learning society. T his is the language of equality of o p portunity in a technological society where the m ajor goal is the p rodu ctio n and consum ption of new p ro d ­ ucts. In this fram ew ork, education is treated as an economic invest­ m ent w hich will provide stu d e n ts (hum an capital) with equality of opportunity. In the following ch ap ters I will be analyzing historical and contem ­ porary Confucian, Islam ic, W estern, an d H indu ideas regarding educa­ tional rights. I am considering these ideas as p a rt of the global flow. These educational ideas live alongside the global flow, in the th read of global education th at incorporates the idea of hum an capital. Also in the global flow are h um an rights d ocum ents. These hum an rights dec­ laratio n s are often in conflict with civilizational ideas in the global flow and with the educational ideas woven into the thread of global culture. It is from th is global flow an d global culture that I extract my ideas on the right to education an d the m eaning of equality and freedom of ed u ­ cation. To accom plish this goal, I use h um an rights docum ents, civilizaUonal perspectives on educaUon, an d concepts of global culture of schooling.

2 China: Confucius, M a o Zedong, and Socialist Modernization

I m et Mian Tao S un a t an education conference in Taiwan in December, 1999. At the time, he w as studying Taiwan’s private schools while on leave from his p o st as D ean of the School of E ducation at C hung Cheng University in central China. In my ignorance about the evolution of so ­ cialism in China I a ssu m ed that he would be opposed to private school­ ing, particularly since he was a m em ber of the C om m unist Party and had participated in the C ultural Revolution du rin g the late 1960s and early 1970s. U nder the leadership of Mao Zedong, the C ultural Revolu­ tion uprooted teach ers and stu d en ts, sending them into the fields and factories to learn from w orkers and p easants. The ideological goal w as to s to p th e g ro w th o f w h a t M ao Z e d o n g c o n s id e r e d co u n ter-revolutionary thought and to en su re a relationship between theory and practice. D ean S un believed th at he had w asted several years of his life by forced participation in the C ultural Revolution. D uring o u r early m orning break fasts of rice soup, black eggs, and vegetables in the stu d e n t center a t the National Taiwan Normal Univer­ sity, I learned th a t while attending H arvard University Mian m ade a special trip to B urlington, Vermont to visit the grave of the American philosopher and educato r J o h n Dewey. At first I w as not su rp rise d by his graveside visit, because I knew th at Dewey h ad visited C hina in 1919 for a 2-year lecture tour. D uring th at time, frequent com parisons were m ade between Dewey and China’s great intellectual leader Confu­ c iu s.1At one university, Dewey actually received a citation that nam ed him the “Second C onfucius.” When the C om m unists gained power, however, Dewey’s w ritings were heavily criticized.2 20

CHINA

21

Given the initial Com m unist rejection of Dewey, I was surp rised to learn that Dr. Sun, along with his job as dean, operated a private school based on Deweyan principles. I w as inform ed by a Taiwanese professor who visited Dr. Sun's school that b an n ers hanging in the classro o m s p ro claim ed “L earning By D oing” and “E ducation Through Experience.” After returning to the United States, 1 sent Professor Sun an e-mail containing what I thought was a warning about the global development of private schooling.* In particular, 1 thought my defense of public schools against private greed would appeal to a m em ber of the Com­ m unist Party. I wrote: January 10, 2000 Dear Professor Sun, I thought a great deal about our conversations. I am interested in the de­ velopment of private schools in China. Certainly, in the United States, conservative ideology is undermining the concept of public schooling and replacing it with private schools operated by corporations for a profit. Some of these for-profit educational corporations are already in­ ternational in scope. What you see happening in China is only the begin­ ning of the "capitalist" or “free market" evolution in education. I can envision global corporations operating for-profit schools to educate obe­ dient workers who will work for low wages. Best, Joel Spring

To my surprise, Professor Sun responded with an e-mail supporting private schooling in opposition to public schooling. Rather than tran s­ lating my com m ents as an objection to private schooling, he inter­ preted them as support: January 11. 2000 Dear Professor Spring, I do agree with your ideas about private schools. To set private school is not only to get profit, but also to moUvate the educators who working in private schools to work just according to their own educaUonal ideas. You

*In reproducing this e-mail correspondence with Dr. Sun, I have retained his original wording and spelling. The reader will appreciate that English is a second language for Dr. Sun

CHAPTER 2

22

see, if you work in the public schools, it is very hard for you to teach in the way that you think is right, you just work according to the administrative officer. In the private schools, you can make the educational experiment in your assumption of education, just like Dewey made educational experi­ ment in Chicago University. I have run a private school from kindergarten to senior high school, although I fee! little tired everyday, I live very happy. Sincerely. Mian Tao Sun

Surprised by his defense of private schooling, I responded with an­ other w arning about possible corporate dom ination: January 12, 2000 Dear Professor Sun, I agree that private schools can provide greater freedom for teaching sim­ ilar to John Dewey's school at the University of Chicago. However, the lat­ est trend in the United States is for corporations to franchise schools similar to McDonald's Hamburger franchises. Consequently, these cor­ porate private schools are more controlling than government schools. I envision a future where elementary and secondary schools will be oper­ ated by large international corporations such as Sony or Disney. This will create greater standardization than in the past and it will focus edu­ cation on the training of good workers. Best. Joel Spring

I knew that there was something seriously deficient in my under­ standing of China and Chinese Com m unism when Professor Sun re­ plied with a positive response about corporate control of schools by Sony and Disney: January 18, 2000 Dear Professor Spring, Sony and Disney are great corporations, absolutely that they set the schools should be for their own benefits. Just [as] you pointed (out), they always focus education on the training of good workers. In order to realize this purpose, they prefer to control the schools by themselves rather than by government. This atmosphere is not only popular in United States but also in China or even everywhere in the world. I think, this atmosphere is a

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CHINA good thing not (a) bad thing. Government has no right to control these schools because government does not support money to these schools. Sincerely, Mian Tao Sun

While Professor S un’s argum ents m ight n o t fit traditional notions of M arxist rhetoric, they are congruent w ith Article 1 9 o fth e 1982 C onsti­ tution of the People’s Republic of China. Besides outlining the state’s su p p o rt of com pulsory education, Article 19 declares, "The state en­ courages the collective economic organizations, state en terprises and institutions and other sectors of society to estab lish educational insti­ tutions of various types in accordance with the law [my em phasis!.”3 Does Article 19 encourage freedom of ideas in establishing private schools such as the school established by P rofessor Sun? W hat does the establishm ent of private schools m ean for equality of educational opportunity in C hina? When I asked Professor Sun, “Who sen d s their children to privates schools?” His answ er w as simply, “The rich.” I believe th a t u n d erstan d in g the concept of freedom and equality as applied to education in the People’s Republic of C hina requires an ex­ am ination of the interweaving of traditional an d contem porary Confu­ cianism w ith Mao Zedong’s ed ucational ideas, c u rre n t socialist m odernization program s, and Chinese nationalism . In the context of the global flow, the real th re a t of E u ropean an d Ja p a n e se colonialism h ad affected C hina m ore than a b stract W estern E nlightenm ent ideas of equality and freedom . Until the late 19th century, the Chinese govern­ m ent tried to isolate itself from W estern influence. When isolationism failed and W estern and Ja p a n e se colonization seem ed im m inent, Mao Zedong and o th ers turn ed to Marxism. But their b ran d of M arxism w as a p ro d u ct of assim ilation to Chinese thought. “In its Maoist incar­ nation,” philo so p h ers David Hall and Roger A mes wrote, “Chinese M arxism h as redefined a doctrine w hich ... (turned] universalistic a s­ p iratio n s into a kind of ’neo’ neo-C onfucianism .” A sim ilar thing oc­ cu rred with the socialist m odernization m ovem ent after the death of Mao. While privatization, for example in education, is occurring it is taking place w ithin the fram ew ork of C hinese N ationalism and Confu­ cianism . I will first exam ine Confucian educational ideals and then the im pact of C hinese nationalism . THE CONFUCIAN TRADITION There is a w ide-ranging debate about the continuing effect of C onfu­ cianism in C hina an d other Asian nations. Mao Zedong, as the coun­

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try’s leader from 1949 to 1976, tried to purge the country of Confucian educational traditions. During Mao’s reign there was little formal in­ struction in Confucianism. However, after Mao’s death his successor, Deng Xiaoping, and the current government leader Jiang Zemin, res­ urrected Confucian traditions. As an example of this Confucian re­ vival, the China Confucius Center was opened in Beijing in 1984. At a Confucian Conference, Jiang Zemin recalled that after regular school hours his father had him read Confucian texts.4 Of even greater significance considering the Com m unist Party’s ini­ tial equating of Confucianism with feudalism was the opening in 2000 of the Confucius Culture University in the philosopher’s hometown of Qufu. In language th at would have shocked Mao Zedong, the People's Daily, the official new spaper of the People’s Republic of China, accom­ panied the announcem ent of the university’s opening with the state­ m ent, “Confucius, who lived about 2,500 years ago, h as been respected for generations as China’s G reat perfection, ultim ate sage, and forem ost scholar.’ His teachings prom ote the concepts of benevo­ lence and traditional rites.”5 Also, the People’s Daily reported on March 19, 2000 that a website “devoted to Confucius, one of China’s greatest thinkers and educators, has been listed am ong the m ost pop­ ular Chinese websites with over 360,000 visitors.” The article asserted that, “Confucius’s doctrines have been passed down through the ages and continue to influence the Chinese community.”6 Confucian influences conUnue outside of China, according to writer Tu Wei-Ming. He contends that in places such as Singapore and Korea, “The central government is expected to have a holistic vision of the well-being of the nation ... [and] the political leader [is expected] to be a teacher as well as an exemplary public servant ... The Confucian scholar-official mentality still functions in the psychocultural construct of E ast Asian societies.”7 Others see the Confucian tradition enduring in Jap an , Korea, and Taiwan as reflected in the close relationship between scholars and the government, and in the belief that the government has the responsibility for the total welfare of all people. For example, in 2000, the recently elected President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, quoted Confucius regarding the ongoing issue of its independence from m ain­ land China: “A benevolent government will please those near and appeal to those from afar [and] when those afar will not submit, then one m ust practice kindness and virtue to attract them .”8 EQUALITY IN CONFUCIAN EDUCATION Any discussion of equality and freedom in Chinese education m ust be­ gin with an analysis of the educational ideals of Confucius (circa

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5 5 1 -4 7 9 B.C.E.). Regarding equality, C onfucius sta te s in The Analects, “Men are close to one another by nature. They diverge as a re­ sult of practice.”9 Another translation of this passage from The Analects is “By nature close together, through practice set ap art.”10 This natural equality refers to equality in moral capacity. All hum ans, according to Confucius, are born with the ability to be moral. A p ri­ m ary goal of education is to develop that morality. Therefore, accord­ ing to Confucius, education should be for all people. Confucius said, “In education there should be no class distinctions.”11 The Confucian concept of morality, consequently equality, is based on a natu ralistic and secular interp retatio n of w hat it m eans to be hum an. In co n trast to m onotheistic religions, such as C hris­ tianity and Islam , Confucian m orality is not derived from the dic­ tates of a su p e rn a tu ra l being. T here is no God in C onfucianism . It is a system of ethics designed to prom ote harm ony and peace betw een hum an beings. Consequently, unlike the Ju d aic-C h ristian em p h a­ sis on guilt, Confucianism stre sse s public sham e. It is one’s re p u ta ­ tion in re la tio n sh ip to o th e rs th a t is im p o rta n t an d not the judgem ent of a su p e rn a tu ra l god. Unlike H induism where, according to the Dharmasu.tras, caste de­ term ines access to education, Confucius m ade it clear that no group of people should be denied an equal opportunity for education. Con­ fucius says, “I have never denied instruction to anyone who, of his own accord, h as given me so m uch as a bundle of dried m eat as a p resen t.”12 For Confucius, learning m orality is learning the “Way.” Everyone is born not only with the ability to be m oral but also with the potential to learn the "Way.” In Confucianism, the “Way" or ‘T ao ” is a complex con­ cept that includes “the right Way of life, the Way of governing, the ideal Way of h um an existence, th e Way of the Cosm os, the genera­ tive-normative Way (pattern, path, course) of existence.’’13 The Way is also applied to the state. In fact, it is the responsibility of rulers, ac­ cording to Confucius, to ensure that the government follows the Way. After reviewing the many aspects of the m eaning of the Way, Confucian scholar D. C. Lau concludes, “The Way, then, is a highly emotive term and com es very close to the term ‘T ruth’ as found in philosophical and religious writings in the West.”14 For Confucius, inequality refers to the unequal learning and prac­ tice of morality. Social duty is another term for the practice of morality. Therefore, inequality can be defined a s the unequal effort by people to learn and fulfill their social duties. For instance, some people will not seek instruction and others will lead a life without virtue. Many Confu­ cian teachings emphasize the m oral superiority of the poor person

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who follows the Way a s opposed to the rich person who does not follow the Way. Confucius said: Wealth and honor are what people desire, but one should not abide in them if it cannot be done in accordance with the Way. Poverty and lowli­ ness are what people dislike, but one should not depart from them if it cannot be done in accordance with the Way. If the noble person were to depart from hum aneness, how could he fulfill that name? The noble per­ son does not abandon hum aneness for so long as the space of a meal. Even when hard pressed he is bound to this, even in tim es of danger he is bound to th is.15

T his natu ralistic and secular approach to m orality w as m ost clearly stated by M encius (circa 3 7 1 -2 8 8 B.C.E.), who was a leading exponent of Confucian teachings. M encius argued th a t the “four sp ro u ts” or "four beginnings” of m orality are p resen t in all people. These basic h u ­ m an characteristics are "com passion, sham e, modesty, and the sense of right and wrong.”16 Com passion, for instance, M encius contended is a n atu ral attrib u te of being hum an. He stated, “if anyone w ere su d ­ denly to see a child ab o u t to fall into a well, his m ind would always be filled with alarm , d istress, pity, an d com passion. T h at he would react accordingly is no t because he would use the opportunity to ingratiate him self with the child’s p aren ts, n o r because he w ould seek com m en­ dation from neighbors and friends, nor because he w ould hate the a d ­ verse repu tatio n .’’17 M encius related each of these “four sp ro u ts” to p articu lar m oral ca­ pacities. H um anness grow s from the s p ro u t of com passion, rightness from the s p ro u t of sham e, ritu al and d ecorum from modesty, an d wis­ dom from the sense of right an d wrong. Everyone h a s the ability to achieve these m o ral capacities. In reference to the m oral equality of h u ­ m ans, M encius stated: "As far as the natural tendencies are concerned, it is possible for one to do good, this is what I mean by being good. If one does what is not good, that is not the fault of one's capacities. The mind of pity and com m isera­ tion is possessed by all human beings; the mind of sham e and aversion is possessed by all human beings; the mind of respectfulness and rever­ ence is p ossessed by all human beings; and the mind that knows right and wrong is possessed by all human beings.”18

And, again in C onfucian term s, inequality is a resu lt of the practice or neglect of these m oral qualities. Regarding these m oral capacities, Mencius stated, “Seek an d you will get it, let go and you will lose it.’’19 Of course, the developm ent of m oral capacities req uires social in­ teraction. In co n trast to C hristianity’s concern with the inner self, Con­

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fucianism is prim arily w orried about the outer self. H erbert Fingarette sum m arizes, “The virtues that Confucius stresses are indeed all “dy­ namic” and social. For example, shu (mutuality in hum an relations), chung (loyalty) and hsin (good tru st toward others) all inherently in­ volve a dynamic relation to other persons. On the other hand, such “static” and “inner” virtues as purity or innocence play no role in the A nalects.”20 To ensure harmony in social relaUons, according to Confucius, re­ quires the exercise of rites as opposed to the imposition of laws. Rites are the norm s to be used in social interactions. In one sense they are a form of social etiquette. Social interactions are governed by It, which is related to traditional patterns of social conduct, and je n , which refers to a person that pursues proper social conduct and hum an relationships.21 THE LITIGIOUS VERSUS THE SELF-REGULATED SOCIETY The assum ption of equality of moral capacities su p p o rts a belief that the best m eans of m aintaining social order is through self-regulation as opposed to legal restraints. Rites rath er than laws are, according to Confucianism, the best m eans for creating a peaceful society that fol­ lows the Way. Rather than law, Confucianism relies on education, p er­ sonal morality, and benevolent rulers to ensure adherence to social norm s. Consequently, rites serve as the m echanism for ensuring the peaceful working out of social problem s. The great American Confu­ cian scholar, Wm. Theodore DeBary states, “Confucius saw ... ritual decorum as an essential form of civility, fundam ental to hum an gover­ nance and preferable to the attem pted enforcem ent of laws.”22Regard­ ing the difference between a society based on law and one based on rites, Confucius said: Guide them by edicts (laws and regulations), keep them in line with pun­ ishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in line with the rites, and they will, besides having a sense of shame, reform themselves.23

Some scholars argue th at Confucian em phasis on rites and sham e, as opposed to law, still plays an im portant p art in many Asian societ­ ies. In his introduction to a volume of essays on Confucian Traditions in E ast A sian M odernity, Tu Wei-Ming asserts that E ast Asian societies have difficulty in developing legal system s because of a lack of a ju rid i­ cal tradition and a reliance on social interactions for settling disputes. As examples, he gives, “consensus as a preferred way of decision m ak­ ing, negotiation as a conventional method of resolving conflict, infor­

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mal arbitration as a frequent substitute for formal legal procedures ... and m ediation through third parties.”24 Some E ast Asians argue that the "social diseases” existing in West­ ern societies are a result of reliance on laws to m aintain social order. This argum ent is used to counter com plaints by Western nations that E ast Asian countries violate hum an rights doctrines. Onum a Yasuaki is particularly critical of Western em phasis on legal m eans for protect­ ing hum an rights. Referring to the "social diseases” of crime, drugs, and lack of family and community values, he contends that E ast Asians feel that “these diseases may well be a consequence of excessive legal­ ism and individual-centrism .”25 The Western reliance on legalism is, for me, exemplified by highway speed limits. In the United States, speeders will often slow down when seeing a police car and then speed up when the police car passes out of sight. In this situation, the speeder is governed by law and not by a sense of social responsibility to protect others by driving at safe speeds. Consequently, speeding laws provide only limited highway safety. However, according Onum a’s perspective, if speeding laws were replaced by a concern about others and a sense of sham e at the idea of endangering other drivers, then highways would be safer. Therefore, from Onum a’s viewpoint, the Confucian reliance on self-regulation through m oral education and self-reflection produces a safer and m ore harm onious society than reliance on social regulation through laws. Accordingly, universal Confucian education is the key to the good and peaceful society. CONFUCIAN EDUCATIONAL IDEAL For over 2,000 years, Confucian scholars argued for the necessity of universal education as a m eans of achieving a harm onious and peace­ ful society.26 Despite the fact th at this ideal w as never achieved under Confucian leadership, the goal predated by m any centuries any sim i­ lar suggestion in W estern countries. Likewise, the im plem entation of a civil service exam ination to create a governm ent m eritocracy p re ­ dated by m any centuries com parable efforts in the United States and Europe. The goal of universal education w as based on the assum ed equality of m oral capacities. However, there was a recognition of unequal abil­ ities in developing m oral capacities. But all people could develop them by applying varying degrees of effort. In the Doctrine o f the Mean, Confucius m akes a distinction between the sage “who, without an effort hits what is right, and apprehends, w ithout the exercise of thought who naturally and easily em bodies the right way”27 and those

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who m u st w ork h a rd at achieving the sam e level of un d erstan d in g . In reference to those req u irin g extra effort to achieve knowledge and u n ­ d erstan d in g , Confucius said, “if a n o th e r m an succeed by one effort, he will u se a h u n d re d efforts. If an o th er m an succeed by ten efforts, he will use a th o u san d . Let a m an p roceed in th is way, and, though dull, he will surely becom e intelligent; though w eak, he will surely be­ com e stro n g .”28 The ideal of m oral equality was m irro red in the uniform ity of p ri­ m ary education th a t existed for centuries not only in China b u t also in Korea and Ja p a n . B esides the learning of reading an d writing, this ed u ­ cation included the study of basic Confucian texts. The Confucian c u r­ riculum began w ith the Three C haracter C lassic w hich was w ritten in the 1 1th century as a guide to Confucian ideas for young children. This was followed by a series of other Confucian texts including the A nalects, the G reat Learning, the Doctrine o f th e M ean, and the Works o f M encius.29 The first lesson in the T hree C haracter Classic presented the ideal of m oral equality: Men at their birth are by nature radically good, In this, all approximate, but in practice widely diverge.30

The interrelationship between education and the good society is ex­ plained in the G reat Learning. T his G reat L earning focuses on an o r­ ganic relationship between individual education, the family, and the state. Ideally, the virtuous p erson will m aintain a harm onious family which will be the b asis for a peaceful society th at follows the Way. The key concept in individual education is "ching-shih” which is com posed of “the ethics of virtue, intellectualism , ritualism , m editative practices, and asceticism .”31 The G reat Learning states: The ancients who wished to manifest their clear character to the world would first bring order to their states. Those who wished to bring order to their states would first regulate their families. Those who wished to regulate their families would first cultivate their personal lives. Those who wished to cultivate their personal lives would first rectify their minds. Those who wished to rectify their m inds would first make their wills sincere. Those who wished to make their wills sincere would first extend their knowledge. The extension o f knowledge consists in the in­ vestigation o f things. When things are investigated, knowledge is ex­ tended; when knowledge is extended, the will becom es sincere; when the will is sincere, the mind is rectified; when the mind is rectified, the per­ sonal life is cultivated; when the personal life is cultivated, the family will be regulated; when the family is regulated, the state will be in order; and when the state is in order, there will be peace throughout the world. From the son of Heaven down to the comm on people, all m ust regard cultiva­ tion of the personal life as the root or foundation.32

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One im p o rtan t elem ent of ching-shih th at would rem ain a them e in Mao Zedong’s educational p ro p o sals w as m editative practices. In Confucianism , m editative p ractices do not have the sam e m eaning as they do in H induism . In H induism , m editative practices imply an attem p t to escape the tem poral w orld of desires. In Confucianism , m editative p ractices m ean self-reflection and self-criticism reg ard ­ ing one’s interaction with the social world. Mao Zedong m ade self-criticism as central piece of poliUcal education. Citizens would be req u ired to m editate on their political an d social actions, and th e n offer se lf-c ritic ism a s p a r t of the p ro c e s s o f p e rso n a l self-education. FREEDOM OF SPEECH, SCHOLARS, AND THE GOOD SOCIETY While the ideal was universal education, the reality was the unwilling­ ness of the government to provide the funds. Consequently, Confucian scholars assum ed the role of providing m oral guidance to society. Con­ fucian scholars recognized that m ost people did not have the time to devote to the arduous task of achieving m oral perfection. Conse­ quently, as Chang Hao wrote, "Out of the assum ption that only a m inor­ ity with the requisite m oral qualities could govern, there grew the vocational ideal that it is the noblem an’s privileged responsibility to set the world in order by assum ing a position of leadership and rendering public service to society.”33 The Confucian ideal of universal education was com prom ised by the existence of inequalities in the exercise of power. While all hum ans were equal in their m oral capacities, they were unequal in the exercise of power. A m ajor problem was how to maintain virtue in a society where power could be used to exploit others. Mencius provided the fol­ lowing guidelines for hum an interactions based on inequality of power and social status: Between parent and child there Is to be affection Between ruler and minister, rightness Between husband and wife, [gender] distinctions Between older and younger [siblings] an order of precedence Between friends, trustworthiness.34

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Included in M encius’s guidelines were two im portant relationships affecting equality and freedom in education. The first w as the relation­ ship betw een ru ler and m inister which, as I will explain, involved the social role of the scholar, civil service exam inations, and freedom of speech. The second was the relationship between h u sb an d an d wife w hich involved inequality between genders. “Rightness” in the relationship between ruler and m inister w as ex­ emplified by the story of Qian Tang, who in the 14th century exercised the Confucian duty to sp eak the tru th and provide m oral direction to rulers. The E m p ero r Taizu (1513-1587) o rdered Qian Tang to remove m aterial w ritten by M encius from the civil service exam ination. The E m p ero r thought M encius insulted his im perial position. In addition, he o rdered the rem oval of M encius's tablet from the Confucian tem ple. His m inisters refused to obey. Taizu ordered the death of any w ho re­ fused to obey. Im m ediately after the death threat, m inister Qian Tang brought a coffin to court and announced “It would be an honor to die for M encius.”35 Qian Tang represented the ideal role of the Confucian scholar as a m inister providing m oral guidance to governm ent leaders. However, this ideal could be used to justify an au th o ritarian governm ent. Rea­ soning that all people are b o rn with equal m oral capacities but only a few have the time to develop those capacities, M encius argued, "Some labor with their m in d s and som e labor with their strength. Those who labor with their m in d s govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by o thers. T hose who are governed by o thers su p p o rt them ; those who govern o th ers are su p ported by them .”36 The role of the civil service exam ination w as to select the b e st p eo­ ple to be governm ent m in isters. B ased on C onfucianism , the exam i­ n atio n s w ere initiated in the 2 n d century B.C.E. and w ere u sed a s a m ean s of selecting governm ent officials until the early 2 0th century. Of course, the d re a m of the exam inations identifying sc h o lars of vir­ tue to advice ru le rs w as eventually com prom ised. Som e Confucians objected to the exam ination system because it w as sim ply u sed a s a stepping stone to the governm ent bureaucracy. P resent-day C onfu­ cian sch o lar Chang Hao w rote, “For m any C onfucian literati b u re a u ­ cracy as a m eritocracy w as bu rd e n e d w ith a civil service exam ination system o riented tow ard a c a reerism th a t u n d erm ined the m oral fer­ vor of Confucian officials.”37 Therefore, despite careerism , the ideal w as to help the governm ent follow the Way by educating a group of Confucian scholars w ho would be selected by m erit (the exam ination system ) to act a s m inisterial a d ­ visers. Freedom of speech was im plicit in the role of scholar. It w as the duty of the scholar to sp eak o u t against injustice. It w as also the duty of the scholar to exercise freedom of speech in trying to im prove society.

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DeBary stated, "Confucius in sists on the following of the Way as a higher duty th an sim ply taking office, and ... acting on behalf of the Way to reform an im perfect hum an society.”38 For Confucius, freedom of speech was the freedom to speak about the good. C onfucius said: If what he [the ruler] says is good and no one goes against him, good. But if what he says is not good and no one goes against him, then is this not al­ m ost a case of leading the state to ruin?39

M encius insisted on the duty of the scholar-m inisters to criticize the ruler: "If the prince made serious m istakes, they [scholar-ministers] would re­ monstrate him."40

The duty of sch o lars to sp eak out was not lim ited to their role as state m inisters. Confucius and M encius w ere not state officials. They were scholar-teachers. For instance, Mencius believed the Yang and Mo school of thought existing du rin g his tim e w as destructive of public m orality and harm ony. In expressing the view th at people, particularly scholar-teachers, w ere obligated to speak ou t against w hat they be­ lieved w as wrong, M encius said: 1 am not fond of disputation. 1 have no alternative. Whoever can, with w ords, combat Yang and Mo is a true disciple of the sages.41

C om bined with the Confucian plea for universal education, the duty to sp eak out against im m orality is the b asis for a self-regulating society in co n trast to a society regulated by laws. Ideally, all citizens assum e the responsibility for reflecting on their own actions and criticizing the actions of o thers. T he good society is the p ro d u ct of individual resp o n ­ sibility. As I stated in the previous section, som e E ast A sians criticize W estern naUons for an overem phasis on social control by legal m ea­ su res. From their perspective, laws cannot p roduce the harm onious and peaceful society. T his can only be accom plished by individuals and society learning the Way and speaking out for the Way. INEQUALITY AND THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN M encius states th a t the guiding principle of gender relationships is “Between h u sb an d a n d wife, (gender] distin ctio ns.” However, this is only one of a few statem en ts m ade by Confucius o r Mencius about the statu s of women. Present-day Confucian scholar Chenyang Li argues

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that there is little to su p p o rt the idea that early Confucian scholars p ro ­ vided any justification for the oppression of women. He contends, "Confucianism becam e oppressive to wom en only at a later stage, since Confucianism h ad existed before it becam e so, one can say that op­ pressing wom en is not an essential characteristic of Confucianism .”42 In fact, Li d em o n strates a close parallel between original Confucianist thought and the care ethics advocated by A m erican fem inists Nel Noddings and Carol Gilligan. In a very interesting cross-cultural com ­ parison, Li argues that the concern with hum an relationships and the duty to protect the welfare of oth ers that Noddings and Gilligan associ­ ate with female concepts of ju stice in the United S tates closely parallel the ethical positions advocated by Confucius an d Mencius. However, C onfucianism does becom e oppressive tow ard women after M encius’s d eath with the introduction of Yin-yang school of phi­ losophy betw een 255 B.C. E. and 23 C. E. Yin and yang are two com ­ p lem entary forces th a t w ere originally associated w ith n atu re. Yang is considered the su p e rio r and d o m in an t force, w hereas yin is the su b ­ m issive. Applied to gender relatio n sh ip s, the m ale is the yang and the female is the yin. In m arriage, the female goal is to serve the husb an d and the son s. Fem ale virtue, u n d er the Yin-yang association, is judged p rim arily in te rm s of obedience to the h u sb a n d . For the wife, “to die of starv atio n is a sm all m atter, b u t to lose integrity is a large m atter.”43 Dong Zhongshu (1 7 9 -1 0 4 B.C.E) played a m ajor role in incorporat­ ing Yin-yang into C onfucianism . He believed that the m ajor hum an re­ lationships of ru ler an d subject, father and son, an d husb an d and wife were based on the principles of Yin-yang. He stated, “The ru ler is the yang, the subject yin; the father is yang, the son yin; the husband is yang, the wife yin ... The yang acts a s the h u sb an d , who procreates [the son). The yin acts as the wife, who gives assistance [to the husband].”44 Even from the stan d p o in t of 19th century m ale E uropeans, the Yin-yang philosophy had p roduced a particularly oppressive situation for Chinese wom en. A French Catholic m issionary traveling in China in the 1840s wrote, “The condition of Chinese w om en is m ost pitiable; suffering, privation, contem pt, all k inds of m isery an d degradation, seize on h er in the cradle, and accom pany her pitilessly to the tom b.”45 Reflecting the w om an’s yin sta tu s in gender relations, he wrote, “Her very birth is com m only regarded as a hum iliation and a disgrace to the family—an evident sign of the m alediction of Heaven. If she be not im ­ mediately suffocated ... she is regarded and treated as a creature rad i­ cally despicable an d scarcely belonging to the h u m an race.’’46 Waves of fem inist criticism s of Confucianism occurred in the early 20th century. Wm. T heodore DeBary q uotes a Chinese fem inist of the time, “The learning of Confucianism h as tended to be oppressive and

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to prom ote m ale selfishness ... We can see th at the Confucian in sis­ tence on propriety is nothing m ore th an a tool for m u rdering w om en ... Keeping wom en a t hom e allowed m en to p u rsu e education while wom en w ere trap p ed in ignorance. Isn ’t this the greatest of injus­ tices?”47 The revolution of 1911, which overthrew the im perial system and resulted in a republican governm ent u n d e r the leadership of Sun Yat-sen, opened the door to m ajor changes in the education and s ta tu s of wom en. CHINESE NATIONALISM: “WESTERN FUNCTION, CHINESE ESSENCE” While W estern ideas about politics and technology influenced China, the m ore im p o rtan t im pact of the West w as its role in sparking the growth of nationalism and creating a sen se of sham e that continued into the 21 st century. Feelings of nationalism resulting from a reaction to W estern im perialism are evident in the c u rre n t Constitution of the People’s Republic of China adopted in 1982, which opens with a his­ torical su m m ary of China’s place in the global flow of Western colonial­ ism . C om pared to other countries, C hina suffered m inor losses to E uropean pow ers. But these m inor losses still b o th er Chinese leaders. N ationalism a p p e a rs in the opening sentences of the C onstitution’s Pream ble: "China is one of the countries with the longest histories in the w orld. T he people of all nationalities in C hina have jointly created a splendid culture and have a glorious revolutionary tradition.”48 T his opening is im m ediately followed by recognition of the effects of colo­ nialism : “Feudal C hina w as gradually red u ced after 1840 to a sem i-colonial and sem i-feudal country. T he Chinese people waged wave u pon wave of heroic struggles for national independence and lib­ eration an d for dem ocracy an d freedom .’’49 T he reference to “after 1840” is to the O pium W ars when the C hi­ nese governm ent tried to sto p B ritish m e rc h a n ts from selling d ru g s to the C hinese people. In resp o n se, the B ritish s e n t w arsh ip s u p C hi­ nese rivers a n d forced the governm ent to sign th e T reaty of Nanking, w hich m ade Hong Kong into a w arehousing a re a for opium an d cre­ ated treaty p o rts at C anton a n d Shanghai. At the tim e, th is w as a m a­ jo r defeat o f th e C hinese g overnm ent’s efforts a t self-protection from W estern influence. Reflecting this continuing sense of outrage about Western colonialism, Deng Xiaoping, Chinese government leader after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, explained to a visiting Japanese delegation in 1984, “For more than a century after the Opium War, China was subjected to aggression and hu­ m iliation.”50 Release from Western oppression, according to Deng

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Xiaoping, “is because the Chinese people embraced Marxism and kept to the road leading from new-democracy to socialism.”51 China’s revolutionary fervor was fueled by the haunting m emories of foreign incursions. Born on December 26, 1893 in Hunan Province, Mao Zedong grew up surrounded by anti-foreign feelings. Two years before Mao’s birth, Griffith Jo h n , an English m issionary visiting Changsa, the capital of Hunan, wrote, “it is one of the few places left in the whole world which no foreigner may presum e to enter. It is perhaps the m ost intensely anti-foreign city in the whole of China, a feeling kept up by the literati with the full sympathy of the officials.’’52 Growing up in this anti-foreigner atm osphere, Mao developed a fear of possible takeover by the West or Jap an , both economically more powerful and aggressive. He later rem em bered reading at the age of 14 a pam phlet predicting Japan ese takeover of the Chinese island of Taiwan and of Korea, and the loss of Chinese power over Indochina and Burma. “Af­ ter I read this," he recalled, “I felt depressed about the future of my country and began to realize it was the duty of all the people to help save it.”53 While fearing the power of the West and J a p a n , Mao was aware of the im portance of Western technological development. He claimed that at an early age he was influenced by Zheng Guanying’s Words o f Warning to an Affluent Age. The book urged the introduction of Western tech­ nology into China. It described technological developments, such as electricity, telephones, steam ships, and railways. In addition, it called for introducing Western education and parliam entary democracy. Mao claimed that the book persuaded him to give up farm life to devote him ­ self to a life of learning.54 The attraction of Western technology created a dilem m a for both the Chinese and Japanese, but their responses differed. Leaders of both countries believed in the superiority of their traditional Confucian cul­ tures over Western cultures but recognized that Western technological development opened the door to possible European conquest of their countries. The obvious solution was to learn Western science and tech­ nological m ethods. The problem was how to introduce a foreign sci­ ence and technology without dim inishing the power of Confucian ethical culture. Before Chinese leaders attem pted to resolve this dilemma, J a p a ­ nese officials u nder the slogans of W estern Science, E astern Morals and Ja p a n e se Spirit. W estern Skills began to introduce Western sci­ ence and education. One Japanese advocate of learning Western tech­ nology, Sakum a Shozan, argued in 1855, “In order to m aster the barbarians ... there is not a better first step than to be familiar with barbarian tongues [which would create a) clearer understanding of the conditions among the enemy nations.”55 It was Sakum a who declared

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the goal of "Western Science, E astern Morals.” In 1868, the Japanese government created an Education D epartm ent which issued a declara­ tion that, "Knowledge shall be sought from throughout the world.”56 The relatively early introduction of Western science and technology into Ja p a n provided that country with an initial m ilitary advantage over China and other Asian countries that would continue until the de­ feat of Japan ese forces at the end of World War II. In 1895, Ja p a n de­ feated China and took over Korea and Taiwan. In 1905, Ja p a n defeated the R ussians and took over control of Manchuria. Japanese defeat of R ussia stoked the flames of Asian anti-European feelings and provided an example of the ability of Asians to stop Western imperialism. “At that tim e,” Mao recalled, “I knew and felt the beauty of Jap an , and felt som ething of her pride and m ig h t... of her victory over Russia.”57 In the 1870s, the Chinese government responded to Western aggres­ sion with a “self-strengthening movement." In the w ords of Mao’s biog­ rapher Philip Short, “Under the slogan, 'Western function, Chinese essence,’ reform ers argued that if the country had access to m odern weapons, it could repel the invaders and preserve unchanged its Con­ fucian way of life.”58 In the 1890s, Chinese flocked to Ja p a n to learn about Western sci­ ence and technology. This resulted in a flow of Western ideas between Ja p a n and China. This flow was illustrated for me during my visit to Taiwan where government buildings constructed during the Japanese occupation are still being used. The buildings were designed by J a p a ­ nese architects who were trained in Europe. Their facades are su p ­ ported by a jum ble of Roman and Greek colum ns with som e buildings looking like transplants from Vienna or Berlin. One of the results of nationalism as a response to colonial aggres­ sion, and the im pact of global ideoscapes, was the development in the 1890s of a “constitutionalist” movement. Constitutional government was a Western idea. There was no precedent for constitutional govern­ m ent in Chinese traditions. Indeed, Confucian traditions opposed rule by law. However, Chinese scholars quickly adapted the idea of consti­ tutional government to Confucian traditions. Out of these efforts grew a revolutionary movement that eventually overthrew the im perial gov­ ernm ent and led the country down the path to what was called Mao Zedong thought, Marxism-Leninism, and the 1982 Constitution. CHINESE CONSTITUTIONALISM: EQUALITY OF PLEASURE AND PAIN Liu Shipei (1884-1919) and Liang Qichao (1873-1929) were the two leading Chinese scholars who tried to reconcile Confucianism with constitutional guarantees of equality and freedom. Liu adapted the

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ideas of Je a n Jacques Rousseau to Confucian traditions in The E s­ sence o f the Chinese Social Contract. He envisioned a p ast when Chi­ nese people were equal and without rulers. Eventually, he argued, a greedy group took over power and created a society of unequal power and wealth. Liu was influenced by Western anarchist thought, particu­ larly that of Prince Kropotkin, and dream t of a future society with eco­ nomic equality and equality of political power.59 Interestingly, Liu added a new dim ension to the concept of equality by relating it to equality of w ork experience. In his utopian vision, ev­ eryone over the course of their lives would have an opportunity to p ar­ ticipate in every form of work from farming to teaching to factory work. Equality of w ork was directly related to his concept of equality of out­ comes. All people would experience the pleasures and pains resulting from differing w ork conditions. Following Confucian traditions, Liu was not interested in abstract concepts of rights, such as equality and liberty, but in rights as condi­ tions that fostered positive social relationships. He felt that abstract concepts of rights were meaningless as long as social inequalities ex­ isted. Social inequality, he contended, was directly related to person’s social duties, which included work. Peter Zarrow, an Australian pro­ fessor of Chinese history, sum m arizes Liu’s thinking: “As long as 'du­ ties’ (yiwu) rem ained unequal, or in other words as long as people were forced to perform different kinds of labor so that their suffering and pleasure rem ained unequal, any abstract equality of rights merely m asked injustice.”60 Equality of social duties, in Liu s thinking, was a necessary condi­ tion for independence and liberty. Liu m ade a distinction between the conditions of independence and liberty. His concept of freedom incor­ porated the Confucian ideal of self-regulation. “I believe,” Liu wrote, “that hum ans possess three great rights (sa n d q u a n ); the right of equality (pingdengquan), the right of independence (dullquan), and the right of liberty (ziyo u q u a n ).”61 He defined independence as not de­ pending on others and as not controlling others. Liberty, he stated, re­ sulted from not being controlled by others. However, he argued, limitation of liberty might be required to obtain equality. Liu insisted that, 'T he right of independence is a m eans of m aintaining the right of equality. Only when the right of liberty is used excessively and conflicts with the liberty of others, will it contradict the goal of equality of hu­ manity. Therefore, if we want to m aintain hum anity’s right to equality, we should rath er limit the individual’s right to liberty.”62 It is interesting to see how Liu took the ideas of equality and freedom as represented by Rousseau and Western anarchism from the global flow and fused them with the Confucian concept of social duties. Per­ sonally, I have not encountered a Western writer who defines equality

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as equality of social duties. As a W esterner, I found this definition unique and appealing. I have not encountered a W estern argum ent that recognizes th at social duties carry with them varieties of pleasure and pain, and th at tru e equality req u ires an equal exposure to this broad range of h u m an experiences. G ender equality w as of p articu lar im portance for Liu and his wife. He Zehn. Writing extensively on wom en’s rights, they unleashed over a century of criticism and reform designed to overcom e traditional op­ pression of C hinese wom en. However, they believed th at equality be­ tween men and wom en could not be achieved until equality reigned throughout society. T his would include, of course, equality of social d uties between m en an d w om en.63 Liu’s vision req u ires universal equal education to prep are both m en and wom en for equality of social duties including being a teacher. Like the Confucian trad itio n , he views equal education as necessary for in­ dependence and liberty. In a sim ilar fashion, Liang Qichao, the m ost influential reform er prio r to the 1911 revolution, linked equality of educational o pportu­ nity to self-governm ent and citizenship. Arguing th at Western im perial­ ism and Ja p a n e se pow er were aided by a sense of nationalism , he proposed p o p u lar education and revival of trad itio n s as the key to Chi­ nese nationalism . T he title of his journal. R en ew ing the People, con­ veyed the goal of using traditional Chinese education as a m eans of introducing a nationalistic spirit. Liang w rote, revealing his own n a ­ tionalistic feelings an d disd ain of the “b arb arian ” other: The world of today is not the world of yesterday. In ancient times, we CHINESE were people o f villages instead of citizens ... Since China ma­ jestically used to be predominant In the East, surrounded as we were by small barbarian groups and lacking any contact with other huge states, we Chinese generally considered our state to encom pass the whole world.64

In agreem ent w ith the goal of “Western Function, Chinese Essence,” Liang p roposed a new form of public m orality th a t would be based on a stud y of o ther n atio n s b u t at the sam e tim e reflect the traditional Con­ fucian goal of social harm o n y and self-regulation. Liang wrote: Hence, we who live In the present group should observe the main trends of the world, study what will suit our nation, and create a new morality in order to solidify, benefit, and develop our group. We should not im pose upon ourselves a limit and refrain from going into what our sages had not prescribed. Search for public morality and there will appear a new morality, there will appear "a people renewed. ”GS

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Sim ilar to Liu Shipei, Liang does not adopt the Western concept of abstract rights but, within the Confucian tradition, he considers rights as products of social interaction. Liang wrote: The rights of the state are composed of the rights of individuals. There­ fore, the thoughts, feelings and actions of a citizenry will never be obtain­ able without the thoughts, feelings and actions of each individual member ....That the people possesses rights means that the state pos­ sesses rights: and that the people is without shame means that the state is without shame.66

In summary, the “constitutionalists" prepared the way for the 1911 revolution and the later attem pts to create equality and freedom. How­ ever, concepts of equality and freedom were fused with the traditional Confucian com m itm ent to social morality and self-regulation. Im por­ tant to this movement was the advocacy of equal rights for women. Here too, equality of gender was placed within traditional Chinese con­ cerns with social responsibility. Equality of gender m eant equality of social responsibilities. Combined with the Confucian belief in equality of m oral capacities, this brand of gender equality m eant that m en and women have an equal capacity to be m oral and to fulfill their duties to society. And, underlying these argum ents, was a com m itm ent to equal educational opportunity. The constitutionalists argued that equal edu­ cational opportunities were necessary for the creation of a free and equal society. Education, they believed, would develop equal m oral ca­ pacities, strengthen the Chinese people with nationalism , and prepare for equality of social duties. MAO ZEDONG: THINKING EQUALITY AND FREELY EXPRESSING TRUTH Confucian principles, including equality of m oral capacities and the social duty to speak out against injustice, continued in various forms after the 1949 founding of the People’s Republic of China. In fact, Mao Zedong extended the concept of equality to include the m oral obliga­ tion for all people to think of others as equal. Referring to the Confu­ cian concept of freedom of speech. Merle G oldm an provided the following explanation for the pro-dem ocracy and free-speech move­ m ent in China in the 1990s: The intellectuals in the People's Republic regarded themselves as the in­ termediaries between the rulers and the ruled, informing the leadership of the effect of their policies on society and urging reforms if the effect was deleterious and evoked resistance. Similarly like the literati [Confu­ cian], they thought of themselves as an elite, charged with guiding the

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CHAPTER 2 people and even the leaders toward a more humane and just society. It is not surprising, therefore, that China's m odern intellectuals emphasized freedom of the p ress and expression in their definition of democracy, be­ cause thesefreedoms made it possiblefor them tofulfill their responsi­ bility as intellectuals [my em phasis]67

These Confucian traditions were blended into w hat became offi­ cially known as Mao Zedong Thought and M arxism-Leninism. As stated in the in the Pream ble to the 1982 C onstitution, “Under the lead­ ership of the C om m unist Party of China and the guidance of Marxism -Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, the Chinese people ... w ill... follow the socialist ro a d .”68 In this quote it is tem pting to equate the Confucian “Way” with the "socialist ro a d .” M arxism -Leninism was adapted to Chinese traditions. For exam ple, while studying M arxist texts in 1930, Mao stated, "We m u st stu d y M arxist 'books,' but they m u st be integrated with our actual situ atio n .”69 My p rim ary in terest is Mao’s ideas regarding equality and freedom , not the details of his rise to pow er or the political intrigues of his reign. But I do feel the read er needs som e sense of chronology of Mao’s life to u n d erstan d the developm ent of his ideas. B orn on Decem ber 26, 1893, he w as a teenager at the time of the 1911 revolution and in his 50s when he proclaim ed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The m ajor cultural and economic events of his regime, which I discu ss later, were the H undred F low ers (1957), the Great L eap For­ w ard (1958), and the C ultural Revolution (1963). Mao died in 1976. The following is the official history of Mao’s rise to power as stated in the 1982 C onstitution of the People’s Republic of China: The Revolution of 1911, led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, abolished the feudal monarchy and gave birth to the Republic of China. But the historic m is­ sion of the Chinese people to overthrow im perialism and feudalism re­ mained unaccomplished. After waging protracted and arduous struggles, armed and otherwise, along a zigzag course, the Chinese people of all nationalities led by the Communist Party of China with Chairman Mao Zedong as its leader ulti­ mately, in 1949, overthrew the rule of im perialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism ... and founded the People’s Republic of China.70

Mao Zedong’s ideas were form ed in the crucible of Confucianism and anti-foreign nationalism . While Mao Zedong would later in life try to disow n his Confucian education and heritage by linking it to feudal­ ism , Confucian trad itio n s continued to play a m ajor role, particularly durin g the H undred Flowers cam paign and the C ultural Revolution.

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Mao received a classical Confucian education. As previously m en­ tioned, Mao’s education began at the age of 6 by learning about moral equality from the Three Character Classic. Mao’s biographer, Philip Short, hypothesizes that 6-year-old Mao had difficulty understanding the explanation of m oral equality p ro ­ vided by a 15th century com m entator in the Three Character C las­ sic. However, the com m entary does illustrate the im portance given to the concept of equality of m oral capacities, and from this we can infer possible influence on Mao. The 15th-century com m entary in the Three Character Classic explains the first lines of the book, “This re­ fers to m an at his b irth. The wise and the sim ple, the upright and the vicious, all agree in their nature, radically resem bling each other, w ithout any difference. But when their knowledge has expanded their dispositions and endow m ents all vary ... th u s perverting the correct principles of their virtuous n atu re.”71 As a young m an, Mao joined others in nationalistic protest against the actions of foreign powers. Mao’s classm ate wrote in a letter to his family in 1918, “You should know that the foreigners want to take China’s land, they w ant to take China’s money and they want to harm China’s people ... Our aim is to look forward to the day of China’s res­ urrection.”72 During the sam e period, Mao m ade the following declara­ tion of Chinese nationalism and belief in the superiority of Chinese civilization: Our Chinese people possess great inherent capacities! The more pro­ found the oppression, the more powerful its reaction, and since this has been accumulating for a long time, it will surely burst forth quickly. I ven­ ture to make a singular assertion: one day the reform of the Chinese peo­ ple will be more profound than that of any other people, and society of the Chinese people will be more radiant than that of any other people ... (and) it will be achieved earlier than that of any other place or people ... Our golden age. our age of glory and splendor, lies before us!73

Mao later recalled that during his 20s, “My m ind was a curious mix­ ture of ideas of liberalism, dem ocratic reform ism , and utopian social­ ism .” Sim ilar to Liu Shipei and other Chinese political activists, Mao was strongly attracted to anarchism and the w orks of Kropotkin. Anar­ chism provided the Confucian ideal of a society governed by self-regulation as opposed to laws. At the sam e time, he continued to be interested in Confucius. In 1920, Mao visited Confucius’s grave and wrote, “I stopped at Qufu, and visited Confucius’s grave. I saw the small stream where Confucius’ disciples bathed their feet, and the lit­ tle town where the sage lived as a child ... I saw the birthplace of Mencius.”74

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A year after visiting C onfucius’s grave, Mao and h is fellow 17 m em ­ b ers of the New People’s stu d y group voted on w hich “-ism ” to follow w ith an arch ism and Bolshevism being the m ost favored. It does seem peculiar, the idea of a group of young m en voting on their ideological path. Twelve m em bers voted for Bolshevism , three voted against, and three rem ained undecided. T his ideological vote shaped the future d i­ rection of Chinese history.75 D uring this period, Mao becam e com m itted to the principle of equality for wom en. Two years p rio r to the vote on Bolshevism, he took on the role of a w om an to explain the plight of fem ales in China. As­ sum ing the role of a w om an, he w rote, “G entlem en, we are women! ... We are also hum an b e in g s... [yet] we are not even allowed to go outside the front gate. The sham eless m en, the villainous m en, m ake u s into th eir playthings ... We w ant to sw eep away all those devils who rape u s and destroy the liberty of o u r m in d s an d o u r bodies!”76 Later, he a r­ gued th a t w om en's equality an d freedom from the m arriage system w as d ependent on gaining econom ic independence. By the 1930s, Mao advocated sexual liberation as the key to b re a k ­ ing the traditional m arriage system . He encouraged extra-m arital af­ fairs by wom en. Equality of rights in m arriage an d divorce were the first laws enacted in the tem porary C hinese Soviet Republic of the 1930s and by the later People’s Republic of China. Mao proudly p ro ­ claim ed, “T his dem ocratic m arriage system h as b u rs t the feudal shack les th at have bound h um an beings, especially w om en, for th o u ­ sa n d s of years, an d established a new p attern co nsistent w ith h u m an natu re."77 Mao’s ideas on equality and freedom were tested and refined du rin g the H undred Flow ers and the G reat Leap Forw ard. He never rejected the Confucian idea of equality of m oral capacities. D uring the H undred Flow ers and the C ultural Revolution he insisted on the capacity of the com m on people to correct the actions of the leadership. However, a s I will explain, there were im p o rtan t b o u n d aries placed on the right of the people to sp eak o u t against governm ent authority. In 1958, Mao outlined h is concept of equality in a d ra ft resolution w ritten for the Chinese C om m unist Party. T his statem ent on equality m u st be u n d ersto od in the context of the H undred Flowers cam paign which, in p art, w as b ased on the criticism that a new class of govern­ m ent b u reau crats were acting as if they were b etter th an the com m on people. For Mao, overcom ing th is form of inequality required a change in attitudes. In o ther w ords, equality required th a t people think and act tow ard o th ers as equals. “[We] m u st,” Mao w rote, “ad o p t an a ttitu d e o f g e n u in e e q u a lity to­ w ard s cad res and the m asses an d m ake people feel th a t relationships am ong m en are truly equal [my em phasis].’’78 E m bedded in this con­

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cept of equality w as the idea of equality of social duties. All social d u ­ ties were to be considered of equal value. Mao w rote, “People do different w ork and hold different jobs. No m atter how high one’s posi­ tion is, one m u st ap p ear am ong people as an o rdinary w orker. One m u st not assum e airs; one m u st get rid of b u reau cratism .”79 M ao’s th in k in g on equ ality of social d u tie s w as sim ila r to th a t of Liu Shipei. T h is w as one re a so n for sen d in g intellectu als into the fields a n d facto ries d u rin g the C u ltu ral R evolution. B esides w anting to conn ect th eo retical ed u catio n w ith w o rk e rs’ need s an d d e stro y the e litist feelings of in tellectu als, Mao also argued for the social value o f experiencing differing o ccu p atio n s. In 1968, he w rote in the Peking R e v ie w , “T he m ajo rity o r vast m ajo rity of the stu d e n ts tra in e d in th e old sch o o ls a n d colleges can integ rate them selves w ith the w o rk e rs ... [and] be re -e d u c ate d by the w o rk ers, p e a sa n ts and so ld ie rs u n d e r the guidance of the co rre c t line, a n d thoroughly change th eir old ideology. S uch in tellectu als will be w elcom ed by the w o rk e rs, p e a s a n ts an d s o ld ie rs .”80 W hen applied to the educational process, equality of social duties becam e equality of educational experience. In this, Mao rejected the ideal of scholars, w hom he categorized as “bourgeois intellectuals,” de­ voting their days to theoretical studies. In 1967, d u rin g the cultural revolution, Mao wrote, "w orkers should, in addition to their m ain in­ du strial w ork, learn m ilitary affairs, politics, and culture, an d take p a rt in the socialist educational m ovem ent.”81 In turn, he argued, “stu ­ den ts are in a sim ilar position. T heir stu d ies are their chief w ork; they m u st also learn o th er things. In other w ords, they ought to learn in d u s­ trial, agricultural, and m ilitary w ork in addition to class w ork. The school years sh o u ld be shorten ed , education should be revolutionized, and the dom ination of o u r schools by bourgeois intellectuals should by no m ean s be allowed to continue.”82 I don’t w ant to stretch the connection between Mao Zedong T hought and Confucianism , p articularly since Mao denounced the traditional intellectual lead ersh ip of Confucian sch o lars as bourgeois and he let the Red G uard destroy Confucian relics at Qufu. However, there are parallels between Mao’s principle of thinking of o th ers a s equal and the p ro nouncem ents by Confucius in T he Doctrine o f the M ean. Con­ fucius said, in reference to the “su p e rio r” hum an, In a high situation, he does not treat with contempt his inferiors. In a low situation, he does not court the favor o f his superiors.83

Mao stre sse d the equality of m oral capacities, the first lesson of his childhood, in h is a tta c k s against bourgeois intellectuals. He argued that intellectuals had becom e a special class with feelings of s u p e rio r­

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ity to the com m on population. He justified the C ultural Revolution as a necessary struggle to elim inate the sense of superiority am ong intel­ lectuals and provide an opportunity for the people to exercise their equal m oral sensibilities. This m eant that the educational system had to be changed to en su re the replacem ent of bourgeois thinking with the natural capacities of the comm on people. Using socialist rhetoric, these ideas were stressed in the 1966 “Decision of the Cen­ tral Committee of the Chinese Com m unist Party Concerning the G reat Proletarian Revolution.” This docum ent stressed the im por­ tance of an educational revolution: In the great proletarian cultural revolution a most important task is to transform the old educational system and the old principles and meth­ ods of teaching. In this great proletarian cultural revolution, the phenomenon of our schools dominated by bourgeois intellectuals must be changed. In every kind of school we must apply throughly the policy advanced by Comrade Mao Zedong, of education serving proletarian politics and edu­ cation being combined with productive labor, so as to enable those re­ ceiving an education to develop morally, intellectually and physically and to become laborers with socialist consciousness and culture.84

Mao’s attack on so-called bourgeois intellectuals highlights the problem of freedom of speech imbedded in Confucianism and Mao Zedong Thought. As previously discussed, the Confucian scholar had the duty to speak out against injustice and immorality. This duty car­ ried with it the responsibility to not advocate injustice and immorality. This was freedom of speech to advocate and protect the Way. But, who should determ ine whether speech advocates justice or in­ justice? Confucians might respond that this is to be determ ined by people in their search for the Way. But in Confucianism individual ac­ tions cannot be abstracted from their social context. An individual’s concept of justice and m orality is directly related to its social conse­ quences. If freedom of speech is limited to advocating justice and m o­ rality, then freedom of speech can be denied to those preaching the opposite. Based on this concept of freedom of speech, when is free speech allowed or denied? This was the dilem m a faced by Mao in the H undred Flowers move­ ment. Mao envisioned the H undred Flowers movement as allowing freedom for the people to speak out against the government. This free­ dom was to act as a check against the development of an unjust govern­ m ent bureaucracy. In the H undred Flowers campaign, Mao replaced

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the Confucian ideal of intellectuals checking the actions of governm ent through free speech with the m asses of com m on people exercising that power. Of course, this m eant limiting free speech to statem ents of ju s ­ tice and m orality. B ut how would this lim itation be determ ined? Initially, Mao advocated com plete freedom of speech in a statem ent with the descriptive title, “On the Correct H andling of C ontradictions Among the People.” Reflecting his poetic side, Mao m ade the distinc­ tion between ‘fragrant flow ers’ and ‘poisonous w eeds.’ Mao stated, “[The slogan of) ‘Let a h u n d red flowers bloom , a h u n d red schools of thought contend’ ... w as pu t forw ard in recognition of the various dif­ ferent co ntradictions in society ... If you w ant to grow only [fragrant flowers] and not w eeds, it can’t be done ... To ban all w eeds and stop them growing, is th a t possible? The reality is th at it is n o t ... They will still grow ... It is difficult to distinguish fragrant flowers from poison­ ous w eeds.”85 Mao believed th at the practice of freedom of speech would result in the "true” ideas winning out. “If they have som ething to fart about, let them fart!,” he declared, “If it’s out, then one can decide w hether it sm ells bad or good ... If the people think their farts stink, they will be isolated.”86 In less colorful language, he contended, “T ruth stan d s in con trast to falsehood and is developed out of the struggle against it. Beauty sta n d s in co n tra st to ugliness and is developed o ut of the strug­ gle against it.”87 Of course, according to Philip Short, w hat o th ers thought were fra­ grant flowers, tru th , and beauty were not necessarily in line with Mao’s thinking. After only a few m onths of letting a “h u n d re d flowers bloom ,” Mao was d istu rb ed by the intense criticism of the governm ent and the party. Consequently, he decided to use the call for freedom of speech as a m eans of identifying enem ies of the regime. In a secret m em orandum entitled ‘T h in g s are turning into their o pposites,” Mao plotted, “We shall let the Rightists ru n am uck for a tim e and let them reach their cli­ max ... Som e say they are afraid of being hooked like a fish ... Now that large n u m b ers of fish have com e to the surface of them selves, there is no need to b ait the h ook.’’88 And then, he w arned, ‘T h e re are two alter­ natives for the Rightists. One is to ... m end their ways. T he other is to go m aking trouble and court ruin. G entlem en Rightist, the choice is yours, the initiative (for a sh o rt time) is in your h a n d s.”89 The lim its of the C onfucian concept of free speech are illustrated by the quick reversal of the goal of using free speech to check govern­ m ent actio n s to usin g it as a m ean s of catching so-called right-wing th in k ers. The a ssu m p tio n th a t the p u rp o se of free speech is the free­ dom to advocate m oral an d ju s t ideas o p en s the do o r to allowing gov­ ern m en t au th o ritie s to lim it free speech based on their ideas of m orality an d justice.

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The sam e issue was presented during the Cultural Revolution. The Red G uard w as given free reign to criticize public officials for anti-Mao Zedong Thought. The Red G uards could be considered as operating within the Confucian tradition of exercising a social duty to speak out against injustice. However, historians and the present Chinese Com m u­ n ist Party have argued that the Cultural Revolution prim arily focused on prom oting ideas that supported those in pow er and not ideas of justice. Shortly after M ao's death in 1976, the governm ent arrested the so-called “G ang of Four" who were alleged to be responsible for the pol­ icies of the C ultural Revolution that had u n d erm in ed the educational system an d h ad sen t m any to priso n for supposedly voicing anti-Mao Zedong ideas. In the end, Mao’s policies d em o n strated the lim itations of Confucian ideas of freedom of speech. However, he did raise the Confucian idea of equality of m oral capacities to a new level by stre ss­ ing the im portance of thinking of o th ers as equals. Incorporated into Mao’s educational goals were the ideals of equality of social duties and equality of thinking about others. The next an d cu rren t stage of the evolution of C hinese com m unism , “Socialist M odernization,” contin­ ues to be entw ined with the evolution of basic Confucian beliefs. SOCIALIST MODERNIZATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS There h as been w idespread Western criticism of Chinese violations of hu m an rights regarding the incarceration of intellectual dissenters, the 1989 killing of d em o n strato rs in T iananm en square, and re p re s­ sive actions tow ards religious groups. W esterners were particularly critical of the T iananm en sq u are killings because the dem onstrations were labeled a pro-dem ocracy m ovem ent. However, when American social th eo rist C raig C alhoun took a poll of the p articip an ts he found th a t they w ere not d em onstrating in su p p o rt of electoral politics. They were dem o n stratin g for free speech, o r in C onfucian term s, the right to be h eard . W riting ab o u t the political rep ressio n in T iananm en Square in the context of Confucian influence on intellectuals in the People’s Re­ public of China, Merle G oldm an argues, “T h eir [the dem onstrators] use of petitions an d articles in the p arty p re ss and the Democracy Wall activist’s use of wall p o sters and unofficial jo u rn a ls to advise and criti­ cize resem bled the [Confucian] literati’s use of m em orials offering ad ­ vice an d criticism to higher officials o r the em peror.’’90 While the T iananm en Square d e m o n stra to rs could be portrayed as exercising the traditional obligation of the Confucian scholar, the ac­ tions of the governm ent could be described as exercising the tra d i­ tional C onfucian responsibility to m ain tain public harm ony. Of course, this argum ent can be d ism issed sim ply as an excuse for m ain­ taining political pow er by claim ing that any political dem onstration

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threatens public order. It would be difficult to dispute claims that the arrest of political dissidents is anything other than political oppres­ sion and a method for those in control to m aintain existing power. On the other hand, the rensorship of advertising in China could be viewed as an example of Confucian abridgement of free speech for the purpose of m aintaining social harmony. W esterners often think of free-speech rights as extending to adverUsing. The Chinese government insists that advertisem ents m ust not “jeopardize the social order.”91 For instance, the Western mega-advertising firm of Saatchi and Saatchi found that in China they could not use a commercial for an athlete's foot medication that depicted an actual afflicted foot. The Chinese govern­ ment prohibits the advertising display of patients or medical symptoms because these images might disrupt social harmony.92 China can also be accused of denying the rights of cultural m inori­ ties, particularly the people of Tibet. Currently, the Dalai Lama, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism , is in exile in India. There is a worldwide protest to free Tibet from China and restore the Dalai Lama to religious and political power. The restoration of the Dalai Lama directly threat­ ens China's political control of Tibet. The Chinese government’s defense of their actions in Tibet follow a typical Confucian line of thinking. B uddhism has always suffered in China because of the tendency of many Chinese to dism iss religions that are directed tow ards some form of afterlife. Within Confucianism, Heaven, Nirvana or any other afterlife causes people not to focus on im­ proving the quality of tem poral life on earth. In addition, from the Chi­ nese government’s perspective, the restoration of the Dalai Lama will mean that Tibet will be ruled by a theocracy. From a socialist and Con­ fucian point of view, a theocracy is one of the w orst form s of govern­ ment. These views were expressed in an official Chinese government White Paper on “Tibet [sic] Culture Extinction” issued in 2000. The White Paper refers to the Dalai Lama’s com plaints about the extinction of Tibetan culture as a “dem and that m odern Tibetan people keep the life styles and cultural values of old Tibet’s feudal serfdom wholly in­ tact."93 The government claims to be protecting Tibetan culture by adapting it to the m odern world. There has been, the White Paper a r­ gues, “a substantive shift ... from the self-enclosed, stagnating and shrinking situation to a new stance—the stance of opening up and de­ velopment oriented to m odernization and the outside world. While de­ veloping and prom oting its traditional culture, Tibet is also developing m odern scientific and technological education and news dissem ina­ tion at an unprecedented rate.”94 This stance on cultural rights was re­ iterated by Li Ruihuan, chairm an of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference during a 2000 visit to Canada. The People's Daily reported, “Li urged that people m ust

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adopt a scientific attitude toward the traditional culture of their nation­ ality. They should not be pedanUc and cherish the outm oded and pre­ serve the outw orn.... ”95 Rejecting the idea of preserving traditional cultures and the necessity of updating cultural practices. Li em pha­ sized, “It is only possible for traditional culture to be boosted up to a new glory after it has been intertwined together with the contem porary world and broken through boldly the out-of-date thoughts so that it can absorb nutrition from vivid social practices.”96 Although it is not hard to see how these lim itations on free speech and cultural rights can be justified in the fram ework of Confucian thought, at the sam e time it can be argued that their prim ary purpose is to m aintain the political power of the present Chinese government. Chinese President Jian g Zemin’s com m ents on hum an rights at the United Nations Millennium Sum m it could be interpreted as ju s t a ploy to allow his government to violate hum an rights or as a statem ent re­ flecting traditional fears of outside influence and a desire to protect a Chinese interpretation of hum an rights. At the Millennium Summit. Jian g argued th at the two fundam ental principles of the United Na­ tions were the protection of national sovereignty and hum an rights. He stated that the existence of hum an rights depends on the protection of national sovereignty. He also em phasized the im portance of each coun­ try m aintaining its own social system: “The people of a country are en­ titled to independently choosing [sic] their own social system and development m odel in the light of their national conditions and to shaping their ow n w a y o f life [my em phasis].”97 Is this statem ent purely self-serving, or does it reflect traditional Chinese thought? EQUALITY, FREEDOM, AND SOCIALIST MODERNIZATION The point I am m aking is th at concepts of equality and freedom in the present Constitution of the People’s Republic of China reflect, among other influences, the long history of Confucian ideas as modified by Mao and adapted to Marxist-Leninist thought under the cu rren t lead­ ership’s goal of “socialist m odernization.” Clearly stated in the Consti­ tution are concepts of equality linked to social duUes, professions of free speech limited by the requirem ent to speak out for morality and justice, and the treatm ent of intellectuals as a special group. In this context, universal education is still prom oted as the key to the good and m oral society. Operating u nder the goal of creating and m aintaining a “socialist spiritual civilization,” education, not laws, is considered the key to creating a self-regulated and harm onious society. In addition, as p art of the socialist modernizaUon movement, schools are called upon to train w orkers. Adopting the rhetoric of equality of opportunity, the schools help find and train people for an occupation

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suited to their talents. Work is considered a social duty. In the 1950s, the Chinese adopted the p h rase “red and expert” to describe the educa­ tional goal of creating and m aintaining a harm onious and m oral soci­ ety, while training for specific jobs. “Red and expert” captures the idea of equality of m oral capacities in learning to be “red” while living in a society of unequal occupations. As I discussed regarding Professor Sun’s private Deweyan school, China's constitution encourages public and private organizations to start their own schools. The prom otion of these independent schools re­ flects traditional Confucian objections to detailed control by central gov­ ernm ents as opposed to self-regulation by local community structures and individuals. This self-regulation is now referred to as the "market.” Article 15 of China’s constitution explains how privately owned and controlled schooling can be allowed in a country that professes alle­ giance to Marxist-Leninist traditions. Article 15 reflects the idea of “Chinese essence" being integrated into Marxist-Leninist thought. Mao frequently voiced the opinion that the Chinese b rand of Com m unism would eventually trium ph over all other types of government and eco­ nomic systems. The Chinese form of socialism com bines central plan­ ning and control with economic self-regulation or, in m odern economic language, the m arket principles. ArUcle 15 declares: The state practices planned economy on the basis of socialist public ownership. It ensures the proportionate and coordinated growth of the national economy though overall balancing by economic planning and the supplementary role of regulation by the market.98

In keep in g w ith C onfucian tra d itio n s , applying m a rk e t or self-regulatory principles to the development of schools does not mean freedom of instruction. The assum ption is that schools produced by the actions of the m arket and that are self-governed will teach socialist principles of m orality and justice as defined by the government. Article 15 forcefully qualifies the action of the m arket with the authoritarian statem ent, “D isturbance of socioeconomic order or disruption of the state economic plan by an organization or individual is prohibited.” Article 19, which includes the previously quoted statem ent su pport­ ing the development of private education, ensures that private schools will teach a common socialist ideology. Article 19 declares, “The state undertakes the development of socialist education and w orks to raise the scientific and cultural level of the whole nation.”99 Article 23 links socialism to the educational ideal of “red and expert": The state trains specialized personnel in all fields who serve socialism, expands the ranks of intellectuals and creates conditions to give full scope to their role in socialist modernization.100

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The training o f “specialized p ersonnel” is p a rt of socialist m o d ern ­ ization o r the “expert” p a rt of “red and expert.” For instance, Donald Tsang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Adm inistrative Region, announced on J u n e 4, 2000 the success of the region’s efforts in prom oting educaUon in inform ation technology (IT). Stating th a t it is im p o rtan t to “n u rtu re a technically savvy w orkforce to safeguard our economic fu tu re,” Tsang declared the goal of having all Hong Kong school children m a ste r the general application of inform ation technol­ ogy w ithin the next 5 y e a rs.101 While training to m eet the needs of econom ic developm ent (the “ex­ pert" p a rt of education), the “red ” p a rt of education (socialist morality) continues to be essential. Article 24 of China’s constitution identifies the socialist values th a t will p rom ote the Confucian ideal of education as the b asis for a self-regulated society. Article 24 places em phasis on “high ideals,” “m orality,” “ru les of conduct,” “civic virtues,” and “love of m otherland" in the context of a “socialist spiritual civilization”: Article 24 The state strengthens the building of socialist spiritual civilization through spreading education in high ideals and morality, general educa­ tion and education in discipline and the legal system, and through pro­ moting the formulation and observance o f rules o f conduct and common pledges by different sections of the people in urban and rural areas. The state advocates the civic virtues of love for the motherland, for the people, for labor, for science and for socialism; it educates the people in patriotism, collectivism, internationalism and com m unism and in dia­ lectical and historical materialism; it combats capitalist, feudalist and other decadent id ea s.102

The goal of “socialist sp iritu al civilization” could be considered a fu­ sion of Confucian values with socialist developm ent. The educational goal of building civic m orality is considered an im p o rtan t p a rt of so ­ cialist m odernization. Using the language of following the Way. o r in this case the “socialist ro a d ,” the C onstitution’s Pream ble states: Chinese people o f all nationalities will continue to adhere to the peo­ ple's dem ocratic dictatorship and the socialist road, steadily improve socialist institutions, develop socialist democracy, improve the social­ ist legal system , and work hard and self-reliantly to m odernize indus­ try, agriculture, national defense and science and technology step by step to turn China into a socialist country with a high level of culture and dem ocracy.103

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The limitation of freedom of speech in public and private schools, and in the broader society, to teaching and statem ents supporting the “socialist road” and socialist spiritual civilization is explicitly enunci­ ated in Article 28. Again, a parallel can easily be m ade between the Confucian lim itations on free speech and Article 28's authoritarian pronouncem ent, “The state m aintains public order and suppresses treasonable and other counter-revolutionary activities; it penalizes crim inal activities that endanger public security and d isru p t the social­ ist economy as well as other crim inal activities; and it punishes and re­ form s crim inals.”104 In general, freedom in China’s constitution is limited by the require­ m ents of harm ony and public order. Article 51 states: Citizens of the People s Republic of China, in exercising their freedoms and rights, may not infringe upon the interests of the state, of society or of the collective, or upon the lawful freedoms and rights of other citizens.105

Limitations on freedom of religious expression, including religious activities in public and private schools, are justified by the govern­ m ent's duty to m aintain public order. Article 36 dem onstrates how a declaration of freedom, “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China en­ joy freedom of religious belief,” can be restricted by concerns with so­ cial harmony: The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of re­ ligion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational syste m o f the s ta te (my em­ phasis].106

The Confucian concept of the right and duty to exercise free speech to check government actions is specifically stated in the Constitution’s Article 41. Sim ilar to Mao’s distinction between “fragrant flowers” and “poisonous weeds,” Article 41 seeks to control public criticism by p ro ­ hibiting “distortion of facts” and “false incrim ination.” I believe that Ar­ ticle 41 expresses the traditional Confucian ideal of public criticism of government and highlights the potential danger of severe restrictions on free speech. Article 41 states: Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions regarding any state organ or functionary. Citizens have the right to make to relevant state organs complaints or charges against, or exposures of, any state organ or functionary for violation of the law or dereliction of duty, but fabrication or distortion of facts for purposes of libel or false incrimination is prohibited.107

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The com bination of right and duty is also applied to education. Rights, in this context, only have m eaning in the context of social rela­ tionships. And, of course, social relationships involve social duties that contribute to the m aintenance of an orderly and peaceful society. For exam ple, China’s constitution p rovides for the right to w ork along with the duty to w ork. “Citizens,” declares Article 42, “Have the right as well as duty to w ork.”108 Very seldom do Western th in k ers link such ideas as "the right to ed­ ucation" with a duty to be educated. “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China," Article 45 states, “have the right as well as the duty to receive an ed ucation.”109 GENDER EQUALITY AND INEQUALITY Equality for w om en is declared in Article 48. Again, the reader should keep in m ind th at rights are associated with social duties. Article 49 re­ flects Mao’s concern with forced m arriages and his belief that equality for w om en dep en d s on freedom from m arriage contracts. Article 49 also stre sse s traditional family relationships by m aking it a duty for grown children to su p p o rt their paren ts: Article 48 Women in the People's Republic of China enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of life, in political economic, cultural, social and family life. The state protects the rights and interests of women, applies the princi­ ple of equal pay for equal work to men and women alike and trains and selects cadres from among women. Article 49 Marriage, the family and mother and child are protected by the state. Both husband and wife have the duty to practice family planning. Parents have the duty to rear and educate their children who are minors, and children who have come of age have the duty to support and assist

their parents. Violation o f the freedom of marriage is prohibited. Maltreatment of old people, women and children is prohibited [my em phasis].110

D espite the C onstitution’s guarantee of gender equality, the continu­ ing influence of the Yin-yang school of philosophy resu lts in women re­ taining a su b o rd in ate position in C hinese society. Am artya Sen

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estim ates over 50 million statistically m issing women in China as a re­ sult of the aborting of female fetuses, infanticide, and the neglect of the health and nutritional needs of female children.111 On a global scale, there are statistically 5% m ore boys born than girls. However, if boys and girls are given equal care m ore girls survive because they are phys­ ically hardier. Consequently, despite the higher b irth rate for males, the ratio of women to men exceeds 1.05 in United States, the United Kingdom, and France. For sub-Saharan Africa the ratio is 1.022. The ratio for China is 0.9 4 .112 On the other hand, China has m ade greater attem pts than India, as I discuss in chapter 5, to achieve equality of education for women. Ac­ cording to the UNICEF report, The S ta te o f the World’s Children 2000, the adult literacy rate for females as a percentage of the male literacy rate in China is 80%, w hereas in India it is only 55%. Com parisons of female school enrollm ents also indicate a greater effort on the p art of the Chinese government, as com pared to the Indian government, to provide equal educational opportunity. In China, the female enroll­ m ent rate as a percentage of male enrollm ent rate for prim ary school is 99%. This figure indicates alm ost full equality of educational opportu­ nity for women in attending prim ary school. The figure for secondary school is 91%. These percentages are much higher than those reported for India, which are 87% for prim ary school and 66% for secondary school.11 Of all these statistics, the num ber of m issing women is the m ost horrifying. It is possible that the Confucian belief in m oral equal­ ity can provide a quicker road to gender equality. CONCLUSION: THE CONTRIBUTION OF CONFUCIUS, MENCIUS, MAO ZEDONG THOUGHT, AND SOCIALIST MODERNIZATION TO IDEAS OF EQUALITY AND FREEDOM IN THE GLOBAL FLOW China, like the rest of the world, is being influenced by global culture of schooling with its em phasis on equality of opportunity and equality of educational opportunity as a key to economic development. Under the doctrines of socialist m odernization, as in m ost other countries influ­ enced by global culture, equality of opportunity and education prom ­ ises economic efficiency by providing a labor pool of well-schooled w orkers. The “expert” p art of the socialist educational dictum to edu­ cate all to be “red and expert” is central to the educational aspects of the global culture. “Black July,” the dreaded time of the college adm ission examina­ tions in China, resem bles sim ilar educational contests throughout the global culture resulting from the increased im portance of schooling in determ ining the economic outcom es of hum an lives. The People’s Re­ public of China utilizes one examination to determ ine who will go on to

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college. There is an obvious tem ptation to com pare this examination to the civil service exam inations of Im perial times. However, the civil ser­ vice exam inations were supposed to select the best scholars to help guide the ship-of-state. The “Black Ju ly ” examination determ ines an individual’s future education and employment. For example, on Ju ly 9, 2000, p aren ts gathered anxiously outside exam ination centers waiting for their children. Many of these paren ts were denied a higher education d uring the period of the C ultural Rev­ olution. One parent, Zhang Mei, whose 19-year-old daughter was in­ side the Beijing center taking the exam, told N ew York T im es reporter E rik Eckholm . ’In our time [referring to the C ultural Revolution], young people had to go w ork in the countryside.”114 R epresenting the hopes of p aren ts everywhere who are affected by the global culture of schooling and school exam inations, Ms. Zhang com m ented, “We w eren’t well educated. But to m ake it in society these days you ju s t have to go to college.”115Referring to the im portance of exam ination in determ ining their d aughter’s future, she said, “This is a really big event in her life.”116 A nother p arent, Yan Yanan, w orried, “I’m more nervous than my daughter. I’m w orried that she m ight fail, or have to go to a second-rate university, but college has become a m u st these days.”117 Sim ilar to tests faced by students around the world, the Chinese test determ ines both entrance to college and the social ranking of the col­ lege the student will attend. It is assum ed that the m ore prestigious the college, the better the financial and occupational life outcome for the student. The author of a Chinese book on the social im pact of the ex­ am ination, He Janm ing, told E rik Eckholm, "If you get over the top, you’ll see a bright future, the pot of gold. If you fail, your life seem s to be at an end.”118 English as the global language receives support by being a required subject on the examination. This provides clear evidence of the inten­ tion of the educational system to prepare students for the global econ­ omy. All students are tested on Chinese, English, and m athem atics. In addition, students choose between sets of exam inations for entrance into a science or a liberal a rts program . The exam ination system serves the hum an capital role of selecting talent for the economic system . W hat sets Chinese civilization a p a rt is the “red ” p art of "red and expert” in education. T his rep resen ts the m oral education elem ent of the Confucian tradition, which is also found in schools in other countries like Ja p a n and Singapore.119The source of m orality in W estern and H indu traditions is religion with its claim s of representing the m oral requirem ents of a spiritual being. In these traditions, guilt is the m ethod of social control. In Confucian traditions, and u n d er the doctrines of socialist m odernization, m o­

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rality is derived from real social interactions. Sham e is the m ethod of social control. Consequently, in Chinese civilization, morality is studied in relation to the hum an condition. Morality is not fixed b ut is derived from changing social needs. Therefore, constant study is required to deter­ mine the m oral stan d ard s that will best contribute to a well-ordered society. In other traditions, m orality is a set of rules for social conduct that are memorized. Values, particularly those derived from religion, are not studied and judged according to their contribution to social harmony. In some cases, particularly in fundam entalist movements, religious dogma is considered ordained for all time and not to be changed with the evolution of social practices and needs. This difference is illustrated by my confused reaction to a Japanese student studying in the United States who wondered how Americans became m oral since they did not study morality in school. In Japan, m oral education is an im portant p a rt of the curriculum . I quickly re­ sponded to the student by pointing to the role of the family and reli­ gious institutions. Later, I realized my lack of understanding of the student’s question. The student was perplexed about the American sit­ uation because in her mind morality was som ething to study and to re­ flect upon with regard to its social value. I had thought, in Western fashion, of morality as a series of m oral m axim s to be memorized and reinforced by punishm ents. These different approaches to m oral education help to explain why Jo h n Dewey was hailed as a "Second Confucius” and why his educa­ tional ideas are incorporated into Mian Tao Sun’s private school. Re­ jecting morality as a religious ideal, Dewey also argued that morality was a product of social interactions and that it needed to be constantly improved and adapted to changing social situations. "Learning By Doing” and “Education Through Experience” are Deweyan slogans that attest to this pragm atic approach to morality. In addition, Dewey em phasized the im portance of hum an interaction as the source of knowledge. Sim ilar to the Confucian tradition, Dewey advocated the study of m orality as a m eans of increasing our understanding of how to improve social conditions. U.S. p h ilo so p h e rs David Hall an d Roger Am es believe th at Deweyan pragm atism can close the gap between W estern and Far E astern concepts of society. They argue that the Western reliance on an ab stract set of “n atu ral rights” h as little m eaning in a tradition gov­ erned by “rites” o r the search for the best m eans of achieving social harmony. Referring to Dewey's em phasis on the com m unity as the source of knowledge and hum an progress. Hall and Ames contend, 'Jo h n Dewey’s vision of a dem ocratic society d em onstrates su rp ris­ ing affinities with the traditional Chinese u nderstanding of social o r­

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ganization ... Confucianism and pragm atism sh are a num ber of im portant philosophical assum ptions, and may th u s serve as re­ sources for in tercultural conversations.”120 China’s traditional com m itm ent to universal education is prem ised on a belief in equality of m oral capacities and social duties. Thinking of others as equal is an im portant p art of developing one’s m oral capaci­ ties. This evolving m orality requires self-reflection and self-criticism. In addition, everyone has an equal social duty to speak out against cor­ ru p t governments and social injustice. However, this freedom is seri­ ously com prom ised by concerns about free speech disrupting the social order. The existence of Mian Tao Sun’s private Deweyan school is now u n ­ derstandable against the background of Confucian traditions. T rans­ lated into a Chinese ideoscape, Western concepts of privatization and a m arket economy take on a different meaning. Rejecting legalism as a m echanism of social control, Confucian traditions su pport privatiza­ tion and m arket economies as long as private actions support social harm ony a n d the social good, whereas in the West, privatization and m arkets are associated with the pursuit of profit without any obliga­ tion on the p art of the profiteers to show concern for others. Because the Deweyan aspects of Mian Tao Sun’s school are m eant to instill in students a desire to search for the best m eans of prom oting the social good, it can be concluded that his school em bodies a com­ m itm ent to a society governed by a belief in equality of m oral capacities and the equality of social duties. Confucius, Mencius, and Jo h n Dewey would probably all approve of Professor Sun’s school and his com­ m ent that, "I have ru n a private school from kindergarten to senior high school, although I feel little tired everyday, I live very happy.” Cer­ tainly, the Confucian ideal is to create a w orld where we can all “live very happy.”

3 Equality and Freedom in Islamic Education

The boys sat in an airless room at the Haqqania m adrasa in Pakistan memorizing the Q ur’a n and the H adith.' These texts have formed Is­ lamic civilization for over 1,000 years. Across the globe from the Amer­ icas to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, and Indonesia, children attending Islamic schools read the sam e books. Sim ilar to the power of Confucian texts, these readings have influenced the m inds of countless generations. Pakistan’s approximately 10,000 m ad rasas train future religious and political leaders. The Haqqania has graduated leaders of the Taliban, Afghanistan’s ruling group. The Taliban are known for their strict enforcem ent of Islamic law. At Haqqania, the students, ranging in age from 8 to 30, spend 6 m onths to 3 years memorizing the Qur’an in the original Arabic. This is difficult for many of the students since they only speak Pashto, the dialect of this region of Pakistan. The Qur’an is the uncreated Word of God as revealed to Mohamed (570-632 C.E.). As the actual Word of God, its true m eaning can only be understood in Arabic. The H adith is a collection of the sayings of Mohamed. The Hadith is an im portant source of religious teachings but, unlike the Qur’an, it is not the uncreated Word of God. The following passages from the Qur'an u nderscore the im portance of reading the original Arabic version, “We have sent it [the Qur’a n ] down as a clear discourse that you may u nderstand (12:2).”2 Another translation of this passage is: “We have sent it down as an Arabic Q ur’an, in order that ye may learn wisdom."3 Also, the Qur'an states, “We have sent down this Exposition and We will guard it [from corrup­ tion!" (15:9).4 57

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QUR ANIC ARABIC: THE LANGUAGE OF ISLAM By studying the Qur'an in the original Arabic, Haqqania’s students and students studying in Islamic schools around the world are learning a language shared by almost 1 billion Moslems. Not only does this tighten the cultural ties between Islamic nations and communities, but it also highlights the im portance oflanguage rights in countries where Moslems are a minority community. For instance, Moslems residing in the United S tates are dem anding equal treatm ent for Qur anic Arabic in public schools and colleges. A khtar Emon, a m ajor advocate of of­ fering Q ur’anic Arabic as a second language in U.S. public schools, asks, “If Spanish, Latin, Germ an, French, Italian, Hebrew, Russian, etc. are taught as a second language in public places of learning, then why not Q ur’anic Arabic?”5 He identifies the Institute of Arabic and Is­ lamic Studies and the As-Sunnah Foundation of America as m ajor o r­ ganizations that could help plan the introduction of Q ur’anic Arabic into U.S. public schools. Also, Em on su p p o rts the use of educational vouchers in the United States that would allow Moslem parents to use public money to select Islamic schools for their children. To bolster his argum ent for the teaching of Q ur’anic Arabic as a sec­ ond language in the United States, Em on cites the case of Malaysia, where the language has been taught in schools since 1915. In the first 6 years of prim ary school, Q ur’anic Arabic is taught along with the Malay language. In the first 3 years of secondary school, Q ur’anic Arabic is a required second language. In the last 2 years of high school, when stu ­ dents are divided into different vocational tracks, Q ur’anic Arabic re­ m ains a com m on course of study. Em on hopes that sim ilar program s in other countries will make Q ur’anic Arabic a truly international language. He argues, “When you visit Malaysia, you can easily get by even if you do not know the Malay language, as long as you know some Arabic. Malaysian model would be an excellent one to emulate for other countries, including Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Bosnia, etc.’’6 Em on sidesteps the issue that Q ur’anic Arabic is learned prim arily for religious reasons and, therefore, raises in som e countries—such as the United States and France—the potential violation of the principle of separation of church and state. He does adm it that in the 21 Arabic-speaking nations, natives speak different form s of Arabic and that they have to consult special reference w orks to fully understand the Q ur’an. For instance, a Syrian might not fully understand a Moroc­ can because of their particular form s of colloquial Arabic. Should Moslems have a right to learn Q ur’anic Arabic at govern­ m ent expense? Should Q ur’anic Arabic be considered a minority lan­ guage? Or should Q ur’anic Arabic be considered a religious language

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and treated u n d er h um an rights doctrine regarding the free practice of religion? I re tu rn to these q u estions at the end of the chapter. ISLAM AND THE WEST W hen rep o rter Jeffery G oldberg visited the H aqqania m ad rasa in the year 2000, he found classes being conducted in the centuries-old style of a w hite-bearded teacher reading from the text while stu d e n ts lis­ tened. M issing were the w ide-ranging discu ssio n s and suggestions of differing interpretations of the H adith th at often provides the intellec­ tual sp a rk in Islam ic education. However, d u rin g one visit, the class erupted in d iscussion over the m eaning of a Jih a d . Initially, the class w as studying passages on Z akat or Charity. According to my English translation of the H adith, they might have been reading the following passages which form the b asis for Islam ic responsibility for the welfare of others. Undoubtedly, these passages provide the religious basis for welfare benefits, including health care and housing, found in the con­ stitutions of Islam ic countries. The H adith states: The Qur'an teaches that the poor and needy have a right to a share of other people's wealth. Avoid Hell by giving charity, even if it means sharingyour last date, and, if you have nothing at all, by speaking a kind word. God will have no sympathy for the person who showed no sympathy for m en.7

Interrupting the discussion of the H adith, a stu d e n t asked Goldberg w hat he thought of O sam a bin Laden who w as accused by the U.S. gov­ ern m en t of being an international terro rist. The Q ur'an specifically su p p o rts a jih ad o r holy w ar against an oppressor. It prom ises en­ trance into p arad ise for those killed. The Q ur'an states: Fight those in the way of God who fight you, but do not be aggressive: God does not like aggressors (2 :190).8 Fight them till sedition come to end, and the law of God (prevails). If they desist, then cease to be hostile, except against those who oppress (2:193).9 And those ... who fought and were killed, I shall blot out their sin s and admit them indeed into gardens with rippling stream s (3:195).10 Those who barter the life of this world for the next should fight in the way of God. And we shall bestow on him who fights in the way of God whether he is killed or is victorious, a glorious reward (4:74).“

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In response to the question about O sam a bin Laden, Goldberg quoted from the H adith a passage which forbids the killing of innocent people: “It is n arrated by Ibn U m ar that a w om an w as found killed in one of these battles, so the M essenger of Allah, may peace be upon him, forbade the killing of w om en and children."12 T his passage suggests th at God does not approve of terro rism directed at civilian targets such as airplane and car bom bs. S tu d en ts responded to G oldberg by asking for p ro o f that w om en and children were killed by O sam a bin Laden. One stu d en t said, “O sam a w ants to keep Islam p ure from the pollution of the infidels. He believes Islam is the way for all the world. He w ants to bring Islam to all the w orld.”13 The rep o rter responded by saying th at the Qur'an forbids com pul­ sion in religion. I believe G oldberg was referring to the following p a s­ sage from the Qur'an: There is no compulsion in matter of faith. Distinct is the way of guidance now from error. He who turns away from the forces of evil and believes in God. will surely hold fast to a handle that is strong and unbreakable, for God hears all and knows everything (2:256).14

A stu d en t replied to G oldberg that there was no com pulsion in religion bu t that the West was forcing M oslems to live u n d er the rule of infidels. T his response highlights the Islam ic view of the w orld as being divided between believers and nonbelievers, with the nonbelievers condem ned to Hell. T his division of the w orld is clearly stated in the Q ur'an and serves as an im p o rtan t lim itation on concepts of equality in the Islam ic world. The Q ur’a n states: God is the friend of those who believe, and leads them out of darkness into light; but the patrons of infidels are idols and devils who lead them from light into darkness. They are the residents of Hell, and will there forever abide (2:257).15

Besides affecting the b o u n d aries of equality between believers and nonbelievers, this division h a s im p o rtan t im plications for the m eaning of religious freedom u n d er c o nstitutions of Islamic countries. Many of these constitutions discrim inate against religious m inorities. Besides religious dogm a, history is another source of suspicion about the intentions of non-M oslem s, particularly the C hristian West. Sim ilar to China, Islam ic countries still feel the hum iliation of Western im perialism . Islam ic history and Islam ic ju risp ru d en ce com plete the stud ies of stu d en ts at H aqqania. The course in Islam ic history p ro ­ vides strong rem in d ers of W estern im perialism . Islam ic conflict with the West is m uch older th an that experienced in Asia. The starting

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point of current tensions can be dated from 1095, when European cru­ saders launched a holy w ar to capture the city of Jerusalem . Their in­ vasion was greeted by an Islamic jihad that continues to this day. Sim ilar to Asia, Islamic populations wonder about Western claims that they are the progenitors and protectors of hum an rights in the global flow. Taught from an Islamic perspective, the history of relations with the West is one of invasions and colonialism. Consequently, con­ servative Islamic leaders simply dism iss hum an rights as a Western or Zionist plot. Legal scholar Ann Mayer quotes Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini: "What they call hum an rights is nothing but a col­ lection of corrupt rules w orked out by Zionists to destroy all true reli­ gions.”16 The president of Iran, Ali Khamene i com mented, “When we want to find out w hat is right and what is wrong, we do not go to the United Nations; we go to the Holy Koran (Qur’an], For us, the Universal D ec la ra tio n of H um an rig h ts is n o th in g b u t a collectio n of m um bo-jum bo by disciples of S atan.”17 ISLAMIC HISTORY AND THE WEST What are the roots of this historical antipathy with the West? What per­ spective on the p ast do students learn when studying Islamic history? One place to begin this inquiry is Amin Maalouf’s The C rusades Through Arab E yes. For centuries, students in the West have learned about the C rusades as an heroic venture by knights in shining arm or m arching off to rescue the Holy Land from pagan Moslems. From the historical docum ents stitched together by Maalouf, the Moslem per­ spective is that of an unexpected invasion by a b arb aro u s and heathen arm y dressed in white sheets with red crosses followed by a rag-tag crowd of religious fanaUcs and prostitutes. At the siege of Antioch in 1097, the C rusaders were described as roasting Moslem spies on spits and eating them as crowds watched in h orror from the city walls. Once inside the walls, the C rusaders purportedly raped and killed women and slaughtered all the m en.18 It is easy to draw parallels between the atrocities supposedly com­ mitted by the C rusaders and those supposedly committed by Yugosla­ vian troops against Moslem inhabitants of Kosovo and Bosnia in the 1990s. The Yugoslavian troops represented a population that was pri­ marily E astern Orthodox C hristians who had a long-standing hatred of the resident Moslem population. The C rusaders also received encour­ agement from the E astern Orthodox church as they raped and pillaged their way to Jerusalem . In 1098, the C rusaders attacked Ma’arra, where the population su r­ rendered when prom ised that their lives would be spared. Breaking their prom ise, the C rusaders slaughtered the population and p u rp o rt­

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edly “boiled pagan ad u lts in cookin g -p o ts... [andl im paled children on sp its and devoured them grilled.”19A supposed official letter from the C ru sad ers to the Pope stated, “A terrible fam ine racked the arm y in Ma’arra, and placed it in the cruel necessity of feeding itself upon the bodies of the S a ra c e n s.”20 The C ru sad ers pillaged an d raped their way south until reaching the walls of Je ru sa le m in 1099, where they m arched aro u n d the city throw ing them selves against the walls as p riests prayed an d chanted. In July, the C ru sad ers breached the wall. The resulting sack of Je ru sa le m w as b u rn ed into the pages of Is­ lamic history. After Mecca and Medina, Je ru sa le m w as declared the third holy city of Islam after the Prophet M oham ed w as led by God to the city for a m iraculous meeUng with M oses and Je su s. The Q ur’an recognizes Moses and J e s u s as p ro p h ets of God w ho were betrayed by their followers. T he m eeting of Mohamed. Je s u s, and Moses rep re­ sen ts the continuity of the divine m essage of M oslem faith. The loss of Jeru sa le m w as a heavy blow to the followers of Islam. Islam ic h isto ry p ro v id es s h a rp c o n tra s ts betw een the actio n s of M oslem a n d C h ristia n c o n q u e ro rs of J e ru sa le m . In 638, 'U m ar Ibn al-K attab c a p tu re d the city an d w as greeted by th e C h ristia n G reek P atriarch . U m ar a sk e d to visited the C h ristian s h rin e s. P rayer tim e arriv ed w hile ’U m ar w as in the C hurch of th e Holy S epulcher. He ask e d p e rm issio n to roll o u t h is p ray er ru g b u t the P a tria rc h w or­ ried th a t M oslem s w ould a p p ro p ria te the sp o t b ecau se it w ould be­ com e know n a s th e site w here 'U m ar p ra y e d . R especting the P atria rc h ’s w ish es, ’U m ar took h is p ray er ru g o u tsid e an d on th at place w as b u ilt a m o sq u e. W hen the C ru s a d e rs en tere d in 1099, an Islam ic ch ro n icler w rote, "The p o p u latio n of the holy city w as p u t to the sw ord, a n d the Franj [C ru sad ers) sp e n t a w eek m a ssa crin g Mos­ lem s. They killed m o re th an seventy th o u sa n d people in al-Aqsa m o sq u e .”21 A n o th er c h ro n ic le r reco rd ed , “T he J e w s had g athered in th e ir synagogue an d th e Franj b u rn e d th em alive. They also d e ­ stroyed th e m o n u m e n ts of sa in ts an d the to m b o f A braham , may peace be u p o n h im !”22 In Islam ic history, the success of the C ru sad ers w as a result of the disunity am ong the A rab peoples. There were m any failed attem pts to bring the arm ies o f sep arate Islam ic principalities together to fight the E uropeans. O ut of fear, som e Islam ic lead ers greeted the C rusaders with food and o th e r provisions, hoping they would be spared the hor­ ro rs of cannibalism and slaughter. Consequently, the success of the E uro p ean s in conquering Je ru sa le m becam e a sym bol for the neces­ sity of Islam ic unity. The Islam ic h ero w ho was able to achieve unity an d defeat the E u ro ­ peans w as S aladin (1138-1193). Like all g reat historical heros, Saladin is portray ed as a wise and noble leader. Between 1164 and

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1169, he helped Egyptian ru lers tu rn back attack s by C rusaders. In 1169, he becam e vizier of Egypt and com m an d er of the Syrian arm y. By 1187, he h ad united enough M oslem n ations to m ake it possible to recapture Je ru sa le m from the C hristians. T here exist n u m ero u s sto ries th a t c o n tra st the ho n o r of Saladin with the treachery of the C ru sad ers. The m o st im p o rtan t w as the re ­ taking of Je ru sa le m . W hen entering the city, he o rd ered h is tro o p s to not engage in any pillage o r m a ssa c re of the citizens. He posted g u a rd s to p ro tect C h ristian places of w o rsh ip a n d he announced the right of C h ristia n s to con d u ct pilgrim ages to them whenever they w anted. C h ristian s w ere allowed to leave the city after paying a trib ­ ute. Old people, widows, children, and form er p riso n e rs were al­ lowed to leave w ithout paying the trib u te. In Islam ic history, Saladin is the tru e follower of God while the C ru sa d e rs are p o rtrayed as the followers of S a ta n .23 Amin M aalouf provides the following su m m ary of Moslem senti­ m ents regarding Saladin’s capture of Jeru salem : “His prim e objective (in conquering Jeru salem ], as he him self explained, w as to do his duty before his God and his faith. His victory was to have liberated the holy city from the yoke of the invaders—w ithout a bloodbath, destruction, o r h atred. His rew ard was to be able to bow dow n and pray in places where no Moslem w ould been able to pray had it not been for him .”24 From the M oslem perspective, the next wave of C ru sad ers were m o­ tivated by an extrem e religious fanaticism th at resulted in the partici­ pation of the Philip A ugustus, king of France an d the fam ous Richard the Lionheart, king of England. They arrived w ith the blessing of the Pope in 1191 to recapture Jeru salem . Saladin and R ichard the L ionheart exchanged m essages, with each claim ing the im portance of Je ru sa le m for their religion. A truce w as reached the following year, al­ lowing S aladin to retain control of Je ru sa le m an d the E uropeans to re­ tain con tro l of a sm all sector along the coast. C h ristian s were guaranteed safe passage to visit holy sites in Je ru sa lem . For the next 100 years, the West persisted in its attem p ts to recapture the city. Finally, in 1291 they were expelled from the area. A Moslem chronicler of the tim e, Abul’l-fida’ com m ented on th eir expulsion, “G od grant that they never set foot there again!”25 From the M oslem perspective, S aladin con d ucted a jih a d against an infidel aggressor w ho acted a s an in stru m e n t of S atan a n d engaged in a cts o f te rro rism an d cannib alism . From th e W estern perspective, the knights in sh in in g a rm o r w ere m aking noble sacrifices in a holy w ar to cap tu re lan d s th at sh o u ld be u n d e r C h ristian control. In the year 2000, a sim ilar scen ario w as replayed as peace ta lk s broke down betw een Israel and Palestine over the control of Je ru sa le m an d the President of the U nited S tates an n o u n ced the m oving of the U.S. E m ­

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b assy to the city. F or those learning history from an Islam ic p e rsp e c­ tive, the struggle over P alestine and Je ru s a le m w as p a rt of a jih a d w ith the West th at h ad lasted m ore th an 1,000 years. The only differ­ ence in 2 0 0 0 w as the existence of Israel, w hose creation w as backed by W estern coun tries. Consequently, m any Islam ic co nstitutions com bine co n cern s with im perialism w ith co n cerns with Zionism . F rom the sta n d p o in t of the Q ur'an, Je w s re p re se n t the greatest th reat. T he Q u r’an states, “You will find the Je w s and idolaters m ost excessive in h atred of those w ho believe; an d the closest in love to the faithful a re th e people who say:‘We are the follow ers of C h rist,' be­ cause th ere are p rie sts a n d m o n k s am ong them , an d they are not a r ­ rogan t (5:82)." Amin M aalouf suggests that the C ru sad es were the beginning of the rise of the im portance of the West and of the decline of the Arab world. T he A rab w orld at the tim e of the C ru sad es extended from Iraq to Spain. From M aalouf’s viewpoint, the A rab w orld at the tim e w as “the intellectual and m aterial repository of the planet’s m ost advanced civi­ lization.”26 T his claim, while su p p o rtin g Arab nationalism , needs som e historical perspective. At th is time, the Mayan and Inca civiliza­ tions w ere thriving in the A mericas, and C hina would certainly be con­ sidered a contender for the m ost advanced civilization. However, M aalouf’s view is lim ited by his focus on the rivalry between Arab n a ­ tions a n d the West. Consequently, even though M oslem T urks created the O ttom an E m pire after capturing C onstantinople in 1453 and sen d ­ ing tro o p s to the walls of Vienna in 1529, he feels the best of Arab civilizaUon in the form of m athem atics, science, m edicine, astronom y, and arch itectu re w as im itated, absorbed, and su rp a sse d by E uropeans af­ ter th e C rusades. Exemplifying Arab nationalism , M aalouf concludes, “The Franj learned m uch in the A rab school, in Syria a s in Spain and Sicily. W hat they learned from the A rabs w as indispensable in their su b seq u en t expansion.’’27 M athem atics is an exam ple of w hat the West learned from Arab n a ­ tions. T here is a long history of intellectual exchange between regions th at is exemplified by the history of the trigonom etry term “sine.” The story of the “sine" dem o n strates the antiquity of global ideoscapes. In this exam ple of ancient intellectual exchange, the great 5th-century In­ d ian m athem atician A ryabhata discu ssed th e concept of “sine” and in S a n sk rit called it jy a b h a -jy a , w hich w as then shortened to jy a . From this term , A rab scho lars phonetically derived to th e m eaningless w ord jib a . L ater Arab w riters su b stitu ted ja lb for th is m eaningless w ord. In Arabic, ja ib also m eans “cove” or “bay.” When Western Latin scholars learned trigonom etry from A rabs, they tran slated Jalb into the Latin w ord m eaning a cove or bay w hich is sin u s. From this usage com es the term sin e .28

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EDUCATION, PAN ISLAM, ARAB NATIONALISM, AND THE ISLAMIC STATE One resu lt of the b reak u p of the O ttom an E m pire in the 19th an d 20th centuries w as a call for national education to foster loyalty to an Is­ lam ic state and, for som e Moslem leaders, to foster a pan-Islam ic movem ent. As one of the largest em pires in w orld history, the O ttom an governm ent claim ed to rep resen t all the Islam ic peoples. At its height, the O ttom an E m pire extended east from Istanbul acro ss n o rth ern In­ dia an d south into present-day Indonesia, and west across northern Africa. It included A rabian Peninsula and m o st of the east coast of Af­ rica. Its pow er continued from roughly the 13th century to 1922, when Turkey w as declared a republic. O ttom an su ltan s declared them selves to be legitimate heirs to the caliphate, which m ade them the religious leaders of all of Islam . The caliph w as co nsidered the su ccesso r to the P rophet M oham ed. Claim ing to be p a rt of this religious succession, O ttom an su ltan s could dem and loyalty from their M oslem subjects. Also, based on the model Moslem state organized by M ohamed, the caliph's governm ent w as to be a theocracy using the S h a ri’ah, the religious and m oral principles of Islam , as the law of the land.29 Today, m any Islam ic natio n s continue the trad ition of M ohamed by declaring the S h a ri’a h to be the law of the land. Most m ilitant Islamic fundam entalist m ovem ents proclaim a desire to create a theocracy governed by the S h a ri’ah. T his h as im p o rtan t im plications for educa­ tion and concepts of equality an d freedom . It w as European im perialism that led to the b reak u p of the O ttom an Em pire and, in the m ind of som e Moslems, the destruction of a pan-Islam ic theocracy. In the w ords of A rab-born historian B assam Tibi, “The com bination of the E uropean colonial penetration, the de­ c a y o f th e O tto m a n E m p ir e , a n d th e e x te n s io n o f th e techno-scientifically m ore advanced E u ropean civilization all over the world w as perceived by the Islam ic peoples as signifying an external real threat. T he first reaction w as the mobilizaUon of Islam against the West.”30 S im ilar to C hina and J a p a n , W estern im perialism resulted in an a t­ tem pt to uUlize W estern advances in science an d m ilitary technology while m aintaining Islam ic values. The collapse of the O ttom an E m pire w as blam ed in p a rt on its failure to keep pace w ith the developm ent of knowledge in W estern countries. For instance, after Napoleon’s inva­ sion of Egypt in 1798 and his d ep artu re in 1801, the new ru ler Mu­ ham m ad 'Ali decided to seek independence from the O ttom an Em pire by building a m odern arm y w ith the assistance of the French govern­ m ent. His plan for m odernization included the building of a new edu­

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cational system. As p art of this effort, he sent a group of Egyptian students to study in France. While in France, one of the students, Rifa’a Rafi’ al-Tahtawi, kept a diary. The diary was published and considered so im portant that it becam e required reading for Egyptian civil ser­ vants. As a result, al-Tahtawi had a m ajor influence on Egyptian think­ ing about the process of W esternization. In his diary, al-Tahtawi points out that at the height of their civiliza­ tion A rabs were superior to E uropeans and provided them with their knowledge of mathemaUcs and natural sciences. He wrote that E uro­ peans "even adm it to us that we have been their teachers in many branches of knowledge, and they acknowledge that we came before them . And it is obvious that the one who is the first to achieve deserves m erit.”31 However, he argues, the Islamic peoples had fallen into a sleep of "indifference” which allowed E uropeans to advance on knowl­ edge that Arab civilization had initiated. What was now required, al-Tahtawi m aintained, was that Islamic peoples needed to use knowl­ edge from "foreign countries to obtain from them the things of which it is ignorant.”32Al-Tahtawi em phasized that he respected Europeans "in their capacity as men and because of their knowledge, and not because they are C hristians.”33 The idea of using the best of the West while m aintaining Islamic val­ ues was m ost clearly articulated by two 19th-century Moslem schol­ ars, Jam al al-Din al-Afghani and M uhammad 'Abduh. Facing the realities of British and French colonization of Egypt and North Africa, they articulated an anticolonialist position for Islam, and they argued for a pan-Islamic movement. They argued that Moslems should utilize those p arts of E uropean civilization that would strengthen Islam, while at the sam e time revitalizing Islamic civilization. They rejected the no­ tion then popular in Europe that only Europeans could produce cul­ ture and civilization. G erm an historian Walther B raun concluded about al-Afghani that he “never lost sight of his central purpose, to awaken the Islamic peoples to resistance against Europe, and to stir up opposition am ong them to those of their num ber who paralyzed this resistance.”34 Rejection of natural law and rights theories proposed by Europeans was an im portant area of agreement among these three scholars. While European science and m athem atics might strengthen Islamic coun­ tries, natural rights theories were considered a threat to a theocratic government based on the Shari'ah. This ideological position continues to today, and it is an im portant issue regarding hum an rights doctrines. In addition, M uham mad ’Abduh argued that national education sys­ tem s should include religious education. Today, m ost Islamic nations include religion in their national education plans. T his presents an im ­ portant issue regarding freedom of thought in education. Regarding

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Egyptian national education, ’Abduh wrote, “If one seeks to educate and im prove the Egyptian nation w ithout religion, it is as if a farm er would try to sow seed in unsuitable s o il... his efforts will be in vain.”35 In co n tra st to pan-Islam ism , S ati’ al-H usri called for Arab national­ ism and Arab unity through national education and a revitalization of the Arabic language. B orn into a Syrian family in Yemen in 1882, he studied education in Paris, Sw itzerland, and Belgium. D uring World War I, he w as appointed O ttom an D irector of E ducation in Syria. After the War, he becam e responsible for E ducation and Archaeology a t the University of Baghdad. After a n u m b er of o ther education posts, he moved to Egypt w here he joined the C ultural D epartm ent of the Arab League in 1947 an d founded the Institute for Advanced Arab S tudies in 1953. Eventually, he becam e chair of Arab N ationalism a t the Institute. His w ritings becam e com pulsory readings in nationalist school sys­ tem s throughout the Arab w orld. He died in D ecem ber 1968, leaving behind a vast collection of w ritings on Arab nationalism . His ideas are included in m any of the constitutions of the Arab world. Al-Husri believed national education w as the key to revitalizing the Arab w orld and aw akening the o ppressed people of the Islam ic world. He argued th at the teaching of history should em phasize the “glorious p a st in o rd er to provide a b asis for the national aw akening.”36 He con­ tended th at national education was the key to Arab unity. He wrote, "The struggle for the national aw akening req u ires m uch m ore effort and h ard sh ip to sp re a d belief in the nation, and all available m eans m u st be u sed to strengthen th is belief."37 A ttracted to G erm an rom antic notions of nationalism , Al-Husri a r­ gued th at history w as the consciousness of a nation, an d language was its soul. The forem ost m ean s of m aintaining Arab culture and saving it from E uropean dom ination w as the preservation of the Arab language. He w rote, “A com m on language an d a com m on history [are] the b a sis of nation form ation a n d nationalism . The union of these two sph eres lead[s] to a union of em otions, aim s, sufferings, hopes, and cu lture.”38 In addition, Al-Husri w as attracted to the m ilitaristic aspects of G er­ m an nationalism an d considered m ilitary service a m eans for achiev­ ing a national education. He declared. T h e b a rra c k s are a s m uch institutes for national education as national schools.”39 “Arab socialism ” a d d s an o th er dim ension to nationalistic im pulses and to educational ideals. Today, socialism is frequently referred to in the constitutions of A rab nations. T his form of socialism should not be confused with M arxism . T he leading advocate of Arab socialism , Michel ’Aflaq, explicitly states: When I am asked to give a definition of socialism , I can say that it is not to be found in the works of Marx and Lenin. I say: socialism is the religion of

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Arab socialism em bodies the teachings on charity expressed in the Q ur'an along w ith the concept of u m m a (com munity). In Islamic thought the u m m a sta n d s above the individual. In fact, traditional M oslems object to the W estern em phasis on the individual. The indi­ vidual in Islam is an organic p a rt of the u m m a . T his concept of the re­ lationship to the com m unity reinforces nationalistic ideals. Within Arab socialism a n d nationalism , the state is the organic com m unity in which the p erso n is an organic p art. The goal of nationalisUc education is to wed the individual to the u m m a as rep resented by the state.41 Today, A rab natio n alism , socialism , pan-Islam ic ideas, and the tr a ­ dition of a theocratic state b ased on the S h a ri'a h continue to influ­ ence Islam ic sy stem s of education. All of these influential ideas and m ovem ents are p ro b lem atic regarding the concept of freedom in ed u ­ cation an d h u m an rights. N ationalistic ed ucation is an explicit at­ tem p t to con tro l th e m in d s of stu d e n ts to build allegiance to a culture and governm ent. T heocratic and pan-Islam ic id eas force a religious education on stu d e n ts. On the other h an d , the b asic do ctrin es of Is­ lam guaran tee equality in education. However, th is equality is denied to wom en, p a rtic u la rly in theocratic sta te s th a t b ase th eir laws on the S hari'ah. T hese p ro b le m s of freedom and gender equality in educa­ tion are highlighted in the following d iscu ssio n of the constitutions of Islam ic nations. EQUALITY AND FREEDOM IN IRAN’S CONSTITUTION I begin my d iscu ssio n of education in Islam ic constitutions w ith a d e­ tailed analysis of Iran ’s theocratic constitution. Of p rim ary im portance is the treatm en t of wom en. I then bro ad en th is d iscussion by exam in­ ing the co n stitu tio n s of o ther Islam ic countries, including Turkey’s secular consU tution. In the Iranian constitution, a s in the constitutions of m ost Islamic countries, concepts of equality an d freedom are lim ited by Islam ic reli­ gious dogma. The Pream ble opens with a clear statem ent of religious purp o se and w ith the idea of the Ummah: “T he constitution of the Is­ lam ic Republic of Iran advances the cultural social, political, and eco­ nom ic institu tio n s of Iranian society based on Islam ic principles and n o rm s , w hich r e p r e s e n t an h o n e s t a s p ir a tio n of the Islam ic U m m ah.”42 Sim ilar to the Chinese constitution, the Pream ble contains a long h istory o f the struggle to establish the p re se n t governm ent, in­ cluding references to “the Am erican conspiracy." The theocratic nature

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of the governm ent is explicitly em phasized in the section of the P ream ­ ble titled, T he F orm of G overnm ent in Islam : “Legislation setting forth regulations for the ad m inistration of society will revolve aro u n d the Koran and the Sunnah. Accordingly, the exercise of m eticulous and earn est supervision by ju st, pious and com m itted scholars of Islam is an absolute necessity."43 Article 108 of the Constitution gives the exer­ cise of this scholarly and religious supervision to a G uardian Coun­ cil.44 The theocratic n atu re of the governm ent is furth er em phasized in Article 2: Article 2 [Foundational Principles] The Islamic Republic is a system based on belief in: 1) the One God (as stated in the phrase "There is no god except Allah"), His exclusive sovereignty and right to legislate, and the necessity of subm ission to His commands; 2)

Divine revelation and its fundamental role in setting forth the laws.45

The Iran C o n stitution also ad o p ts a pan-Islam ic perspective when calling for the creation of a single w orld com m unity an d participation in revolution “a t hom e an d a b ro a d .” T he Pream ble states: “the Con­ stitu tio n will strive w ith o th er Islam ic an d p o p u lar m ovem ents to p re­ p are the way for the form ation of a single w orld com m unity (in accordance with the Koranic verse‘T his your com m unity is a single com m unity, and I am your Lord, so w orship Me’ [21:92].”46 The Pre­ am ble also com m its the Iran ian arm y to a jih a d to achieve the goal of a w orld com m unity: They (the army) will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling the ideological m ission o f jihad in God's way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God's law throughout the world (this is in accordance with the Koranic verse “Pre­ pare against them whatever force you are able to muster, and strings of horses, striking fear into the enemy of god and your enemy, and others besides them" [8:60],

Obviously, given the theocratic n ature of the Constitution religious strictu res lim it freedom , p articularly freedom in education. Regarding m edia, the Pream ble states: “The m ass-com m unication m edia, radio and television, m ust serve the diffusion of Islam ic culture ... the m edia ... m u st refrain from diffusion and propagation of destructive and anti-Islam ic p ractices.”47 Freedom of religion is restricted in Articles 12 and 13 to Islam and the m inority religions of Z oroastrian, Jew ish,

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and C hristian. No o ther groups are allowed to perform religious rites. Articles 24 through 27 lim it freedom of the p ress, com m unication, a s­ sociation, and assem bly by p h ra se s such as “except when it is d e tri­ m ental to the fundam ental principles of Islam .”48 While freedom is restricted by religious principles, equal educa­ tional opportunity and equality before the law are guaranteed in the Iranian C onstitution. Article 3 declares as one of the goals of the Ira­ nian governm ent the provision of “free education and physical training for everyone at all levels, and the facilitation and expansion of higher education.”49 And Article 30 states: "The governm ent m ust provide all citizens w ith free education u p to secondary school, and m u st expand free higher education to the extent req u ired by the country for attaining self-sufficiency.”50 M issing from the Iranian C onstitution is any recognition of the rights of m inority cultu res and languages in public schools. However, there is a sep arate article requiring the teaching of the Arabic language. T his reflects not only the requirem ents for reading the original Q ur’an, but also reflects the influence of Arabic nationalism . Article 16 states, “Since the language of the Koran and Islam ic texts and teachings is Arabic, and since Persian literature is thoroughly perm eated by this language, it m u st be taught after elem entary level, in all classes of sec­ ondary school and in all areas of study.”51 The m ajor lim itation on the concept of equality in the Iranian Con­ stitution is the treatm en t of w om en a s a special class of citizens. There are no statem en ts in the Pream ble o r articles in the body of the C onsti­ tution th a t are specific to men. However, there are m any th at are sp e­ cific to wom en. The Iranian C onstitution justifies the treatm en t of wom en as a special class of citizen in o rd er to m aintain an Islam ic fam ­ ily stru ctu re. Also, the Iran ian C o nstitution claim s to be resto rin g w om en’s rig h ts by p ro tectin g them against exploitation by the in ternational co n su m e r m ark et. Using a concept p revalent in W estern fem inism , the C onstitution claim s th at w om en are treated a s m ere objects ra th e r th a n a s active p a rtic ip a n ts in sh ap in g society. The C onstitu­ tion focuses on the role of w om en as m o th ers a n d wives. M others are co n sid ered key to raisin g a generation co m m itted to the p an-Islam ic revolution. In a specific section titled “Woman in the C o n stitution,” the P ream ble states: The family is the fundamental unit of society and the main center for the growth and edification of human beings.... This view of the family unit delivers woman from being regarded as an object or instrument in the service of promoting consum erism and exploitation. Not only does woman recover thereby her m om entous and precious function of moth­

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erhood, rearing of ideologically committed human beings, she also as­ sum es a pioneering social role and becomes the fellow struggler of man in all v i t i areas of life.52

Article 21 of the Constitution is devoted to “Women's Rights.” Article 21 lists five goals in the im plementation of women’s rights, ranging from creating “a favorable environm ent for the growth of woman’s per­ sonality” to "awarding of guardianship of children to worthy m others ... in the absence of a legal guardian.”53 Central to understanding the meaning of these goals is the opening statem ent, “The government m ust ensure the rights of women in all respects, in conformity with Is­ lamic criteria.... ”54 What is the meaning of “Islamic criteria" regarding the rights of women? ISLAM AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS I was giving a talk at an academic meeting when I referred to the denial of driver’s licenses to women by the Saudi Arabian government as an example of the problem of balancing religious rights with universal hu­ m an rights. After the meeting, I was approached by a Moslem woman who upbraided me for confusing culture with religion. She argued that the denial of driver’s licenses to women was not a doctrine of Islam but a reflection of the culture of Saudi Arabia. She quite rightly pointed out that there was nothing in the Qur'an about driving automobiles. The issue of separating cultural tradition from religious interpreta­ tion is pivotal in current discussions about women’s rights within Is­ lam. Internationally, Amina Wadud’s Q ur’an a n d Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text From a Woman's Perspective has raised the question about w hether or not the traditional reading of the Qur'an has been from a male perspective and, as a result, has severely limited the rights of Moslem women.55 An American Moslem scholar, Wadud's originally published her book in Malaysia (1992) and then in Indonesia (1994) and TUrkey (1997). The U.S. edition appeared in 1999. Certain passages in the Qur’an are critical to understanding the is­ sues raised by Wadud and the restrictions placed on women’s rights by the interpretation of the Q ur’an m ade by the Iranian and other Islamic governments. For instance, at tim es the Qur'an sounds as if it is w rit­ ten for men, which would then give m en the role of interpreting its meaning for women. Consider the following passage, which not only suggests male governance of females but also that the Q ur’an is speak­ ing directly to men: “Women are like fields for you; so seed them as you intend but plan the future in advance |2:223].”56This passage also sug­

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gests that it is the father th at assu m es the responsibility for planning the future of the family. The Qur'an also p re se n ts the story of creation a s if it were ad d re ss­ ing only m en. Also, the creation story could be in terpreted to m ean that w om en are a p ro d u ct of m en and therefore unequal to m en. “O men, fear your Lord who created you from a single cell, and from it created its m ate, a n d from the two of them d ispersed m en and wom en in m ulti­ tu d es [4 :1).”57 A m ina W adud o b jects to the id ea th a t the Q ur’a n sp e a k s directly to m en a n d th a t the sto ry of creatio n is in te rp re te d to m ean th a t w om en are not equ al to m en and have specific social fu n ctio n s. She arg u e s th a t, “F rom m y p erspective on the Q ur’a n , every usage of the m ascu lin e p lu ra l form is in ten d ed to include m ales a n d fem ales, e q u a lly , u n le ss it in clu d es specific indication for its exclusive a p p li­ cation to m a le s.”58 She p o in ts o u t th a t the creation n a rra tiv e m en­ tio n s n o th in g a b o u t c u ltu ra l o r intellectual d ifferences betw een m ales a n d fem ales. She co n ten d s. “At th a t m o m ent [creation], Allah defines c ertain tra its u n iv ersal to all h u m a n s an d not specific to one p a rtic u la r g en d er n o r to any p a rtic u la r people from any p a rtic u la r place o r tim e."59 The following passage Q ur'an could be interp reted as m eaning that a w om an’s opinion o r knowledge is inferior to th at of a m an: If the borrower is deficient of mind or infirm, or unable to explain, let the guardian explain judiciously; and have two of your men to act as wit­ nesses; but if two men are not available, then a man and two women you approve, so that in case one o f them is confused the other may remind her [2:282).®°

T he Q ur'an also provides for an unequal sh aring of inherited p ro p ­ erty based on one m ale being w orth two females. “As for the children, G od decrees that the sh a re of the made is equivalent to th at of two fe­ m ales. If they consist of w om en only, and of them m ore than two, they will get tw o-thirds of the inheritance; bu t in case there is one. she will inherit one half [4:74].”61 W adud argues th a t these passages m u st be in terpreted in the cul­ tu ra l context of the tim e Allah presented the Q ur’a n to M oham ed. The passage regarding the req u irem en t of two women and a m an if two m en are not available a s w itnesses does not m ean th a t w om en are in­ herently less com petent th an m en. First, she m aintains th a t the p a s­ sage indicates that only one wom an is to function as a w itness, while the other is to co rro b o rate the tesUmony. Second, wom en at the time were often excluded from financial d iscussions and therefore might not have a clear u n d erstan d in g of the term s of the loan. Given this ex­

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elusion, Wadud argues, it would help to have two women consult over the loan issue. From W adud’s perspective, both passages are now ob­ solete in societies where women have an equal chance to participate in financial m atters.62 Strict social roles for men and women and the right of husbands to beat wives can be inferred from the following passage. As I will discuss, the translation of the Q ur’an I am using does not indicate the right of the husband to beat his wife. "Men are the support of women as God gives some more means than oth­ ers, and because they spend of their wealth (to provide for them). So women who are virtuous are obedient to God and guard the hidden as God has guarded it. As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively: then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them) and go to bed with them (when they are willing) (4:34).”63

An interpretation and translation of the last two lines of this p a s­ sage that indicates the right of the husband to beat the wife reads as follows: “So good women are q anitat [obedient), guarding in secret that which Allah h as guarded. As for those from whom you fear, ad ­ m onish them , b anish them to beds apart, and scourge them . Then, if they obey you, seek not a way against them .”64 In the translation of the Qur'an I am using q a n ita t refers to obedience to God and not the h u s­ band. Wadud tran slates q a n ita t to m ean “good.” Wadud, along with my translation, does not believe the passage indicates the right of h u sb an d s to “scourge [beat] them .” Rather, according to Wadud, Al­ lah is intending to p resen t a peaceful m eans of ending m arital d ish a r­ mony. With regard to the first line stating th at “Men are the su p p o rt of wom en,” Wadud argues that this only refers to the m ale responsibility in relationship to women bearing children. In other w ords, men have a responsibility, including a financial responsibility, to help m others raise their children. This passage is not intended, according to Wadud, th at wom en should always be financially dependent on men. Wadud concludes, “those who truly believe in the Q ur’an would equally wish for the woman the opportunities for growth and p roduc­ tivity which they dem and for the m an.”65 The actions of Afghanistan’s Taliban government illustrate a sharp difference to Wadud’s interpretation of the Q ur’an. An August 17,2000 New York Tim es article reported, “Saying Islam unreservedly forbids women to work, Afghanistan’s Taliban government today sh u t down bakeries run by widows, who are among the poorest of the poor here.... When they took over, the Taliban ordered all girls’ schools closed and all women out of the work force.’’66 The Taliban’s am bassa­ dor to Pakistan, Maulvi syed Mohammed Haqqani, declared, “We do not allow women to w ork.”67

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Immediately after the adoption of the 1979 Iranian Constitution, women were severely limited in their ability to w ork outside the home. The em phasis in the Constitution was on a wom an's role as a mother. However, because of a soaring population growth, according to Ann Mayer, “the regime has sharply reversed its course, relaxing restric­ tions on women’s participation in the workforce and energetically pro­ moting birth control.”68 Still, women represent only 14% of the labor force.69 Women are b arred from working as attorneys and judges, and from the m edia and entertainm ent industry. In addition, Iranian women are required to be obedient to a very strict interpretation of Is­ lamic law regarding public activities. Women face h arsh criminal p un­ ishm ents if they do not wear concealing d ress in dull colors. Morality police discourage women from appearing in public with males who aren’t their relatives. Women are excluded from male sporting events. Women engaged in public athletic events, such as swimming and ski­ ing, m ust wear baggy and concealing clothing.70 EQUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN IRAN The Iranian Constitution's education provision has significantly affected the education of women in Iran. According to UNICEF’s The State o f the World's Children 2000, the literacy rate for women in 1980, one year after the ratification of the present constitution, was 40%. By 1995, the literacy rate for women had increased to 63%. For the same period, literacy for men increased from 62% to 79%. In other words, the percentage increase was greater for women than for men. During the 1990s, the attendance of women in primary and secondary schools did lag slightly behind that of men, with 83% of primary age males and 81% of prim ary age females at­ tending school for the period 1990-1996. Secondary school enrollment between 1990 and 1996 was 79% for men and 69% for women.71 But equality of educational opportunity does not necessarily mean an equal education. Reflecting the equal opportunity to attend univer­ sities, nearly 60% of entrants in 2000 were female. Between 1990 and 2000, the num ber of women entering Iranian universities tripled. In medicine and the social sciences, females outnum ber m ales.72 Nevertheless, there are strict religious controls over the education of women that seriously restrict any concept of educational freedom. Moslem religious leaders strictly control w hat female students read and the m usic they hear. N ew York T im es' reporter Susan Sachs de­ scribes the life of Iranian university women: “Young women are re­ quired to wear the traditional black chador— the all-enveloping cloak—over long coats and tightly pinned headscarves, not only out­ side the dorm but inside as well. There are curfews, bans on visitors

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an d m usic, and constant supervision of reading m aterial b rought into the d o rm ito ries.”73 EQUALITY AND FREEDOM IN ISLAMIC CONSTITUTIONS E ducational provisions in Islam ic constitutions are frequently circum ­ scribed by A rab nationalism , pan-Islam ic ideals, a hostility to Western im perialism , and religious and gender restrictions. M emories of the C rusades and W estern colonialism are p resen t in m any of their p ream ­ bles. For instance, the Pream ble to the 1973 Syrian Constitution de­ clares, “With the close of the first h alf of this century, the Arab people’s struggle h a s been expanding ... to achieve liberation from direct colo­ nialism . The A rab m asses did not regard independence as their g o a l... b u t as a m eans to consolidate their struggle ... against the forces of im ­ perialism , Zionism , and exploitation.”74 T he Pream ble to the 1969 Lib­ yan C onstitution pledges that the Libyan people will “stand with their b ro th e rs from all p a rts of the Arab Nation in the struggle for the resto ­ ration of every inch of Arab land d esecrated by im perialism .”75 This anti-W estern flavor spills over into provisions for education. The Iraqi C onstitution req u ires a stu d en t to be educated to be “proud of his peo­ ple, aw are of all his national rights, a n d who struggles against the capi­ talistic ideology, exploitation, reaction, Zionism , and im perialism for the p u rp o se of realizing the Arab unity, liberty, and socialism .”76 In these co nstitutions education is su b o rd in ated to religious goals. Article 13 of the C onstitution of S audi A rabia m akes the goal of educa­ tion the prom otion of nationalism and religion: “E ducation will aim at instilling the Islam ic faith in the younger generation, providing its m em b ers w ith knowledge and skills and p rep aring them to becom e useful m em b ers in building of their society, m em bers who love their hom eland an d are p ro u d of its history.”77 In the S audi Arabian C onsti­ tution, citizens are required to have allegiance to the Qur'an, and hu­ m an rights are sub o rd in ated to Islam ic law. The Saudi A rabian C onstitution states: Article 6: Citizens are to pay allegiance to the King in accordance with the Holy Koran and the tradition o f the Prophet, in subm ission and obedi­ ence. in tim es o f ease and difficulty, fortune and adversity. Article 26: The state protects human rights in accordance with the Is­ lamic S h ariah .78

The m eaning of protection of h u m an rights within the boundaries of the Islamic S h a ri’ah was exemplified by the a rre st of Canadian nurse M argaret Madil by the Saudi A rabian Mutawa'een (religious police). At

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the time of her arrest she was shopping, wearing a traditional d ress that covered her entire body. Reportedly she was thrown into the back of a taxi and ordered to sign a paper w ritten in Arabic. She refused to sign because she couldn’t read Arabic and she asked to call the local hospital where she was employed. Denied the right to call for help, Ms. Madil was whisked away by the Mutawa’een to prison, where she was accused of public drunkenness and un-Islamic behavior. She was held in prison for 2 days and released to her employer. Two weeks later, the police dem anded she sign an apology to Islam .79 In a m ore frightening case, B ernadette Ramos, a Filipino hospital secretary working in Saudi Arabia, was attending a birthday party at a Pizza H ut in Riyadh. The Mutawa’een entered and asked Ramos to cover her hair. Then they told her to come with them and requested that she sign a paper written in Arabic. Unlike Madil, she signed the p a­ per. She unknowingly confessed to prostitution. Without being allowed counsel, she was taken to a formal hearing where she was ordered im­ prisoned for 25 days and to receive 60 lashes. “I thought it would be fast, b u t it was done one lash at a tim e,” she said. “A stout policeman gives the lashes. I cannot describe the pain I experienced.”80 After declaring that “Islamic jurisprudence is am ain source of legis­ lation,” the Syrian Constitution places the goals of education in the fram ew ork of Arab socialism and provides for a free and com pulsory educational system. The Syrian Constitution states: Article 23: The nationalist socialist education is the basis for building the unified socialist Arab society. It seeks to strengthen moral values, to achieve the higher ideals of the Arab nation, to develop the society, and to serve the causes of humanity. The state undertakes to encourage and to protect this education. Article 37: Education is a right guaranteed by the state. Elementary edu­ cation is compulsory and all education is free.81

The Libyan Constitution declares its allegiance to Arab socialism but does not link the requirem ents of legislation to the Islamic S hari’ah. However, in Article 6 it is stated that Libyan socialism re­ ceives, “Its inspiration ... [from] Arabic and Islamic heritage, hum ani­ tarian values and the specific conditions of the Libyan society.”82 R ather th an religious restrictions on freedom of speech, the Constitu­ tion restricts according to the public interest: “Freedom of opinion is guaranteed within the limits of public interest and the principles of the Revolution.”83 Consequently, intellectual freedom in education is lim­ ited by the sam e concern about the public interest. In fact, education is a defined as a duty in the Libyan Constitution. Article 14 states, “E du­ cation is a right and a duty for all Libyans. It is com pulsory until the

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end of prim ary school. The State guarantees this right through the es­ tablishm ent of schools, in stitutes, and universities, an d of pedagogical and cultural institutions in w hich education is free.”84 Declaring its stead fastn ess to the socialist principle of “from each according to his ability to each according to his w ork," the C onstitution of Pakistan states, “Islam shall be the State religion of Pakistan and the Injunctions of Islam as laid dow n in the Holy Q ur’an and S unnah shall be the suprem e law and source of guidance for legislation.”85 Freedom in education is restricted by Islam ic dogma. Pakistan’s Constitution states: 31. (2) The state shall endeavor, as respects the M oslems o f Pakistan, (a) to make the teaching of the Holy Qur'an and Islamiat com ­ pulsory, to encourage and facilitate the learning o f Arabic lan gu age... (b) to promote unity and the observance of the Islamic moral standards.... 86

The m ajor exception to the religious language found in m ost of the constitutions of Moslem countries is that of the last rem n an t of the O t­ tom an E m pire, the Republic of Turkey. Article 2 of the T urkish C onsti­ tution declares, “The Republic of Turkey is a dem ocratic, secular and social state governed by the rule of law.’’87 Despite the secular n atu re of the TUrkish republic, all freedom s and rights granted under the Con­ stitution are restricted by Article 13, w hich states th at “Fundam entals rights and freedom s m ay be restricted by law ... with the aim of safe­ guarding ... public order, general peace, the public interest, public m orals and public health .”88 Sim ilar to the Chinese constitution, legal interpretation of public order, interest, and m orals could be used to stifle freedom of speech, p ress, and assembly. For instance. Article 13 of the T urkish C onstitution could be used to lim it the educational freedom granted by Article 27 that, “Everyone has the right to study an d teach freely, explain, and dissem inate sci­ ence and a rts and to carry o u t research in these fields."89 On the other hand, this statem ent of educational freedom is rarely found in national constitutions and could be used as a model. Article 13 could also be u sed to control the extensive educational rights granted by the T urkish constitution. However, I believe, the e d u ­ cational rights granted in Article 42 could be used as a m odel for am endm ents to constitutions currently lacking educational rights, such as the United States C onstitution. Article 42 opens with the decla­ ration that “No one shall be deprived of the right of learning an d educa­

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tion."9uThe Article states that “Prim ary education is com pulsory for all citizens of both sexes and is free of charge in state schools. ”91 Of m ajor im portance is the constitutional guarantee that all students will have the opportunity to p ursue secondary and higher education and that students with special needs will receive training: "The state shall provide scholarships and other means of assistance to enable students of merit lacking financial means to continue their educa­ tion. The state shall take necessary measures to rehabilitate those in need of special training so as to render such people useful to society."92

There are, I feel, some limiting aspects to Article 42, particularly the lim itation placed on the use of minority languages in the schools. The Article states, “No language other than Turkish shall be taught as a m other tongue to Turkish ciUzens at any institutions of training or edu­ cation."93 Indeed, all language instruction in the schools m ust be ap­ proved by the government. In summary, m ost Islamic constitutions, the m ajor exceptions being Turkey and Libya, im pose strict religious lim itations on freedom of content in education. Turkey and Libya impose restrictions on the ba­ sis of the public interest and m orals (Turkey) and the Revolution (Libya). Legislative actions and arbitrary adm inistrative decisions can m ake these as limiting to educational freedom as the requirem ents of the S hari’ah. Equality of educational opportunity, particularly gender equality, is another issue I discuss when considering economic and ed­ ucational statistics for Islamic nations. THE UNIVERSAL ISLAMIC DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE CAIRO DECLARATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISLAM "Everyone shall have the right to advocate w hat is right, and propagate what is good, and w arn against what is wrong and evil according to the norm s of Islamic S hari’ah," declares the Cairo Declaration on Hum an Rights in Islam.94 The concept of freedom exemplified by the above quote is characteristic of the two m ost im portant international decla­ rations on hum an rights issued by Islamic nations. The Universal Is­ lamic Declaration of H um an Rights was prepared in 1981 under the auspices of the Islamic Council, which is affiliated with the Moslem World League headquartered in Saudi Arabia. The Moslem World League is an international, nongovernmental organization. After its preparation by representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and other Islamic nations, the Declaration was presented to UNESCO as representing the hum an rights doctrines of Islamic nations. The Cairo Declaration on Hum an Rights in Islam was presented to the

EQUALITY AN D FREEDOM IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION

79

1993 W orld C onference on H um an Rights in V ienna a s re p re se n tin g a co n se n su s of the w o rld ’s M oslem s. It w as en d o rse d in 1990 by the for­ eign m in iste rs of the O rganization of the Islam ic Conference. B oth d o c u m e n ts su b o rd in a te h u m a n rig h ts to religious dogm a. T he Forew ord to T he U niversal Islam ic D eclaration of H u m an Rights states: Human rights in Islam are firmly rooted in the belief that God and God alone, is the Law Giver and the Source of all human rights.... The Univer­ sal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights is based on the Qur'an and the Sunnah and has been compiled by eminent Moslem scholars, jurists and representatives of Islamic movements and thought. May God reward them all for their efforts and guide us along the right path.95 T he P ream ble to the C airo D eclaration on H um an R ights in Islam declares: The Member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference ... Be­ lieving that fundamental rights and universal freedoms in Islam are an integral part of the Islamic religion ... are contained in the Revealed Books of God and were sent through the last of His Prophets ... making their observance an act of worship and their neglect or violation an abominable sin, and accordingly every person is individually responsi­ ble—and the Ummah collectively responsible—for their safeguard.96 Given th e re lig io u s n a tu re of th e se d o c u m e n ts, it is n o t s u rp ris in g th a t b o th o f th e m p lace relig io u s re s tric tio n on fre ed o m of th o u g h t. In A rticle “XII. R ight to F reed o m o f Belief, T h o u g h t a n d S p e e c h ,”of the U niv ersal Isla m ic D e c la ra tio n of H u m a n R ights, lim ita tio n s on freed o m of th o u g h t a re clearly defin ed by re fe re n ce s to th e S h a r i’ah o r th e Law: a) Every person has the right to express his thoughts and beliefs so long as he remains within the limits prescribed by the Law. No one, however, is entitled to disseminate falsehood or to circulate reports which may outrage public decency, or to indulge in slan­ der, innuendo or to cast defamatory aspersions on other persons. b } Pursuit of knowledge and search after truth is not only a right but a duty of every Moslem. c) It is the right and duty of every Moslem to protest and strive (within the limits set out by the Law) against oppression even if it involves challenging the highest authority of the state. d) There shall be no bar on the dissemination of information pro­ vided it does not endanger the security of the society or the state and is confined with the limits imposed by the Law.97

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CHAPTER 3

As indicated in the opening quote of this section, freedom of speech in the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam m eans the right to say what is right according to the Shari’ah. In addition, Article 22 of the docum ent places religious restrictions on expression of opinions and the distribution of information: A. Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Shariah.... C. Information is a vital necessity to society. It may not be exploited or misused in such a way as may violate sanctities and the dignity of Prophets, undermine moral and ethical values or disintegrate, corrupt or harm society or weaken its faith.98

Sim ilar to m ost Islamic constitutions, both of these docum ents p ro ­ claim equality of educational opportunity as a hum an right. The Article XXI of the Universal Islamic Declaration of Hum an Rights states, “Ev­ ery person is entitled to receive education in accordance with his natu­ ral capabilities.”99 While the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam recognizes education as a hum an right, it does so within a reli­ gious framework. Article 9 of the Cairo Declaration em phasizes the re­ ligious goals of Islamic education: A. The question [sic] for knowledge is an obligation and the provi­ sion of education is a duty for society and the State. The State shall ensure the availability of ways and m eans to acquire educa­ tion and shall guarantee educaUonal diversity in the interest of so­ ciety so as to enable man to be acquainted with the religion of Islam and facts of the Universe for the benefit of mankind. B. Every human being has the right to receive both religious and worldly education from the various institutions of education and guidance, including the family, the school, the university, the me­ dia, etc.. and in such an integrated and balanced manner as to de­ velop his personality, strengthen his faith in God and promote his respect for the Defense of both rights and obligaUons.100

THE REALITY OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN ISLAMIC NATIONS It is clear that the constitutions of Islamic nations and international Is­ lamic declarations of hum an rights recognize education as a basic right. What does this m ean in practice? Is there equality of educational

T A B L E 3.1 Dem ographic and Economic Indicators o f Selected Islamic N ation s

Life E xpectancy 1970

Life Expectancy 1998

GNP p e r capita (U.S.$) 1997

% o f Central G overnm ent E xpenditure Allocated to (1992-1998) Education

% o f Central G overnm ent E xpenditure Allocated to (1992-1998) D efense

% o f Central G overnm ent E xpenditure Allocated to (1992-1998) Health

Afghanistan

37

46

250

Not available

Not available

Not available

Algeria

67

73

1500

Not available

Not available

Not available

Egyp>

5!

67

1200

14

9

3

Iran

55

69

1780

15

8

6

Iraq

55

63

Not available

Not available

Not available

Not available

Kuwait

66

76

20190

11

23

8

Libya

52

70

5540

Not available

Not available

Not available

Morocco

52

67

1260

17

14

3

Pakistan

49

64

500

2

31

1

Saudi Arabia

52

72

7150

14

36

6

Syria

56

69

1120

10

26

4

Turkey

56

69

3130

11

8

2

World

56

64

5132

6

9

11

This table was compiled from statistical tables included in UNICEF, The State of the W o rld 's Children 2 0 0 0 (New York: UNICEF. 2000). pp. 100-107.

TABLE 3.2 Education Indicators for Selected Islamic Countries

A d u lt L ite ra cy R a te 1995 M ale

A d u lt L itera cy R a te 1995 F e m a le

P rim a ry School E n ro llm en t R atio 1 9 9 0 -1 9 9 6 M ale

P rim a ry School E n ro llm e n t R atio 1 9 9 0 -1 9 9 6 F e m a le

S e c o n d a ry School E n ro llm e n t R atio 1 9 9 0 -1 9 9 6 M ale

S e c o n d a r y School E n ro llm e n t R atio 1 9 9 0 -1 9 9 6 F e m a le

Afghanistan

46

16

42

15

32

II

Algeria

71

45

95

97

65

62

Egypt

64

38

86

74

80

70

Iran

79

63

83

81

79

69

Iraq

7J

45

81

71

51

32

Kuwait

82

76

65

65

65

65

Libya

87

60

98

96

95

95

M orocco

58

31

81

63

44

34

Pakistan

54

24

Not available

Not available

33

17

Saudi Arabia

80

59

63

60

65

57

Syria

85

54

95

87

45

40

Turkey

92

72

98

94

67

45

W orld

81

65

84

81

61

54

This table was compiled from statistical tables included in UNICEF, The State of the W orld's Children 2 0 0 0 (New York: U N IC E F, 2000), pp. 9 6 - 9 9 .

EQUALITY AND FREEDOM IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION

83

opportunity for men and women? Tables 3.1 and 3.2 provide som e an­ sw ers to these questions. Life expectancy can be considered a general overall m easure of the quality of life in a country. In 1998, the life expectancy in m ost Islamic countries exceeded the w orld’s average of 64 years. The m ajor excep­ tions were Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. These countries represent special conditions within the Islamic world. The economic conditions in Afghanistan are horrendous, with a gross national product per ca­ pita (GNP) in 1997 of only $250 (U.S.). It h as been torn apart by years of war and is now under the strict control of the fundam entalist Taliban government. The economic conditions in Pakistan are not m uch better than Afghanistan, with a GNP of $500. Iraq has been u n ­ der U.N. sanctions since the Gulf War, and probably the lives of many of the veterans were shortened by participation in the war. One m easure of com m itm ent to education as a hum an right is the percentage of central government expenditure allotted to education. Available inform ation indicates that Islamic countries are financially supporting their com m itm ent to education. With the world average be­ ing 6% of central government budgets allocated to education, all Is­ lam ic n atio n s for w hich in fo rm atio n is available exceed th at percentage by significant am ounts, with Morocco having the largest at 17%, followed by Iran (15%), Egypt (14%), Saudi Arabia (14%), Kuwait (11%), Turkey (11%), and Syria (10%). The m ajor excepUon to this generous provision by Islamic govern­ m ents for education is Pakistan. Only 2% of Pakistan’s central govern­ m ent budget is allotted to education. The trade-off is with m ilitary spending. Pakistan’s long-standing conflict with India has resulted in excessive military spending. An astonishing 31% of Pakistan’s budget goes to defense spending, as com pared to a world average of 9%. W hereas other Islamic countries exceed the world average for percent­ age spent on defense, Pakistan’s low GNP m eans that defense spending in that country is a m ajor burden for the populaUon and certainly de­ tracts from its ability to provide universal education. What about equality of educational opportunity for m en and women? Except for Kuwait and TUrkey, the 1995 adult literacy rates for women in Islamic countries were below the world average of 65 %. Reflecting generations of neglect, m any of the 1995 literacy rates for women are shockingly low, with only 16% of women in Afghanistan be­ ing literate, followed by Pakistan (24%), Morocco (31%), Egypt (38%), Algeria (45%), Iraq (45%), Syria (54%), Saudi Arabia (59%), and Iran (63%). Certainly, the high GNP per capita in Kuwait of $20,190 might be one explanation for its high female literacy rate of 76 %. And Tur­ key’s secular republic might be one explanation for its 72 % female lit­ eracy rate.

84

CHAPTER 3

When com pared to male literacy rates the discrim ination against women in education becom es even more evident. For the world, there is a 16 percentage point difference between the 1995 male literacy rate of 81% and female literacy rate of 65%. For all listed Islamic countries, the percentage point difference is higher, except for Kuwait and Iran, where the differences are 5% and 16%, respectively. For the other Is­ lamic countries the percentage differences are as follows: Afghanistan (20%), Algeria (26%), Egypt (26%), Iraq (26%), Libya (17%), Morocco (27%), Pakistan (30%), Saudi Arabia (21%), Syria (29%), and Turkey (20 %).

What are Islamic countries doing to overcome this gender disparity? Com pared to the re st of the world, where 1990-1996 prim ary-school enrollm ent figures are 84% for men and 81% for females, or a 3 p er­ centage point difference, the following countries are failing to close the gender gap. The percentage point differences between m ales and fe­ m ales in prim ary school enrollm ent are as follows: Afghanistan (17%), Egypt (12%), Iraq (10%), Morocco (18%), Syria (7%), and Tlirkey (4%). On the other hand, the gender gap differences are being closed in the following countries, where percentage point differences in prim ary school enrollm ents are: Algeria (-2%), Iran (2%), Kuwait (0%), Libya (2%),and Saudi Arabia (3%). Differences in secondary school enroll­ m ent follow a sim ilar pattern. These differences represent a very un­ even attem pt to close the gender gap in education. How do these Islamic countries com pare with other regions and countries? The UNICEF report, The S ta te o f the World’s Children 2000, does provide regional sum m aries and informaUon on other countries that have historically discrim inated against women, such as India and China. The region they identify as Middle East and North Af­ rica includes m ost of the Islamic countries I have been discussing, ex­ cept for Afghanistan and Pakistan.101 These two countries have been the least supportive of education and therefore the regional sum m ary for the Middle E ast and North Africa presents a m ore positive picture of Islamic educational su p p o rt of education than actually exists. The region identified as Industrial Countries includes E urope and the United S tates.102 Table 3.3 presents a com parison between regions and with India and China. As indicated in Table 3.3, the Middle East and North Africa region is making a greater effort than India in closing the gender gap in education. On the other hand, China, a society that traditionally discrim inated against women, far exceeds the efforts of Islamic countries in providing equality of educational opportunity for men and women. The real state­ ment of effort in closing the gender gap and providing equality of educa­ tional opportunity is in the percentage of government expenditures allocated to education. The m ajor effort is being made by China (19%),

TABLE 3.3 Comparison of Educational Indicators

% o f Central G overnm ent E xpenditures Allocated to (1992-1998) E ducation

Adult Literacy R ate 1995 Male

Adult Literacy R ate 1995 Female

N et Prim ary School A ttendance (%) 1990-1998 M ale

Net Prim ary School A ttendance (%) F em ale

Secondary School E nrollm ent Ratio 1990-1996 (Gross) M ale

Secondary School Enrollm ent Ratio 1990-1996 (Gross) Fem ale

Middle East and North Africa

14

71

47

85

75

64

54

Industrial Countries

4

9 9 (1 9 9 0 )

9 7 (1 9 9 0 )

97

97

105

107

China

19

89

71

95

94

74

67

India

2

64

35

75

61

59

39

This table was compiled from statistical tables included in UNICEF, The State o f the World's Children 2 0 0 0 (New York: UNICEF, 2000), pp. 9 6 -9 9 , 100-107.

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