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| India-Pakistan |
| No Dates, No Dancing |
| 2006-10-14 |
| Why Pakistan's university students are embracing the fundamentalist life Like many other universities around the world, Punjab University in Lahore is a tranquil oasis far removed from the rest of society. But to Westerners, there's little else about Punjab U. that seems familiar. Walk around the leafy-green 1,800-acre campus, and you will encounter nothing that resembles frivolous undergraduate behavior. Musical concerts are banned, and men and women are segregated in the dining halls. Many female students attend class wearing headscarves that cover everything but their eyes. This fall, when the university's administrators tried to introduce a program in musicology and performing arts, the campus erupted in protest. "Pakistan is an Islamic country, and our institutions must reflect that," says Umair Idrees, a master's degree student and secretary-general of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (I.J.T.), the biggest student group on campus. "The formation of these departments is an attack on Islam and a betrayal of Pakistan. They should not be part of the university curriculum." What's most striking about that climate of conservatism is that it is being driven not by faculty or administrators or government officials but by students. At Punjab U., I.J.T. is the most powerful force on campus, shaping not just the mores of student life but also larger debates over curriculum, course syllabuses, faculty selection and even degree programs. Nationwide, the group has more than 20,000 members and 40,000 affiliates active at nearly all of Pakistan's 50 public universities. Students who defy I.J.T.'s strict moral code risk private reprimands, public denouncements and, in some cases, even physical violence. |
| Posted by:john |
| #17 "We are compelled by our religion to use force if we witness immoral public behavior," says Naveed. Which wouldn't be so bad except that in Islam, every-damned-thing imaginable by the Western mind is immoral, haram or humiliating. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-14 18:47 |
| #16 "We are compelled by our religion to use force if we witness immoral public behavior," says Naveed. This just about sums up the problem. The West argues endlessly about the source of Islamic violence; is it religiously mandated or more commonplace political greivance? The believers are not vexed by this dichotomy. They know Mohammed told them to fight the infidel until Allah's word is established as law. They understand that they must defeat unislamic behavior by any means available. The death of freedom this sort of ethic entails is not of concern to them. It must be to us. |
| Posted by: Baba Tutu 2006-10-14 18:19 |
| #15 "Negative learning," Pakistani-style. The elite universities of the USA do it differently. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-10-14 18:18 |
| #14 only Time magazine reporters could be dense enough not to see the contradiction in this paragraph. What's most striking about that climate of conservatism is that it is being driven not by faculty or administrators or government officials but by students . ..... Students who defy I.J.T.'s strict moral code risk private reprimands, public denouncements and, in some cases, even physical violence. Yeah, I guess most students who want a degree won't protest too loudly about not being able to party or sing or dance when they are afraid of other "students" who will beat them up. I guess it gets down to how you define "students", but then I suppose the "disadvantaged youth" macro doesn't fit well here. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-10-14 17:12 |
| #13 And yet, these are the folks the US imports by the thousands each year. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-10-14 13:27 |
| #12 Right, if some bitch dumps ya, machine gun her whole family. Such a loss of honor can't be tolerated. Allan's snackbar ! |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-10-14 12:54 |
| #11 That's nothing. I hold my schools single semester record for being stood up. Luckly I could wash away the disappointment. Pujabis can't. Muslims: Can't breed it out of them and you can't wash away the disappointment. May as well switch to full automatic. |
| Posted by: badanov 2006-10-14 12:00 |
| #10 A downward spiral to 7th century hell. A major confrontation with this Islamic factory has to be coming. The whole place needs to be leveled so a fresh start can be made. There is no hope with this crowd. |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2006-10-14 11:47 |
| #9 Driven by the unfavourable comparison with neighbours, the need for university reform finally became an issue. The first big idea was that Pakistan needed more universities. So today all it takes is a piece of paper from the HEC and some paint. Some colleges have literally had their signboards taken down for repainting, and been put back up changed into "universities" the next day. By such sleight of hand the current tally of public universities, according to the HEC website, is now officially 47, up from the 23 officially listed in 1996. In addition, there are eight degree awarding public sector institutes. Unfortunately, this is merely a numbers game. All new public sector universities lack infrastructure, libraries, laboratories, adequate faculty, or even a pool of students academically prepared to study at the university level. The HEC's "generosity" extends even into largely illiterate tribal areas. There are so-called universities now in Malakand, Bannu, Kohat, Khuzdar, Gujrat, Haripur, and in many other places where it is difficult to detect the slightest potential for successfully establishing modern universities. Another poorly thought-out, and dangerous, HEC scheme involves giving massive cash awards to university teachers for publishing research papers - Rs 60,000 per paper published in a foreign journal. Although these stimulants are said to have increased the number of papers published in international journals by a whopping 44 per cent, there is little evidence that this increase in volume is the result of an increase in genuine research activity. The fact is only a slim minority of Pakistani academics possesses the ethics, motivation, and capability needed for genuine scientific discovery and research. For the majority, the HEC incentives are a powerful reason to discover the art of publishing in research journals without doing research, to find loopholes, and to learn how to cover up one's tracks. Established practices of plagiarizing papers, multiple publications of slightly different versions of the same paper in different research journals, fabricating scientific data, and seeking out third-rate foreign journals with only token referees are now even more common. The HEC has broadcast the message: corruption pays! The casual disregard for quality is most obvious in the HEC's massive PhD production programme. This involves enrolling 1,000 students in Pakistani universities every year for PhD degrees. Thereby Pakistan's "PhD deficit" (it produces less than 50 PhDs per annum at present) will supposedly be solved and it will soon be at par with India. In consequence, an army of largely incapable and ignorant students, armed with hefty HEC fellowships, has sallied forth to write PhD theses. Although the HEC claims that it has checked the students through a "GRE type test" (the American graduate school admission test), a glance at the question papers reveals it to be only a shoddy literacy and numeric test. In my department, advertised as the best physics department in the country, the average PhD student now has trouble with high-school level physics and even with reading English. Nevertheless there are as many as 18 PhD students registered with one supervisor! In the QAU biology department, that number rises to 37 for one supervisor. HEC incentives have helped dilute PhD qualifying exams to the point where it is difficult for any student not to pass. The implications of this mass-production of PhDs are dire. Very soon hundreds and, in time, thousands of worthless PhDs will be cranked out. They will train even less competent students. Eventually they will become heads of departments and institutions. When appointed gatekeepers, they will regard more competent individuals as threats to be kept locked out. The degenerative spiral, long evident in any number of Pakistani institutions, will worsen rapidly, and become infinitely more difficult to break. |
| Posted by: john 2006-10-14 11:03 |
| #8 From an article by Pak nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy Pakistan has almost a hundred universities now. Not one of them is world class. Truth be told, not even one of them is a real university, if by a university one means a community of scholars engaged in free inquiry and the creation of knowledge. Rote learning is common, students are not encouraged to ask questions in class, and courses are rarely completed by the end of the semester. This university has three mosques but no bookstore. It is becoming more like a madressah in other ways too. Some campuses are run by gangs of hoodlums and harbour known criminals, while others have Rangers with machine guns on continuous patrol. On occasion, student wolf packs attack each other with sticks, stones, pistols, and automatic weapons. There are many campus murders. Most students have not learned how to think; they cannot speak or write any language well, rarely read newspapers, and cannot formulate a coherent argument or manage any significant creative expression. Dumbed down, this generation of Pakistanis is intellectually handicapped. Like overgrown children, students of my university now kill time by making colourful birthday posters for friends, do "istikhara" (fortune telling), and wander aimlessly in Islamabad's bazaars. Understanding the scale of the failure is important. Compare Pakistan's premier university with those in its neighbours' capitals. First to the east: Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Indian Institute of Technology, in Delhi. Their facilities are simple and functional, nothing like the air-conditioned and carpeted offices of most professors at QAU. And, more important, every notice board is crammed with notices for seminars and colloquia, visitors from the very best foreign universities lecture there, research laboratories hum with activity, and pride and satisfaction are written all around. Conflict on campuses does exist - communist and socialist students battle with Hindutva students over the Gujrat carnage, Iraq, Kashmir, and the BJP doctoring of history. Angry words are exchanged and polemics are issued against the other, but no heads are bashed. While lecturing at these institutions during a recent visit, I was impressed by the fearlessness and the informed, critical intelligence of the students who questioned and challenged me. I cannot imagine an Indian professor having a similar reception in Pakistan. |
| Posted by: john 2006-10-14 10:54 |
| #7 Slightly OT but semi-related (College kids, dancing, etc). I tried to post thisas a separate news item but, unlike the Hardley Boys, I don't have a clue. It's a Punk Rock tribute to Pat Tillman by a Vet buddy from ESPN. There's a video at the link. On Veterans Day weekend, the Arizona Cardinals will honor the late Pat Tillman with a special halftime ceremony and give him a place on the team's Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium. But a less-publicized tribute in the Phoenix area is paid to Tillman every time a 24-year-old war veteran and student at Scottsdale Community College takes the stage as the lead singer of the punk rock band Second Stint. Sgt. Brad "Jake" Jacobson was among the Army Rangers on a mission in southeastern Afghanistan when Tillman was killed by friendly fire in April 2004. Jacobson wrote and performs a song called "Combat Suicide" with his band, in memory of Tillman. |
| Posted by: JDB 2006-10-14 10:13 |
| #6 When asked what would happen if she talked to a boy at the library, for example, she just shrugs. "I don't know. I would never try it. I'm too afraid." Well, that certainly clears things up. It's the male students driving all this "moral purity crap. The women-folk as just plain afraid. I guess it's kinda difficult to get someone to strap on a bomb belt if he's got a hot date that weekend. It doesn't take much to raise questions about a teacher's moral qualifications. "Those who could afford to leave, did so," Leaving the school with what? Sounds like the bottom of the academic barrel to me. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-14 09:12 |
| #5 More of a Muttawa training facility for "Mohammad's Youth Brigade" than a university. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-10-14 08:49 |
| #4 It was horrible. I did the right thing. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2006-10-14 08:32 |
| #3 Drop a 'y' there, Ship? It matters, lol. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-14 08:28 |
| #2 I can't argue too much with this. My hand-holding escapade with Beck nearly ruined my life. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2006-10-14 08:25 |
| #1 P.U., how apropos. No phone, no food, no pets, I ain't got no cigarettes... |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-14 08:06 |