Towards a Different Vision Concerning Universities

Towards a different vision concerning universities:

Protecting the natural ability of regeneration and

Respecting the integrity of creation

(A Palestinian perspective)

[VeracruzSymposium (October 9 and 10, 2009) – Mexico]

[“I have conversed both here and at home with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to take the Oriental learning at the valuation of the Orientalists themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is, indeed, fully admitted by those members of the Committee who support the Oriental plan of education [in India]… …

We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect… We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue". From Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Minute of 2 February 1835 on Indian Education," Macaulay, Prose and Poetry, selected by G. M. Young (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1957), pp-721-24.]

Introduction

In 1896, Khalil Sakakini, a Palestinian educator, wrote a book with the title Wearing Somebody Else’s Shoes in response to what he saw happening in Palestine as a result of schools established by western missions – even before the British occupation of Palestine in 1917. He saw clearly how children were becoming lifeless copies of models that were alien to Palestinian life; how their ideas, behaviors, relations, expressions, and perceptions sprang neither from within nor from community and culture but from textbooks and teachers who did not know the language nor the culture in Palestine, and who evaluated students according to exams that came from outside. The natural ability of regeneration of both people and communities was slowly being lost – at several levels: at the level of acquiring Arabic language, local knowledge, local culture (including religions), and living with and from the land. In 1908, he established his first school in Jerusalem, where he stressed – in words and actions – dignity of children: there was no grading and degrading of children and students; no tests, no official textbooks, no punishment. In it, he respected children’s innate abilities to learn Arabic as a beautiful, precious, and logical subject; he stressed learning it through patterns rather than being taught viagrammar.He encouraged his students to know Palestine through walking. His educational philosophy was slowly wiped out by the British who imposed their systemof textbooks, exams, and grading. Committees based in London, who oversaw general exams,became the reference and measure of students’ worth.Shifting the worth of students from what they could do well,in harmony with inner convictions, and from respect of local culture,to arbitrary measures controlled by people far away,was the single most destructive act. It was called progress!

Learning ceased to be perceived as a biological natural ability which every child is born with, and became an ability that is acquired through a process governed by the values of control and winning, through official institutions, licensed professionals, imposed curricula, and general exams – all of which were English-based. Instruction and certification became the privileged forms of learning. Macaulay’s strategy and policy in Indiaseem to have been followed in Palestine:first, making people feel that they and their cultures are inferior;second,instilling in them the conviction that English ways, styles, and ideas form the path to progress; and,third,showing readiness by Britainto help in civilizing them!

The ability and spirit of regeneration were the victim, at many levels: learning, healing, soil (by introducing the flush toilet), religions, local culture such as storytelling (by introducing curricula and textbooks),seeds, food,raising children, and managing life affairs. All of these aspects in life were robbed from people through gradual institutionalization.My parents’ generation was the last to live a life that was able to regenerate itself. Their world was made invisible to me by my education. It was in the mid 1970s that I became aware of the richness of my illiterate mother’s world, with her understanding of math, religion, raising children, managing daily affairs, and creating an environment at home full of love and happiness. Since the mid 1970s, she was for me a main source of healing from alot of what I acquired in schools and universities; I never stopped talking and writing about her world, which has been the biggest source of inspiration and wisdom for me.[1] I always say I have been lucky in my life in three respects: lived most of my life without a “national” government;mostly before development; and my best teacher was an illiterate person (who taught me without words). These aspects made it possible for me to see and understand the world through my experiences, interactions, and reflections rather than through institutions.

Universities today

Contrary to the perception articulated by Macaulay about the superiority of British universities, one fact that is very obvious and revealing today is that most decisions that were taken in the UK and the US– in politics, economy, finance, agriculture, food, education, military, raising children, health –were taken by graduates of so-called elite universities. Thus, the role of such universities in creating current crises, in the US and UK as well as around the world, cannot be dismissedas insignificant. The values that govern perceptions, actions, and relations within these universities,[2] which were filtered into our universities, cannot continue to be ignored. Thus, the question, “what are the values that currently govern universities around the world and, on the other hand, what are the values which embody wisdom?” is a most important and urgent question. It is related to vision.

The perception that there are problems in our universities but not in elite universities in the US and Western Europe is, thus, a false perception. In fact, our situation is more hopeful. It is much harder to shake Harvard (than our universities) and expect those in it to go through radical change; the “drug” is not as deep in ours. We are more equipped to articulate a vision that can helpunplug us from dominant destructive ways in living. It is important, however, thatwe avoid prescribing a model ready for people to implement because, then, we would fall in the same trap westerners fell into.Avision is neither a model nor a paradigm but a set of values and principles that we do not violate in action.

In light of what iscurrently happening in Palestine, and inuniversities everywhere, the problem I see as most crucial is the lack of a vision. Where a vision isexpressed, it usually takes the form of goals and mission.Thus, I agree with the organizers of the symposium that a most important and urgent challenge we face in universities is articulating a vision. This iswhat I intend and hope this paper will contribute to.

One aspect rarely mentioned about current universities is the fact that they do not care about what happens to land, human communities, and local cultures; nor about what enters bodies, minds, and hearts of children orgoes out of them. They ignore the pattern of living asmost important factor increating threats orsolutions. Universities form an important tool in deepeningthe dominant consumption patternin living and its values of competition, control, and winning rather thanliving responsibly with respect of nature and creation.

In short, the dominant form of universities has contributed significantly to currentcrises and threats to life on Earth.Polluting nature, tearing apart human communities, and destroying local cultures and economies – all in the name of progress and development – cannot continue to be ignored.

Universities around the world focus on issues and matters that are shallow and technical, such as evaluation, competition, and analysisand ignore serious issuessuch as: values that govern actions; existence of multipleincommensurable knowledges;fact that sciences have created many more problems than those they solved; and the inhuman practice of equating the worth of a person to a number. A person’s career is what really counts in universities and what determines one’s actions and relations. What characterizes students most is their readiness to follow instructions. What they learn fast is what leads to success and failure, and that confronting those who control their careers is to be avoided.Our universities copy “area studies”(such as Middle Eastern studies) and ignore studying societies that have torn us apart– ignore studying the roots and tools that Europe used to rob us of abilities, capabilities, and resources. We need, for example, to find alternatives to instruction and certification as the privileged forms of learning.This is not a call to abolish universities in their current form but to end the monopoly of the dominant form over learning.

No doubt, dominant sciences, technologies, and knowledgehave solved thousands of problems during the past 400 years, but now it is becoming increasingly obvious that they have created many more and much more serious problems. The path they followed was more a path of disasters than blessings. Putting the mind on the throne and imprisoning wisdom form the basis of much of the destruction, corruption, and pollution of people, communities, and nature that we increasingly see around the world. Today, we all contribute to this process. Putting the mind above existence (I think, therefore I am – Descartes); harming nature by design (science is the subduing of nature – Francis Bacon, the father of modern science); excusing wiping out cultures and peoples (survival of the fittest – Darwin); believing that if we can’t measure something, we don’t know what we are talking about (a myth spread by mathematicians); living by the values of control, winning, and profit, regardless of cost (goal of economic development); tearing apart social fabrics in communities (through the concept of progress); believing in a single path for progress (which justifies measuring people along a vertical line that claims to be objective); dividing communities into winners and losers (probably, worst form of class structure); perceiving the world through the dichotomy of right and wrong; believing in development that harms nature (such as farming the Amazon); ignoring local land, local cultures, and local economies; and killing diversity (except in what serves consumption)… all characterize universities and all are contrary to wisdom, well being, and the spirit of regeneration. Every person gets nurtured from land and communities which are not only absent from but also destroyed by universities.What we thought to be the cure turned out to be the disease itself.

What we should and cando in Veracruzis offer a vision that is wide but concise: ‘wide’ in the sense it encompasses life in its wholeness, and ‘concise’ in the sense that we don’t get drowned in a new “verbal empire” that requires an army of professionals and experts…

The vision I propose for discussion at the symposium

When I went back to Palestine in October 2007, after spending 10 years at Harvard, during which I visited 29 countries and worked with people and groups at the grassroots, and as a result of observing what has been taking place in Palestine since 1993, I became much more convinced that the most serious threat to life – in Palestine as elsewhere – is robbing people and communities the ability and spirit of regeneration. Thus, the core value in the vision which I propose, concerning universities is:protecting and regaining the natural ability of regeneration, and respecting the integrity of creation… protecting and regainingthe ability of life to regenerate itself.It is connected to responsibility, one aspect of which is how to conceive science in a way that is respectful and supportive of life and creation. This is part of wisdom andwell-being of people, communities, and nature.

It is crucial that we do not confuse tools with values. Science, education, creativity, rights, excellence, democracy… are tools, not values. They can serve very diverse values: power, control, destruction, and corruption or they can inform and deepen wisdom. The general concern of this paper is how to regain wisdom in our lives and universities.[3]

***

Vision, dignity, responsibility, well-being, spirit of regeneration, respect for creation, and considering nature as the measure of our actions– are some elements currently missing in universities, and they are crucial in wisdom. I propose we discuss them at the symposium and use them instead of onesdominant today; for example, ‘protecting the spirit and ability of regeneration’ instead of ‘sustainability and development’; ‘principles and values’ instead of ‘outcomes’; ‘vision’ instead of ‘goals’; ‘dignity’ instead of ‘rights’; ‘wisdom’ instead of ‘knowledge’; ‘community’ instead of ‘institutions’; ‘abilities’ instead of ‘needs’; ‘hope’ instead of ‘expectations’; ‘wholeness and harmony’ instead of ‘specialization’; and ‘politics’ instead of ‘services’.

Clarifications of some words:I mean by wisdomprotecting nature and respecting the integrity of creation. Since every person is nurtured by two soils – soil of land and soil of culture and community – then taking care of both soils is an integral part of wisdom. This means that we take care of what goes inside us (food, ideas, feelings…), and what goes out (excrement, expressions…). I use vision to refer to values and convictions that we do not violate in our actions. They form the basic elements of the logic we live in harmony with.By dignity I mean that one’s sense of worth and one’s actions spring from within and from one’s respect for nature. Perceiving every person as a source of meaning and understanding is an integral part of dignity.By politics I mean people taking responsibility for managing their affairs and resisting what robs them and their communities of abilities, capabilities, and resources.There is a difference between responsibility towards an institution and responsibility towards creation (land and communities).The belief in a single undifferentiated path for progress (which justifies competition and measuring people and nations along a vertical line that claims to be objective) is contrary to wisdom.

The phenomenon that intrigued me since the early 1970s has been the ease with which the mind can be deceived. This deception dullssenses,deformsperceptions, corrupts souls, distractsattentions, drugs awareness, and pollutes body and nature. How is it so easy to deceive the mind?[4] The deception started wheninstitutionswere given full power to control meanings and which words to use. In addition to fabricating terms and meanings, another aspect that explains the easeof deceiving minds is measuring traits that cannot be measured (i.e. using math where it shouldn’t be used). Using numbers to measure height or weight is meaningful, but to measure one’s knowledge orworth is the beginning of decadence.

What can we do? The first step in my opinion is to heal frommany sacreds ofmodern times such as progress, competition, monopoly of institutions, and listening to experts.

The widerthe vision,the fewer the words…

The vision I mentioned above is a wide vision expressed concisely. It does not need experts, professionals, evaluations… to explain it. This is true about most big visions. The wide vision of Jesus was understood by shepherds, fishermen, and the like. Today, a person has to study for long years to qualify as a small priest in a remote village!A wise andperceptive statement concerning visions was said by An-Naffari,an Arab Islamic Sufi who lived more than a thousand years ago: “As a vision becomes wider, words contract and become narrower”(the statement is much nicer in Arabic). What he is saying, in part, is that life is much richer and wider than what words can express and what thoughts and concepts can comprehend. We should be humble and respect the richness in nature and living, and keep this richness alive within us. The statement embodies respect for people; it is against drowning people in piles of words, detailed formulas, instructions, and ready meanings and measures – which characterizes modern institutions.We shouldnot flood people with verbiage such as in academia. Most modern universities and organizations in generalflood people with words which are virtual verbal empires. One is usually lost in jungles of words. The challenge for universities (and for organizations and institutions) is to have a vision with a capacity to include life in its fullnessbut expressed in few words.

It was at the beginning of the 1970s when I first tried to clarify a vision to live by and work in harmony with. My first articulation was ‘building on natural abilities,and on what people, communities, and culturehave’. That wasappropriate for us under Israeli occupation. In 1997, I read a statement concerning the worth of a person, articulated by Imam Ali “the worth of a person is what s/he yuhsen”[I will elaborate on this later]. Today, where corruption and destruction of life is at a level unprecedented before, the way I express the vision is:protecting and regainingthe ability of life to regenerate itself. This means living, thinking, relating, interacting, and acting – as much as possible – in a responsible way: in harmony with nature, wisdom, and well being, and outside the dictates of institutions and professionals. A person can stay in institutions but think and act outside their hegemony. By healing from theirhegemony,one can create diverse living spaces.