Education Corrupts – But Only Girls? A Lesson from Afghanistan
Posted: Sunday, May 02, 2010
by Joel Kontinen
http://joelkontinen.blogspot.com/
Last week, over 80 girls and teachers fell ill as a result of three poison gas attacks on schools in northern Afghanistan. Al Jazeera reported that the suspected attacks in the Kunduz province caused the girls to suffer from headaches, vomiting and shivering. Some of them said that they had smelled strange odours before fainting.
The Afghan government suspects that the Taliban is behind the attacks. However, a Taliban spokesman said that they did not have anything to do with the incidents.
A Kabul businessman told AOL news: "In Pashtun culture, a woman's place is in the home. Even some of the most educated Pashtuns believe this. I'm willing to let my daughters go to school but only to a point, maybe until they are 11 or 12 years old. After that, why do they need an education? Their life will be in the home."
Furthermore, it seems that some Pashtuns are afraid that education would corrupt girls. Why it does not corrupt boys remains a mystery. After all, there are elements in secular education that might not be blessings.
In contrast to what we hear from Afghanistan, some other Near Eastern cultures have a very high regard for education. Paradoxically, this is at least partially due to the influence of religion.
Teaching has a prominent role in both Judaism and Christianity. In the Old Testament, God instructed parents to teach their children about the law (Deuteronomy 4:9, 6:7) and history (Exodus 12: 26-27) and some of the prophets basically had a teaching ministry. In the New Testament, Jesus Himself provided an example of teaching and in His Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) He gave the disciples the mandate to teach all nations.
Accordingly, one of the major ways Christian missionaries have reached non-Christian cultures has been through education. Following the Pauline teaching of the equality of all believers before God (Galatians 3:28), they have offered education for both boys and girls.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Appreciate this article and you taking time to look into and write it!
Thanks for reading, Marijo.Blessings,Joel
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