Invite students to learn from us, not terrorists
Reprinted with permission of the Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
By HEINZ-DIETER MEYER,
Special to the Times UnionFirst published: Sunday, November 4, 2001
President Bush wants to drastically limit foreign student access to the United States. At the same time, he is publicly startled at the lack of understanding with which this nation is confronted in many parts of the world.
As the United States finds itself the sole global power left standing, we discover that — thanks to the global appeal of American culture — people in many parts of the world know more about us than we know about them. This asymmetry of understanding and power is not healthy, especially since the "Miami Vice'' and "Bay Watch'' image of America projected by the global media sends a very distorted picture of its culture in to the world.
Since the United States has had to intervene militarily in various trouble spots over the past decade, people in many areas of the world have come to experience Americans as arrogant and callous to the outside world, and permissive and materialistic on the inside. This doubly distorted view of America might explain why heinous acts of terrorism meet with "understanding'' or tacit support in some parts of the world.
Instead of turning inward and shutting off our openness to foreign students in response to an unprecedented act of terror, we should consider a global education initiative. And thanks to the revolutionary new teaching and learning technologies now available, we can do so by exporting our knowledge, rather than importing students.
Consider this: Hundreds of thousands of young men and women living in countries and regions that hurt from economic backwardness, despotism, or lingering violent conflicts would like to study engineering, law, management, education, and a host of other fields, but lack suitable institutions of higher education (which are either too corrupt, too expensive or non-existent in their part of the world) to do so.
As it happens, many of these countries are also those where disaffected young people will most easily be stirred by the ever-present handful of fanatics to join them in all-out fights against real or imagined adversaries. Places like Chechnya, Afghanistan, the West Bank, Serbia, Romania, Kazakhstan and dozens of others that are only recently joining the global civil society are potential recruiting pools for terrorism. While military efforts may bring some of the guilty to justice, they will do very little to influence global public opinion and shore up support for American political ideas and ideals.
Ever since a farsighted American senator named James W. Fulbright created the student exchange program that still bears his name (and that brought this writer to the United States from Germany some 20 years ago), much has changed in the world of higher education. But thanks to Senator Fulbright, hundreds of thousands of young people have had a chance to learn the spirit and practice of democracy first hand. If countries like Germany today stand firmly on the side of democracy, it's not least because many of its leaders and experts have experienced liberty and democracy in American universities and laboratories. They have learned that professors don't necessarily rule over their students aloof and almighty, that complex and value-laden questions can be debated in a spirit of civility, that respect for different beliefs is a sign of moral strength rather than weakness, and that to cooperate with others is often better than to go it alone.
In the days of the Fulbright initiative, young people had to come to the United States and stay for several years to obtain a degree. Today, someone who wants to benefit from American higher education does not have to move to this country. Our fast accumulating experience with Internet-based learning shows that we are able to deliver quality education through a mix of online courses, videoconferencing, and compact face-to-face seminars. A growing number of American universities have the resources to train administrators, engineers, or information managers in Kazakhstan and Kuwait, Sudan and Serbia by bringing our cutting-edge courses to the students, rather than having the students come to us. And growing numbers of governments and institutions of learning in these countries are eager to enter into cooperative arrangements with American universities.
American-style higher education is a fast-growing alternative for students who prefer its innovative content, challenging standards and democratic teaching methods to the offerings of their home countries. By making our courses and degree programs accessible to people in different countries, we not only are providing low-cost venues for a high-quality education. We also are establishing channels of communication that will help us understand the needs and concerns of people who we now know little about. Most importantly: Such a global education initiative will be one of the most effective ways to expose many thousands of curious and ambitious young people in all corners of the world to the ideas, values and practices of liberal democracy.
By taking courses supported by American universities, students not only will become adept in their chosen discipline, but they also will get an education in tolerance, free speech, constructive conflict resolution, pluralism and the habits of civilized debate. Such an education will, better than any other form of communication, equip people to discern and detect the insidious bug of dogmatism and intellectual extremism, and to counter it with the spirit of free inquiry and rational argument.
While we must improve our ability to fight and counteract terrorists militarily and politically, we should do so realizing that ultimately the best defense against intellectual fanaticism is a well-furnished mind, trained in liberty and free inquiry.
Heinz-Dieter Meyer is an associate professor in the University at Albany School of Education.