Looking at the Stars
By Mohammad A. Chaudhry
Pittsburg, CA
This has reference to Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff’s article “The View from the Bottom” published in the Link on June 29, 2012. Dr. Haniff writes well by packing his articles with insightful thoughts and stimulating ideas, blending them with issues that confront the people of the Indo-Pak sub-continent in particular and the Muslims in general.
But, the article cited above offers a different flavor. I read it twice just to reassure myself that it was written by Dr. Haniff. The article carried some sweeping and general statements based on the writer’s own localized experience and interaction, mirroring his own perception of what can lead to ‘excellence” in the pursuit of knowledge.
Dr. Haniff is absolutely right when he says the National Geographic Bee and the National Spelling Bee contests are highly prestigious events and that Indians are making their presence felt in them by dint of their accomplishments. He may, however, also agree when we say that contests of such nature are drill-oriented, and are exceedingly specialized, just as the ability to sing and run as a pacer are. They demand very strenuous, focused and impassioned approach - a kind of frenzied fixation, high level of motivation, and a single-minded passion and an all time relentless practice in Etymology, Semantics and Spellings. If these trends are present in the adventurer, then there also is the need of a yet another kind of factor, an onerous push constantly exercised by the parents desirous of seeing their own good name in the media as much as their child. And there should never be a let-off.
Dr. Haniff, however, appears convinced that being a spelling bee is perhaps the only way and an effective one, to excellence. Every excellent student cannot be expected to be a participant in these contests. In fact, he/she may not choose to do so. And why should he/she? Some even do not like to be in the limelight. The presence of seven Indian students on the national level does not prove that all or most Indians are really doing great in the field of education. Any ELT class in any American High School will reveal the truth; nor it can be taken as a prescription to excellence that every Indian or Pakistani or, for that matter, every student must participate in the spelling bee competition.
If Dr. Haniff did not hear “a single Muslim name, or any name representing the world of Islam”, it has much to do with Dr. Haniff’s own so-called in-access to such information. In the very pages of the Pakistan Link that carry his articles, I had written the profile of one Ahmed Bilal Rana some years ago who had made his way all way to Washington in this contest. Next year his sister, Maheen, also followed suit.
The most interesting part of the article is when Dr. Haniff says, “ Some days later when I raised the issue…. With my Muslim and Pakistani friends… they expressed surprise at never heard of the events… as usual they pooh-poohed the entire contest even though it carries a lot of prestige.” Or statements like, “Many of the parents I know are professional individuals with occupations in engineering, accounting, medicine, architecture and various field in business administration…. They are barely out of villages with the behavior to demonstrate that characteristic.” This is rather un-called for and unwarranted.
In my Matriculation examination in 1958, I scored a perfect 200/200 in Mathematics, Algebra and Geometry - a record, but in life I did not pursue this discipline. I performed the feat without my mind and heart engaged in it and without much interest in it. My heart was fixated on English, and I have always felt to be happy in it. So it is not a law of nature to be a participant in the Spelling Bee Contest, but if you are willing to train yourself or your kid on the level a cadet after joining the military academy gets trained, then you are welcome to this approach. As one who spent all his life in education, I would desist it because it is so regimented.
I am sure Dr. Haniff must have heard the name of one, a Bengali Muslim, Salman Khan of the Khan Academy, who has already become a “Geek Celebrity”, who now is as famous in the field of education as Bill Gates is in his Microsoft, and who may be the first in the world to give an entirely new dimension to formal education, and who is on his way to re-invent what we call “home work”, and who may entirely replace the formal class room teaching by banishing classroom lectures with net-books, and who, as held by the Time of July 9, be the savior of “Education”. I did not read anywhere that this is MIT/Harvard qualified high-tech wizard ever thought of to be a “spelling Bee’ geek.
Here in the Bay Area, just to give one example, it is in my personal knowledge that every 7th Muslim family hailing from Pakistan has its own doctor (some Muslim families even have two or more physicians), and some have even made their way to John Hopkins and Rhodes Island medical schools; it is also in my personal knowledge that every 4th to 5th young Muslim from Pakistan is a four-year degree holder professional engineer. And in many cases, their parents had “barely been out of village with the behavior” that Dr. Haniff is talking about. India is going great, especially after 1989, and we, the Pakistanis cite as an example. But let us also admit ourselves to the fact that all is not moonshine there. Same is true of Pakistan. While in general most educational institutions are below standard, some, indeed, are at par with the best of the Western institutions.
That “Pakistan stands several notches below India in just about every measure of achievement,” “ at such a low rate Pakistan has not been able to show excellence in any field,” are some sweeping statements.
Comparisons between these two countries sometimes become inevitable when national and patriotic compulsions become so overriding. The fact of the matter is that India had been fortunate in its stock of having some good political leaders, while Pakistan had been unfortunate on that score. Otherwise, with regard to such issues as poverty, religious fanatics and sectarian intolerance, regionalism, under-achievement in education, economic and social disparity, caste, creed, linguistic and cultural differences, corruption, nepotism, disregard of values, and loss of innocence in every walk of life, and many other matters pertaining to a willing obedience to discipline and law of the land, and many more matters are present in equal quantum in both the countries. May be politically, Pakistan needs more attention and an urgent one too as compared to India.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
