Education in the Arab World

The Economist gives a harsh view of education in the Arab World:

On evolution:

According to surveys, barely a third of Egyptian adults have ever heard of Charles Darwin and just 8% think there is any evidence to back his famous theory. Teachers, who might be expected to know better, seem equally sceptical. In a survey of nine Egyptian state schools, where Darwin’s ideas do form part of the curriculum for 15-year-olds, not one of more than 30 science teachers interviewed believed them to be true. At a private university in the United Arab Emirates, only 15% of the faculty thought there was good evidence to support evolution.

The strength of religious belief among Arabs partly explains their reluctance to accept the facts of evolution. Until recent reforms, state primary schools in Saudi Arabia devoted 31% of classroom time to religion, compared with just 20% for mathematics and science. A quarter of the kingdom’s university students devote the main part of their degree course to Islamic studies, more than in engineering, medicine and science put together. And despite changes to Saudi curriculums, religious study remains obligatory every year from primary school through to university.

Comparing educational systems:

The most rigorous comparative study of education systems, a survey called Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) that comes out every four years, revealed in its latest report, in 2007, that out of 48 countries tested, all 12 participating Arab countries fell below the average. More disturbingly, less than 1% of students aged 12-13 in ten Arab countries reached an advanced benchmark in science, compared with 32% in Singapore and 10% in the United States. Only one Arab country, Jordan, scored above the international average, with 5% of its 13-year-olds reaching the advanced category.

Comparing universities:

A listing of the world’s top 500 universities, compiled annually by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, includes three South African and six Israeli universities, but not a single Arab one. The Swiss-based World Economic Forum ranks Egypt a modest 70th out of 133 countries in competitiveness, but in terms of the quality of its primary education system and its mathematics-and-science teaching, it slumps to 124th. Libya, despite an income of $16,000 a head, ranks an even more dismal 128th in the quality of its higher education, lower than dirt-poor Burkina Faso, with an average income of $577.

The situation today:

Arab countries now spend as much or more on education, as a share of GDP, than the world average. They have made great strides in eradicating illiteracy, boosting university enrollment and reducing gaps in education between the sexes.

Women’s Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence by Country

The chart below, created using UNICEF data, breaks down the percentage of women who believed it was acceptable for their husbands to hit them. Click here to view the data.

(Click to enlarge)

So I must pose a couple questions to advocates of individual liberty: If a husband wants to hit his wife, and his wife doesn’t object to the act, should a third party (government) prevent it? And if the government does prevent it, is it restricting the freedom of the husband and his wife to engage in a practice they both believe in?

HT: Sociological Images

Poll: 43% of Egyptians believe Israel behind 9/11 attacks

According to worldpublicopinion.org, of seventeen nations polled, majorities in only nine believed that al Qaeda was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

On average, 46 percent say that al Qaeda was behind the attacks while 15 percent say the US government, seven percent Israel, and seven percent some other perpetrator. One in four say they do not know.

As for the Middle East:

Publics in the Middle East are especially likely to name a perpetrator other than al Qaeda. In Egypt 43 percent say that Israel was behind the attacks, as do 31 percent in Jordan and 19 percent in the Palestinian Territories. The US government is named by 36 percent of Turks and 27 percent of Palestinians. The numbers who say al Qaeda was behind the attacks range from 11 percent in Jordan to 42 percent in the Palestinian Territories.

And Africa:

The only countries with overwhelming majorities citing al Qaeda are the African countries: Kenya (77%) and Nigeria (71%). In Nigeria, a large majority of Muslims (64%) also say that al Qaeda was behind the attacks (compared to 79% of Nigerian Christians).

Yes, Israel and Egypt have signed a peace treaty. And yes, they have not had any conflicts since the signing. But there is a distinction between peace involving governments, and peace involving individuals.  The Egyptian people have yet to make peace with the people of Israel.

Israeli sweatshops in Jordan

Ha’aretz reported yesterday,

Two Israeli entrepreneurs run a sweatshop in Jordan that produces clothes for leading Israeli brands such as Irit, Bonita, Jump and Pashut, Haaretz has learned.

…The report exposes what is said to be one of the biggest secrets of the Israeli fashion industry, saying the cheap production costs for Israeli labels is a very expensive price for workers’ rights at Musa Garments.The report says Mr. Musa, the owner, is an Israeli. But the real owners are Jack Braun and Moshe Cohen from Tel Aviv. The factory is located in the Al Hassan industrial area in Irbid, Jordan. The two employ 132 people from Bangladesh, 49 from India and 27 Jordanians. Chinese, Sri Lankans and Nepalese have also worked there in the past. “They all come for one reason only: To earn as much money as they possibly can to pay off the debts they incurred to purchase their three-year work contracts in Jordan, and send money home to their families,” states the report.

I fail to see a problem here. If people decide–by their own free will–to work under such conditions, why protest? Their continued employment means working in a sweatshop is better than the next best alternative. Shutting them down will not leave them with better jobs, it will instead leave them unemployment.

Let me clarify. I made the assumption that those workers maintained the right to stay or leave. If that is the case, even under the worst of working conditions, the sweatshops should continue functioning. If the workers are prevented from leaving, than individual rights are restricted and the sweatshop should close.

I expanded on the topic of sweatshops in an earlier post.

The world without the bottom 5%

This is how the world would look if the bottom 5 percent of global GDP contributors were removed. This would constitute the removal of nearly 3 billion people, primarily form Africa and South Asia.

The countries erased include:

Zimbabwe, Burundi, DR Congo, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Malawi, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Afghanistan, Togo, Guinea, Uganda, Madagascar, the Central African Republic, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma), Rwanda, Mozambique, East Timor, the Gambia, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Lesotho, Ghana, Haiti, Tajikistan, the Comoros, Cambodia, Laos, Benin, Kenya, Chad, the Solomon Islands, Kyrgyzstan, India, Nicaragua, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Mauritania, Pakistan, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Ivory Coast, Zambia, the Yemen, Cameroon, Djibouti, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Nigeria, Guyana, the Sudan, Bolivia, Moldova, Honduras, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Bhutan, Egypt, Vanuatu, Tonga, Paraguay, Morocco, Syria, Swaziland, Samoa, Guatemala, Georgia, the Congo, Iraq, Armenia, Jordan, Cape Verde, the Maldives, Fiji and Namibia.

This represents 81 countries amounting to 2.9 billion people, or 43 percent of the world population. This, however, represents only 5 percent of world GDP.

HT: Strange Maps

The hidden Israeli-Arab trade

A 2005 Associated Press article explores the hidden trade between Israel and the Arab world. It begins:

Experts say the camouflaged trade – just a small portion of such imports that have received publicity – has been going on for years between Israel and its officially hostile Arab neighbors.

The hidden trade is worth about US$400 million a year – about two and a half times what Israel sold to its official Arab trading partners, Egypt and Jordan, in 2004 – said Gil Feiler, the director of Info-Prod Research, a Tel Aviv consultancy specializing in Arab markets, and an economic professor at Bar Ilan University.

The article continues,

The true amount of Arab imports from Israel is impossible to establish because neither side makes it public, with Israeli-made goods moving to Arab customers through third countries – Cyprus or the Netherlands, for example, which list the shipments as local exports.

Feiler said the Israeli origins of products is hidden by methods other than third-country exports. Arabs of Lebanese origin in Israel sell counterfeit Lebanese certificates of origin complete with forged government stamps. Some Israeli factories have departments of so-called quality control – where any Hebrew writing or ‘Made in Israel’ marks are removed from product components.

As Milton Friedman said,

The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.

People who seemingly hate each other will trade for personal gain. Even when the free market is restricted examples arise. This becomes all the more apparent when the free market system is permitted. Consider this: Germany is Israel’s largest European trading partner and Israel’s second most important trading partner after the United States.