How Not to Reform Universities

Sameer..thanks for the reply.

One comment is there an online edition of the Humanist you mentioned?

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THE PAKISTANI,

Romair is an archetypal pakistani, when hoodboy wrote about the army, the great field marshal told him to focus on his field, army the man alleged is his field. Now the veteran prof has talked about the university, again the great man knows more than hoodboy. The reason the great man is part of the military. Like any pakistani, he knws that being a fauji and collecting the pension, he knows everything.

As a great concession, the great man declares that hoodboy is a patriot. Yes, it has to be said by a fauji, the ahmadias were declared non-patriots by another fauji admired by the field marshal. Then of course, hoodboy sounds more like a parsi, he has to be declared a patriot comapred to ahmed bin mustafa of faisalabd.

Then ofcourse in the fauji norm of greatness, gaznavi and ghouri of converting others to islam, imran khan at least has one success, so imran is a hero of field marshal.

This is the great contribution of chowk, crystalising a typical pakistani.

rozaiba # 65

brilliant post especially this:

``Priorities of the state of Pakistan and particularly of the untouchable Faujis are clear. The next generation we speak of has already been lost. They do not see the value of education. As with the prior generations, the next one too, will try to stand up on their own and forget about the state and it’s demented Fauji policy makers trying to provide something for the masses.

The 150 billion rupees plus 30 billion for Fauji pensions, is a total waste of money. Faujis add no value to a poverty stricken nation (except for fascist elements who are mostly faujis themselves as well as fauji table spoons). They only devalue. I believe it was the columnist Najma Saddique who said that this is an army who needs a country- just like a parasite needs the host.``

Typical claptrap from the Field Marshal(Hon.) Romair.Instead of focusing on the message the erstwhile Professor is communicating the FM is concentrating on the messenger. Instead of challenging the pathetic number of capable people, scientific papers and a general poor standard of education, the sorry FM decides to challenge the credentials of Prof. Hoodbhoy.

May I ask the perennial idiot defending the sorry lot that goes by the name of some task force to cite some evidence against ANY assertion made in the paper? Its the same mindset that defends Pervez Musharraf and his brainless cohorts because they are *honest *. A typical incident that illustrates the price the nation has paid for its *honest * leaders goes like this.

Gen. Zia decided to become a role model for the entire nation by taking the bicycle to work. The entire police force of the twin cities was detailed to protect the route of the mard-i-momin`s capricious exercise. A violent mob took the opportunity to burn down the American consulate since there was nary a policeman on duty there. Islamic Republic of Pakistan was forced to cough up a settlement of $300 million to compensate the good ole yankees. A general`s ride cost an impovershed nation $300 million. The current reincarnation of the *honest * messiah and his equally brain-dead colleagues will probably end up in destroying whatever is left. The Field Marshal(Hon.) will probably end up selling T-shirts with the American flag on the internet(or an Imran Khan bobbit doll if you buy one with the Pakistani flag).

later

-sac

re: shahgul

{Things happen everywhere, but you never see Indians hollering about what a bad place India is to live in.}

...how do you know?...why do you think majority of indians on chowk don`t live in india?...

Dear Prof. Hoodbhoy,

I don’t know how valid your proposal to limit number of universities is.

However, I totally agree that the education sector in Pakistan is going from worse to worse. Forget those who are doubting your intentions- if they knew how screwed up things were here, they would not be pointing fingers at you.

The rot begins from the primary/secondary schools. Teachers in public schools intentionally do not teach during school time. All they do is show up and take ‘haazri’ (attendence). The teachers in these schools mostly get less than 5000 rupees per month. They can make MUCH MUCH more by forcing their daytime school students to take on private tuition lessons with them after school. For pre-matric exams, students fear that if they take private tuition lessons from anyone else (anyone more competent than the public school teachers) other than their daytime public school teachers, the teacher will fail them in the exams (out of jealousy and as a lesson).

An indication of worsening of the situation is that now even private school teachers have taken the initiative to give tuition lessons after school.

Priorities of the state of Pakistan and particularly of the untouchable Faujis are clear. The next generation we speak of has already been lost. They do not see the value of education. As with the prior generations, the next one too, will try to stand up on their own and forget about the state and it’s demented Fauji policy makers trying to provide something for the masses.

The 150 billion rupees plus 30 billion for Fauji pensions, is a total waste of money. Faujis add no value to a poverty stricken nation (except for fascist elements who are mostly faujis themselves as well as fauji table spoons). They only devalue. I believe it was the columnist Najma Saddique who said that this is an army who needs a country- just like a parasite needs the host.

In the face of mass political apathy, the biggest winners are the Parasitic Faujis of Pakistan. With the fauji-feudal nexus, they can call the shots and continue to persist with ignoring education.

The biggest losers however, are those few students who still desire to learn simply for the sake of learning. Whether it is English literature or nuclear physics, they will not only have to face a government that simply doesn’t care, or a system that is rotting, but discouragement from those around them as these subjects have no value in a land that has been forced to not recognize the value of education due to the states priorities that give preference to incompetant and ugly destructive forces of the Pakistan army over the creativity possible through human development.

zakkk #59: Dr. Tariq Rehman is highly talented and former Fulbright fellow with specializatio in linguistics. Not just Hoodbhoy and Dr. Tariq Rehman but at least 6-7 regular columnists for op-ed pieces are employees of QAU. Another one is Ayesha Siddique-Agha writing every week in TFT. Then you have Rasul Bakhsh Rais writing in Jang group.

People sitting here with no information are passing judgement about QAU being a mediocre university. They know nothing about evaluation of universities and different departments in Pakistani universities. The government expenses per student for QAU are much more than any other non-technical university in Pakistan. Professor Hoodbhoy is sitting in the center of excellence (Pakistani standard) of theoretical Physics in Pakistan. Wiht only couple of thousand students, QAU is center of excellence in many areas. Department of Anthropology was leaded by the most well known Pakistani historian, Dr. A. H. Dani. the linguistics department is also the best in Pakistan. Then you have Pakistan Studies, Defense Studies and so on. How many columnist from Punjab, Karachi or Peshawar Universities regularly contribute to national and international newspaper and magazines? Check out the latest edition of Humanist Magazine and article by Schiller about reforming Islam. He points out Prof. Hoodbhoy as one of the three leading reformers in the Muslim world. Mind it, his specialty is physics and not religion. Right, he does not need fatwa or certificate from chowk contributors for his patriotism. What is the formula to calculate the order of contributions of Imran Khan, Badar Ali and Hoodbhoy? Perhaps it is the creation of Malakand University? It, perhaps hurts some people that Prof. Hoodbhoy`s main focus is Pakistan and not Kashmir or Afghanistan.

Shagul:

``the Indians keep quiete about the slums of Calcutta, and sing about the `romance`, and `spituality` of cow pooping dung on the street.

``

Dude, don`t blame us if you don`t have the requisite refinment to appreciate cow pooping dung on the street...

:)

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Romair #55 I was reacting to the following piece from your post ``The best thing Dr. Hoodbhoy could do is to attempt to follow the footsteps of Babar Ali and Aga Khan and Imran Khan etc. and attempt to establish a world class university (hospital) etc. in Pakistan. That is a much better way to improve Pakistan. ``, which explicitly lessen`s Hoodbhoy`s contributions to Pakistan relative to Imran Khan who built a hospital. The point I was trying to make was that one can contribute (as Hoodbhoy is) by speaking out boldly for what is right just as much as one can contribute by doing something right (like building a hospital).

In the rest of your post you do implicitly accept Hoodbhoy`s contributions, but the concern you express in the rest of the post is on what you see as Hoodbhoy`s intellectual arrogance relative to members of this task force.

I agree with you that the members of the task force are indeed a fine group and a major asset to Pakistani society. They are indeed on the front lines against our real, and most formidable enemy - which is the poverty and ignorance and political extremisms of a third world country. The recent conversion of the state bank to a constitutional body (thereby making it less susceptible to interference from the next prime minister) is I think an indication of the contributions that Ishrat Hussain (one of the members) has made to Pakistan.

Omair:

I believe Dr Tariq Rehman, another Professor in QAU, also had plenty of quite comprehensive criticism of the University reforms plan.

It is as usual an irony that one group of people in Peshwar was trying to establish the first private University, only to be told to invest in a proper facility first. While at the same time new government uni`s are being established at the drop of a pen, all because certain Army officials are trying to make their own consituency for the upcoming elections.

Incidentally, in the task force list you mentioned, I may be wrong, but I failed to read or notice the name of a single Pashtun, Sindhi or Baluchi in the task force list mentioned it seems none of us went to University LOL..

Romair # 55

``This is not an attempt to take anything away from Hoodbhoy. He is no doubt a patriot.``

How do you know he is a patriot? and who gives the

certificate for patriotism...?? and how do you

measure patriotism ???

Would appreciate to be educated on this topic.

Regards.

tahmad #50: ``You are right in saying that there are many talented people in Pakistan who are contributing positively to the country. You are wrong in saying that Prof. Hoodbhoy is not one of them since he is ``just`` a college professor.``

Please read my complete reply, before commenting. I didn`t state what you are implying. I stated exactly the opposite. Infact, my point was that Hoodbhoy himself should understand that there are other Pakistanis, besides himself who are dedicated and capable also. And that people should not write off the members of the Task Force, just on Hoodbhoy`s criticism, since many of them are more accomplished scholars and professionals than Hoodbhoy. And they need to be given a chance to present their point of view.

I stated the following in #48:

``The good Dr. Hoodbhoy`s heart seems to be in the right place. He wants to see improvement in Pakistan, like the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us, he is in Pakistan, toughing it out, which gives him a hell of a lot of credibility. And I certainly and greatly admire him for that.``

``I have no doubt that Dr. Hoodbhoy is very knowledgeable and well-read (and definitely well-intentioned), but so are a lot of other Pakistanis.``

``Hoodbhoy is a semi-govt. or govt. employee in a mediocre university, in a field that has no base in Pakistan. This is quite an accomplishement. But he is a professor, while some of the members of the task force are very successful entrepreneurs and VCs, and have international credibility in the private sector (which he doesn`t have). I don`t think it is logical to write off all these qualified Pakistanis just on some criticism from Hoodbhoy.``

``This is not an attempt to take anything away from Hoodbhoy. He is no doubt a patriot. It is however, an attempt to not allow him to belittle those making attempts in other areas, through his criticism (which he has a tendency to overdo).``

``Dr. Hoodbhoy falls into the, ``man in the arena`` category, since he is in Pakistan, when he could have easily made a living anywhere else.``

I hope that makes my position clear.

Here is a site every Pakistani must check out (specially girls/women). I have to say I am very impressed:

http://www.junoonii.00me.com

Romair #48 You are right in saying that there are many talented people in Pakistan who are contributing positively to the country. You are wrong in saying that Prof. Hoodbhoy is not one of them since he is ``just`` a college professor. He is contributing significantly by speaking out on behalf of common sense in Pakistan.