Can it be true that the amount of Arab money invested in Europe is some $650 billion? In the United States there are Arab investments of $975 billion! If these figures are accurate, then the total Arab wealth outside the Arab world is a staggering $2.275 trillion. The zakah payable on such an enormous sum is in the neighborhood of $56.9 billion. Would there be any poor person left in the world if that zakah money were collected?
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According to an American expert in education, what really counts in the educational process is not the amount of curriculum taught. In Japan, for example, the education system is more advanced than in the United States although the curriculum is much smaller there.
As for how the teaching staff functions in the West, the expert says teachers are not allowed to practice unless they receive a license to do so. The license is only granted after the teacher passes a difficult examination and even then, it is only valid for four years. At the end of the four year period, the teacher must sit for another examination dealing with the new curriculum even if he or she has had 20 years of experience. Specialized companies, amid intense competition the expert says, produce school curriculum in the United States. Specific criteria are laid down by the department of education outlining the guidelines that must be followed by these companies. The authorities retain the right to select the curriculum they deem most suitable.
It is obvious that both methods have succeeded in the United States. Otherwise, this superpower would not have managed to lead the world in creative works, technology and military power. Yet, for the past 30 years the country has been involved in a heated argument amid accusations on the backwardness of the American educational system and its failure to cope with requirements. Efforts are underway to free education from this state and devise a new system capable of meeting the requirements of the new millennium with all its potential and ambition.
We in the Arab world, on the other hand, are still waiting for an answer to the eternal question: What effect will teaching foreign languages have on our mother tongue?
