WASHINGTON, 22 May — The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 stunned and horrified all Americans.
Despite high-profile previous terrorist incidents in the United States, most Americans paid little attention and thought our country immune to the terror that has plagued other parts of the world. Almost as shocking to most Americans was the apparent widespread approval of these acts by many people in Muslim countries.
The shock of so many Americans that anyone could hate us to such a degree as to support the murder of thousands of innocent people tells us there is much we don’t know about the world and how others perceive us.
There are many reasons for the American global illiteracy. For most of our history, our nation has been isolated behind oceans and was not threatened by its neighbors.
Until the second half of the 20th century, the United States was economically self-sufficient and there was no political interest to involve ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Specifically, the Muslim world was so far away and was of so little importance.
Rapid and widespread political, economic and military changes occurred in the world after World War II, yet the American public education system remained unaffected. Some thirty years ago, educators and policy makers began to raise concerns about how well our schools were preparing students for America’s role in a rapidly changing world. We confronted issues that were global in scope including the oil embargo of 1973 and were made clearly aware that what happened in lands far from our borders could well affect us.
That meant then, and means now, giving students a firm grounding in civics, world geography, world history, world religions, world languages and cultures, global economics and a broad understanding of global issues and challenges.
Subsequently, instruction in some of these curriculum areas has improved, but the end of the Cold War hypnotized us into believing that we need not really be concerned any more about what goes on beyond our shores.
By and large, elementary and secondary schools teach less about the world today than in the past.
Of course, no amount of teaching about terrorism or understanding of the Muslim world could have prevented the Sept. 11th attacks, but a wise and educated American citizenry would have ameliorated subsequent events, such as vandalized mosques, attacks on Sikhs because they wore Bin Laden like turbans, or the harassment of some Muslims because some Americans blamed all Muslims for these terrorist attacks.
Based on news reports and frequent interviews with people in Muslim-majority countries, there are similar massive problems in the Muslim world, only reversed: Muslims have little understanding of the United States, and what they do know is derived from watching movies and television. By all accounts, the education systems in Muslim majority countries have greatly contributed to misunderstanding.
The offices of the American Forum for Global Education are but a few blocks from Ground Zero. Our immediate response was to compile a brief curriculum unit for elementary and secondary educators on terrorism.
It was a visible response for an ongoing need to provide effective resources to assist educators add a global dimension to their classrooms. Curriculum guides like this are important, but we all know that they are small beginning steps for a much larger endeavor.
Our second response was to actively seek the passage of legislation by Congress to promote improved understanding among students and educators in the United States and the Muslim world. This can be accomplished through exchange of students, teachers and leaders in the press and media. Several bills have been introduced to help ameliorate these problems. It is extremely likely that one or more will pass Congress and be funded.
None of these bills if passed will solve the education gap that exists between America and the Muslim world, but they are a beginning step to remedy serious deficiencies.
Understanding does not mean agreement, but knowing more about each other will help avoid the vast misperceptions that currently exist.
(Smith is President of the American Forum for Global Education.)