Al-Huda Foundation, USA
the Message Continues ... i3/4
Education
Dr.
Safdar Chadda
We are well aware of the situation around us: the school
system in the United States is in deep crisis; in addition to poor academic
performance, there is a total collapse of discipline in schools, and violent
offences coupled with sub-stance abuse have reached epidemic proportions.
According to a study by the department of education, one in
ten schools in America has been a scene of serious violence. Violence alone has
claimed thousands of lives and annually costs hundreds of millions of dollars in
medical care, lost wages and immeasurable psychological trauma to both victims,
families, and their communities; children growing up with violence are at a much
greater risk for sociopathic devel “ ... those spiritual concepts on which this nation was built are
being superseded now by philosophies and judgements rooted in atheism. The name
of God has been removed from every vestige of public life, as though He were a
cancerous growth that threat-ended the life of the organism.”
development. When children’s energies are drained because they are defending themselves
against outside dangers or warding off their own fears, they have difficulty learning in schools.
Children traumatized by violence can have distorted memories and their cognitive
functions can be compromised.
Most of our children are becoming victims to popular culture. They
listen to contemporary hard rock, rap, and pop which are inundated with socially
and spiritually subversive ideology. This is reflected in their choice of reading
material, pop-culture magazines, in their viewing habits, sex-laden television
dramas and gratuitously violent movies. Popular culture exerts a powerful influence on the youth
which is undermining our Islamic values and beliefs. Social acceptance, within a
group of peers, often takes precedence over the desires and wishes of the
family. According to Dr. Dobson, an American writer and radio commentator, “...those spiritual concepts on
which this nation was built are being superseded now by philosophies and
judgments rooted in atheism. The name of God has been removed from every vestige
of public life, as though He were a cancerous growth that threatened the life of
the organism.”
This situation is critical and must be addressed because the
future of the Muslim community is in jeopardy. While I do not condemn all
aspects of popular culture, I do understand its inherent dangers, particularly
to the Muslim youth. Although young Muslims are expected to live moral and
ethical lives, there are limited cultural alternatives to counteract the
omnipresent negative influence. It is naive to think that if we smash the television and ban
Western music that we will be in a better position to avoid the perils of
Western culture. However, these measures, if taken at an early enough age in the
child’s
life, may be of benefit. What else can we do? One answer is Islamic education for all
Muslim children in a safe and moral environment. Full-time Islamic schools are
one of the clear options we have available. There is the inevitable competition
with well-funded public schools and their often
lavish parochial counterparts. We need well designed facilities, good teachers, and well prepared
education materials and curriculum, and above all parent’s participation. It requires a
vision of our role as Muslims in a non-Muslim society that will empower both us
and society at large. It requires that we identify various approaches that can
be used to reach all of our children and youth to get them the best Islamic
education possible.
We have to overcome the polarized systems of education,
secular vs. traditional Islamic, which has yielded two distinct bodies committed
to their own system of thinking, and unable to understand each other.