Improving Our Educational Systems Part 2

For Part 1, see:?https://bit.ly/AZbIES1 . English Version of talk at GSCWU Bhawalpur by Dr. Asad Zaman on 4th Sep 2022. Slides from?SlideShare

Summary of Part 1

Western educational systems have been shaped by a theory of knowledge (logical positivism) which says that Science is the only valid form of knowledge.

This has led to prioritization of study of external reality, and abandonment of our internal reality. Life-experiences which lead to spiritual growth are not part of the curriculum.

This 2nd?part focuses on the role of the social sciences, which provide normative ideals for European societies to follow, based on their own analysis of their own historical experiences.

Birth of Social Science in early 20th Century

The idea that “science” was the only valid form of knowledge led to diminishing prestige of “humanities” – just talk, not knowledge! In turn, this led to the creation of “SOCIAL SCIENCE” in early 20th Century: Economics, Psychology, Political Science, Business Management, etc. These were all created using a methodology based on Logical Positivism which explained what science was (incorrectly). Of importance, LP rejected human internal experiences – heart, soul – as sources of knowledge.

Social SCIENCE makes TWO false claims:

1. It is a study of FACTS, not opinions – “Science”
2. These FACTS are Universal Truths – equally valid across time and space, for ALL societies.

ONLY such facts – universally valid truths – are worthy of the name of KNOWLEDGE, according to Logical Positivism

The First Claim: Universal Applicability to All Societies: is false

• Social Science is, and must be, study of human societies.
• But WHICH society?
• Social Science consists of Lessons derived from historical experience of European societies. NOT Universally applicable AT ALL.

This is discussed in greater detail in The Puzzle of Western Social Science?https://bit.ly/AZpss

The Second Claim: Iron Laws applicable across time and space?(like those of physics) is also false

• Human beings are free to choose between good and evil.
• Their behavior is not predictable, and not subject to mathematical laws.

Why Does Social Science Make These Obviously False Claims? To answer this question requires exploring the history of emergence of the social sciences in Europe. In a nutshell, religious wars led to the rejection of Christianity as a basis for knowledge. A historical sketch is outlined below:

1. Corruption of Catholic Church leads to REFORMATION
2. Protestant factions rejects Catholicism. Wars between the two factions being
3. Over a century of deeply destructive religious wars in Europe.
4. Social theory was done by schoolmen, scholastics, based on Bible.
5. This was rejected as basis for organizing society.
6. Because it led to continuous warfare both within and between states.
7. On a broader level, Christianity was rejected as basis for knowledge about organizing society.

Deep and fundamental beliefs (in Christianity), accepted by all from top to bottom, had been proven wrong. The entire stock of (European) knowledge was in doubt. It became necessary to rebuild the entire stock of knowledge, starting from scratch. All Enlightenment philosophers were engaged in this task.

Social Science: Replacement for Christianity

Historical Experience of European Societies showed that Christianity was a failure at providing principles for organizing society. It led to continuous warfare and violence. Social Science was created as a replacement for Christianity, to provide a new set of principles for organizing society. It was based on the rejection of God, Judgment, and after-life. Naturally, the focus was shifted to Worldly Pleasures. This means that Social Sciences are in direct conflict with Islamic teachings. As a specific example, consider economics.

According to Economics, goal of life is to maximize pleasure from consumption. This is wrong, both as a description and also as a prescription. People do not actually do this. Nor should they do this. Real long-term happiness comes from character and social relationships, not from consumption.

When Social Science replaced religion in the public sphere, religion became restricted to a set of Personal Beliefs. The meaning of the word “religion” changed. Christianity encompassed all dimensions of life. Teaching of Christianity in public sphere were replaced by Social Science.

Central Epistemological Conflict

To summarize, Western theories of knowledge exclude religion, and build on science. But this excludes life purpose and personal experiences from knowledge. Islamic theories of knowledge give central place to meaning of life, character, society. Social Science is in direct conflict with Islamic theories of social sphere. Our suggestion for radical change in education builds on this analysis.

What is the ROOT strategy for RAPID change? Change the Theory of Knowledge! Europeans changed?the meaning of “KNOWLEDGE” to?Logical Positivism:?Science is the only valid source of knowledge

Islam gives central importance to the heart and spirituality, as source of knowledge about God and the purpose of our creation. In accordance with this, an education should give students experiences which create INTERNAL changes. Spiritual Development, Growth, and Maturity. Deeper understanding of LIFE!

Islam teaches us how to develop our maximum potential as human beings. The Quran says that?We created man in the best of forms, and reduced him to the lowest of the low.?What does this mean? Man has potential to rise above the angels, and also the potential to be the worst among the beasts. Islam teaches us how to develop our maximum potential as human beings.??This places great responsibility of teachers:?If you save a life, it is as if you have saved all of humanity. All of our students are born with infinite potential. How can we make our students – everyone of them – REALIZE the potential for excellence with which they have all been created?

The key is to teach only USEFUL knowledge! Our Prophet SAW made dua for useful knowledge

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And he sought Protection of Allah from USELESS knowledge

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One of the characteristics of useful knowledge is that it enters the heart. By this criterion, we teach ONLY useless knowledge! This is PROHIBITED by Islamic teachings. This is the result of dramatic shift in Western epistemology, which took place in early 20th Century. This new TOXIC theory of knowledge – logical positivism – shaped the education currently being provided in Western universities. We are BLINDLY imitating the West, and we are POISONING the minds of our students with USELESS knowledge.

Modern Social Sciences are built on Western Values. We need to rebuild them on Islamic foundations Modern Universities teach technical skills, but do not provide guidance about life. For my personal experiences, see: Lessons MIT did not Teach Me?https://bit.ly/mit4az1 ?As an example of how the social sciences need to be rebuilt, consider Economics.

Is Economics the Study of Scarcity? NO. Let us look to the Quran for economic teachings. One of them is the verse:?They do not urge the feeding of the poor. This leads to the idea of “Hunger, as the primary economic problem”?https://ssrn.com/abstract=2571779 ?The first fundamental problem of economics is to ensure that the basic needs of all are met – NOT scarcity. By centering our studies on the foundations of the Quran, we can change things rapidly and dramatically. USEFUL Knowledge is life-changing experience (not science). How can our students experience learning??Give students real-life projects, individual and collective

1. Change the life of one person in your neighborhood.
2. Collective Project: Visit a nearby Katchi Abadi, study their lives, and make ONE small change to improve their lives.

A central element of an Islamic education must be: How to build character? There are multiple approaches. The most difficult is to “Be a model of excellence”. This is Sufi method where the Mureeds of the Shaykh take him as the model. This is difficult because most of us cannot model excellence. An alternative is the Fellow Travellers model widely used by the movement of Dawah and Tableegh. This takes the stance that we are all far from the ideals demonstrated by our Prophet SAW, so “Let us learn together to improve ourselves. For this purpose, we should:

1. Study examples of great character in our lives (immediate experience)
2. Ask students to describe people they admire and their characteristics
3. Ask students to reflect on their own lives, and pick out things which they did, which they think will have weight on day of judgement.

A very important consideration here is that we should not look for examples of perfection – those no longer exist. Rather, we should look for isolate acts of greatness, or isolated good characteristics. That is, from among a hundred faults, pick out, recognize, and praise the single virtue that someone may have.

Problems of Camaraderie

If we shift from Western pedagogy, which addresses the mind only, to Eastern pedagogy, which engages hearts, we will automatically create closer personal relationships with out students. This is an unfamiliar model for both teachers and students, and can be a source of multiple problems. In particular, students may abuse this closer relationship and ask for undue favors. The teacher must act like a parent, and combine love with discipline and strictness as required. New ways of teaching and learning are required to make this model work.?

I would like to close this essay be describing briefly “The Ghazali Project” which aims transform Islamic societies by transforming education from Western patterns to Islamic ones. See “Central Ideas of the Ghazali Project”?https://bit.ly/Ghazali1

Links to Related Materials

• This talk, as blog post: Improving Our Education Systems Part 2:?https://bit.ly/AZbIES2
• Previous Part: Improving Our Education Systems Part 1:?https://bit.ly/AZbIES2
• Urdu Video complete:?https://bit.ly/AZuIES
• Follow-up Talk at Islamic University of Bhawalpur:?https://bit.ly/AZuRSS ?— Rebuilding the Social Sciences on Islamic Epistemological Foundations.??