Not an inate national characteristic

Submitted by Layla (United States), Feb 20, 2006 at 00:20

As someone who has taught English in the Middle East, I can tell you the inablilty to defend statements is not due to lack of intellectual capability. When Middle Eastern students are taught how to compose topic sentences, they pick up on the concept immediately. After being shown once, my students could write paragraphs containing reasons and examples that were as at least as creative as American students. But in a region where freedom of the press can lead to political instability and even deaths, as we have seen in the last few weeks, groupthink, and not critical thinking is condusive to survival within the culture.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".