There is an old Arab saying that proclaims books are written in Cairo, published in Beirut and read in Baghdad. Those cradles of civilization were cradles of learning, and that education continues even as those places in modern times fell into unrest and violence, in part thanks to a string of English-language American universities dating back to Beirut in the s.
We're going to hear now from Dawn Dekle. Just weeks ago, she took up her duties as president of the American University in Iraq, founded six years ago in the Kurdish region.
She came to Iraq from Kabul, where she was the top administrator at the new American University there. We reached her via Skype in Iraq. You might completely disagree with American foreign policy, but no one really disagrees that the Harvards, the MITs, the Stanfords of the world are world-class.
Having said that, you can get sticker shock from some of these schools. You could have visa issues trying to get your son or daughter into these schools. So why not bring the school to the students? What did you find that was similar and what is the difference?
Whereas, in Afghanistan, many of the Afghans that I met were a bit fatigued with having Americans in their country. I'm not saying Afghans are not welcoming, because their culture is legendary for being wonderful hosts.
