Why the Arab World is falling behind
I was sitting in my History of the Arab World class today for the last time and my professor was talking about what is wrong in the Arab World. The Arab World was at one time the height of civilization. I've talked about this in my 20th century Middle East and North Africa class as well.
One of the major things that many historians and development people have pointed to in the Arab World as the source of decline or failure is not the legacy of colonialism (although I personally think that still plays an important role) but the failure of those states to embrace and invest in education. Education seems to be one of the most important factors in terms of determining a states success. If you look at the worlds top universities, a majority are in the United States, then the UK, Japan, Germany, France, Switzerland, South Korea, and other states that have solid diversified economies.
The Arab World has fallen behind education wise, they have made significant increases but they still have among the worlds worst literacy rates. This is especially they case for women. Female illiteracy is a serious issue for the Arab World and this is made worse by the fact that women are expected to raise the children. So children are being raised by illiterate mothers who can't help them with school or teach them to read or write themselves.
Investing in education means investing in a skilled workforce and investing in research. The kind of research that the US does at its universities has allowed it to become a leader in new technology, ideas, and things that really make a country strong.
But I think the whole discussion has implications for the United States as well. For as long as empires and super powers have existed, someone has been bemoaning the moral and social decline of those empires. We as humans idealize the past and see the decline of society. We are doing it now in both the Arab World and the United States and I think the answers to both can be compared.
In the United States, the government is spending more and more money on the military and overseas wars and has been slowly cutting the budget for education. Clearly education is one of the major things that has continued to make America a major world power. The Arab World clearly needs to invest in education, increasing their economic diversity, and their technology and industrial sectors. But so does the US. If we fail to continue investing in education we could see some more serious issues.