Something Terrible and Wonderful

One of the more interesting educational efforts going on in the world today is taking place in Sulaimani, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.  A number of dedicated educators have established a university , at the core of which is a very strong liberal arts program.  The language of instruction is English and most of the faculty hail from North America and the U.K.

From what I can tell (having visited the institution some months ago), the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani is unique in Iraq, where higher education emphasizes rote learning, large lectures, and high-stakes testing.  By contrast, at AUIS, classes are small and discussion-oriented.  The students understand and appreciate the difference, as this press release about auditions for a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth seems to indicate:

“I don’t even like poetry,” said Khende Asaad, an International Studies major from Erbil. “But when I hear Shakespeare, I feel like this big door is opening, and something terrible and wonderful is about to happen.”

A faculty member with whom I spoke on my visit compared his Iraqi students (not just Kurds, but Sunni and Shiite Arabs, Turkomen, and Azeris) to students he had taught in the Czech Republic after the collapse of communism.  Post-totalitarian students, he said, are hungry for big ideas.

Let’s hope and pray that those aren’t the only circumstances under which genuine education is possible.