Thinking critically — really?

[niaz]

Sir, just the cost of this one item alone is so high that it cannot be implemented given the present economic priorities, before we even get to the other suggestions. Adding other necessities like actual school buildings with furniture and labs etc. only make apparent the chronic and huge under-funding of the education sector over decades, and totally inadequate to deal with ever-increasing number of school age children. Higher education can only come after this foundation is somehow set right first.

What about the cost of Metro trains?

Understand cost of Orange line 1st phase in Lahore is $1.7-billion? Do you think this should be enough to provide free books to all Punjab schools for one year? Text books will remain property of the schools; once purchased can be taken back re –used for a few years for the next batch of students.

I maintain that it is the willingness to allocate resources for the projects where there is little chance of a kickback and if they consider that improving education standard is worthwhile investment are the deciding factors.

 

[VCheng]

What about the cost of Metro trains?

Understand cost of Orange line 1st phase in Lahore is $1.7-billion? Do you think this should be enough to provide free books to all Punjab schools for one year? Text books will remain property of the schools; once purchased can be taken back re –used for a few years for the next batch of students.

I maintain that it is the willingness to allocate resources for the projects where there is little chance of a kickback and if they consider that improving education standard is worthwhile investment are the deciding factors.

As a rough guesstimate, Sir, I came up with a figure of $3.5 billion for books for about 50 million school going children. To replace these books over a generous 10 year cycle would take around $350 million annually. Your point of comparison is a good one, but my point about economic priorities still remains valid.

 

[Sinnerman108]

Yes there are, quite a few of them at the cost of learned people lives. I am born n braught up here in Varanasi, living in Mumbai. I have come back to VARANASI to celebrate Deepawali. I had shared the pics of religious temples of city's temples. Some of these were attacked very recently however still we have lived together and will continue to live. I will request my friends to post those images here ASAP. Will be going to see more in this week before I head back to Mumbai. Saying nothing happened is equal to spreading misinformation. If nothing happened, then what is this given in below links.

The temple stands on the western bank of the holy river Ganga, and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest of Shiva temples. The main deity is known by the name Vishvanatha or Vishveshvara meaning Ruler of The Universe.

The last structure was demolished by Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor who constructed the Gyanvapi Mosque on its site. The current structure was built on an adjacent site by the Maratha ruler, Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780.

The temple has been mentioned in the Puranas including the Kashi Khanda (section) of Skanda Purana. The original Vishwanath temple was destroyed by the army of Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1194 CE, when he defeated the Raja of Kannauj as a commander of Mohammad Ghori. The temple was rebuilt by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of Delhi's Sultan Iltutmish (1211-1266 CE). It was demolished again during the rule of either Hussain Shah Sharqi (1447-1458) or Sikandar Lodhi (1489-1517). Raja Man Singh built the temple during Mughal emperor Akbar's rule, but orthodox Hindus boycotted it as he had let the Mughals marry within his family. Raja Todar Mal further re-built the temple with Akbar's funding at its original site in 1585.

In 1669 CE, Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple and built the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. The remains of the erstwhile temple can be seen in the foundation, the columns and at the rear part of the mosque.

In 1742, the Maratha ruler Malhar Rao Holkar made a plan to demolish the mosque and reconstruct Vishweshwar temple at the site. However, his plan did not materialize, partially because of intervention by the Nawabs of Lucknow, who controlled the territory. Around 1750, the Maharaja of Jaipur commissioned a survey of the land around the site, with the objective of purchasing land to rebuild the Kashi Vishwanath temple. However, his plan to rebuild the temple did not materialize either. In 1780, Malhar Rao's daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar constructed the present temple adjacent to the mosque. In 1828, Baiza Bai, widow of the Maratha ruler Daulat Rao Scindhia of Gwalior State, built a low-roofed colonnade with over 40 pillars in the Gyan Vapi precinct. During 1833-1840 CE, the boundary of Gyanvapi Well, the ghats and other nearby temples were constructed.A 7-feet high stone statue of Nandi bull, gifted by the Raja of Nepal lies to the east of the colonnade. Many noble families from various ancestral kingdoms of Indian subcontinent and their prior establishments make generous contributions for the operations of the temple. In 1841, the Bhosales of Nagpur donated silver to the temple. In 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh donated 1 tonne of gold for plating the temple's dome.

The twelve jyothirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Himalayas, Bhimashankar in Maharashtra, Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Triambakeshwar in Maharashtra, Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga, Deogarh in Deoghar, Jharkhand, Nageswar at Dwarka in Gujarat, Rameshwar at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwar at Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

Many leading saints, including Adi Sankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Bamakhyapa, Goswami Tulsidas, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sathya Sai Baba and Gurunanak have visited the site.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashi_Vishwanath_Temple
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_Of_Vishveshwur_Benares_by_James_Prinsep_1834.jpg
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil...mple_Of_Vishveshvur_by_James_Prinsep_1832.jpg
http://varanasi.nic.in/temple/kashi.html

Auregzeb is an exception, not the rule.

To counter everything you said, look at the Hindu temples, that still exist in Pakistan,
and look at the Sikh temples that still survive.

My question again is that IF the muslim armies had won battles,
why didn't they go for an all out annihilation of pagan religion and it's followers ?

First of all let us agree on what is meant by critical thinking? I understand from the article posted from Dawn that ‘Critical thinking’ means freedom to ‘criticize’.

Admittedly critical thinking often involves following less popular approach to resolve a problem, but critical thinking is neither the accumulation of information nor does it mean being critical of everything. I would define it as “Ability to think clearly and rationally about a problem; to identify inconsistencies & mistakes of the past so that a systematic & realistic solution can be found”. Critical thinking helps us in acquiring knowledge and winning arguments but its primary role is in finding ways and means of finding solution of the everyday problems
Sadly in Pakistan, everyone is ready to point out faults and criticize without suggesting a workable solution.

Most political & governance issue have already been analysed to death on the TV and nearly every thread in this forum is directly or indirectly related to the matters of Defence. I shall therefore limit my comments to Religion and Education.

Religion by definition is a dogma; hence there little room for critical thinking. Difference of opinion and critical analysis is therefore limited to the interpretation of rulings of Quran & Sunnah in light of the changing environment. Islamic scholars have been analysing & debating such issues since after the passing away of our holy Prophet (PBUH). This being precisely the reason why we have so many different sects among the Muslims. Islam also permits “Consensus & Qiyas” in the matters not explicitly clear from Quran & Sunnah.

Consensus means agreement after a discussion and ‘Ijtehad’ is the direct result of Qiyas. Until the Abbasside period, there were many scholars & philosophers who indulged in the debates about religious matters. There was no dearth of critical thinking & analysis. Debates among the Mu'tazalites & Asharites were common place during Al Mamun & AL Mutawakkal era. This encouraged 'out of the box' thinking and research, which in turn resulted in the Muslim dominance in Science & Technology.

Unfortunately, Ijtehad was banned after the end of Abbasside Caliphate putting an end to critical thinking. IMHO this is the primary reason why after the 13th Century, Muslims lost their predominance in science.

After the advent of Wahhabi movement in the 18th century, critical thinking in matters of religion became a crime and solution of modern problems had to be found only amidst the Islamic doctrines developed by scholars of 13th Century or earlier.

Since there has been a growing tilt towards Wahhabi beliefs after the bigot Zia era, anyone with differing point of view could be declared ‘Kafir’ deserving death. I would agree that critical thinking in the matters of religion is not possible until such time we reverse the march of Wahhabis in Pakistan.

I have not come across any constraints toward critical thinking regarding education or higher education. Solution of the problem is also known to every one as they have been talking about it for the last 70 years. For example most Pakistanis would agree that without excellence in Technology & Applied Sciences, no nation can keep pace with the 21st century.

Dismal performance of our universities is a fact but it is not due to lack of critical thinking. Studies have identified the reasons for the falling standard of education in Pakistan:

Most important input for increasing the standard of education being the quality of teaching staff and the curriculum of the Primery & Secondary schools. Our Primery teachers are the least qualified and lowest paid. Teachers at the Secondary schools are not much better.

At college and university level, very few teachers are devoted and dedicated and almost all the matters relating to the appointments, transfers, promotions, incentives etc. of the institutions take place on political basis completely disregarding the requirements. Nepotism and inducting the staff on quota system has created a working environment which is not conducive for good education because politicians choose their relatives / supporters for induction without the least consideration of their teaching ability and /or administrative skills.

The text books are the next most important teaching aid and must be prepared with the utmost care to make it suitable for comprehension by the student of the class for which it is meant; however most text books have been distorted to suit religious or political bias.

Low quality of the curriculum and combination of the courses lack relevance to the aspirations of the individual and the development needs of the country. There is a 4 tier system, the Gov’t schools, private schools, the elite schools and finally the madrassas.

Norm these days is not the acquisition of knowledge but to get a piece of paper called a degree or diploma; hence fake degrees are in vogue. Society in general does not consider the persons presenting fake degrees dishonest or shameful.

Some of the solutions suggested include introduction of a uniform system of education so that children of all sections of society have equal opportunity to prove themselves. Additionally GOP needs to take 5 important steps in this regard.

- One medium of instruction should be introduced. In the present day international environment of competition, English is extremely important. Although Urdu will remain common language, English has to be given preference if a choice is to be made.


- Text books should be provided free of cost at all levels and for all the public/private institutions.


- There should a common curriculum for all students whether public school or private schools.


- All students should be made to take Matriculation & Intermediate examination. This does not stop students from taking the ‘O’ level or ‘A’ level exams if they wish but these should be in addition to and in replacement of Matric & Intermediate exams.


- There is no reason why a degree from a Pakistani university should not be at par with degree from any UK or US university, but for this solid primery & secondary education is a must. Therefore our secondary school diploma (F.A) holder should be at par with the ‘A’ level diploma holder or the one having the ‘International Baccalaureate’ at least in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry & Biology. This requires improvement at the secondary level education.


- Next step is providing well paid, qualified and motivated faculty /teaching staff to the University and you have the recipe of good higher education standards.


Obviously there is no lack of critical thinking here but the real problem being the callous attitude of the society and because government of the day lacks the political will to allocate sufficient resources towards the projects which do not provide opportunity for a making a quick buck on the side. Whatever little is allocated is also squandered away. Remember ‘Ghost Schools’.

I have only tried to portray that a lot of critical analysis towards improving education standards in Pakistan has already been carried out. I do not claim that my proposals; which are mostly from the existing studies; are meant to be panacea for improving the education standards in Pakistan.

Your post is scary to say the least.

When you have time, do spare some for the following two.
Judea Pearl:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea_Pearl
http://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/jp_home.html

Daniel Pearl:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pearl

Alas, indeed, reasoning & critical thinking were murdered in Pakistan in the name of religion of peace.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

A great discussion, potentially, but there will be a deafening silence, quite predictably.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1364911/thinking-critically-really

Thinking critically — really?
Faisal Bari October 20, 2017



We cannot talk about anything related to the army. Here too it is not about just defence and security-related issues. It is about all other domains as well. We cannot talk about the army and its hunger for land, its commercial interests from fertiliser to cereal manufacture, its interests in banking or insurance and we can definitely not talk about its role in Pakistan’s politics. We cannot talk about its conduct of the anti-terror campaign, the issue of missing persons and/or the harassment that journalists and social media users/bloggers face. We cannot talk of Balochistan and issues of inequity and inequality in the country.


The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives and an associate professor of economics at Lums, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2017

on the contrary I beg to disagree with this claim. politicians, political commentators, analysts and general public on mainstream and social media talks about army all the time laments its past transgressions and also claims that it is the army that is pulling the strings of the judges.

what is debatable though is if its enough or not? and it seems its the later case. I invite the author to pick up any conference or interview of Nawaz league leaders they dont shy away from their direct and implied criticism of the military. if thats too much then check out the articles of

https://www.dawn.com/authors/193/cyril-almeida

 

[VCheng]

on the contrary I beg to disagree with this claim. politicians, political commentators, analysts and general public on mainstream and social media talks about army all the time laments its past transgressions and also claims that it is the army that is pulling the strings of the judges.

Do you mean to imply that our education system does produce the ability in students (and society, by extension) to think for themselves and critically, which is the basic lament of the article?

 

[Vassnti]

Doesn't it make you wonder how European countries managed to make the transition from intolerant societies to critically thinking ones?

Perhaps the question of our time is why do critical thinking societies make the transition to intolerant ones?

 

[Solomon2]

Perhaps the question of our time is why do critical thinking societies make the transition to intolerant ones?

"...the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. "​

Karl Popper: link

 

[Irfan Baloch]

Do you mean to imply that our education system does produce the ability in students (and society, by extension) to think for themselves and critically, which is the basic lament of the article?

yes I do sir
and the countless people like the writer himself are a proof for that

have a good day

 

[VCheng]

yes I do sir
and the countless people like the writer himself are a proof for that

have a good day

Your point would be made only if the author (and others who do demonstrate critical thinking) did not have exposure to international education. The issue being highlighted is with the Pakistani education system.

 

[Solomon2]

yes I do sir
and the countless people like the writer himself are a proof for that

have a good day

The author's point is that the education system is not on a course to produce critical thinking in its CURRENT students.

I note that Pakistan's current H.E.C. chair was appointed in 2013 by Nawaz Sharif, who rejected all short-listed recommended candidates for the post and appointed his own. Do you think a generation raised not to think critically would have been able to kick out a P.M. like N.S. from office?

 

[VCheng]

"...the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. "

That is exactly why the rule of law is so very important, so that rights of everyone are treated equally.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

The author's point is that the education system is not on a course to produce critical thinking in its CURRENT students.

I note that Pakistan's current H.E.C. chair was appointed in 2013 by Nawaz Sharif, who rejected all short-listed recommended candidates for the post and appointed his own. Do you think a generation raised not to think critically would have been able to kick out a P.M. like N.S. from office?

yet we have gems like this author

talking about the gems. we have one in the oval office with a very thin skin with his fingers hovering over the nuke button. freedom has funny ways of showing itself when it comes to thinking who to vote.

 

[Solomon2]

talking about the gems. we have one in the oval office -

Diversion.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

Diversion.

by the way author is being an elitist jerk. we common folks have these intellectuals scorning at us from their plush confines
bless their hearts