Arab youth sent a strong message to their leaders in the latest Doha Debate, saying education is pointless without the freedom to express your opinion.
Out of an audience of mostly Arab and Muslim students, 53 percent supported the motion: This House believes education is worthless without freedom of speech, while 47 percent voted against it.
The debate was held on the eve of Qatar’s World Innovative Summit for Education (WISE), which has drawn hundreds of international experts to discuss education in the 21st century.
if audience is not used to free speech/critical thinking, why do u expect them to vote for the more sensible option… the vote may well be meaningless ..TR was disappointing! was expecting a better quality debate
I think that’s a bit too easy, them not being used to free speech doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have an opinion… Anyway, I do think, as the counterparty stated, some forms of education still have their value, even without freedom of expression. But it has it’s limits, and I think both parties would agree on that.
Thank you for this post, I’m totaly agree with your point of view.porno gratuit
A new generation is reaping the fruits of freedom of speech in Tunis. And a poet in Egypt is confirming what your side of the debate is saying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTxhW4E752Y&feature=player_embedded
You made a great case for the purpose of education and freedom of speech.
The actual wording of the motion used the word “worthless” not “pointless” and worthless is much stronger than pointless. If we play around with the language worthless as a single word is different from worth less as its opposite worth more also can change the meaning of the motion which leave no room for compromise and is not realistic. Education is a tool for various disciplines and conclusions can always be questioned when seeking the truth even in science.Authoritarianism does not allow for dissent but education is needed to discern the truth whether it can be openly expressed or not. It is certainly worth more with freedom of expression and worth less without it but not worthless. Can we really say that acquiring knowledge is worthless without freedom of expression? Perhaps only when you cannot use it for the purpose for which it is intended.
This is an intrinsic flaw of the whole concept of ‘Doha debates’: they always end up discussing the content of the motion rather than the theme at hand.
For a moment I found reading, ‘This forum is moderated beforehand: your contribution will only appear after being validated by a site administrator’ before I could comment on a debate discussing freedom of speech ironical, though people do know the real intent of it’s presence.
From what I gathered, what the opposition was actually debating for was a right to livelihood and an opportunity to train for it. This should be considered apart from what education actually stands for which is the reformation of man.
People migrate to the west as well as the opportunity giving middle eastern countries because they can make a living. If they really valued human reform they would’t migrate to the middle east. What actually happens is that a people whose mind is dead come to a land which is dead of ideas, just to make money and basically that is the crux of what they are missing. People need to wake up.
My comment should be taken for it’s generality and not for it’s absoluteness. People would understand I am sure.
Education without freedom of speech is not education : it is instruction. You receive the keys without having the right of opening doors.
The keys are not worthless, but they become unsufficient.