IRAQ REFLECTION: Midterm Report Cards
"CPTnet
25 July 2007
[Note: The following reflection appeared on the blog of CPT Director Emeritus Gene Stoltzfus. It has been edited for length and clarity. People wishing to see the original will find it at http://www.gstoltzfus.blogspot.com/.]
Earlier this month, the White House provided a midterm report on its strategy of surge in Iraq. The report card provides an "assessment of how the Iraqi Government is performing in eighteen specified benchmarks, rather than the effects being generated."
All of us remember with trepidation the distribution of the report cards.
Report cards are the expression of power and provide leverage for schools, certification bodies, parents, and sometimes even students. Of the eighteen benchmarks (see http://the18benchmarks.blogspot.com/2007/07/18-benchmarks.html)
listed in the Iraqi report card, eight are judged satisfactory, eight are judged unsatisfactory and two receive a mixed grade. When I went to school, a report card like this would not have been considered a moment for celebration.
In reflecting on the report card, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said, " I hope we can show America can protect its interests in Iraq." Some people continue to be confused about what those interests are. And in response to the suggestion that Al Qaeda now seems to be stronger than ever, President Bush replied, "They are weaker than they would have been," which of course is an unprovable observation that probably honestly reflects the thinking of a dwindling number of people in his administration.
Behind these observations is the reality that the US Congress and the President get to do the report card because they control the weapons of the biggest army on earth. This position of power does not require the substantial understanding, listening, and reflection skills we expect from teachers, and does not inspire the things that make for peace.
The Iraqi report card makes no mention that for centuries Iraq has found ways to "live and let live" among the various clans and religious tendencies. Fundamentalist religious movements barely touched Iraq until recently but have now generated styles of intolerant behavior that will require generations of struggle and negotiations to overcome.
Just below the surface of every report card, students, parents, and community regularly ask how the educational system works and if it is broken. Out of that conversation arises a call for an analysis on the real stuff of education. A similar analysis needs to be done for invading armies.
We need to develop different benchmarks and report cards for nations and civilizations. We need benchmarks that take into account every person's security, the security of the earth-- including its plants and animals, the security for that which is above the earth and under the earth, and the need for the unknown and knowable parts of divine power to become visible. Would that be too much? Can we settle for less?"
25 July 2007
[Note: The following reflection appeared on the blog of CPT Director Emeritus Gene Stoltzfus. It has been edited for length and clarity. People wishing to see the original will find it at http://www.gstoltzfus.blogspot.com/.]
Earlier this month, the White House provided a midterm report on its strategy of surge in Iraq. The report card provides an "assessment of how the Iraqi Government is performing in eighteen specified benchmarks, rather than the effects being generated."
All of us remember with trepidation the distribution of the report cards.
Report cards are the expression of power and provide leverage for schools, certification bodies, parents, and sometimes even students. Of the eighteen benchmarks (see http://the18benchmarks.blogspot.com/2007/07/18-benchmarks.html)
listed in the Iraqi report card, eight are judged satisfactory, eight are judged unsatisfactory and two receive a mixed grade. When I went to school, a report card like this would not have been considered a moment for celebration.
In reflecting on the report card, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said, " I hope we can show America can protect its interests in Iraq." Some people continue to be confused about what those interests are. And in response to the suggestion that Al Qaeda now seems to be stronger than ever, President Bush replied, "They are weaker than they would have been," which of course is an unprovable observation that probably honestly reflects the thinking of a dwindling number of people in his administration.
Behind these observations is the reality that the US Congress and the President get to do the report card because they control the weapons of the biggest army on earth. This position of power does not require the substantial understanding, listening, and reflection skills we expect from teachers, and does not inspire the things that make for peace.
The Iraqi report card makes no mention that for centuries Iraq has found ways to "live and let live" among the various clans and religious tendencies. Fundamentalist religious movements barely touched Iraq until recently but have now generated styles of intolerant behavior that will require generations of struggle and negotiations to overcome.
Just below the surface of every report card, students, parents, and community regularly ask how the educational system works and if it is broken. Out of that conversation arises a call for an analysis on the real stuff of education. A similar analysis needs to be done for invading armies.
We need to develop different benchmarks and report cards for nations and civilizations. We need benchmarks that take into account every person's security, the security of the earth-- including its plants and animals, the security for that which is above the earth and under the earth, and the need for the unknown and knowable parts of divine power to become visible. Would that be too much? Can we settle for less?"
posted by dm at 10:39 AM
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