BEIRUT: American higher education is the only unacknowledged U.S. foreign policy success, said the president of the American University of Beirut Monday, arguing that the educational model contributed to fighting radicalism in the region.
“The American liberal arts educational model is still regarded as the gold standard in the Arab world, and may well be the tool that will help the region fight radicalism, promote pluralism, and produce enlightened and skilled individuals who will help develop the region,” Peter Dorman told a nearly packed Assembly Hall during a ceremony Monday, marking the official start of the academic year.
Lauding the impact of American higher education in the regional, Dorman said he considered the liberal arts education model as the “one unacknowledged American intervention in the Middle East that can be deemed a shining success.”
Dorman argued that American-style education benefits the region by producing enlightened students who respected the diversity of beliefs and the fundamental dignity that was inherent to all humans.
“It is this kind of an education that, we must hope and trust, prepares young men and women for the turbulent world through which we are passing,” he said.
Homegrown men and women equipped with the benefits of American higher education, according to Dorman, are needed most in “places where conflicts over nationalism, identity and citizenship are most pronounced.”
“New societies must be constructed by indigenous populations of the Arab world, and they will reflect their own profound cultural, historical, and religious heritage,” he said.
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