Posted on 02/15/2009 3:10:07 PM PST by reaganaut1
JERUSALEM — It would be hard to find two institutions of higher learning that seem more different than Bard College, an upscale, bucolic college in Dutchess County, N.Y., and Al Quds University, a struggling, sprawling Palestinian institution in and near this disputed capital.
Yet the two schools have decided to join forces in an unusual venture aimed at injecting American educational values and expertise into Palestinian society, in hopes of contributing to a future democratic State of Palestine. Although the effort has been many months in the planning, those involved say the recent war in Gaza and a political turn rightward in Israel make it more important and urgent.
The plan, relying largely on outside financing, includes a liberal arts honors college and a master’s degree program in teaching, both located at Al Quds and granting joint degrees, as well as a model high school to serve as an educational laboratory. The starting date for the first two is September; the high school is to open in 2010.
Nothing like this has ever been tried in Palestinian education, and controversy is expected.
Bard anticipates complaints from some American Jews unhappy because Al Quds is a Palestinian institution partly in Jerusalem — which many Jews consider the indivisible capital of Israel — and because Al Quds is no stranger to radical Palestinian politics. Meanwhile, Al Quds expects some Palestinians to resent the endeavor as vaguely colonialist. And the collaboration by two such disparate institutions is bound to be complicated.
...
The campus also contains a reverential monument and museum devoted to Palestinian prisoners of Israel, along with their writings and crafts. It is hard to walk the campus without being reminded of the conflict and the occupation.
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The initial financing is coming from the liberal financier George Soros ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Soros is only the beginning. More and more academic institutions are finding out how generous the oil ticks can be when you push their line.
Good grief. I went to high school with Leon Botstein, who was a brilliant guy. Later on, he did have some good ideas about education (and he’s a very good musician, incidentally). He was actually rather anti-government at one point in his life.
But now he is totally a tool of the left. Bard College was a little on the dubious side academically and it improved considerably after he took over. But that was long ago, and I guess he’s doing public penance now for his evil elitist sins.
Good grief. I went to high school with Leon Botstein, who was a brilliant guy. Later on, he did have some good ideas about education (and he’s a very good musician, incidentally). He was actually rather anti-government at one point in his life.
But now he is totally a tool of the left. Bard College was a little on the dubious side academically and it improved considerably after he took over. But that was long ago, and I guess he’s doing public penance now for his evil elitist sins.
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Chevy Chase went to Bard College and failed to earn a degree. ‘Nuff said.
Yeah, but Bard did give us Becker and Fagen.
I’m not sure the two facts cancel out.
Sounds like he is creating a new ACORN
“Yeah, but Bard did give us Becker and Fagen.”
+1.
L
“Yeah, but Bard did give us Becker and Fagen.”
But they’re never going back to their old school.
L
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