Press Releases 2006

September 21, 2006

American-Style Education Leads to Good Progress, Good Results, Says U.S. Diplomat

JAIPUR - The United States is a country of opportunity and diversity which passionately believes in equality for all.  To help millions achieve "the American dream," the U.S. educational system has become the world's best in preparing students and global citizens for the challenges of the next century.

Addressing an audience of education administrators, faculty and students at one of Jaipur's leading madarsas, the Rehmani Senior Secondary School, the U.S. Embassy's Counselor for Cultural Affairs Adnan Siddiqi said he was delighted to return to Jaipur to discuss issues relating to American education and how schools and universities contribute to the country's overall growth, progress and prosperity.

The U.S. diplomat urged the young persons in the audience to study international affairs and to improve their English in order to compete in the global marketplace.

Siddiqi's visit to the Rehmani School was part of a larger two-day "American Road Show" organized by The American Center, New Delhi, to build people-to-people ties and greater awareness of the United States. He was addressing the audience on "Progress of the United States through Education."

One of a growing number of American Muslim officers in the U.S. diplomatic service, Mr. Siddiqi noted his first-hand and very positive experience in the U.S. public and private school system from 1963-77 and later as a student of Columbia University from 1978-82.

"For many years," he noted "I was one of only five or six Muslims in the entire school and my classmates couldn't even pronounce or spell my name, let alone appreciate what religion or culture I belonged to.  Our school textbooks used to refer misleadingly to 'Mohammedans' and would describe the 7th to the 14th centuries as "the Dark Ages," even though that was the period when Islamic civilization was at its height worldwide.

All this was in marked contrast, Mr. Siddiqi said, with the great balance, depth, awareness and sophistication of current U.S. textbooks, attitudes and courses on Islam.  "Our schools and universities have evolved a great deal in the past ten years," he said, "thanks to globalization, political correctness and genuine U.S. curiosity in what Muslims believe, practice and stand for."