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This paper describes the threat posed to U.S.national security by militant schools in less-developed nations, evaluates current policies fordealing with that threat, and suggests an alterna-tive set of policies that would likely be moreeffective and also more consistent with the lawsand principles of the United States.In dozens of countries from Pakistan toIndonesia, militant Islamist schools are inculcat-ing scores of thousands of students with an ide-ology of intolerance, violence, and hate. In thepast, the United States abetted such schools aspart of its strategy for containing Soviet expan-sionism. After a gradual about-face in the yearsleading up to September 11, 2001, the Americangovernment is now funding and cajoling the gov-ernments of several majority-Muslim nations torein in their more militant schools.On the basis of contemporary and historicalevidence, both past and present U.S. policies arefaulty. Any U.S. strategic gains from funding mil-itant Islamist education during the 1980s werenegligible compared to the long-term harmwrought by that policy. The present strategy of subsidizing or pressuring foreign governments todraw more children into undemocratic stateschools is ill-conceived and incompatible withAmerican ideals.Based on the consistent and multifacetedsuperiority of fee-charging private schools overtheir government-run and -funded counterparts,Americans should adopt a two-pronged strategyas an alternative to current policy: liberalize U.S.trade policy to foster a “virtuous circle” of eco-nomic and educational growth in developingcountries, and redirect private U.S. aid (whichdwarfs official development aid) toward expand-ing access to fee-charging private schools.
 Education and Indoctrination in the Muslim World 
 Is There a Problem? What Can We Do about It?
by Andrew Coulson
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Andrew Coulson is senior fellow in education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (www.mackinac.org)and the author of 
Market Education: The Unknown History.
Executive Summary
No. 511March 11, 2004
 
Introduction
 American taxpayers have underwrittenthe construction of schools in Afghanistanand the publication of textbooks incitingholy war on Soviet troops. They have tried toarm girls in poor countries with the skillsthey need to succeed, and to arm young menwith Kalashnikovs and an ideology of hate.The U.S. government has offered aid to theeducation ministries of poor countries whileimposing trade barriers that depress both the value of education and families’ ability to pay for it. Private individuals, corporations, foun-dations, and other groups have also under-taken myriad education-related projects indeveloping nations all over the globe.In other words, the United States is anactive player in the international educationscene. Unlike U.S. diplomatic and military policies, however, its educational activitiesare not widely debated in the media or evenwidely studied within the scholarly commu-nity. That will have to change if we are to haveany hope of realizing our aspirations for sta-ble, friendly, and productive internationalrelations.The threat of international terrorism inparticular must be addressed on an educa-tional as well as a diplomatic and military front. Eliminating currently active terroristorganizations is a necessary but short-termsolution. Cutting off current sources of ter-rorist funding is at best a medium-term solu-tion. As you read this paper, scores of thou-sands of children are being indoctrinatedinto militant ideologies in extremist schoolsaround the world. Unless we can do some-thing to alter that fact, the ranks of terroristorganizations will be endlessly replenished. American actions affect the education sys-tems of less-developed countries in numerousways. Sometimes our actions are deliberately intended to have an educational impact (e.g.,programs of the United States Agency forInternational Development), and sometimestheir educational impact is accidental (e.g.,U.S. trade policy). Some U.S. actions impact-ing foreign education are undertaken by thefederal government (as in the preceding twoexamples), whereas others are nongovernmen-tal in nature (such as the efforts of private vol-untary organizations or the remittances of for-eign-born Americans to their home countries).The discussion that follows touches on all of these actions. Readers should thus keep inmind that U.S. actions often affect foreigneducation systems unintentionally (for goodor ill) and that nongovernmental activities canhave as significant an impact on education asofficial ones.The purpose of this paper is to evaluate themerits of various strategies for mitigatingextremist indoctrination in developing coun-tries. It begins by providing an overview of schooling in less-developed nations. How,why, where, and by whom are ideologies of hatred and violence being promoted? Whatsorts of school systems do the most effectiveand efficient job of serving families and of eschewing indoctrination? Following thatoverview is a summary and critical analysis of the U.S. government’s most high-profileefforts to influence foreign education sys-tems. Has U.S. government involvement inthe education systems of foreign nations beenconsistent with U.S. law and principles? Has itbeen effective in mitigating the disseminationof militant ideologies? Are there alternativestrategies that would be more effective andconsistent with American ideals?
Weapons of MassInstruction
Countless religious and political factionshave used schools as tools of indoctrinationover the past two and a half millennia, but thekeenest threat to the modern United Statescomes from militant Islamism. Islamistsadhere to an intolerant form of Islam thatregards moderate Muslims and all non-Muslims with contempt, and considers theonly acceptable form of government to be a theocracy that strictly implements Sharia (Islamic law). Militant Islamists believe that itis legitimate (if not compulsory) for this form
2
The keenestthreat to themodern UnitedStates comesfrom militantIslamism.
 
of government to be imposed on one or morenations through violence. Islamism repre-sents an extreme view within the Muslimscommunity, and only a minority of Islamistsactually choose the path of violence.U.S. diplomatic and military policies cur-rently strive to identify and thwart the effortsof militant Islamist terrorists by cutting off their funding, restricting their movements,and capturing or killing them. Howevereffective it may be at diffusing immediatethreats, this is a purely short- to medium-term strategy. As long as new generations of militant Islamists appear to replace thosekilled or captured, the war on terror willremain unwinnable. As it happens, thosefuture generations of potential terrorists arebeing educated today in tens of thousands of Islamist schools around the world.Most Americans received their firstglimpse inside an Islamist madrasa (Muslimreligious school) in the wake of 9/11. Westerntelevision reporters and journalists descend-ed upon the Northwest Frontier Province(NWFP) of Pakistan, sending back footage of Spartan classrooms in which children rockedback and forth reciting passages from theKoran. Common to most of the schools visit-ed by the media were students’ and teachers’unwavering support for Osama bin Laden,and their hostility toward the West, Jews,Hindus, and particularly the United States.One madrasa, the 2,800 student DarulUloom Haqqania, received enough media coverage to launch a successful political cam-paign. In a sense, it already had, having grad-uated many influential figures within theTaliban regime, including its leader, MullahMohammed Omar.
1
Students of the school,whose name means “Center of All RighteousKnowledge,” told reporters how they had runabout celebrating upon hearing the news of the 9/11 attacks.
2
It would be a mistake, however, to con-clude that all madrasas are as narrow andradical as Darul Uloom Haqqania. It wouldalso be a mistake to conclude that radicalmadrasas are the only schools that fomenthatred and militancy. The sections that fol-low describe the full spectrum of militantIslamist schools that put U.S. national secu-rity at risk.
Pakistani Madrasas
Pakistan’s Muslim schools are privately run institutions that charge no fees and evenprovide free room and board in many cases.Their funding comes from varying combina-tions of donations from the local faithfuland contributions from Muslim organiza-tions based in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, andelsewhere. Alex Alexiev, a fellow at the Centerfor Security Policy, suggests that as much asthree-quarters of all madrasa funding comesfrom abroad, and points to Saudi Arabia asby far the largest foreign contributor.
3
 A 2002study by the International Crisis Group alsoasserts that foreign contributions make upthe majority of madrasa income, and addsthat Pakistani expatriates are another signifi-cant source of cash.
4
Madrasas attract large numbers of poorchildren whose parents cannot afford alter-native private schooling, and who either donot have access to, or think poorly of, gov-ernment schools. While the very poorestmadrasa students are not likely to attendother schools, some families send their chil-dren to madrasas for a few years to learn thebasic tenets and practice of Islam, in additionto sending them to academically oriented ele-mentary and secondary schools for a broadereducational experience.The impact of financial expediency onboosting madrasa enrollment cannot beoverestimated. For poor families with many children, the offer of free room and boardalone is persuasive. One nine-year-old ma-drasa student, the seventh of nine children,emphasized this point to a visiting journalist,telling him, “I could have been like others inthe refugee camp, with no clothes and nofood.”
5
Madrasas have successfully resisted all of the central government’s attempts at impos-ing comprehensive regulation and mandatory registration. Statistics on their numbers andenrollment are thus educated guesses rather
3
Potentialterrorists arebeing educatedtoday in tens of thousands of Islamist schoolsaround theworld.
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