Education—like democracy, free markets, freedom of the press, and “universal human rights” — is one of those subjects whose virtue is considered self-evident. So is the superiority of the industrially advanced countries in attaining them. Consequently, any package that arrives with one of these magic labels on it, automatically qualifies for the “green channel” at our entry ports. No questions asked. This uncritical acceptance has severely crippled our discussion of all these vital topics. For example in education most of our discussion centers around literacy statistics and the need to have so many graduates, masters, Phd’s, and so many professionals — engineers, doctors, etc.— in a given country based on the standards in the industrially advanced countries. The central issue of curriculum, and even more fundamental issue of the purpose of education normally do not attract our attention; they have already been decided by the “advanced’ countries for us and our job is only to follow in their footsteps to achieve their level of progress.Indeed they have. In the “first” world, education has become an extension of the capitalist system. Its purpose is to provide qualified workforce for its machinery of production and eager consumers for its products. Stated in a more polished form, the purpose of education is to provide for the economic prosperity of a country. Similarly on a personal level today the purpose of education is to be able to earn a respectable living.While earning halal living and providing for the economic well being of a country are certainly important Islamic goals as well, the linking of education to financial goals is extremely unfortunate. It turns the centers of learning into mere vocational centers in their outlook and spirit. It degrades education and through it the society.To bring home the pivotal but forgotten role of education we need to recall that there is a fundamental difference between human beings and animals. Instincts and physical needs alone can bring ants, bees, or herds of beasts together to live in a perfectly functioning animal society. Human beings do not function that way. They are not constrained by nature to follow only those ways that are necessary for the harmonious operation of their society. If they are to form a viable, thriving society, they must chose to do so. What drives that choice is the sharing of common goals, beliefs, values and outlook on life. Without a common framework binding its members, a human society cannot continue to exist; it will disintegrate and be absorbed by other societies. Further, the society must ensure that the common ground will continue to hold from generation to generation. This is the real purpose of education. The education system of a society produces the citizens and leaders needed for the smooth operation of that society, now and into the future. Its state of health or sickness translates directly into the health or sickness of the society that it is meant to serve.Today we find many internal problems — corruption, injustice, oppression, crippling poverty — everywhere we turn in the Muslim world. If we think about it, we may realize that most of these problems are man-made. Which is another way of saying that they are largely traceable, directly or indirectly, to the education system that produced the people who perpetuate the problems. The rulers who sell out to foreign powers and subjugate their people; the bureaucrats who enforce laws based on injustice; the generals who wage war against their own people; the businessmen who exploit and cheat; the journalists who lie, sensationalize, and promote indecencies, they are all educated people, in many cases “highly” educated people. Their education was meant to prepare them for the roles they are playing in real life. And it has, although in a very unexpected way!The problem plagues all layers of society. Why are Muslim communities in the grip of so much materialism today? What should we expect when our entire education system is preaching the gospel of materialism? Why have we effectively relegated Islam to a small inconsequential quarter in our public life? Because that is precisely where our secular education system has put it. Why in our behavior toward each other we see so little display of Islamic manners and morals? Because our imported education system is devoid of all moral training. Why our societies are sick? Because our education system is sick.This is the real crisis of education. Before we got into this mess by importing from the Colonial powers what was current and popular, education in our societies was always the means of nurturing the human being. Moral training, tarbiya, was always an inalienable part of it. The ustaz,(teacher), was not just a lecturer or mere professional, but a mentor and moral guide. We remembered the hadith then, “No father has given a greater gift to his children than good moral training.” [Tirmidhi]. Our education system was informed by this hadith. Our darul-ulooms still maintain that tradition but the number of students who pass through their gates is minuscule compared to the secular schools.In the U.S. and Europe, the schools were started by the church. Later as forces of capitalism overtook them, they molded them into their image. Moral training was a casualty of that takeover. But capitalism and their political economy did need people trained to work under these systems. So citizenship training was retained as an important, though diminishing, component of the curriculum— a religion-free subset of the moral training it displaced. Whatever civility we see here is largely a result of that leftover component. The imported versions in the Muslim countries, though, had even that component filtered out. And the results are visible.We can solve our problem once we realize our mistakes. The first purpose of our education system must be to produce qualified citizens and leaders for the Islamic society. Tarbiya, real Islamic moral training, must be an integral part of it. This must be the soul of our education, not a ceremonial husk. All plans for improving our education will be totally useless unless they are based on a full understanding of this key fact. This requires revamping our curricula, rewriting our textbooks, retraining our teachers, and realizing that we must do all this ourselves. We do have a rich history of doing it. Are we finally willing to turn to our own in-house treasures to redo education the way it should always have been?
How I Got Rich With Travel Ventures International by Being Totally Wrong
Travel Ventures International has a lot of strengths that you can leverage to make $10,000 really fast. However if you do not promote the business in the right way it can result in a bunch of your friends wondering why you are their friend. The reality is most people you know are not cut out for being an entrepreneur and the reason they have joined you in some of your crazy ventures is to either get you out of their office, to keep you as a friend because know one else likes them, or to have leverage over you in that when you inevitably fail they can say they told you so. Most people join because they want to help you and because most have a hard time telling a friend “no”.Whether the reason is obligatory, or diversionary, friends rarely join you in a home-based business to get rich. They do it to help you when in reality they should be doing it to help themselves. Travel Ventures International provides a really great product and almost too much value for what they charge for the private travel membership. I have had people ask me what the catch is.Look at the facts of Travel Ventures International for a moment and compare it against what you know about business:The cost for your private travel membership is less than $300 and this includes:- A 7 day, 6 night luxury vacation- A travel reservation engine that provides you bookings with a 110% guarantee.- A world class business opportunity that enables you to build your membership base in over 50 countries.- A professional website with back office business management tools that make your business totally paperless.- A team-oriented compensation plan that pays big and fast.- A bonus program that includes laptops, villas, luxury cars, European vacations and jets and yachts (sorry no toasters or gold watches).So we have a great opportunity for a low cost of entry, so how do people screw up and fail with Travel Ventures International? I have been through the express board because of two reasons; first I personally enrolled two members and I helped them enroll their two. AND, I told them not to enroll unless they did the same, otherwise they were wasting their money. I have over one hundred people in my organization and I only enrolled two.Here are the three major mistakes:Do not promote it like a money “board” game. It is a private travel membership club and if you refer two people you will qualify to earn a $500 bonus. If you help those two members do the same thing you will qualify to earn $10,000.Do not sign up people who do not have the ability to pick up the phone and enroll two people within 24-48 hours. This type of person will hold you responsible for your failureDo not sign people up and try to make them rich. If you sign anyone up because you want to make them rich your are going to spin your wheels and your sales matrix will eventually stall.Here is the greatest tip I can give you and feel free to pass this down to your members: Launch your boat in the right direction and do not promise to paddle for anyone else. If your new member does not have the drive or the credibility to sign up two people and help them do the same then you are wasting your time and their money.How you begin your Travel Ventures International business is key because people will copy what you do. If you try and make all your deadbeat friends rich so will your organization. If you make every member you sign up enroll two other members within the first 48 hours, chances are they will do the same.You need to identify the “why” for this business and the “how” will most certainly appear. Travel Ventures International provides great value without the gimmicks of most other network and MLM home based businesses. The private membership is a one time fee, there is NO autoship (what I like to call autodump) to fill up your garage, there are no ridiculous monthly website fees, no hotel meetings to attend and no needed.Anyone can become a success in Travel Ventures International if you heed the wisdom that is in this article. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing you at the top!