Critical Mass

EdNews.org's Christina Asquith had a interview with Iraq's new Minister of Education, Dr. Sami Al Mudhaffar, in which the two talked about the current situation in Iraqi education, teaching democracy in schools, and how to handle the Saddam topic, among other things.  Al Mudhaffar's key quote:

"I have lived here for years and I've been a professor for 37 years and I got used to the daily problems and since we love our country we have to live in it. We can't change countries. Education is important. We have to put students in our class. Eliminate dropouts. Increase the needs to the labor market. Separate education from politics. Involve the community. Promote human rights and freedom of expression and national unity. All of this goes through education.

Democracy is not an easy job. You can't say: 'Be democratic." Ok? They have elections coming and they have to know how to deal with it. The candidate will have to face another opponent. How will they do this? Time is the drug of choice. It's very early right now and we hope for help from the outside.