Boko Haram acts on its name . . .

Boko Haram Jihadist

Boko Haram's recent action of burning down several schools shows the Nigerian jihadist group serious about its name, which translates, roughly, as "Western Education is Forbidden":

Arsonists suspected to be members of Islamist sect Boko Haram have burned down seven schools in northeastern Nigeria the past few days, authorities said on Thursday, a new twist in the group's increasingly violent insurgency. Thousands of children have been left without schools in the middle of their term.

That the report, anyway, by Ibrahim Mshelizza and Tim Cocks for Reuters, published as "Suspected Islamists burn down seven Nigerian schools" in the Chicago Tribune (March 2, 2012), who also state that:

The group has been involved in almost daily shootings and bombings in northern Nigeria, mostly targeting security forces.

Note that these jihadists are willing to use some of the technological applications of Western education -- guns and bombs -- which surely would reveal several layers of irony if we were to peel this issue like an onion.

We should, however, be fair and note that not only Islamist jihadists have reservations about Western education. Christians also find it problematic, with Evangelicals asking "how they can continue to avoid the flight from wisdom to expertise taken by secular universities" and suggesting, for example, that "Christian historians should be able to provide young historians with wisdom about how to research, interact with sources, empathetically interpret opposing views, and truly love their subject."

This Evangelical critique of Western education can be read in its entirety by clicking over to Perry L. Glanzer's article, "The Missing Factor in Higher Education," in Christianity Today (March 2, 2012)

One ought always be evenhanded on such issues . . .