A counterpoint to the doom and gloom surrounding most accounts of the rebuilding of Iraq. The Hoover Institution's Bill Evers, who for five months was part of the small team of U.S. advisors working to overhaul the Iraqi K-12 education system, recounts the challenges and joys (and long hours) of rebuilding schools destroyed by war, looting, or years of neglect; purging pro-Saddamist propaganda from textbooks; and slowly turning authority for education over to the Iraqi education ministry. A couple of fascinating points: Evers notes that women make up a significant percentage of students in Iraqi schools, in contrast to Afghanistan. And Iraqi parents "love standardized testing and were fervently concerned not to let either the war in March and April, or the subsequent guerilla skirmishes, interfere with the nationwide testing programs." A heartening and well-told story.
"An Iraqi education," by Bill Evers, Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2004 (subscription required)