Teachers Notes on "Challenges for the Future

Teachers Notes on the Lesson "Challenges for the Future"

This unit focuses on the problems facing Cairo as a result of its rapid growth. Although the unit may seem somewhat depressing in its descriptions of the failure of basic infrastructure, pollution, and rampant unemployment, the unit does end on a somewhat positive note with a description of what solutions are being devised for these problems. It is important to note that the problems described here are not necessarily unique to Cairo, but are symptomatic of problems that are currently being experienced throughout the developed and developing world.

It is important when presenting this unit to point out certain similarities and differences between similar problems in Cairo and in your own town or country. For example, the problem of homelessness is a phenomenon experienced throughout the world. In Cairo, as elsewhere in the world, there are homeless people who live on the street. However, in Egypt, the mosque or church provides charity to such people. Additionally, the problem of homelessness has been alleviated by the existence of the Mamluk cemeteries, which have been turned into massive housing projects. Homeless people in Egypt may beg, but they don't commit crimes or freeze to death neglected on the street. There is a social feeling amongst Egyptians that the homeless are people to take care of, rather than to ignore like most Westerners do when confronted with similar situations.

The problems of pollution that are found in Cairo are hardly unique to that city. These are problems faced by nearly every city in the world from Tokyo to Mexico City to Austin, Texas to Sydney, Australia.

The issue of Islamic fundamentalism is one that your students may be aware of. Every so often, a group identifying itself as an "Islamist" group carries out an act of terrorism against western targets in Egypt and gets lots of attention from the world press. For example, the massacre of western tourists at the temple of Hatshepsut near Luxor in 1997, the shooting of a bus load of Greek tourists in front of their hotel in Cairo in 1995, and the sporadic shooting of tourist trains travelling from Cairo to Luxor as they pass through Middle Egypt have all gotten significant coverage in the press. It is important to remind your students that these events create the illusion that violence is widespread in Egypt in the same way that there is a perception that travelling by airplane is dangerous. The press makes a very large deal out of one very isolated incident and gives the impression that the situation is far different than it is.

The fact is that the actual incidence of violence in Egypt is very rare: Cairo is a much safer city than any of the major cities in Europe or the United States. The annual murder rate in the city of Washington, DC, a city of just over 600,000 people, tends to be about as high as the murder rate in the entire country of Egypt -- a country of just over 60,000,000 people -- over a ten year period. That means that the murder rate is over one thousand times less in Egypt than it is in Washington, DC, and yet there is still a perception that Egypt is dangerous.

There are many kinds of Islamist forces, which tend to get lumped together when it comes to politics and government. This follows a notion prevalent in the west that "Islamic" equals "bad." Many politicians in Egypt and elsewhere who consider themselves Islamist are also pro-democracy. The groups that conduct campaigns of violence and terror are extremist groups with no real connection to the mainstream Islamist parties. Islam teaches that violence and killing are wrong, and people have the right to have their opinions heard, and that popular representation is a legitimizing political force. No one would suggest that Catholicism or Protestantism are supportive of terrorism as a result of what happens in Northern Ireland, yet many people in the west are far too eager to equate Islam with terrorism on the same flimsy equation. If this subject comes up in class, it is important to try to bring your students to some sort of understanding of this issue.

Finally, it is important not to end this lesson on the note that "Cairo is a mess and it's never going to get better." Change is slow. It is better to try to appreciate the dramatic forces at work, and the sheer scale of what needs to be done, and recognize that many sectors within Egypt are working diligently to realize that change and to reverse many of the negative trends described here.

Activities:

Have your students draw up a list of the challenges described in this unit. Then have them research these issues as they effect your town or country. What are the similarities in these issues? How are they being dealt with in your area? How are the ways in which these issues are being dealt with similar or different to the ways these issues are dealt with in Cairo? In which location is the challenge more extreme? In which location is the problem closer to a solution?

Have your students conduct research into the nature and goals of political Islam, or the "Islamist parties" in Egypt. What are the goals of these parties? How do they want to attain them? What are their plans for the country once they get into power? How are these views different from the secular party that currently runs the country? As an extension of this project, you may wish to have your students pick several issues and hold a debate on them, arguing from the sides of the secular and Islamic parties. Alternatively, you may wish to have your students compare the methods and goals of the Islamist parties with similar political platforms in other countries, such as the platform proposed by Pat Buchanan for the U.S. Reform Party.

Have your students research one of the challenges described in this lesson, or divide your class into groups and have each group research a different challenge. Have them devise a solution to the problem, practical or impractical, and describe the problems that would be associated with implementing it. Have them research potential side effects, costs, and environmental effects. Compare them to solutions to similar challenges and solutions faced by other cities and areas in the world.

Have students find specific numbers for the quality of life ratios in Egypt: the number of telephones, televisions, doctors, hospital beds, teachers, etc. per person, and compare these figures to the statistics for your own country. (This information is compiled by the World Bank and is available online from their website at http://www.worldbank.org, the World Health Organization at http://www.who.int/whosis/, and UNESCO at http://unescostat.unesco.org/en/stats/stats0.htm) What have the trends been in both countries over the past decade? The past fifty years? Which country has shown the fastest improvement? Are there sectors in which the quality of life has decreased? Which sectors? Why do you think this is the case? Chart your findings and present them to the class.

Have your students devise their own project in reaction to this unit and present it to the class. They should be prepared to explain their project, what is significant about it, and how it relates to the overall theme.