Turkish Schools offer Pakistan a Gentler Version of Islam

1.Citation
"Turkish Schools offer Pakistan a Gentler Version of Islam"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/world/asia/04islam.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
May 4, 2008

2.Summary
Mesut Kacmaz is a Muslim teacher from Turkey who feels that Islam is being misinterpreted in Pakistan. It has been hard for him to pray in Pakistan because many Pakistanis assume he is not muslim because he doesn't have a beard. The schools in Pakistan are nourished by Saudi and American money, and has spread Islamic radicalism since the 1980's. People cannot afford to send their children to public schools, so they are sent to religious schools. There is only a 50 percent literacy rate in Pakistan.
Mesut Kacmaz is part of a group of Turkish educators who have a modern and flexible vision of Islam, which coexists with the West. They have taught this in 80 countries, both Muslim and Christian. This alternate approach helps to reduce the influence of Islamic extremists. They teach a Western cirriculum, such as English, math, science, English literature, and Shakespeare.
The Turkish school, called PakTurk, is in a poor neighborhood. The locals there were suspicious of the Turks, and thought they were Math teachers from Middle America because of their clean-shaven faces and ties. Mr. Kacmaz has people coming up to him commenting on how he dresses and say that it is "un-Islamic". He asked them what verse in the Koran stated that it was forbidden. There was no scripture saying that, and that it was just a misunderstanding. That misunderstanding and radicalism is very common in those areas of Pakistan.
The schools also operate in Christian countries, and Kacmaz met with the previous pope and Jewish and Orthodox Christian leaders to spread multiculturalism and universal values.

a) This articale relates to the AP theme "Cultural, religious and intellectural developments" because these Turkish schools are trying to give children a better education with a more modern, flexible vision of Islam.

b)Since the 1980's, schools in areas of Pakistan have been teaching extremism, and because of this, children are getting a bad influence and a bad education.

c)The point of view is coming from Sabrina Tavernise, a female American journalist who is the Istanbul (Turkey) bureau chief of the New York Times.

d)There is nothing in the article that shows any possible bias, but the writer is talking about these Turkish schools in a positive way.

e)I would have like to have heard from one of the students of PakTurk, and have them talk about what it is like and if it changed the way they looked at Islam.

f)I think that these schools are a great way to reduce the influence of extremism. Since Turkey is the most secular of Muslim countries, their way of interpreting Islam will make children see a different side to the religion, and it will give them a better education with influence from the West.