Those of you who have been following events in Pakistan are probably aware of the situation with the educational system over there. The people are so poor, and public education is so scarce, that they are basically forced to send their children (mostly boys) to fundamentalist Islamic schools if they hope to educate them at all. These schools are free, like our own public schools here in the US. I believe they provide room and board as well.
The schools offer a curriculum consisting of some mathematics and science, however the majority of time seems to be geared towards memorization of the Koran (in Arabic, which these children neither speak nor understand), anti-American indoctrination, and a large amount of hateful rhetoric targeted at The West in general. Although these children do memorize the Koran, they do not understand what they are memorizing and therefore must rely on the clerics for explanation. The clerics are extremely biased, and use the Koran to instill hatred in the children. In essence, they are raising a new generation of future terrorists. It’s amazing to see such intense hatred in 7 year-olds eyes, but it’s there.
Some individuals I have spoken to feel it is virtually impossible to deprogram these children. The brainwashing begins so young, and is so intense, that they feel there is no hope to rehabilitate these children. It’s just a matter of time before they grow up and follow in the footsteps of the Taliban.
Here is my question: should we kill these children?