Originally posted by xiinfaniin: ps inaan kuu gabyaan damcay...oo weliba ku halqabsado Naden! Oon iraahdo... Nadeney adeereey adaa aamusnaan jirey Adigaan ilaaq iyo aqoon eray xumaaneede'e Abtigiis inkaarane -- [/QB] Xiin, I sent your gabay to my sister for translation (her Somali is superior to mine). Her initial response is very positive so thank you Though I'm scratching my head at what 'halqabsado' means.

Originally posted by Johnny B: ^^ War Allamagan iyo Oz dookh xumaa.... Naden bidaar bey leedahay. Waryaa, Johnny B, I thought we were friends ?! I looked nothing like that young girl in the picture (maybe a little ) And I am much taller :mad:

Today, Shirk continues to mutate, taking new forms that most of devout followers of Islam are not suspecting, such as the Idol of Democracy. How many "Muslims" suspect that Democracy is a new form of Major Shirk? Careful, Nur. Revisit your statement, walaal, and perhaps restate after you've carefully defined 'democracy', 'idolatry', and 'shirk' and why you think the former is a form of the latter. And could you explain why you placed muslims in quotes?

Cara, education and a university degree exist in intersecting but not completely overlapping spheres for me. If we put private schools and the groomed few aside, public schooling and widespread university admission/graduation were not designed to educate the masses, were they? I pity the lack of options for the boy who drops out of school. The one from a good school district will go on to university, study something that gets him a job and he will be considered the educated class. I take exception to that blanket label. Completing a number of courses does not an educated person make. Trained or skilled are probably better words. A person who maintains roads can go home and have a heated discussion with their family and neighbours about the state of prisons, the worthiness of this-and-that writer, or the merits of boys only schools. I believe that if a good general education does its job, no matter what a person does for a living during the day, they should be able to read and think. If a child shows no detectable passion for anything by 12, then the school system has done its job. Most passions will be replaced with PSAT, SAT, admission essays, and the grind of university admission. If a young person finds history interesting, is the only way to remain engaged in it to major in history in university? If the child loves history, is taught to read and think, and has his/her interests cultivated, he or she will remain students of history for a long time. Even if they go to trade school and raise a family by 20.

Ngonge, the six or seven years are not a limit. Quite the opposite, I think one should be in formal education as long as one pleases. If an education system cannot teach reading, writing and basic mathematics in about 7 years, it will not teach most of its students much of anything. Around here, not even 12 years produce these basic skills thanks to unwieldy, out of touch, and college-admission-obsessed curricula. Neither a skill nor a trade should get in the way of true education and enlightenment, imo. A school system should teach you to read, write and maybe think. Your own open mind and an environment that is curious about knowledge, history, world events…etc, and encourage debate and meaningful discourse that produces an educated mind. There is nothing that says an education is in the halls of universities alone (and most majors are glorified trade schools nowadays, anyway). Do I think that a PhD sitting at home, playing a computer game adds more to human knowledge than a farmer? Depends on the PhD and whether he or she can think, and remain creative and open to discovery. My emphasis on young guys comes from seeing them unsuccessful in life as refugees from public school systems. Girls have a biological advantage; if they don't succeed, early motherhood provides instant social status and preoccupation

JB, the essay presents enough ideas and arguments for a 500 page book. Perhaps the most interesting for me is the true purpose of mass education since its inception and its evolution. The field of education, from what I have observed in my area, trains teachers in the narcissistic, navel-gazing, practice of reflective education. Monitoring one’s feelings yet controlling the thoughts and outlook of children from the beginning. Social engineering at its best. The products are narcissistic, dull, anxious, unimaginative children who become perfect consumer drones and office slaves. When mass education was instilled, it was to take headstrong and independent farmers and farm hands from the field to the assembly line. Owners and predatory middle management couldn’t work with a farmer who works to death when he wants and the land needs, and sleeps for months at other times. The school system also serves a number of purposes including putting children away while parents work, and removing youth who could work from the labour market. It is quite barbaric how so many young men aged 14-19 are forced to shuffle through an ‘education’ they would much rather replace with working and living. All that energy, strength, and eagerness to live are crippled in a classroom headed by mostly sedentary, fat-bottomed, but very comfortably middle-class and middle-aged women, many of whom will never understand what it is like to be a male of that age. Oh, but school systems are very comfortable with 60 or 70%% of boys dropping out in some areas while wandering, unskilled and unguided, back and forth between shoddy attendance at high schools and part time work. No plans for apprenticeships, trades training, heavy labour, or anything that teaches these young people that you could make a comfortable living and start families without being stuck in that hideous limbo of delayed adulthood also known as undergraduate/graduate/professional education. General education – learning to read, write, and do basic math – should take no more than 6-7 years. The mind-numbing rote memorization and repetition of school curricula that justify massive education budgets, while producing youth who cannot spell much less think independently, are unforgivable.

Fabulous article! Will be back to comment on a number of points.

*Hugs Johnny B right back* I watched 10 minutes of Noor and was happy my vomit bag was close by.

^ Oh my! With all that money, a girl would risk her left arm being bitten off.

^ Who is he?

I think that Mohannad fella has awoken the Arab female love psyche. No longer is the unwashed, girthy, vulgar dude of the desert the object of every woman's desire. Enter manicured Mohannad, with his metrosexual, high emotional intelligence self. Hi JB

Can't wait. It is the only show on TV worth watching for me.

^ When is the new season? It feels like ages since the finale in 2007.

Hayam, nothing is retained, unfortunately. Neither hair not beauty nor youth nor health. All goes to hell in a hand basket. For people who do remove all their eyebrows and put a pencil line there, don't you think they've suffered enough from 80s fashion faux pas without being thrown in hell too?

Hayam, I worry when spiritual guidance morphs into bad beauty advice. Unnatural for some maybe all the rage for others Cara! My sympathies, my dear big-foot friend. Take heart, beauticians are hell-bound too for charging a woman 30 bucks for a haircut worth 15.

^ Trimming bushy eyebrows takes you out of Islam? Good riddance for hairy rubbish. Any girl who looks like a male Russian soldier we can't have in our midst. Imagine when God confiscates their hot wax and tweezers, we'll have millions of hirsute beasts ruining the whole afterlife for the rest of us naturally hairless Africans.

Only a nomad will think him/herself worthy of an interview without significant fame or infamy. Sigh. Nonetheless, here goes a question(s) worthy of your insignificance: do you measure your forehead space in inches or centimeters? What tribe are you from and which of the other tribes do you think should be wiped out? Do you think that eating a banana with your rice & meat is sacrilege?

^ Don't let an Egyptian hear you call them African. They will throw a Pharonic bowl of fava beans at your nomad head.

57. A slave's running away from his master Nice to see that the slave owners' association can lobby their way into a major sins' list.

^ Xiin, civic responsibility is the reason garbage pickup is not the norm in most major Somali cities. While groups are made of individuals, I don't believe it is something that could reasonably expected of every individual. It has to enforced or modeled in some way. Somalis are very good at imitating one another. If a number of people, of any sort of influence, decide that their area will be clean and will have an affordable system for picking up and disposing of garbage, others may join them. Around here, if someone moves into a neighbourhood where everyone waters the lawn and puts trash in a designated area, they will be forced (by pretenses or subtle social pressure) to oblige. For me, what is more grave (though no less important than civic responsibility) is the love of the hustler in our culture. The man/woman who cheats the most, talks the loudest, lies the most. I see it in the so-called ghetto culture too.

Interesting topic, Xiin. Will be back to comment.

^ Bella, I am absolutely agog at your reply Mr. Jello, I was wondering when you would bring Islam and/or shariica into the mess of a topic. Sorry, but the good book won't get you out of this one.

^ Finally! It took them long enough.

^ That which brings happiness to others, mostly located between the belly and the knees. And some other places of significantly less importance. Those jaahiliyah chicks ruined the party for everyone. :mad:

Bella, I think one is more likely to become a 'gaudy doll' and a 'cheap commodity' if going after a job fitting their 'feminine nature'. I suggest training or education, instead.