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Article: Ballad of the Old Cafes.(Special Report; THE EDUCATION RACE)(universities in the Middle East)
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- August 25, 2008
- Author:
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Byline: Zvika Krieger
War, chaos and repression are driving the decline of the once great Arab centers of learning.
For centuries, the academic center of the world lay in the Fertile Crescent, stretching from Egypt to Iraq. Institutions like Baghdad's Dar al-Hikma (a vast academic center that thrived from the ninth to the 13th centuries) and the Great Library of Alexandria produced innovations including key astronomical discoveries and the foundation of modern algebra.
Even in modern times, the relatively liberal and cosmopolitan natures of Cairo, Beirut and Baghdad made them magnets for intelligentsia. Coffee shops buzzed with debate and ...