| The research issue addressed in this study is the inappropriate education policies implemented on the Kurds of Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Ba'ath Party from 1968-2003. The research was carried out within the critical hermeneutic participatory tradition as outlined in Herda (1999). In this tradition language takes the place of the perceptual world of objects so that texts become the objects from which human existence is read. The theories of Paul Ricoeur, Clifford Geertz, Martin Heidegger, and Jurgen Habermas ground the work. Findings from the conversations with twelve Kurdish leaders reveal a Kurdish nation deeply scarred by memories of violent and repressive Ba'ath Party education policies. They also reveal caring Kurdish leadership that seeks to radically reform the education system in a manner that serves their peaceful interests. In light of the development of a Kurdistani education philosophy, I suggest a critical hermeneutic model of adult learning that places being at the center of learning rather than knowledge or knowing; a philosophical model which establishes caring and nurturance as the bedrock of all successful education; a research model based on moral and ethical principles in contrast to one bound and interested to particular political or economic ends; and a policy development model which arrives at policy through the hermeneutic circle of reflection, narrative, conversation, interpretation (assessment), understanding and appropriation. |
