wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Chris April 02, 2008 - 01:16PM

  With the amount of money and resorces the U.S. has it is easy to say that the schools here are by far the worst in the world. I have many friends who teach at the college level and not only do the incoming students not know history or geography they, increasingly, do not know how to construct a sentence, or even what the parts of a sentence are.

  
  
• [2] Sammi Malek from NYC April 02, 2008 - 01:22PM

  I turned on the radio in the middle of the program and if I'm not mistaken, I heard Ms. Stewart say "It is debatable whether the Middle East is Asia" and I was simply flabbergasted that someone so educated would make such a comment. Regardless of what some uninformed journalists, media personality or politicians may say, the "Middle East" is NOT a continent and even as a region, it is not properly named as it is not in the middle of what is considered "East." In fact, many educational institutions, such as NYU, have renamed their Middle Eastern Studies departments to "Near Eastern Studies."

  Moreover, Asian countries that are part of the middle east are very much Asian. I am from Iran and I would take offense if someone suggested I'm not Asian. It is bad enough arguing with uninformed people on the street over the definition of Asian, but it is quite disturbing to have to argue it with an expert such as Ms. Stewart. I truly hope I either mis-heard or misunderstood her comment. I don't see Egypt deciding it is no longer an African country, but rather a Middle Eastern one, and I don't see why a country like Iran with a recorded history of over 2,500 years would all of a sudden be stripped of its "Asianhood," pardon the word invention.

  
  
• [3] Joan from NYC April 02, 2008 - 03:14PM

  Sammi Malek: Why is 'Near East' better than 'Middle East'? Those--and 'Far East' are still terms relative to Europe. Listen again to the interview. I think you have misinterpreted and taken out of context Ms. Stewart's point.

  
  
• [4] Alex from Kentucky April 05, 2008 - 12:18AM

  Once again, Leonard managed to say something that reflects his own lack of geography and knowledge of this country. He was talking about foreign language immersion schools and commented on how they might work in diverse places like New York or Seattle, but not in places like Omaha.

  Leonard: Have you been to Omaha? You seem to think that everyone who doesn't live on the coasts is provincial and xenophobic, while the coasts are sophisticated and cutting-edge. It is a little bit more complicated.

  How embarrassing. The guest rightly corrected you.