Teaching English in Central Asia: Opening Doors to Success

(The following remarks were videotaped in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2002)

Ms. Director and Mr. Ambassador, and of course our honored guests:  I want to thank you for giving me the privilege of opening this conference today. Though I couldn't travel to you in person, it's wonderful to have this opportunity to speak with you.

As you know, I do think that it has been very important for our public officials to agree to do interviews and public addresses to get the word out on public diplomacy.  Our charter is to both inform and influence. Public speaking is a big, big part of that.

I do think public speaking and teaching share at least one secret in common. The secret of both is to appear to have known all your life what you just learned this morning; as an ex-teacher, I know something about that myself.

First of all, I do want to honor your work as teachers -- as the transmitters not just of knowledge but of the core values that define our civilization, of the values of freedom and dignity and opportunity that you seek to instill in your students. These are exactly the issues that we're dealing with every day in the war on terrorism.  These are the values we know are under attack by those who embrace only fear and terror.

I would also like to pay tribute to your work as teachers of English. In my view, the theme of this conference, "Opening Doors to Success," is exactly right. Teaching English is all about opening doors and opening up opportunities to engage and participate in a larger outside world. But it is not about -- as you know better than I -- the indoctrination or devaluing of the languages, cultures, ties of blood, history, and soil that give our lives such richness and meaning. 

We are global citizens. But we are also children of our own homes and towns, communities and nations.

Having said this, I recognize that sometimes the English language can carry a lot of cultural baggage. But it is important to remember that the door can open both ways.

For instance, who is the best-selling poet in the United States today?  Well, had I been asked this one before I did a little research, I would have said perhaps Whitman or Robert Frost, that quintessential American poet, or maybe even Maya Angelou, who is so important to us now in our country. In fact, it could be the current Poet Laureate of the United States, Billy Collins.

As a matter of fact, it turns out that it's more likely to be -- if we could validate these exact numbers -- the 13th-century Sufi mystic, well known to many of you as Rumi. There's a new book out called "Music of a Distant Drum," and there's a chapter called "Rumi Mania." He is so important to us now. That is what I mean about the door working both ways. I make the obvious point that the door of English has opened Rumi's visionary dreams and ideals to a fervent and very eager audience, in the United States.

We can all recognize that your job as English teachers is crucial in preparing citizens for our global society. Even those people who are feeling hostile toward the United States today will admit that they would give anything to have access to the science and technology at which we excel. They also agree readily that we are the best in the world at these things. That is one of the ways that speaking English opens the door of opportunity.

It is also the door that opens international negotiation and peacemaking, in business and commerce. So, it is a very important realm of opportunity. English speaking is also essential for many educational exchanges and the key to resources on the Internet.

I know you know this, but at this conference are participants from all over Central Asia, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom. This is the very first conference where English-teaching professionals from all of the Central Asian countries have gathered together. I think that it is a wonderful first. I just hope it won't be the last.

This event offers us a unique opportunity to promote regional cooperation in the English-teaching field. Here you have a space of time and place, where you can discuss educational matters such as curriculum reform, textbook writing, managing the English language programs, and so on. It also, I think, improves the quality of pre-service education for teachers.

I'd particularly like to thank our colleague, Julie Kim, the regional English language officer, for working so hard with schools throughout Central Asia to organize this first-ever conference. And I also would like to express appreciation to the English language fellows in the region who are participating in the conference, and to Donna Brinton of the University of California, Los Angeles, who will be one of the keynote speakers. Thank you for coming.

It seems to me that Ms. Kim and her colleagues have opened horizons to many more people than we can even realize -- to millions, really -- because, as teaching specialists, this kind of work is magnified many fold. If you teach one person English, they are able to take that knowledge to others.

I also want to be sure you understand that we, here in Washington, and throughout our educational and exchange community, will be following your discussions with great interest. We are very interested in what you have to say about English teaching in your countries and how we can assist you. So we will be good students with you, as well.

Teachers like you open the doors to success every day. By attending this conference and making the time to do it, we can open more doors.

I extend to all of you my heartfelt wishes for a stimulating and enriching conference.

I just want to add one last thing. I started my life as a teacher.  I am sure this was not the reason I was asked to do the opening, but it seems particularly appropriate to me. I'll have to tell you that in that first year I taught general math to the seventh, eighth and ninth grades, and engineering algebra at night to a group of men, all of whom were older than I, so that they could get into graduate school. And for the record, I never worked so hard in my entire life. I left there with the deepest possible appreciation of not only the work, the complexity, the emotional strain and stress that's part of teaching, but also a vision of how much good can be done.

I want thank you for being a teacher. Thank you.