Qualities Islamic World Residents Want to Teach Their Children

If people in eight predominantly Islamic countries had their way, children would most be encouraged to learn honesty and tolerance at home. According to a Gallup poll of those countries*, the qualities that were least valued among the seven that were measured are leadership and imagination. Perseverance and independence appear to be roughly equal in their overall evaluation, though independence has the edge in five of the eight countries, while perseverance is more highly rated in three countries.

Here is a list of qualities which children can be encouraged to learn at home. Which three of these do you consider to be most important?

(Percent mentioning)

Country	Hon- esty	Toler- ance	Obed- ience	Indepen- dence	Perseve- rance	Leader- ship	Imag- ination
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Lebanon	82	70	33	47	40	21	8
Kuwait	91	71	63	24	23	21	6
Saudi Arabia	85	64	65	30	25	22	8
Jordan	86	70	58	36	24	22	5
Turkey	92	86	35	25	44	10	10
Pakistan	79	60	71	40	20	12	17
Iran	85	65	21	39	47	16	12
Morocco	48	78	61	35	57	12	9

The most controversial quality mentioned in the survey is obedience. The percentage of people who list obedience among the top three varies most among the seven qualities included in the survey. Just 21% of Iranians mention obedience, compared with 71% of Pakistanis. In Turkey and Lebanon, only about a third of the residents surveyed list obedience among the top three qualities, while in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Jordan, substantial majorities list it among the top three.

Importance of Obedience Highly Related to Education

For all eight countries, there are significant differences between how people with a lower level of education (up to intermediate school) and those with a higher level (secondary school or higher) evaluated obedience. In each country, people with a higher education are much less likely than those with a lower education to rate obedience among the top three qualities that should be taught to children at home.

As shown in the graph, the differences between the two educational groups exceed 20 percentage points in Kuwait, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco and Turkey. In Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iran, the differences are also significant, though considerably smaller, ranging from 10 to 15 percentage points.

Education and the Other Qualities

The poll shows that the other qualities are not as widely correlated with education, as is obedience. In all eight countries, there are no differences in educational groups in their rating of honesty.

Two of the qualities, however, are significantly correlated with education in five of the eight countries. Independence and perseverance are more highly rated by the higher educated groups than by the lower educated groups.

As shown in the chart below, Iran, Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey and Pakistan show significant differences in the ratings of independence between the two educational groups. In those countries, the higher educated groups are at least 10 percentage points more likely to rate independence as one of the top three qualities than are the lower educated groups. In addition, Pakistan shows a difference in the same direction of eight percentage points, and Saudi Arabia, a difference of six points.

Similarly, five countries also show differences of at least 10 percentage points between the two educational groups in the percentage who say perseverance is a desirable quality.

As shown in the above chart, higher educated Iranians are 19 percentage points more likely to rate perseverance highly than are the lower educated (57% to 38%, respectively). Other countries with significant differences include Turkey (13-point difference), Jordan (12), Kuwait (12), and Lebanon (10).

One other quality, tolerance/respect for others, is related to education in four of the eight countries, with the lower educated more likely to give this trait a high rating than higher educated respondents.

Among the eight countries, differences of at least 10 percentage points are found in Iran (18 percentage points), Lebanon (16), Jordan (13) and Morocco (11). Smaller differences are found in the other countries.

Each of the two remaining qualities, leadership and imagination, show at least 10-point differences between educational groups in only one country. In Jordan, the more highly educated give leadership a 19-point higher rating than the lower educated (28% to 9%, respectively). In Morocco, the more highly educated give a 10-point higher rating to imagination than the lower educated (17% to 7%). These patterns are not found in the remaining countries.

*Nine countries were surveyed, but Indonesia would not allow the question on which qualities children should learn at home to be asked.