Arabs invented the zero and algebra; in ancient eras, they charted the skies, sailed on many if not all oceans, and invented trade routes that still are important today. In time, newer nations, especially in the West, adapted much of the knowledge that Arabs created, and then prospered on that foundation. The advent of European colonialism, poor governance in its wake, and inadequate and over-stretched educational institutions, led to many years of decline, disarray, and poverty in those same societies. Many books have been written about "what went wrong".
Now new books are being written about what is going right. One only has to visit Dubai to see where the authors are getting their material. Indeed, Dubai - one of the seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates - has fashioned management and administration systems that many countries would do well to study.
A recent visit there caused me also to think about doing what our forebears did by adapting the new Arab "inventions".
It was actually the air flight home that did it. I was on a gleaming new jet of Emirates airline; the service was so good that - and this may sound strange - I was actually sorry when the 13-hour flight ended. I had boarded the flight at one of the most modern and thoroughly efficient airports in the world, and one of the busiest. It's hard to imagine that there are too many airports anywhere where courtesy towards passengers has been refined to such a fine art.
I also returned at the time that Delta and Northwest Airlines were announcing a merger, which would transform the incipient company - to be known as Delta - into the world's biggest carrier.
Biggest perhaps, but not necessarily the best, or even one of the best. The comedian Jay Leno, host of NBC's Tonight Show, quipped that the purpose of the merger was to enable the carriers to cancel more flights than American Airlines had done recently. There was more than humour in what Leno said - there was truth.
The merger of Delta and Northwest, of course, was spurred by rising fuel costs and overlapping routes. The idea was to cut expenditures. But experience suggests that slashing budgets in a service industry such as commercial aviation results not necessarily in new efficiencies but, among other things, poorer treatment of passengers and continued in-flight ordeals.
News of the merger had reached me even before the Emirates plane touched down at Kennedy International Airport. Modern technology has made it possible to beam bulletins to aircraft that are miles up in the skies. My news provider was the BBC, a staple of Emirates. But I could just as easily have switched channels and seen the bulletin on CNN, too.
Somewhere between Dubai and New York, it occurred to me that we in the West actually have much to learn from the contemporary Arab world. Specifically, we have much to learn from what many Arab leaders call the "Dubai Way".
Well-run city
This isn't some abstraction arising from the Arabian desert, or a management mirage. The "Dubai Way" is as hard-headed as any theory or technique taught in America's best business schools. Financial performance and growing profits do matter, as does a lean administration. But the "Dubai Way" also includes a sustained emphasis on sensitive treatment of people - such as air passengers - over the calculus of cutting costs. A visit to Dubai shows how much this concept is built into municipal governance, resulting in a well-run city and, to a Westerner like me, startling common courtesies.
As a longtime educator, I would extend this advice to high schools not only in America and other countries of the West, but also in the places in our world undergoing rapid development. The central concept of the "Dubai Way" is good service and an optimistic attitude. It's never too early to learn that concept.
It is a concept that doesn't necessitate attending a university. Vocational schools could just as readily inject it into their curriculums. In extensive visits to developing countries, including those of the Middle East, I have often found that the idea of putting oneself through gruelling years at institutions of higher learning can be decidedly unappetising for high school students who may not be necessarily wedded to the notion that a college education can lead to professional success. That sometimes results in a sulky, resentful student cohort that simply wants the college experience to be over as soon as possible before obtaining jobs in the "real world".
But are these students truly ready for the rigours of that "real world"? Are they genuinely prepared to participate meaningfully in the stressful task of nation building, especially in emerging societies? Does their higher education vigorously engage their attention and tap into their talents?
Which brings me back to what contemporary successes from another society such as Dubai's Emirates airline, one of the world's most profitable carriers, can teach us all - the calculus of collaboration. Wouldn't it be useful to place American students as interns with Emirati teams planning the inaugural flight from Dubai to Los Angeles or some other new destination?
Think of what they would learn about geography, international law, logistics, planning, math, nutrition, sales and marketing, and labour relations. Think of what they would learn about the sensitivities of societies that some Westerners are wary of - not because of some deep hostility towards distant cultures but simply on account of not understanding that people in different parts of the world do indeed observe different customs than ours, that they may even possess a wholly different way of interpreting the world.
In the process, perhaps some of our students would learn what they themselves are really good at doing - and all, Emiratis and Americans alike, would learn what it takes to work on a team. Nation building - whether in industrialised societies such as ours or in developing ones such as the UAE - demands strenuous cooperation, and the sooner our young people absorb that lesson, the greater the likelihood that they will be more enthusiastic about their post-school careers.
And if they learned the "Dubai Way", they would be equipped with useful knowledge applicable universally. Like astronomy and algebra, it has happened before.
Dr Allan E. Goodman is the President and CEO, Institute of International Education.
