Modern Standard Arabic or Colloquial Arabic in Classrooms Noureddine Boutahar

There is a controversy brewing right now in Morocco over

whether or not to use Darija (Moroccan everyday, colloquial language) in education rather than Modern Standard Arabic which has been used since the year dot. This controversy reached its peak last month with the famous TV debate between the businessman Noureddine Ayouch and thinker Abdellah Laroui. As an educator, father, and patriotic citizen of a country whose education rates among the world’s most deficient, I feel it incumbent upon myself to weigh in and provide my own opinion and thoughts.
In my humble opinion, Noureddine Ayouch wants to open Pandora’s Box with his proposal to use Darija in the classroom, because once it's opened, it will certainly be difficult to close again. Of the many types of Darija, I don’t know which he prefers that we use. I don’t know what he wants to do with Tamazight speakers like myself either. Nor do I know what will become of the Hassania speakers in the South. What I know so far is that once Darija becomes the language of the classroom, Modern Standard Arabic will jump to the line of foreign languages. So, why would he want to add another foreign language (Arabic) to the already existing list?
Also, because the hornets’ nest has been agitated, some people have started questioning whether Darija should be written in Arabic or in Latin characters, and whether it should be written from right to left or from left to write. Proponents of the Latin style argue that since Darija is teeming with French, Spanish, Tamazight and Latin words, which are all written from left to right, Darija should be also. So, isn't it better to let sleeping Pandora lie?
Blaming the failures of our system of education on standard Arabic is too simplistic an approach to a highly complex problem. However, I am dead scared that oversimplified approaches like this might take center stage and distract attention from the real, central problems as well as from higher priorities in Moroccan education. The side thing might become the main thing, which is a form of Gresham's Law: “bad money, drives out good.”
What's worse is that Mr.Ayouch's proposal has come out of the blue. It was put forth without the backing of any sound theoretical or empirical research. Besides, our concern stems from the fact that the proposal was made by businessmen - strangers to the world of education- with their own objectives and agendas. And as is well known, businessmen have a nose for business; they know where money is and fight tooth and nail for it. So, this is a golden opportunity for business fat cats to make money out of new textbooks, dictionaries, and other materials needed for the new language. In short, “to those that have, shall be given”
Also, when great thinkers of the stature of AbdellahLaroui and Abdelkader Fassi Fihri refuse the proposal, we should be on guard and be willing to fight back to protect ourselves from those who intentionally or unintentionally want to strip us of our identity as a people and to subdue our culture and heritage. Otherwise, how else can we explain the fact that these people want to gradually kill a standard language and replace it with street language that will end up degrading our kids thinking. As George Orwell said, "Language can also corrupt thought."
Even if we take Mr Ayouch and Co.’s proposal on faith, time is not working in our favor: How much time will Darija need to gain momentum and take off? Morocco has already wasted too much time lagging behind less economically developed countries in the field of education to spend even another minute tinkering with a language that is a mixture of lingo, slang, and jargon. We have enough problems with already established and widely accepted languages; we needn’t rub more salt in the wound.
Conversely, I agree with Abdellah Laroui that Darija may be used to explain some scientific concepts and processes –what many teachers already do. I also agree that we need to simplify the kind of Arabic used in the classrooms for beginners but not to the point of oversimplification or distortion, or to the point of speaking down to the pupils and keeping their level at rock bottom.
Bottom line: Let’s uncover the real problems in our system of education and deal with them. Let’s not take uncalculated risks and make rash missteps that may prove costly to this country in terms of money, time, and reputation. Pinning the defects of Moroccan education on Modern Standard Arabic is like blaming the victim, and may unnecessarily hold us back for decades.