Ayaan Answers: Teach Students How to Think, Not What to Think
Ayaan Hirsi Ali talks about the education that once formed free citizens—and why the West must recover it.
In this conversation for Restoring the West’s Education pillar, Ayaan Hirsi Ali reflects on the kind of education that once formed free citizens, and why the West must recover it.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is Chief Editor of Restoring the West and a leading writer on freedom, religion, and Western civilization. After fleeing Somalia to escape a forced marriage, she built a life in the Netherlands and served as a Member of Parliament. Her journey from Islam to atheism and ultimately to Christianity informs her perspective on faith, education, and the future of the West.
In this discussion, Ayaan explains how her education at Leiden University introduced her to the philosophical and religious traditions that shaped Western civilization. She argues that universities must once again teach students to examine ideas critically, understand their intellectual inheritance, and develop the moral confidence necessary to sustain a free society.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
RtW: Tell me about your own education. How did you come to embrace classical liberal values?
AHA: I am deeply grateful to my professors at the University of Leiden. From 1995 to 2000, they introduced me to classical liberalism and other key political philosophies. They also exposed me to the ideas that shaped the West, like Greek and Roman thought and Christianity. My education at Leiden eventually helped me see, many years later, that Christianity was the foundation of classical liberalism. By the 20th century, it seemed that Christianity and classical liberalism had separated.
When I was a student at Leiden, I became an atheist and saw myself as a classical liberal. Through the study of history, politics, and philosophy, I have traced my classical liberalism back to its roots: the Bible. At Leiden, I was introduced to the idea of socialism and all its different manifestations, including communism. By 2001, when 9/11 happened, I was able to clearly see that this terror attack had an ideological root, and through due diligence and critical thinking, I was able to compare it to other ideas and then reach the conclusions I have reached.
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