The Second National Dialogue Forum that closed in Makkah recently made a number of recommendations. They included taking measures to get rid of extremism, reforming the educational curriculum and giving the media greater freedom.
Though some voices were raised in opposition to the fact, the sessions were closed to the public. This surely contradicts the purpose and objective of holding the forum in the first place. We need a dialogue in which all kinds of ideas are thrown about. Nonetheless, the holding of the forum was a badly-needed first step in the right direction.
What caught my attention was the apparent importance given to educational reform. In fairness, this idea has been discussed for a long time but it never moved beyond discussions and committees.
We have all complained about education without ever acknowledging that it might be time to overhaul the entire system since evidence indicates it has been a failure.
What we must ask ourselves is why Saudi employers often employ those who have been educated abroad.
A survey done a few years ago showed which university graduates have the best chances in the job market — and at the end of the list were graduates from King Abdul Aziz University.
Doesn’t this tell us something? And shouldn’t this be a subject for serious discussion at any National Dialogue Forum?
Despite all this, there is something approaching panic at the idea of reforms; some people think that reforms are being introduced to Americanize the Kingdom’s education.
Others say the system is perfect the way it is so there is no need to change anything. In neither case is a perception of the state of our students and our educational institutions being taken into account.
We are unfortunately stubborn and simply too proud to acknowledge that something might be wrong and that it might be time for change. We seem to cling fast to the idea that everything is perfect. I can only say that if that were so, we would not be facing the problems we are facing.
So where, I wonder, do we begin tackling the long list of educational problems that seem to be increasing every day? Why, we should ask ourselves, do university teachers complain so often of an abysmally low level of information among their students?
The students have graduated from high school with a very limited amount of information in virtually every subject identified as necessary for success and survival in the modern world. No modern geography, no history, no languages — except for basic English, which is too often badly taught. Just last month the girls’ presidency stopped schools from examining girls in computer science because, according to rumor, there was not enough equipment or enough teachers. When some people suggested teaching English in elementary schools, many who are frightened at any change or possible step forward, panicked and said it would be a dangerous step.
They would have us believe that teaching English to children is a dangerous step, threatening our language, culture and traditions.
No notice seems to have been taken of countries whose populations are proficient in English without any sacrifice of language, culture and traditions — India being an excellent example.
Our resistance to educational change and innovation is very strange since we love to dwell in the shadow of our ancestors’ achievements. And those ancient Arabs did indeed excel in math, science, medicine and philosophy — indeed in all learning.
They developed and made progress to the point that they were envied by all who came into contact with them. Why can’t we develop in the same way instead of thinking that we are victims of a conspiracy which aims at depriving us of our identity?
Let us develop first and then see if we have been deprived of anything. We might find that some of what we have been deprived of was never very important in the first place.
