A few days ago the conference to improve education ended at King Abdul Aziz University. A number of recommendations were made; many of them have been made many times in the past and never implemented. Now they have been made yet again.
One of the most obvious statements was from the minister who announced that our system of education is in need of many changes. Surely we do not need to have an official ministerial announcement in order to realize the truth.
Our children are once again back in school. My son, in the 7th Grade, is among them. On Friday before school started on Saturday, I watched him as he checked his schedule and I listened to him tell me what he was studying.
Our students attend classes for five days per week, studying seven subjects every day. That gives them 35 academic classes per week. Four mathematics classes, four science classes but only one computer course which is there just to fill up some free time.
The result is just nine classes in much needed subjects out of a total of 35 per week. We can only wonder what is taught in the remaining time. If this is the case, what is surprising about the poor state of education in our country? The problem is that many people talk but nobody actually takes any action beyond producing documents, attending symposiums and sponsoring conferences.
In the second week of the last term, as part of my job, I went to a big secondary school where I attended an Islamic Studies class. There were 26 students in the class and I did my best to engage them in a discussion about education. I discovered they lacked the necessary vocabulary to express what they wanted to say.
I began to wonder what they had learned during their 11 years of education? The answer I came up with was “Far too little of relevance and significance.” Unfortunately, their shortcomings were only a mirror of their teacher’s who was also unable to articulate his ideas and opinions convincingly. The teacher of course is a product of our education system and the main difference between him and his students was that he is older.
At this point, we might well ask: Can our school curriculum be trusted to do its job? Seventeen of the students said that they believe they are learning nothing. All of them, without exception said they believe that being educated as they have been is pointless and useless, merely following a routine that will teach them nothing and lead them nowhere. One of them said, “Do not force us to think as it is too painful and depresses me.”
I left the class feeling much worse than that student. We are wasting students’ minds, denying them a future and forcing them into a no-win situation. When will someone do something about this? I wonder who is responsible for our present deceptive education system. Why are we giving our students so little when we should be giving them so much?
