When people think of investments, all they think of is money. But the quality in life is affected by many factors besides financial ones. Education is an investment, clear and simple. It is an investment on many levels. For instance, a man invests in his children’s education, choosing one school over another because of the reputation that a particular school enjoys. The government invests in education so that, over time, its citizens, strengthened by innovation and creativity, will carry a nation or society to new heights of social, technological and financial progress. Thus the quality of life improves.
The Kingdom has spent huge amounts of money in support of the education sector at all levels. But there comes a time to stop fixing a broken car and acquire a new one. I’m not saying the people in the system are at fault, as there are some with exceptional skills. The problem, however, lies in the fear to embrace change.
What are the main problems of any educational system?
• Following the examples of others without customizing for your own needs.
• Relying on “quantity is better then quality” approach. Thus, every year, the school bags get larger. My younger brother couldn’t fit half his books into my old bag. We now measure knowledge by the weight of books rather than by their contents. Proof of this is obvious in the flourishing market of private tutors and academic supplements which are smaller in size yet hold higher learning value.
• Not distinguishing between what is relevant to real life and what isn’t.
Saudi Arabia is a wealthy country, both in money and social values, but it has a relatively smaller number of students than in more advanced countries. That should give it an edge in making changes that involve tailoring the education process for what it is meant to be — a driver for life rather than a source of frustrating trivia.
I applaud the government’s program for a computer in every home, but that must be followed up with boundaries and programs so that those computers will be used for something more useful then visiting chatrooms.
I propose an education site accessed for free, with multimedia tutorials showing how lessons learned in school can be used in real life. All it really boils down to is the incentive to learn.
How is it that a small child can memorize over 250 Pokemon (from the famous cartoon series), their weaknesses, strengths and histories, but can’t recite a few physics equations? When I first attended college, my grades were low, because it was all about the science, and not what that science was used for. Later I excelled in subjects which my friends said were difficult. Why? Because each scientific fact or theory had a real-life example.
Giving meaning to what you study gives you an incentive to learn and expand. Even in the business world, you find people in a “need to know” environment less willing to work than in an open environment. It would be difficult to overhaul the entire system on a short-term basis, so why not try the Japanese approach? In Japan there is a strong market for games that teach. These games aren’t directed at children but rather at young adults. A few examples would be:
1. Trauma Center: Under the knife, a hospital game in which you are a surgeon diagnosing patients and performing surgery using a sensitive touch screen and pen.
2. Phoenix Wright: Ace attorney, a game that teaches courtroom law, how to construct a case and how to present it.
3. Brain Training: A software package that measures a person’s IQ and sets a monthly target to be archived by daily doses of quizzes and math problems. These are popular releases only from 2005. Can you imagine a teenager spending his own pocket money to buy knowledge? That would be unheard of here. These games are available here in some import stores; unfortunately, most of them are in Japanese or English which renders them useless to most of our young people.
What is the solution? There are many talented programmers, artists and educators here in Kingdom, but at the same time, they are also some of the most overlooked and frustrated people; in fact, some of them can’t find a permanent job. If there were a government fund to set up a company to make programs that would present academic material in real world scenarios through computer software. I am sure that within two-four years, there would be a significant change in the younger generation’s views of education. Again, make learning fun.
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—(Majid Al-Madi is a Saudi writer. He is based in Riyadh.)