“Scholarship students going to the USA are tourists enjoying all-expense paid trips.” This was the comment of an American woman, employed at an American university. On Oct. 10 last year, I wrote an article about the large number of students wanting to study in the US. I pointed out that because of the sheer numbers, many scholarships had been given to unqualified students, especially undergraduates. Some were able to take advantage of the opportunity in spite of their low GPAs. I tried to highlight the fact that scholarship money should be given to deserving students who are serious about continuing their education — not to tourists who are simply looking for a good time.
This same topic has been widely discussed throughout the country. An excellent young Saudi caught my attention with his comments. He had a terrible experience in the US for five months and was forced to come back home against his will because he was worried about his future and his religion.
He said, “When I graduated from high school with a 98 percent GPA, I spent a lot of time applying for admission to one of our universities. At the same time, I heard about scholarships to the US and the idea appealed to me. I applied and things went smoothly and I got my scholarship and my visa.”
When the young man landed in America, the first thing he encountered was the cold treatment received at the airport just because of his nationality. He was one of the first few students to arrive to the US and he was really astonished by what he saw. Some students, it seemed, began having affairs with the opposite sex as if such things were normal in Saudi life and others behaved as if marriage between people of the same sex was completely acceptable.
The young man began to speak about some of his classmates in one of his English classes. Khaled, he said, was a student who was always bored. He graduated with an 87 percent GPA from a high school in Riyadh and was admitted to the Science College in Riyadh. He was an open-minded person, enjoying Western life and saying it suited him just fine. Turki was a well-mannered student who had a good mind before arriving in the US. His family wanted him to get a degree but he ended up as an alcoholic. Naser was very happy in Saudi Arabia but when he went to the USA, he had a real shock. He searched for Saudis who would direct him to accommodation where he would have Saudi roommates. His shock increased considerably when he found that his Saudi roommates were all drinking to excess and spending most of their time chasing girls.
The percentage of students with less than an 80 percent GPA amounted to 80 percent of the scholarship applicants. Who let this happen? Who is behind this? Why can’t we have each applicant go through a placement test? Why don’t we learn a lesson from others’ experiences?
For example, our own Aramco has certain criteria for choosing students to study abroad. Students must first pass difficult exams and then go through a compulsory training year. Why does Aramco have this policy? They count dollars and dimes before spending money on students who are not serious. Even if some Aramco supervisor wants to send his cousin or friend on a scholarship, that cousin or friend must be well prepared and trained.
After writing my first article, I received many letters from young boys and girls with high GPAs but who could not get into our universities. They were frustrated students, not knowing what to do or where to study.
We need to establish new colleges which specialize in different fields similar to King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals. Why, up to now, do we not have science and technology colleges? Why do we have different fields of study for boys but not for girls? We can easily afford to send students abroad to study or pay for their educations here in the Kingdom. We only need to be selective in choosing serious and ambitious students.
