It will not be surprising if one day a high-level official who is addicted to playing belote (a famous card game widely played by most of the Saudi population), calls for the introduction of the game’s vocabulary into our school syllabus. His reason will be that it is the most common pastime in the Kingdom. He would like our children to grow up armed with the knowledge of all the secrets of the game so that they are derided by people who are having a good time.
I am saying this after many of our public and private institutions have targeted our school syllabus with a view to incorporating in it their own rules and regulations on the pretext that this is the ideal way for society to learn. Some of these institutions have succeeded while others are still trying.
I know you are looking for examples and I will give you some. Maybe the most recent are the pressures being exerted by both the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) that want to include their programs in the syllabuses of both general and university education. Before that the Ministry of Commerce called for the introduction of electronic commerce into the school curriculum. The directorate general of traffic also endeavored to have its rules and regulations taught in classrooms. Some economists have even thought of making stock trading a part of the syllabus so that, from an early age, students will understand how to deal in shares. It seems that the economists are not content with the predicament of contemporary victims of the stock market so they want to be on the lookout for future prey.
As a result of all this, our syllabus is now in severe trouble. When we learn about new things, and we want to inculcate them into the social fabric or when we want to eradicate any problem, we add them to the syllabus until the bags of the students have become as heavy as the load carried by a camel. But have these continuous additions to the curriculum resulted in a successful educational system? The answer is not surprising.
Make a simple test that includes general information, Arabic dictation and English spelling, and the result would be appalling. Is there no other way to impart knowledge than through school books? Or is it a continuation of the policy of stuffing the minds of the young with so many things that they just become parrots, repeating mindlessly what they hear?
Where is the family education which we have so long ignored which is actually the basis of knowledge? What about the role of the Jumaa (Friday) sermons? We have more than 150,000 mosques in various parts of the Kingdom. Many of the sermons you hear in a large number of mosques are copies from the past — in other words, just “cut-and-paste” sermons which do not address contemporary issues and problems. The Friday sermon has become a habit rather than an act of worship. Where are the social centers in residential areas? Some of these centers have become places for preaching ideologies which are far from desirable. In some centers, various financial violations are committed without being checked.
Has modern education, its schools, syllabuses, centers and means of instructions become so distracted that it is unable to perform its duties?
These questions are directed to educationalists and sociologists. Are our syllabuses systematic consumption or consumed syllabuses? As for the officials, I say this is enough. Have mercy on the minds of our boys and girls. Also, please have mercy on the Barbie bags!!!
