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Symptoms of a Deeper Malaise
Sixty-two young men and women participated in the
Fourth National Dialogue in the Eastern Province yesterday. Their
discussions, or rather what we learned about their discussions,
reflected sharp minds and a strong desire for change. Most of the
participants talked about the Saudi educational system and their
opinions of it. Their observation was that the curriculum is outdated,
contains too many subjects and that in many cases, teachers are
unqualified for their jobs.
The discussions stressed the importance of diversity, both cultural and
religious. An intolerant one-sided view was blamed for the wave of
terrorism that the Kingdom is battling.
As much as we welcome the national dialogues, as much as we insist on
utilizing their findings to create a new atmosphere of frankness and
openness in our country, there is a common point that has characterized
all of them. The media was excluded from the discussions.
The mere fact that the discussion sessions were closed to the media is
not a good sign. The media was allowed only in the opening session;
subsequently, members of the press were given official press releases of
what had gone on behind closed doors. Reading today’s newspaper
coverage, I was surprised to find all our papers carrying exactly the
same information — in other words, they carried an official press
release.
Now this is exactly what makes people put so little
faith and interest in such events. If we agree in the first place to
have forums and to discuss our problems openly, it makes no sense
whatsoever to keep the discussions closed. That reflects a lack of trust
in the media and it basically defies the concept of transparency that
the conference was supposed to initiate.
One journalist wondered sarcastically if the discussions contained any
secrets. He thought that if the media were not a part of the concept of
dialogue, then the effectiveness of the dialogues was considerably
reduced. A female participant in the dialogue said, “My students wanted
to follow all the discussions and asked for a televised conference so
that they could follow the discussions.”
In spite of all this, if we overlook the disappointment of having only
official press releases to depend on, there are still some interesting
things that came out of the sessions. “Our curriculum discourages
religious and intellectual diversity,” one participant said in a paper.
He added that all that students are ever exposed to is only one side,
one way of thinking and that they are never taught the other side or how
to rebut and reject it — if indeed it deserves rebuttal or rejection.
Reading the transcripts of the discussions, one feels that maybe youth
is more aware of the situation than the older generation. In their
discussions, they exhibited a desire to know, to discuss and, most
importantly, to learn from mistakes. As the beginning of the forum
coincided with the terrorist attack on the American Consulate in Jeddah,
there were calls for moderate, open-minded religious approaches from all
attending.
Another major point was the failure of our educational
system. An engineering student delivered a paper that attracted many
comments and much attention; he stressed what he thought were our main
problems. He pointed out that our educational system is almost totally
irrelevant to the needs of our job market. He gave an example from a
study by the Ministry of Planning for the year 1420 (1999-2000). The
study showed that 82 percent of graduates specialized in humanities and
religious studies; those in medicine and applied science accounted for
only 10 percent of graduates. Nothing shows more clearly than those
numbers the need to coordinate the needs of the job market with what
students study in our universities. There has recently been much talk of
closing the humanities departments in some universities since humanities
graduates often do not find jobs. That is surely a far too dramatic
solution; perhaps the universities themselves should limit the numbers
accepted by certain departments that in turn would end the oversupply of
unemployable graduates. In general, the study opened our eyes to a
reality that must be dealt with quickly and efficiently before the
numbers of frustrated young people increase and easily fall into
extremists’ hands thus creating an explosive situation.
Another point of the paper is that research is not
taken seriously in our educational process. The fact is that Saudi
Arabia spends only 0.3 percent of its educational budget on scientific
research compared to 3 percent in Japan, Sweden and the US and 4 percent
in Israel. Money of course is only a small part of the issue; what is
far more important is the attitude. Here in Saudi Arabia not only do we
not encourage inquisitive minds, we actively discourage them.
Investigation, scientific and objective approaches are not a part of
anything our students are taught — regardless of whether the level is
primary, intermediate, secondary or university. Saudi students are
taught to listen to elders and teachers and to react in a pleasant and
agreeable way. This is another aspect of the one-sided version of things
in our curriculum. Participants at the meeting stressed the need for a
variety of approaches, especially in religious studies. To be flexible,
understanding and tolerant and to accept other people’s freedom to their
views and opinions is an important ingredient in any society that calls
itself enlightened.
The forum has addressed very important issues and has
given a good idea of our young people. What is important now is that
their words are listened to and their aims considered in order making
them feel a part of society. After all, they will one day be society and
the future belongs to them.
Abeer Mishkhas
9 December 2004
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=55786&d=9&m=12&y=2004
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