A Study of Study
It seems that my addresses to this topic are endless, maybe because I think it is a subject which is very crucial to discuss and examine.
I heard that once, in America, people observed a certain (unwanted?) characteristic in people of the same age. What did they do? They studied their school curricula, and they found something that triggered or built this trait in them, in a third grade text book! Now I'm sure the UAE's education system is far from even realizing that maybe, the cause of many of our major weaknesses come from something triggered by something taught to us in school.
One of the main things that I observe to be clearly present in most Emiratis is our excessive passiveness. Maybe, that is not the result of a "gene"; after all, is it reasonable to suggest that this gene is present in, and affects, 95% or more of our population? Maybe, and this is just a guess, this could be a result of the poems in our Arabic textbooks? I might be picking on them mainly because I greatly dislike the choice of poetry we are taught, but still.
How are we supposed to be proactive when we constantly read poetry about nationalism and the tragedies of war, each and every single year. I would think that our brains would automatically program themselves to be passive, as these poets themselves are. I cannot remember a single poem I learned in the last few years, which was not either a monologue of the poet's emotions, a poem filled with passive anger, or a poem about something totally random and useless. Every year, we read a poem or two about Palestine; I appreciate their efforts of keeping Palestine in our minds, but I disagree with the method. Throwing poems at us, one filled with anger and the other filled with mourning, isn't going to change anything; especially when the poet is relatively unknown and has done nothing in his life for Palestine other than write more poems. Naturally, we become like these poets, only with a lesser grasp on the Arabic language.
The only good poems I studied were the ones I studied as a child, when poetry was too simple to have a deep meaning to them. Yes, poetry is very important in Arabic literature, but that doesn't mean that we have to learn the most meaningless of poems. Seriously, why do we have to learn by heart, a poem about a lonely father? They try to justify wasting our time with these lessons by scrutinizing the text in search for a literary element they may try to teach us. Since when did school mean wasting the students' time with useless junk?
Many of us have heard in a way or another, that schooling makes a person dumber. That may be true to some extent, since it limits you to a specific style of learning, which may be different in each class, but in the end may not be your ideal way of learning. What we can notice, is that the most advanced of teaching styles allow the students to do most of the work. As education technology advances, more emphasis is put on the student self-educating themselves, students are given more freedom in the classroom, and more hands-on work is done. Sadly, our national education system fails in keeping up to date. Using powerpoint presentations really doesn't do much in improving the way we learn. We're still yelled at if we whisper or laugh in class, even if the teacher isn't saying anything. We're expected to stay still and silent for the entire class, staring at the board, while the teacher doesn't really care if you understand anything or not. You just have to be quiet while she explains to a bunch of robot human beings something they will forget the moment class ends, if they even get it in the first place. This may not be the case everywhere, but it certainly is in many schools. That is how old our education style is, and then we wonder why everyone likes English more than Arabic.
Nothing illustrates that idea more than a true story I heard a week ago. A young girl in KG1 bit her classmate. That is kind of behavior is expected of children that young, isn't it? Well this girl was suspended from going to school for two whole weeks. After the child's family struggled to change the school's mind, they reluctantly shortened the suspension period. The girl is in her first year of school, would she really know what a suspension is? Wouldn't it even have any affect on the child? What's more though, is that on the girl's first day back to school, the school placed her in an empty classroom - all by herself - for the entire day. Is this, in any eccentric way, an acceptable way to treat a child? She has probably been traumatized for life, just because she bit her friend in a possible moment of rage.
There is an endless list of negatives roaming around my head regarding our education system, however, we must also never forget that there is always a positive to contrast the negative. The two opposites may not always equal each other, but certainly nothing is all good, or all bad.
For one, every Emirati is entitled to free schooling. The UAE government has generously provided the country's youth with free education. My opinions are based on my experiences in private schools, as I have not had the chance to experience what a public school is like. That said, the fact that over 90% of Emiratis are literate and that completion of school is compulsory definitely says something about our country's effort toward education, even if it wasn't of the best caliber.
Our country does make a big effort in the education of its citizens; many, if not most, just tend to misuse them. I never realized this before; but as a high school senior who has been juggling different options of university all year long, I realize how we have many opportunities that poeple of other countries don't. Our country basically funds us to go to private university; there are many governmental organizations for this sole purpose. We have free entry to government-owned universities. Many of the companies also sponsor your studies, give you a monthly salary, and guarantee you a job. In other parts of the world, people have to stuggle in order to fund their studies by getting part-time jobs, taking bank loans, or put their families in a financially tense state.
For this, for what our country has done for us, I am very grateful. What I don't support however, is spending the government's money on an education if you don't want one. The UAE is doing us a great favor by providing us with these options, yet I see many people going into university with the aim of learning nothing at all. People apply for scholarships to study abroad, when in essence, they travel abroad for the exact opposite reason. Not everyone is like that, I won't say most of them are either; but the people which are, I do not respect. Just because you don't pay, doesn't mean that someone else doesn't. The country funds us as an investment, and I don't think the country would like to invest in airheads.
I heard that once, in America, people observed a certain (unwanted?) characteristic in people of the same age. What did they do? They studied their school curricula, and they found something that triggered or built this trait in them, in a third grade text book! Now I'm sure the UAE's education system is far from even realizing that maybe, the cause of many of our major weaknesses come from something triggered by something taught to us in school.
One of the main things that I observe to be clearly present in most Emiratis is our excessive passiveness. Maybe, that is not the result of a "gene"; after all, is it reasonable to suggest that this gene is present in, and affects, 95% or more of our population? Maybe, and this is just a guess, this could be a result of the poems in our Arabic textbooks? I might be picking on them mainly because I greatly dislike the choice of poetry we are taught, but still.
How are we supposed to be proactive when we constantly read poetry about nationalism and the tragedies of war, each and every single year. I would think that our brains would automatically program themselves to be passive, as these poets themselves are. I cannot remember a single poem I learned in the last few years, which was not either a monologue of the poet's emotions, a poem filled with passive anger, or a poem about something totally random and useless. Every year, we read a poem or two about Palestine; I appreciate their efforts of keeping Palestine in our minds, but I disagree with the method. Throwing poems at us, one filled with anger and the other filled with mourning, isn't going to change anything; especially when the poet is relatively unknown and has done nothing in his life for Palestine other than write more poems. Naturally, we become like these poets, only with a lesser grasp on the Arabic language.
The only good poems I studied were the ones I studied as a child, when poetry was too simple to have a deep meaning to them. Yes, poetry is very important in Arabic literature, but that doesn't mean that we have to learn the most meaningless of poems. Seriously, why do we have to learn by heart, a poem about a lonely father? They try to justify wasting our time with these lessons by scrutinizing the text in search for a literary element they may try to teach us. Since when did school mean wasting the students' time with useless junk?
Many of us have heard in a way or another, that schooling makes a person dumber. That may be true to some extent, since it limits you to a specific style of learning, which may be different in each class, but in the end may not be your ideal way of learning. What we can notice, is that the most advanced of teaching styles allow the students to do most of the work. As education technology advances, more emphasis is put on the student self-educating themselves, students are given more freedom in the classroom, and more hands-on work is done. Sadly, our national education system fails in keeping up to date. Using powerpoint presentations really doesn't do much in improving the way we learn. We're still yelled at if we whisper or laugh in class, even if the teacher isn't saying anything. We're expected to stay still and silent for the entire class, staring at the board, while the teacher doesn't really care if you understand anything or not. You just have to be quiet while she explains to a bunch of robot human beings something they will forget the moment class ends, if they even get it in the first place. This may not be the case everywhere, but it certainly is in many schools. That is how old our education style is, and then we wonder why everyone likes English more than Arabic.
Nothing illustrates that idea more than a true story I heard a week ago. A young girl in KG1 bit her classmate. That is kind of behavior is expected of children that young, isn't it? Well this girl was suspended from going to school for two whole weeks. After the child's family struggled to change the school's mind, they reluctantly shortened the suspension period. The girl is in her first year of school, would she really know what a suspension is? Wouldn't it even have any affect on the child? What's more though, is that on the girl's first day back to school, the school placed her in an empty classroom - all by herself - for the entire day. Is this, in any eccentric way, an acceptable way to treat a child? She has probably been traumatized for life, just because she bit her friend in a possible moment of rage.
There is an endless list of negatives roaming around my head regarding our education system, however, we must also never forget that there is always a positive to contrast the negative. The two opposites may not always equal each other, but certainly nothing is all good, or all bad.
For one, every Emirati is entitled to free schooling. The UAE government has generously provided the country's youth with free education. My opinions are based on my experiences in private schools, as I have not had the chance to experience what a public school is like. That said, the fact that over 90% of Emiratis are literate and that completion of school is compulsory definitely says something about our country's effort toward education, even if it wasn't of the best caliber.
Our country does make a big effort in the education of its citizens; many, if not most, just tend to misuse them. I never realized this before; but as a high school senior who has been juggling different options of university all year long, I realize how we have many opportunities that poeple of other countries don't. Our country basically funds us to go to private university; there are many governmental organizations for this sole purpose. We have free entry to government-owned universities. Many of the companies also sponsor your studies, give you a monthly salary, and guarantee you a job. In other parts of the world, people have to stuggle in order to fund their studies by getting part-time jobs, taking bank loans, or put their families in a financially tense state.
For this, for what our country has done for us, I am very grateful. What I don't support however, is spending the government's money on an education if you don't want one. The UAE is doing us a great favor by providing us with these options, yet I see many people going into university with the aim of learning nothing at all. People apply for scholarships to study abroad, when in essence, they travel abroad for the exact opposite reason. Not everyone is like that, I won't say most of them are either; but the people which are, I do not respect. Just because you don't pay, doesn't mean that someone else doesn't. The country funds us as an investment, and I don't think the country would like to invest in airheads.
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