A question I have to ask after seeing a
video of University students not knowing basic answers to basic questions... One girl thought
Hungary is a planet in the space while another thought
Berlusconi is a brand for modern cars tires!!! But when asked about Nancy Ajram... they just all knew the answer!!! And then I saw
one of the many videos about
the recent fight that took place at Jordan University... The University I graduated from and worked at for 3 years....
These two videos and
my own experience after teaching at University level for almost 6 years I have to wonder about the efficiency of our Higher Education System...
I think that the problem has many dimensions playing at it and causing it...
One of the most important dimensions is our High School Education... as
I quoted before in one of my posts... it seems that our Education system is based on established facts and information and to be a good student is to confine your thinking to these establishments... most of the information there are dull, old and irrelevant... Yet these information are what will take students to the next level of their education, their "Higher Education"...
Besides these textbooks, students are not encouraged to read... Reading is one of the greatest habits that most Arab countries lack... How can we solve this problem? I honestly don't know... I don't understand how can people live without reading? for me I was brought up to read and was encouraged by my dad's collection of books and my parents habits of reading.... and thus reading became a natural act..
But it is not reading that can only open up people's minds... getting into serious or dare I say intellectual talks with peers, family and friends is as influential... this has to lead me back to the educational institutions... how much are we allowed to question? Are there red lines that we shouldn't question? Shouldn't everything be tested to stand against reason? When we start thinking about everything around us and discussing these issues with others, our minds will start to expand... we will realize what intrigue us and try to find out more about that and here the books and reading enter...
Even better, now we have the Internet... sometimes I literally hold back my tears when I think about the magnitude of the Human Intellect that is laid before me... just a click away.. however this click seems to be
a curse to most universities than a bless...
Anyways back to my post...
So now... we have one dimensional students pursuing their higher education...
most of these students didn't choose what they want to study but were forced by the way the system functions to study whatever major... How can they excel in what they are doing? Why would they be compelled to read and expand their minds?
What is to fill their minds? for no matter what... the mind has to be filled? Hence enter Nancy Ajram, et al...
Aside from that you have people who are given chances to enter into Universities based on other considerations which we all know about... some of these students would have extreme loyalty to their tribes and clans...
So... to sum things up...
You have one dimensional thinkers... non-readers... pop culture worshipers... forced paths followers... clans and tribes supporters... all forming the largest portion of our future generation... How can we then be surprised of the videos above?
So what is the solution? What do you think ought to be done?
How can you recreate a whole generation?
I know that we have some bright people here and there... but these are not enough... there must be a way out of this... and I'm talking about massive change before our Higher Education System takes us any LOWER than now...
