Educational System

The report “School Failure Rate Raises Concern” (Oct. 20) ignores the most obvious problem: Too much emphasis is put on rote memorization rather than actual learning in our school system, and too high a percentage of final grades is based on students’ performance on midterm and final exams which, in fact, test little more than students’ ability to demonstrate their skills at rote memorization upon demand. I’m curious to know how many businesses in Saudi Arabia list “ability to memorize pages and pages of information” as a skill or ability they want in potential employees. And how many would say that they don’t care about the ability to analyze and synthesize information, think creatively and solve problems, just as long as the employee can recite the employee handbook, word for word, on demand? When we consider it this way, it’s clear that the way we teach our children and young people is not preparing them for real life. They can memorize, but they can’t do anything that has true value in the job market!

I remember doing my first research paper in the third grade in the US. It was a five-page composition on the state of Florida. I referred to encyclopedias and wrote to several tourist and governmental organizations in that state to obtain information for my report. From that point on, research and essays were a regular part of my educational experience. Compare this to my children’s experience in the Saudi educational system: My son, who is 13 years old and in eighth grade has never written an essay of any type, never done any research, and has no idea of how to analyze and synthesize information to form a thesis paper. I became very excited last year when he came home from school saying that one teacher had finally given them an assignment to write a paper. As it turned out, the students weren’t actually required to do anything more than write, word-for-word, something that they were to find in a book about a specific topic. Now there’s a beneficial skill — for plagiarists, that is!

The report mentioned student’s negative attitudes toward certain subjects such as English and math. If I had to learn what these kids are learning, my attitude would be negative as well. What’s the point in learning things that have no clear practical value? I think this must be especially annoying to students who are struggling to stay on top of the 17 or 18 subjects they study each year. If subjects were taught in a way in which real-life applications were used, I think students’ attitudes would improve. For example, instead of just teaching mathematical formulae, connect the use of those formulae to real-life problems which students will face after school, in their future careers. Instead of having students memorize examples of conversations in English, teach them English skills that they can use, such as reading and comprehendubg newspaper articles and great works of literature, practical conversation skills that one would expect to use in particular situations, etc. In other words, teach students functional skills that will be of benefit to them in their lives long after the final exams and for which the students can clearly see the value.

M. Michael, Alkhobar, published 24 October 2005

Human Suffering

Recently while browsing an expatriate website I came across an appeal posted byan expat who wanted to help the victims of the earthquake that shattered Pakistan and some parts of India. I was moved by this nice gesture — until I set my eyes on one line of the message. It said, “Let’s come forward and help our Muslim friends in Pakistan.” This left me wondering and raised many doubts. Was it that the person did not know who made up Pakistan’s population? Or did he forget to mention the other communities who too were hurt in this tragedy? Or was it that he thought that only Muslims were present at the time when the calamity struck? Or did he decide that God would only be unkind to Muslims and would spare others? It is a pity that despite all the education and exposure we get, there are many like him who still live within the impenetrable boundaries of communalism. Of course, there are times when they come out of those boundaries and speak of human brotherhood — but only when it suits them and they can get something out of it.

How easily these people close their eyes to the fact that hundreds of relief organizations working for Pakistani victims are from non-Muslims countries! We know, as they also must, that the aid pouring into Pakistan comes from all sides of the world without discrimination of any sort. Should we assume that those people are helping victims only after checking which religion they belong to? Even President Musharraf didn’t single out Muslim countries when he appealed for aid; he requested all countries to extend help to Pakistan at this difficult time.

One should always remember that when any tragedy strikes and a human being gets hurt, another human rushes to help. At that time religion, race and all other things must stop to exist — and only human suffering must matter.

Irene Johnson, Riyadh, published 24 October 2005

Parks and Greeneries

I agree with the suggestion that there should be more public spaces in the Kingdom’s cities for people to relax and enjoy. However, I do not think that planting bushes and rows of trees along the highways is a very good idea. While it looks beautiful, it is a waste of water. With proper planning of residential districts, maximization of park usage can be achieved, making the use of water in these parks less wasteful and relatively efficient.

I lived in Saudi Arabia for a very long time. In fact, I grew up in the Kingdom. In those years I noticed that many of the people employed in gardening were not trained to do the job; nor were the supervisors any better. As a result, there was a lot of waste. If municipal councils employ trained and experienced head gardeners, supervisors and managers, they can pass on their knowledge to these people. It is a simple case of logic coupled with an effort to solve this problem. The secret of improving things is simple: People have to care and want to improve in order to get anything done.

Steven Greenwood, United Kingdom, published 24 October 2005

Con Men on the Prowl

Mohammed Rasooldeen’s report “Needy or Greedy? Con Men Cash In on Ramadan Spirit” (Oct. 22) was absolutely true. Ramadan is the time when con men come out in hordes to rip off people who have kindness in their hearts. I travel often from Dammam to Riyadh and back. In the past three years, I have seen such people at almost every petrol station. I am a Pakistani and I have observed that most of the people doing this are Pakistanis. Another common factor is that almost 90 percent of them are in Oman-registered cars. I don’t know what the connection is, but this is a verifiable fact. Just last week I met such a family. The man approached me asking for help and I told him that I would give them whatever they needed if he would show me his passport and give me his telephone numbers. Another way, I said, was for him to sell his car or his wife’s jewelry. If they did not want to do either, I offered to take them to the SAPTCO station and buy bus tickets for all of them. At this point, the man cut me short. “I know all those ways you told me about. Now tell me what you can do for me now. Don’t waste my time,” he said. Giving money to such persons is wrong on many counts. For one, it encourages crooks to make cheating a lucrative business. For another, they, in effect, are stealing from the mouths of really needy people.

Usman Azam, Riyadh, published 24 October 2005

Divide and Rule

Jonathan Steele’s analysis “Saddam Trial a Sideshow to Shift Focus From Vote Count” (Oct. 22) explains the mystery of why the occupation forces decided that a one-day show had to be held immediately with Saddam on the stage. The trick has served its purpose. Other tricks are also serving their purpose. One of them is the refrain of Sunni-Shiite hate used to explain the bloodshed in Iraq. To me, it sounds too much like the old policy of divide and rule that colonial powers used to gain control over other people’s lands.

Iraq has always had a variety of ethnic communities. How is it that they, with all their differences and rivalries, were living without resorting to anything like the violence that has been racking the country since the invasion? The cause is the indiscriminate use of excessive violence by the invader forces. Those who get hurt hit out and target those they perceive as enemies. The invaders’ propaganda has succeeded in brainwashing Sunnis into believing that their enemies are the Shiites and vice versa. They are eliminating all experienced people. Their calculation is that once they get a generation unaware of its past, they won’t have to worry about uprisings or resistance.

Syed Akbar Hassan, Dammam, published 24 October 2005

Multiculturalism

For Britain, as well as for France, Holland, Denmark and the United States, multiculturalism has become a curse rather than the blessing it was once claimed to be. Cheap and tractable labor from the Indo-Gangetic plain was welcomed by Lancashire and Yorkshire mill owners. Dying textile industries continued to live, after a fashion, for another half-generation before their inevitable demise. Eventually and inevitably the mills closed just as everyone knew they would. Whole areas of towns such as Oldham and Rochdale are now controlled by Asian gangs, made up of unemployed and semi-employed youths, and consequently no-go areas for whites.

The same appalling phenomenon is now true of certain areas of Manchester and London, as any Mancunian or Londoner will readily confirm. In certain areas of South London, such as Brixton, gangsters of Caribbean descent possess firepower superior to that usually deployed by the Metropolitan Police.

On the issue of immigration, the Labour Party found itself impaled on a spike. On the one hand, British Labourites were, in theory, unswervingly loyal to the principles of the Socialist International, given to proclaiming that all humankind was one, happy and united. On the other hand, every grass-roots Labour Party member was painfully aware that the unstemmed immigrant flood was harming the interests of the British working class, both in the workplace and in the wider community.

Astoundingly, it was the Conservatives — who had formed every single government during the foundation years of Commonwealth immigration — who turned immigration into an election issue. During the 1964 election every primary schooler knew the jingle “If you want a nigger neighbor, vote Labour.” Labour canvassers’ shamefaced response was to mutter, “The Pakis and blacks came in under the Tories, not us.”

In his letter “Multiculturalism” (Oct. 20), Zafar Raja refers to Muslim Britons. In 1945 there were very few such people; there are now hundreds of thousands of them. Can any reasonable person pretend to believe that Britain is richer, or happier, as a result?

William Corr, Jubail, published 24 October 2005