Comments on: Consumerised Education

By: MohJee

MohJee — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:42:03 +0000

I can tell that you’re really passionate about the subject since you’ve used not-so-nice words couple of times in this article. It goes without saying, though, that our educational system is indeed a joke. Everywhere you turn there’s some “university”; they became like cold stores. Nine out of ten college graduates have a degree in business. Hell, I’m currently 2nd-year in college here in Bahrain studying business; 80% of the people I know are studying business. What the hell… It would be a stroke of luck if we actually got decent jobs in the future seeing as how the market is already saturated as it is.

You said: “Tear down the school’s perimeter walls. Something that is 10-foot high surmounted by barbed wire or metal spikes is not conducive to creating the required trust-based educational establishment.”

I agree completely with that point. I know a very fitting quote for this dilemma which says, “Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.” (Plato).
Making students feel they’re imprisoned is exactly the reason most of them flush out the little information that they may actually could have learned otherwise (Besides the fact that our schools don’t make students understand but instead makes them memorize stuff like parrots). I hope the situation improves for the next generations. Otherwise we’ll see increasing numbers of citizens flying to other countries to study and get jobs.

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By: Samira

Samira — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:19:42 +0000

Can I also add relating to ‘Religious Education’ that it should be taught the whole episode of bin laden and the the whole history behind how people and groups twisted the words of religion (any religion) to their own agenda and goals. People need to be aware the reasoning and understanding before a kid grows up and thinks its absolutely essential to go to Afghanistan for ‘training’.. this is the fact today. let’s try to stop it please.

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By: Husaini

Husaini — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:39:28 +0000

The truth is, that the educational systems are designed intentionally to be inadequate because in the whole Arab region, because poor education results in a stronger hold of power. The arab world has always been against free thinkers, innovation may result in revolution, these are all the factors the ruling class are afraid of.

Had we been pro-education, the Arab world does have very smart scientist and innovators, who simply do not have any funding in order to pursue their developments. Hence they go to the West, where their ideas are welcomed with open arms.

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By: mahmood

mahmood — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:13:04 +0000

There’s also The Merchants by Michael Field, always a good read.

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By: Leith

Leith — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:35:35 +0000

Mike, I have read The Persian Gulf by Wilson, and I suggest that you read it if you want to hear a different version from the one you have been taught. The “truth” is that most ruling families of the GCC used to engage in piracy, which means that their economies did not depend entirely on pearl fishing. However, Wilson has his references and you can question that as well.

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By: Mike P

Mike P — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:07:11 +0000

Leith, I remember being force-fed the government’s version of Bahrain’s history and the lead up to it’s independence. Our humanities school book was actually authored by the govt and it was our only source of information on the subject. I can still remember the big Ministry of Education logo on the front of the book.

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By: Leith

Leith — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:15:42 +0000

The sad thing about Bahrain and the rest of the totalitarian Arab countries is that their educational system is built on indoctrination rather than education. You cannot have a different opinion, nor are you allowed to take a different approach solving problems. In addition, subjects such as history and religion are only taught from the perspective of the state, which you cannot question. For example, you are not taught about the piracy in the Gulf, you are not taught about the Assyrians, you are not taught about the Safavids, you are not taught about pre-Islamic Arabia and you are not taught that much about the Greeks when they were in Bahrain. In addition, you are not given a proper project to write, nor are you given any real assignments. A lot of teachers did not check if the students really did there homework because most students used to copy each other. However, the maths teachers were the only ones that cared, and I respect them. It was sad to see that many of who just memorised and cheated in their exams got high grades and were awarded scholarships. I assume that many of them continued to cheat even when they went to university. Overall, I doubt if there is going to be a complete overhaul of the educational system because if that happens, the dominating culture will change and we will see less of what we are seeing today. For example, sectarianism will disappear because people will start to question their beliefs, and we will see less prejudice.

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By: Mike P

Mike P — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:47:21 +0000

This might sound like a really trivial question but are there any research-led universities in Bahrain?

I’ve been looking at the websites of the Bahraini based universities and none of them seem to be actively involved in any research.

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By: mahmood

mahmood — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:25:15 +0000

Welcome Bu Yousef!

I think these walls and all manner of fences etc are designed by inspiration from prisons. The difference is that they go one step further: they are designed to keep people OUT and imprison those who are IN too.

Education is a secondary circumstance of those buildings.

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By: mahmood

mahmood — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:21:50 +0000

Thanks for your comment Janessa. I am convinced that the “hawzas” (and their counterpart) are no where near being innocent. What they do, and what I have observed, is that they polarise society even more. They entrench differences rather than ameliorate them. They are one of the main tools used to drive a wedge in the heart of this community. They serve no real spiritual purpose other than spreading hate or at least intolerance. Especially that they are not really supervised and even if they are, those who will in this political circumstance lack credibility. In short, they are used politically to further agendas rather than spread understanding and spirituality.

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