Tune in but don’t drop out: engaging with high school students is complex

No child can learn without their parent’s help. Parents should be participants, not spectators in this process, writes Marym Ismail

In the Turkish historical drama, Magnificent Century, Suleiman the Magnificent’s eldest son, Mustafa, is raised by a combination of his family and his teachers. His brothers were not so fortunate. They were left to their own devices while their mother busied herself with court politics.

In the UAE, many students suffer a similar fate to Suleiman’s brothers and drop out of school, cursing themselves to face a future that is potentially filled with regret.

But, as author Nassim Taleb reminds us in his work Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder: “The robustness of a society depends on people of courage and sacrifice, which is what it takes stay in school even when you feel you really don’t want to.”

How then should we interpret this quote in the context of the UAE and the high rates of drop out from education? Consider learning disabilities. Shadiah Abdullah, who runs an education programme in Ajman, told me that it was common for a student’s learning disabilities to go undiagnosed. Inevitably, as time goes by, the student gets frustrated and drops out.

Male students may also lack adequate role models when they are at school. This problem is compounded when the teacher in front of them is not Emirati.

“The reason why many Emirati girls are successful in education and the workplace is because many of them have Emirati teachers,” according to Ms Abdullah.

“These women know the culture and understand their students. The students also, therefore know their limitations. They have no choice but to buckle down and get to work.”

Since very few Emirati men teach, other kinds of motivation must be put in place to ensure that boys stay in school and acquire adequate skills – like having a teacher or a parent they don’t want to disappoint, or meeting some personal benchmark.

One way to encourage students to stay the course could be to require candidates to sit entrance exams for government jobs. This would make all students strive more. As, indeed, would the imposition of some kinds of penalty, like being barred from seeking a public sector position if that candidate failed to complete secondary school.

Local heroes also play their part in reducing dropout rates. Such figures can inspire students to go back to school and change their lives. They provide examples of what students can do in their future and what is needed to achieve their goals. The Awadhi brothers of Peeta Planet, the gourmet shawarma business owners turned TV entertainment impresarios, are a great example of this.

There are also some practical issues that need to be addressed. It is often said that many are wary of outside educational systems and go into what the educator Herbert Kohl, calls “not learning” mode.

This happens when the student is required, according to Kohl, “to learn from a stranger who doesn’t respect your integrity and means a major sense of loss of self.”

This “loss of self” may be avoided if schools were built on the Quranic model, in which small groups of students were attached to a teacher first learning Quran, Arabic, and Tefsir, before examining the connections between this and secular education. This would reinforce adab, Islamic manners of kindness, respect, and akhlaq-moral character. Parents will no doubt be pleased with the results.

No child can learn without their parent’s help. Parents should be participants, not spectators in this process. This means providing a place to study, help with homework, following up with their work and talking to the child and the school. There may be some students who are especially driven, but even those need guidance. This country is a land of baraka and rizq, blessings and benefits – and part of this is Emirati youth.