Taking the education system to school

Each month, Weekend will pose a different question to be debated on by a series of female Emirati columnists. This month, we ask Dubai Abdulla Abulhoul:

Do you feel that the school systems, both public and post-secondary, are adequate for learning? What would you change, if anything?

A four-year-old child walks into class on the first day of kindergarten, eager to explore and learn. He enthusiastically grabs some crayons and scribbles on the outlined paper. The teacher instructs the child to not do so again, and to listen to their orders and instructions. At that very moment, the student starts to abandon one of his most important, God-given qualities: his creativity.

I graduated high school last year, and so I come with experience when I say that our educational systems need to go through a sort of reform. The schools in our country are either governmental or international. International schools include British, American and even German educational systems. It’s safe to say that the issue I’m addressing is then applied both nationally and internationally. What educational systems are basically doing is placing, on average, 30 different minds per class and examining them on the exact same questions. Thousands of students, with thousands of different minds, are expected to pass the exact same test. Those who pass feel like a burden has been lifted off their shoulders. Those who don’t feel like failures.

In return, we get a society that’s built on conformity and a lack of creativity. The world’s current educational systems are more focused on scientific material, like physics and chemistry. Society puts pressure on students to be doctors or lawyers. There’s nothing wrong with those respectable professions, but society cannot depend on them solely. I don’t believe that all students are meant to be lawyers or doctors. Some of us are destined to colour outside the lines.

If we flick through history’s pages, our generation’s heroes never fit into the common educational system. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg never conformed to their modern-day educational systems. I’m not trying to encourage dropouts; on the contrary, I’m pointing out the importance of having an educational system that caters to the needs of the new generation. Educational systems teach us what to think, not how to think. They are a vital part of society, for they house the next generation’s minds. They have the duty to raise a generation that are ready to make society a better place. How can that be possible if all educational systems are doing is producing generations who are expected to pass the exact same test?

What society needs today is a generation that bring innovation and creativity to the table. I respect every educator, for they dedicate their careers to ensuring that the upcoming generations have a better future. However, it’s time that they listened to our side of the story. The older generations have built the base, and it’s our time to add the necessary touches that fit our time.

At the age of 15, Dubai Abdulla Abulhoul published her first novel, Galagolia, in 2012 and was named the UAE’s youngest published author. She writes for multiple local newspapers, including Al Bayan and The Gulf Today.