Why Do We Know? Reforming the Philosophy of Education
My colleague Mohammed Al-Baghl, in his reference to the interview conducted by the Minister of Education with Al-Jarida newspaper, offered the minister golden advice regarding the education reform plan. Al-Baghl commented on the minister’s claim that the ministry had achieved 80 percent of its plan, describing it as an inexplicable rush. He argued that issues surrounding the evaluation of implementation and the haste to complete it are among the most prominent problems in measuring the performance of many ministries, not just the Ministry of Education. He stressed that it is untenable for the entity that designs the plan to be the same one that implements it and evaluates its results.
Al-Baghl’s remarks reflect a flaw afflicting most state ministries, but it becomes glaring when it comes to education, especially since education in Kuwait was once distinguished before suffering a severe setback, specifically in the period following the invasion. Therefore, any study or plan that does not trace its analysis and figures back to the causes of that decline will merely repeat the patterns of all previous five-year plans, repeated by every minister who has headed the Ministry of Education, from Dr. Ahmed Al-Rubaie’s (may God have mercy on him) theory of the inverted pyramid to the current minister’s project.
The very word “reform” does not align with the concept of education as a dynamic, evolving value. Education, in general, is not a phased project that begins with a plan and ends with it; rather, it is a continuous, cumulative process linked to the movement of the surrounding society, its culture, and its political, cultural, social, and intellectual projects. The school, as an educational institution, does not operate in a vacuum; it is directly connected to the climate, orientation, and awareness of the society that nurtures it. Proposals advocated by educators regarding the need to stimulate students’ creative and critical thinking are often suppressed by a society that forbids questioning, encourages intellectual conformity and discipline, and demands adherence to societal norms, culture, opinions, values, and beliefs, viewing any deviation as rebellion against society, its traditions, and its behavioral and cognitive standards.
The failure of the Credit Hours System, which began implementation in 1979–1980, was not because it was a poor educational system per se, but because, as a system, it clashed with a base of social, intellectual, and cultural heritage, leading to its failure and eventual suspension in 2005. The Credit Hours System was modeled on the American system regarding grade accumulation, including freedom of course selection, cumulative GPA, and flexibility in graduation. Such an educational system succeeded in America due to a compatibility between societal culture and the educational system. However, it failed in Kuwait because the Credit Hours System presupposed a student accustomed from an early age to freedom of choice and responsibility, within a school environment characterized by flexibility in dealing with students, supported by teachers operating with professional independence, parents, and a society that recognizes the rights of all these parties, and a labor market that keeps pace with educational outputs, absorbs them, and utilizes them effectively.
What applies to the failure of the Credit Hours System project also applies to all our initiatives to advance education. Most of them focus more on form than on addressing the core of the issue here. Perhaps the primary reason agreed upon by most educators, based on their field experience, is that all attempts to advance education fail to address the philosophy of education from its foundations. In other words, they fail to pose a fundamental question: “Why do we teach?” Is the goal to fill job vacancies in the country, or to instill and memorize societal norms to students? Is it to build individuals with independent awareness, enlightened, free, and creative thought, or is it to repatriate and recycle what is already established in the collective consciousness?
The educational process is broad and comprehensive, extending far beyond the Ministry of Education alone. It is the responsibility of the family, society, media, and all state institutions.
Saeedah Fahad Al-Muajel
