Return to the State School
When the conscious community perceives the importance of public affairs in a given situation, and the correctness of its unified decision on a significant issue... this feeling and that decision arise suddenly and spontaneously... as if they emanate from a single heart and one body. This is what is called “enlightened public opinion.” It is an independent entity that is first created, then crawls and grows until it becomes a mature, driving, and guiding force that influences society and is taken into serious account, much like the values that were prevalent before the discovery of oil in Kuwait, and their binding authority over everyone, such that they wield power akin to that of written law! This is what we all strive for...
Here arises the question: How do we create this public opinion? The answer is that it comes into existence if suitable soil for its emergence is present... And this suitable soil is (the united nation) in its ethnicity, religion, traditions, hopes, and goals... even in its distinctive attire and dress...
The answer is that it is nurtured, just as every child is raised, through comprehensive general education that forms a unified mindset within its organic fabric. Through this type of education, public opinion matures with a single mode of thought that aims solely at the public good, enabling it to disseminate swift, decisive, and firm opinions on its issues and developments... opinions that are not shaken by storms or the vicissitudes of time.
Finally, do we have a public opinion in Kuwait? In my humble opinion, our country has some of the most suitable soil for the existence of a mature and strong public opinion... But what we lack is the attention given to nurturing this newborn. The education that qualifies it to become an independent entity, standing on its own two feet, thinking with a single mind collectively, prioritizing the public good, and ultimately forming a real, substantive phenomenon rather than merely a rhetorical one!
The soil is suitable, but the nurturing is neglected... Everything in Kuwait turns this newborn into a distorted, agitated, intellectually loose, and scattered-minded creature. This has reflected in our divergent views on pivotal issues, ranging from the far right to the far left... Because everything in our country has multiple versions, especially after we lost the first Board of Education and its men—men of state.
Yes, we have foreign, government, religious (and “Dar’ami”), university (municipal), and external education, each with its own outputs and objectives... We have European-style residential neighborhoods and popular neighborhoods... pure neighborhoods and mixed ones... We have municipal attire that makes people look at those who are (Gulf immigrants), and we have clerics, those who cover their heads, and those who darken their faces... We have those wearing Western dress, those in traditional attire (Sadari, bisht, and a neat agal), and those in mixed attire, wearing a cap and pajamas, walking through the malls to shop... etc. Even our food is a mix of traditional and modern dishes, and we have fast food and “Laghawis” (a traditional sweet)!
All this mixing in the conditions of education, upbringing, politics, and the framework within which people live in our country... has necessarily resulted in different mindsets, each thinking in its own specific way... and seeing the world from a unique perspective. As a result, each individual has been confined within a separate circle disconnected from the reality in which they were raised, believing that “the world is their world alone” and that their opinion is the only correct one...
Currently, their mind is trapped (in an iPhone device), seeing in it a real world rather than a virtual one! They are sedentary yet do not know their neighbor living next door! Let alone feeling the sentiments of another citizen living far away! Even Kuwait Television has failed to satisfy all these conflicting tastes! For this reason! As for radio, it is in one valley, and the people are in another...
In this vein, the mindset of a single nation has disintegrated into multiple, divergent, and conflicting mentalities, a fragmentation that has been reflected in the disintegration of the national personality. If a nation’s personality disintegrates, it means its dissolution and clinical death. Therefore, it is imperative that we, in the educational sphere, take the initiative to “gather the scattered threads,” beginning with a focus on the common denominators for shaping and educating public opinion. This education should be grounded in unifying and reinforcing the new constants of Kuwait, disseminating them throughout societal culture and public taste, and harmonizing the student’s environment and perspective on the world around him.
If we commit ourselves to this unified education with sincere dedication—particularly under the current circumstances facing the country—we will, in due course, achieve a nation with a strong personality and a public opinion unified in its culture, both in its inputs and outputs. Such a public opinion will share a common mentality, capable of weighing issues judiciously, discerning what is beneficial and what is harmful, and distinguishing right from wrong with wisdom and deliberation, free from rashness or what is colloquially referred to as “Arab passion.” In this way, we will truly have returned to the great Kuwaiti school that unites everyone under its umbrella.
