FEMALE academicians at the Faculty of Arts for Girls in Dammam agree unanimously that the percentage of discussions involving students at lecture halls do not exceed one percent. They have blamed the virtual absence of discussions and dialog on the high number of students attending a lecture at any given time -- up to 160 students -- in addition to lengthy syllabi. An academician at a girls college in Dammam admitted having taught junior year more than 120 hours without dedicating so much as a quarter of an hour to converse with her students. “I have grown accustomed to this teaching style because I am a graduate of that same college and was tutored in exactly the same manner,” she said. A group of male and female college students of various colleges and universities throughout the Kingdom agreed that the culture of dialog is non-nexistent and that they are denied the opportunity to hold discussions during lectures. “Many of our professors lack the skills of conducting dialogs, the ability to accommodate the opinions of others or to convince others, and to conduct the sort of cross analysis which yields results,” they said. Moudi Al-Qahtani, Mona Al-Khaledi and Farida Al-Ghamdi said that throughout the four years of their study, they were never given the opportunity by the faculty, to hold open discussions, particularly with male professors who can only be addressed through closed television circuits. Bassam Al-Na'im, a sophomore year student at the Teachers' College, insists on discussing various issues with teachers to air his scientific counter opinions and decries the old fashioned teaching styles of various teachers. Students Mohammad Al-Hajeri and Hamdan Al-Zahrani said that teachers are keen on ending lectures to go home as fast as they can. “They have no interest in dialogs and they downplay its importance,” they said. Other students said that conversing with teachers during the academic year creates tensions and compel students to remain silent, preferring not to bring up whatever meaningful ideas or issues they may wish to discuss. Al-Hajeri said that over three years of study at the Teachers' College, more than 16 out of the 22 teachers “did not even pay attention to the students and did not know their names.” Dr. Khidr Al-Qurashi, Chairman of the Education Committee at the Shoura Council, stressed that students are the core of the educational process, which should always stimulate them to research and explore issues. “College students are entitled to take part in discussions and 70 percent of a given lecture's time should be dedicated to discussions with students,” he said. He criticized the “silent attitude” exhibited by students and the practice of indoctrination used to enhance students' skills. Al-Qurashi cautioned that this methodology yields a negative educational output and results in the marginalization of students and undermines their achievements. “When students take in information without analyzing and screening it, this kills their creativity and makes them lead a passive educational and scientific life,” he said. Al-Qurashi is of the view that college teachers should be more mentors than tutors and that they should guide their students. Students should be more outgoing in expressing their points of view. Dr. Arwa Al-Shibani, Associate Professor at King Faisal University, asserts that college professors need to develop and learn modern techniques, including positive accommodation of students' views and discussions. She ascribed the indoctrination style of teaching to the large numbers of students in lecture halls, indicating that no more than 40 students should be present at any given time in order for teaching to be effective. She added that discussions should be conducted by dividing students into groups and assigning exercises to be solved on the spot to each group, in order for students to interact with their teachers. She also called for more training courses to polish students' social and interpersonal skills. Dr. Suzan Bassiouni, Professor of Psychological Health at the College of Education for Girls in Makkah said that discussion and dialog conducted during lectures help to form students' personalities and provide intellectual and mental stimulus, in addition to promoting stronger bonding of students and teachers. Dr. Bassiouni also called for addressing inadequacies and social shyness of students and for encouraging them to take part in all activities and for drawing on the experiences of a number of Arab and foreign countries where students are more outgoing and responsive. She also called for dedicating 30 to 40 minutes after each lecture to discussions with students in order to evaluate students and identify those who are keen on learning and those who only seek to earn college degrees. She proposed training courses for students who lack interest in the educational process to restore their self-confidence. Dr. Elham Al-Jifri, Academician at the College of Education in Makkah, stressed that learning through closed circuits is one of the reasons why dialogs and discussions among students and teachers are absent. “University teachers are content with relaying information and giving assignments. They ask students to do research work without listening to their queries or discussing assignments with them,” she said. - Al-Watan __
