Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette Making the transition from high school to university can be challenging. Students may not be accustomed to the immense amount of work that university professors expect of them. The multitude of tasks dealt out to them and the demanding schedules may seem overwhelming at first as students try to juggle between preparing for quizzes, research papers, projects, presentations, public speeches, and comprehensive final exams. The problem with the educational process in the Kingdom, which exists to varying degrees in both public and private schools, is the high level of students' dependence on the schoolteacher. It is not uncommon for some teachers to summarize lessons, simplify tests and even highlight the exact material that will appear on tests. In the long run, this form of teaching is not helpful; rather it is detrimental to the students' ability to seek knowledge and excel at the university level. Educator and psychologist Dr. Nahla Dabbas said, “Teachers and parents should place more emphasis on deep understanding, the learning process, and the love and curiosity for learning, while concentrating less on test scores and numbers. Encourage students to read, search for information, ask questions and pay better attention during lectures, rather than simply getting excellent grades regardless of the means.” Nonetheless, there seems to be a general consensus among students and university professors in the Kingdom that graduates from private schools are better prepared for university level work than graduates from public schools. The disparity lies not necessarily in the curriculum or the knowledge acquired in schools, or the information taught to students, or even the books. Public schools are usually found lacking (when compared to most private schools) in the set of lifestyle, studying, language, and communication skills that students are trained in.” The students who come from public schools are weaker in their general skills and in communication skills than their peers who come from private schools. The young women who studied at private schools are more competitive, motivated, and have a higher level of self-confidence and better communication skills. The students from public schools have lower self-confidence and are unable to express themselves freely. They may have mastered the grammatical and written skills of the English language but they lag behind in their listening, speaking, comprehension and conversational skills, which no doubt will negatively impact their academic performance. More practice in schools is surely needed in the spoken English language,” said Zeba Zaidi, IT lecturer at King Abdulaziz University. Sanna Dhahir, PhD, a professor at Effat University, agrees: “Students from private schools generally have better communication skills in English. They are better read in literature and other subjects that gives them an edge, especially at the start of their university career, over students coming from public schools. Since almost all university courses are taught in English, students coming straight from public schools are likely to experience a hard time until they manage to improve their English skills. These students usually catch up once they become more adept at the English language.” Becoming fluent and proficient in the English language was also stated as an initial obstacle for Hala Zain, a seventh-year medical student at Ibn Sina National College. “A major problem that students in the Kingdom face is that university curriculum is taught in English, whereas the curriculum in public schools and most private schools is taught in Arabic. It was easier for the students from the private international schools to keep up with the university workload than for those of us from public schools. In this regard, students from international schools have an advantage or a head start over the rest of us. For me, in the beginning it was extremely time consuming to study and translate terms from English to Arabic in order to understand then. However, with time, lots of practice and extra hard work, I managed and eventually performed very well in theoretical and practical assessments, and I will be graduating soon,” said Zain. Language is not the only ingredient for success. What universities all over the world want is a student who is well-rounded, skilled in a wide range of areas, and active. The ideal student is not simply the one who can retain a large volume of information and then recall and repeat it at will. Students who ask questions, take the initiative, and are innovative and well organized will no doubt get ahead. For years, Dr. Adel Batterjee has called for enhancing the educational system in the Kingdom to foster creativity and giftedness in students and to encourage the development of essential life-skills. He introduced special enrichment programs at his privately owned school in Jeddah, Dar Al-Thikr Schools. The goals of these programs entailed stimulating a higher level of thinking, critical and analytical skills, decision making and problem solving tools, and to offer extracurricular activities that help build the students' inherent talents and hobbies. Batterjee criticized the traditional method of teaching that involves rote learning and memorization of information and facts. In the programs which he adopted, diverse presentation styles were used to cater to the different and individual ways that students acquire knowledge, such as: conventional lectures, slide shows, visual aids, videos, pamphlets, books, open dialogue, activities, hands-on experiments, and more. By using a combination of these teaching methods, schools can reinforce the students' understanding and the actual application in real life of the knowledge gained. Researchers at Dar Al-Thikr School conducted a study and a series of tests for the students, using a variety of assessment tools both before and after the enrichment programs were implemented. Researchers found that such programs positively affected the overall academic performance of students. The test scores showed an increase by an average of 28 percent one year after the special programs were used at the school. The cognitive, creative and scholastic abilities of students improved beyond the average, normal annual rate of improvement as a result of such methods that nurture creativity and giftedness in students. This study was the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia. Changes must be made in both public and private schools in the Kingdom to prepare our students for university life, a productive career, and entry into the highly competitive job market. In addition to a solid educational background, students in university are also required to research, speak well in public, articulate their thoughts into clear writing, communicate well with people from all parts of the world, take notes quickly during lectures, and to be responsible and manage their time correctly. If they did not receive the adequate training to acquire these skills at school, they will no doubt fall short in university.
