No matter how weak or incapable education in some countries is in producing the civilized individual required to fulfill their daily responsibilities, this does not justify their persistence with an absolute collective approach to educating and engaging with young people. Rather, in the age of globalization, communication, and digital information, they must urgently shift to a more selective, multi-track, specialized education for the gifted, the ordinary, the educated, and those with minimal special needs, as well as for professionals and technicians.
Of course, Some countries cannot immediately individualize education or fully adopt small-group methods, because such methods fall beyond their financial, training, and applied human resources. However, with a little effort and effort, they can educate young people based on their intellectual, cognitive, and general physical abilities.
We initially propose the following paths for this:
Educating the Gifted and Talented
This segment of young people is, in fact, the driving force of progress and creativity in any society. The only way to achieve excellence, both domestically and within the international system, is by nurturing and investing in the intelligence and special interests of gifted students in the various specializations they desire for themselves and for the social and professional environments in which they are concerned.
In order for some countries to acquire competent leaders in gifted education, they can, in principle, consider the following:
1. A census of gifted/outstanding students in scientific/vocational fields at various school levels, starting from the beginning of elementary school.
2. Classifying gifted/outstanding students into academic/vocational specializations based on the results of various specialized psychological, academic, and vocational tests, consistent with the individual’s specific intelligence (aptitude) and then with the strategic institutional needs of society. This ensures that each student is assigned a role that befits their desires and their inherent ability to be creative in the future.
3. Exposing gifted/outstanding students in each specialization to additional practical knowledge beyond the curriculum each year, before working to promote them to the next school year. This procedure has two benefits: deepening the specialized understanding of individual students, and preserving their school time from being wasted, especially since they are able to complete the curriculum in a much shorter timeframe than their average peers.
4. Exposing gifted/high-achieving students in each discipline to field/practical experiences, through which they learn about the reality of the knowledge and skills they are studying academically, as well as about innovators in their fields, and the struggles, difficulties, and needs of community institutions in areas related to their studies.
5. Dividing school time after middle school, whenever possible, into two halves: the first half is devoted to studying the school subjects generally assigned to students, while the second half is devoted to studying subjects, sciences, or professions related to their hobbies.
6. Establish specialized comprehensive schools whenever possible, parallel to general secondary schools, where gifted/high-achieving students study, on a credit-based basis, similar to university education departments, their chosen specializations in the sciences, social studies, mathematics, science, Arabic, foreign languages, information technology, and other available life and cultural sciences that will be beneficial in the future.
In the event of limited resources in some developing Arab countries, existing schools, or a portion thereof, may be used during or outside of regular school hours to establish specialized schools. Alternatively, a league of several schools in the city or region may be formed to jointly establish or equip a special school for the education of the gifted.
7. Allow gifted/high-achieving students to advance in achievement without being restricted by the achievements of their average peers. Here, we may observe some students completing their school education in six or eight years, instead of the traditional twelve years for general school education.
8. Establish special classes for gifted and talented students within regular schools, when society is unable to establish independent private schools or when the number of such students in a village, city, or population center is limited. One or more special educators are responsible for teaching ten to fifteen students at various school levels.
The principle we emphasize here, both educationally and humanely, regardless of the organizational arrangements for gifted and talented students, is to prevent the future of individuals, institutions, and society from being squandered by wasting the creative potential of emerging generations as a result of the current school system. This can be achieved by adopting any administrative or educational approach to dealing with individual students, provided that this approach always fosters their learning and development for the better.
Educating People with Cognitive, Sensory, and Physical-Motor Special Needs
People with special needs have a human, social, and professional right in some societies, to learn what they are capable of, including useful sciences and professions that support their personal lives and contribute to meeting the needs of society.
It is worth emphasizing here that individuals with disabilities possess special abilities (special intelligence) that are superior to those of their normal and gifted peers, and sometimes even more so, in various academic and professional fields. The creative poet Abu al-Ala al-Ma’arri, the genius musician Beethoven, and the writer Helen Kell are but a few examples of this.
The special categories that must be addressed by schools are as follows:
1. Slow-learning students (usually with an IQ of 80-90).
2. Cognitively retarded students, i.e., students with IQs between 50-80.
3. Visually impaired students (blind).
4. Hearing impaired students (deaf).
5. Speech impaired students (mute).
6. Physically impaired students (organic motor impairment).
We suggest, if these special categories of students are limited in rural or urban areas, creating a separate class within a regular school that brings together all students with a single disability. These students will be taught by a qualified academic and pedagogical teacher throughout elementary school, and another teacher during middle and high school.
Thus, society, in principle, ensures the full employment of its members, achieving two important outcomes:
* Each individual supports themselves and their families, thus eliminating the need for society to support them, freeing society in some countries from the economic and humanitarian burdens it already faces.
* Young people’s appreciation of society and its institutions for their care for their educational and human needs, their preparation for constructive community participation, and their treatment of it as a civilizational value.
Educating Ordinary Students:
School education is generally for ordinary students (who constitute approximately 67% of all educated young people). It appears ineffective due to its collectivism, routine, and perceived weaknesses in its staff, curricula, educational materials, and formal and practical environments. Hence, we observe a high rate of failure, dropout, and academic and behavioral problems among young people.
In order for school education to transform from its current stagnation to one that is more beneficial to the individual and society, it is necessary to adopt new strategies that are in line with the spirit of the times and the needs of students in learning and developing independent, functioning personalities. Clinical education, students managing themselves, blended education, and online education are examples of modern school strategies that can be adopted.
It is also necessary to develop the competencies of school personnel in the areas of interests and methods of interacting with colleagues and students, in systematic teaching, information technology, and digital education. In addition, it is necessary to develop the physical school environments in terms of form and general composition, educational materials, equipment, and supporting human and material services.
Classroom organization must be revamped to improve their responsiveness to learners’ psychosocial needs.
The parallel rows of student desks in current classrooms, heavy, four-seat desks that cannot be moved to accommodate diverse learning styles, are irrevocably outdated in light of developments in globalization, digital information technology, and the requirements of a civic education open to others, groups, and cultures within their societies and across the world.
Integrated civic education, based on persuasion through dialogue, discussion, exchange of opinions, and direct mutual understanding, both face-to-face and online, has begun to exclude the old methods of collective education, such as lectures, dictation, and collective interaction with students as passive listeners to the teacher’s discourse, which is sometimes unrelated to the curriculum or, in other cases, useless. Students are thus left without an opinion, question, or even interact with the learning process.
In light of the ongoing developments in human nature and goals in psychology, education, sociology, and digital technology, it has become imperative to change traditional, rigid classroom structures that allow for a single, non-interactive communication channel sent directly from the teacher. They are then replaced by open classroom structures that provide avenues for meaningful communication between students, both individually and in groups, and with the teacher, as well as with services appropriate to the learning situation.
Adopting a “learning vision” for open individual and small-group study schedules
Daily school civic education schedules are characterized by being:
* Integrated, combining the types, locations, and times of real-life, direct learning inside and outside of school or university, and online.
* Free, flexible, and open in its implementation by individual students based on their achievement in the curriculum units and their personal learning pace.
* Not uniform and collective. Class schedules are, in fact, prescriptions for individual students and small groups with similar learning goals and achievement.