For the Love of Learning

[Ummati]

For the Love of Learning: Don’t Mind the Grades

In light of global school reforms in the pursuit of higher education standards, Juli Herman scrutinises the importance of grades.

You will find very few parents who won’t ask their children, “So how did you do on your exam?” Attaining good grades has become the main focus of parents and students, because it has become the means through which perceived good education is achieved. Before there were grades, student evaluation was more individualized and subjective. Student evaluation was a form of feedback on particular tasks assigned by the teacher to a student. The purpose was to help both teacher and student pinpoint what needed to be worked on and what the student had grasped well. With the Industrial revolution, these subjective and individualized student evaluations have morphed into a standardized version of student evaluation which is represented by letter or numerical grades. A single letter now conveys how much a student has learned and retained.

However, do grades really do this? Grades are not that all encompassing. They don’t tell us the whole story. What they do tell for sure, is how well the student did in that particular test, not necessarily how much the student has learned, retained long term, or even understood. A student may have studied hard for the exam and aced it, but that doesn’t tell us if the student has even understood what she studied or retained it after the exam. In fact, in this race towards good grades, schools have been teaching students test-taking skills. So what do good grades really convey?

Just as grades are slapped onto meat packets on assembly lines in factories, grades are being slapped onto projects, tests, and exams, thereby rendering students as products to be labeled and sorted. Today, grades are thought to play a huge role in determining one’s future where academics are seen as being superior to non academic areas. However, as Sir Ken Robinson, a world renowned education and creativity expert, puts it, the human community thrives on the diversity of strengths and abilities. A fireman is no less valuable than a doctor, nor is a carpenter less valuable than a university professor.

According to Sir Ken Robinson, we are suffering from an academic inflation. Before universities mushroomed, only a select few would be privileged enough to pursue tertiary education. Today however, even if you hold a degree or degrees, it doesn’t guarantee you a job. Similarly, there are so many A plusses in university application piles, that universities are now looking beyond grades. As seemingly efficient as it is in terms of producing student evaluations, grades has become so commonplace, that in actuality, it doesn’t carry much real value in what really matters; the love of learning.

The first step to keeping the love of learning intact in your children is to adopt a paradigm shift with regards to how you view education. View schools as only one of the resources of learning in a larger world of attaining education. Don’t think of school as being the only and final authority on education. The whole world is a classroom if we treat it as such. If parents are able to adopt this mindset, it would make it easier for them to not take grades too seriously.

Don’t allow grades to define your child’s sense of success and failure.

Treat them not as a determinant of your child’s present and future success but simply as one of the requirements your child has to fulfill to get through the system, that is, if your child is in the system. Instead of asking your child, “So how did you do in your math test?” ask, “So what was the most interesting thing you did in math today?” Ask questions like, “What did you learn in history today?” and “What do you think about the English-French wars?” There’s no one right answer to questions like these.

The objective is to emphasize the thought process in the various stages of learning instead of on the results of a performance. It doesn’t mean that you don’t care about how the child does in school (if this becomes a problems with the teachers), but it just shows that you care more about him engaging in learning. After all, learning is a life process. Any performance that is demanded of something that is still in progress will always be lacking. If it is not, then something has gone awry. This kind of thinking requires stepping out of the box, zooming out, and looking at the bigger picture. It’s not going to be easy, because grades are such a dominant part of the school’s culture.

Thus it is even more important that the parents are truly able to change their mindsets about school and grades. Let’s say your child comes home with a C for his science project. On the forefront, you can muster up, “Well, we did have fun doing that project, didn’t we? Remember when your volcano spewed red bubbling lava? ” while your insides churn with pain. But this will manifest itself in your expression or body language. Your child will detect this, and he will continue with the belief that good grades are more important after all. However, this doesn’t mean that you’re content with letting your child have C’s and D’s in his report card. Because he still has to go through the system, you can make him understand that in the larger context of life, being engaged in what he’s learning is more important that being able to answer questions correctly all the time.

After all, learning is a life process. Any performance that is demanded of something that is still in progress will always be lacking.

Nevertheless, because grades do matter to a certain point, he still needs to get help and work on getting at least decent grades, at least for the sake of pursuing his area of academic interest. Since the disparate subjects in school do converge in real life, he will need fair knowledge of at least some of the subjects in order to master the dominant subjects of his area. My daughter loves psychology but she doesn’t really care for chemistry. I make her aware that at one point in time, chemistry and psychology will merge and so despite her indifference bordering on dislike of chemistry, she still needs to understand it well to truly master psychology. Learning becomes more meaningful with a purpose.

Along with taking grades less seriously, rewards and punishment for good and bad grades should disappear as well. Otherwise, we’re still sending the message that grades is the only key to success. Taking it easy on grades is only one of the ways through which you can preserve the love of learning. If it’s the only thing you do in adopting this paradigm shift in viewing education, you won’t get very far. In fact, it can be a disaster. Since the whole world is a classroom, a lifestyle of learning has to take place for the whole family in order for the love of learning to thrive in everyone.

[Ummati]

[Ummati]

If Only I Did READ

by Mehmudah Rehman



I was flipping through my blue Physics text book, which had exactly 796 pages. “Oh God,” I whispered to myself. Will I really be asked to read 796 pages worth of Physics? And then will I be expected to understand the information, and later apply it? I most certainly did do all that and more in my school years, as I incessantly solved past papers and did random exercises to pass my exam.

I remember finding my Economics book in my bag too – another 900 paged monstrosity – oh and did I mention we had an entirely new one (almost equally healthy) to discuss the Macro part of it? Surely, I did not forget my favourite English Literature did I? Only three plays by William Shakespeare and a delightful novel by Tennyson, and a couple of others. Then there was Psychology, with that teacher who was such a hard task-master as we meandered through Freud and Jung and Erikson. As I look back at my academic years, I feel grateful for all the knowledge I acquired and can implement. One book however, got slightly overlooked.

The Qur’an.

Totally overlooked, in fact. Where I learnt the principles of e=mc squared and all those rules of trigonometry or calculus, I think someone forgot to teach me the rules of Islam beyond the customary Salah and fasting.

That one book that Allah sent down, and made incumbent on every Muslim to read and apply in their lives. It’s not like I didn’t read the Qur’an at all, of course. A Qur’an teacher came home every evening to teach me how to read the Arabic alphabet. He corrected my ‘Qaaf’ and ‘Haa’ and I happily repeated after him. I’m afraid I never wondered what the words that those letters consisted of meant. Qur’an was to be repeated and portions of it, like the Ayat-ul-Kursi, were to be learnt by heart and read at night, but that was it. In Ramadan, many in the family would read the entire book in only one month but there was hardly ever any talk of knowing what Allah was trying to tell us!

So my childhood passed and I grew up into a confused Muslim who didn’t really know what Allah wanted from her. I certainly knew what Sigmund Freud said, but I didn’t know what the most perfect human being, our beloved Nabi, Muhammed (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) said. Where I read thousands of pages of curriculum books, and thousands more of novels that I liked to read, I couldn’t (or wasn’t made to read) that ONE book which consists of Allah’s Words themselves, and sent through His chosen Prophet Muhammed (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) – which by the way, was far thinner than my ugly Economics heavyweight.

I remember pondering over the words in books of psychology and trying to understand and apply them, although with the Qur’an, it was just repeat, repeat, repeat, and it wasn’t until I grew much older that I began to realize what a major faux pas had been committed! Why are our children made to read everything – everything except the Qur’an? We teach them swimming, ballet, French and Tae Kwando yet we care little if they learn about what Allah wants to convey?

Why do we flounder like blabbering nitwits when people ask us about Jihad and Hijab and Salat in the Qur’an and not know exactly what is said, and promise to check with ‘Imam Google’? I am certainly not saying knowledge of the world must not be acquired. Indeed it is essential. But why do we so easily forgo the wealth of knowledge concealed inside the pages of the Qur’an, which in fact, should be the priority of all knowledge? Shouldn’t that be a part of our lives as well?

Yes some of us had Islam as a subject but all we did was skim over the subject superficially and I distinctly remember that it wasn’t considered an important subject because it would not help with your university applications. In all those years of schooling, why didn’t we, those that are Muslims in a Muslim country, understand the Qur’an even once?

Why isn’t Qur’an integrated into our lives? Why is it so deliberately overlooked? Please don’t give me the explanation that the Quran is complicated and difficult to understand! Surely, so is Psychology and Chemistry and Sociology? It is no wonder that the Muslim youth being brought up in these so called ‘good’ schools have lost their identity in terms of religion, its values and lifestyle! A lot of young girls don’t cover simply because they don’t KNOW Allah wants them to!

Most of the misconceptions, amongst Muslims and non-Muslims rise because of ignorance created through not having read our primary sources of Islamic law. It is an entire system of education that I have been deprived of while growing up. As I inch towards understanding and applying the vast treasure of knowledge in the best book in the world and of course the perusal of the explanatory notes and practical examples from the hadith, I hope and pray that my children and the future generations will not live in this darkness of ignorance and will be fortunate enough to READ. IQRA.

[Ummati]

The Student of Knowledge

By Shaykh Abdul Malik Abdul Hameed (may Allah preserve him)

He is the one who before doing anything fixes his soul. Then he maintains his soul to upright character. Therefore he becomes an example for others, in his character and manners.

The student of knowledge strives for knowledge and benefit. The seeker of ilm does his utmost to sit with scholarly men, people of piety and in circles of knowledge. The person striving to learn his deen constantly equips himself with beneficial knowledge and information.

He safeguards his time. Hence you don’t see him involved in things which are useless. The student of knowledge turns away from things that don’t concern him, and busies himself with things that affect him.

Whenever he speaks, he brings benefit to the people, and when he writes it’s beneficial. Furthermore whoever sits with him, learns something.

He gives precedence to knowledge, its people, consequently benefiting from them.

As result of this he honors the people of knowledge; he supplicates for them, and asks Allah to have mercy and forgiveness for the deceased scholars.

The student of knowledge hates backbiting, abhors the backbiters and detests anyone’s name mentioned in a bad light.

You notice about the student of knowledge, that he is humble, he doesn’t raise himself above his level. He doesn’t act like he’s loaded with something he really can’t offer.

This student isn’t misled by people praises of him, people blowing him up to be a big shot, or their extolment of him.

The student of knowledge doesn’t want to be famous, so he doesn’t seek fame from the people.

Reason being, he knows that it’s Allah who raises the people and gives them rank, not such and such.

This seeker of knowledge is one who calls to Allah and advises the Muslims. He enjoins what’s right and forbids what’s wrong based on the Islamic principles and guidelines.

You will notice that the student of knowledge is always trying to unite the Muslims and their hearts. He can’t stand division between the people of the Sunnah. He is well aware that division is connected to innovation, and unity is connected to the Sunnah.

For that reason it is said, “ Ahulus Sunnah wal Jama’a (the People of Sunnah and the gathering) and Ahul Bid’ah wal Farqa (the People of innovation and sects)”.

Moreover, you will notice that the student of ilm is shy to speak. He doesn’t speak about everything or every affair that happens among the people. He remains silent, because he knows that he will be called to account for his words, the same way for his actions. Hence, he safeguards his own well being in his speech and actions. He won’t open a door to evil for the general masses.

The student of knowledge doesn’t embark on issues of falsehood and deal with things he’s unaware of. That’s why; he enters into issues with clarity. He is aware of them inside and out. He is prepared for the meeting with Allah.

These are some of the traits of the student of Knowledge. May Allah give them to us-Ameen

The Student of the Internet

First of all, he doesn’t have any of the traits we mentioned, as this is witnessed.

The student of the net is shameless in his character. He displays arrogant behavior towards people.

The student of the World Wide Web wastes his time in things that are fruitless. He attacks anyone, regardless if they are a minor or senior. He hurls his assault without maintaining the reverence of knowledge, age, or its people.

The student of the internet learns hatred, he follows the mistakes and slip ups of others. These are the fruits of learning from the internet. For the student on this path, days and years remain empty. He is unable to relax and the people can’t feel at ease from his harm and evil.

In conclusion, if you want to be a student of knowledge, here you are! Take the path. The milestones have been laid out for you.

On the other hand if you want to be a student of the internet, there you are! There is the way. That path is full with filth and rubbish. So disgrace yourself, if you want to be a student of the net, but beware of lying to the people claiming you’re a STUDENT OF KNOWLEDGE!