Giving it another try

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Albert Einstein once said, "it's a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." I suppose there is no place that proves Einstein's words better than Egypt.

Education is the basis on which countries are founded and communities are built. If a country lacks education, it is more than likely to have impeded growth.

Egyptian youth, in general, regards education as an experience of survival; stages that one has to pass through in order to gain societal approval, which in turn can lead to a better job and a better life.

Education is looked upon as a means to an end rather than a learning process and it's hard to blame most of the young population for that. Classrooms are crowded, professors are underpaid, and courses are theoretical with little if any field experience. In such an environment, how can a person excel?

Young people look to opportunities 'abroad' as their saving grace. Thousands of college students apply for scholarships in other countries hoping that this would be their 'big break'. Most of those students don't get their wish and those who actually do, don't return home.

Experts predict that in the future, all the brilliant Egyptian minds will live abroad, leaving the country 'empty'.

There is a select few in our community that are commonly labeled by the young people as the 'Lucky Few'. Those are the young people whose families are able to pay the horrendous amounts of money demanded by the private educational institutions. The Lucky Few receive the best education money can buy and some of them are able to enroll in Ivy League universities, such as Harvard or Yale. So apparently there is a away to acquire high quality education in Egypt, but it comes at a price.

In countries like Cuba, despite high government indebtedness, education ranks high on the governmental agenda; education is nominally free up to college and is mandatory from the age of 6 to 16, making illiteracy virtually non-existent. However, being free of charge doesn't entail a lack of quality. A 1998 study conducted by UNESCO reported that Cuban students showed a high level of educational achievement.

Amidst the chaos of our educational system, while most professors don"t care, some professors seem to stand out. They try to make the best with what's available, helping students excel and find their way, while expecting nothing in return.

Egyptian students show their abilities and distinction in extracurricular activities such as simulation models of the United Nation, the Arab League and the conferences on Communications and Trade. All such activities are run by students for students with limited intervention from faculty members. Students volunteer their time and effort. Perhaps they excel in such activities because they are not forced to perform them. It was Plato who wisely said, "Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind".