The Final Utalk!
Last Wednesday, April the 15th, marked the final Utalk of Kuwait University’s English Department for the current semester. The Utalk encouraged students to present short seminars on current affair topics. All of them were beneficial and required the audience to consume their time thinking about useful and arguable matters.
Abdullah Al-Shimmery, a sharp and intellectual student, was this semester’s final presenter, giving a noteworthy presentation with a well-chosen title: “Authority Challenged”. Al-Shimmery outlined two major causes for students’ passivity regarding the pursuit of knowledge. The first was an “inefficient curriculum where our entire educational system” is based on “outdated methodologies” and rote learning. This type of education did not send out critical thinkers to the world, rather, it did nothing but create a group of mass memorizers that depend on others’ thoughts and ideas.
The second reason for the lack of desire for knowledge is “indifferent educators” that “have zero knowledge of modern pedagogy.” Not only are they behind in regards to teaching methods, but they also have a helping hand in the creation of an unhealthy atmosphere in the educational sphere. Many of them feel that their positions as educators are compromised whenever they come in contact with “well-versed students”. Hence, like a playground bully, they round up the rest of the students and create an uncomfortable atmosphere that does not encourage hard work and challenge, but demands passivity and ‘one of us’ mentality.
With an outstanding performance, he made the crowded audience of students and professors think! Is the passiveness that everyone is drowned in truly the fault of students or is it the fault of teachers and professors? At one point, Al-Shimmery drew our attention to the fact that technology plays a big role in teaching nowadays. So, even if students were to blame their teachers and professors, they have to blame themselves, as well. Everyone can access the internet at this point in time. The path to educate ourselves is in our disposal, whether it is through online classes, educational videos or even simple search engines. All of these different modes can benefit us in our journey of learning. Our education doesn’t depend on teachers and professors alone as a source of knowledge anymore. Rather, it all depends on our will power.
Everyone should have the desire to elevate the current educational system from the state that it is in. It was a thriving seminar with a promising discussion session following it. The students and professors that participated all shared the same sentiments that, at the end of the day, it was true knowledge that they desired. Al-Shimmery did a great job he rightly-deserved the round of applause at the end.
The Utalk undoubtedly pointed the lights towards an outstanding English Department with its remarkable accomplishments. This all happened thanks to the organizers who worked in the shadows, elevating our experiences while the compliments are usually directed somewhere else. Hence, much gratitude is directed to all the organizers who worked behind the scenes: Shahad Al-Samra, Amal Aqal, Eman Al-Einawi, Shaymaa Al-Enizi, Hadeel Dalloul, Donna Al-Enizi, Abdullah Al-Shimmery, Hatem Al-Otaibi and Jamal Al-Sulaiman. Finally, we cannot forget the person who turned it all to reality: Dr. Mohammad Ali.
If you did not have the chance to attend the Utalk, it will start again in the Fall Semester. Your presence is an honor!
-Noura W. Al-Shabak
