Sunday 19 June 2011

Don't Teach, Inspire

Universities in the United Arab Emirates and around the world have wrapped up their academic year with graduation ceremonies for the class of 2011. Some of which have been televised others appeared as a collection of photos in newspapers across the country. The overwhelming number of graduates ushered into the professional world indicates the success which UAE universities have achieved in educating and preparing the young minds of tomorrow.

Watching the ceremonies this year has led me into a subconscious comparison with the ones taking place in the West. Universities in the UAE have been rehearsing pretty much the same choreography for their ceremonies as far as I can remember. The graduating class of year so and so, usually sits through a speech from a government official, then another address from the Dean and lastly a speech given by the class valedictorian. The following routine is an essential part of university protocol which must take place but it leaves one wondering, where is the inspiration?

As the graduating class eagerly awaits their degrees they are at their most enthusiastic which is the exact moment in time when the utterance of some encouraging words or the sight of an inspiring figure could make the most impact on them.

In the United States graduation ceremonies are mostly remembered for their commencement speeches, which are usually given by a well-known public figure of the university’s choice. These public figures can be politicians, actors, CEOs, generally any public figure, who has made a difference in his field or profession. So there you have a graduating class going through the normal processions and then getting the opportunity to not only meet but also be addressed by a public figure, who has accomplished what any one of those graduates might aspire to be. 

The idea is to expose these graduates to role models who have truly excelled, and to allow their words to resonate in the minds of those in need of courage and confidence to brave the world of 2011. This year the University of Massachusetts went as far as the stars, literally, to give their graduates a ceremony to remember. The university chose NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, who delivered her speech via video from the International Space Station orbiting the Earth. 

In other universities across America President Barack Obama thanked the graduates for inspiring him, Arianna Huffington proclaimed there is no leader on a white horse the leader is to be found in the mirror, Stevie Wonder sang You are the Sunshine of My Life and Conan O’ Brien delivered a half hour hilarious speech that left the graduates in tears.

We live in a time where degrees no longer mean much, where job opportunities are scarce and with a generation, which believes that fame, and fortune is achieved as easily as being discovered on Youtube. This makes it all the more essential for graduates, who have chosen to pursue education over other options, to see before them a product of their country who has reached great heights by hard work and persistence. 

Universities in the UAE should consider the idea of inviting guest speakers to their ceremonies every year. The choice should be theirs although it is imperative to emphasise on the local talent. An international speaker is great but a more effective one would be a figure who is a product of the UAE, one who has lived within the same culture and environment as they have. It would be much easier to relate to such a person’s experiences than to one hailing from a different part of the world. Universities can release the names of their chosen speakers ahead of time where a list can be compiled for publication. This decision benefits both the graduates and the universities as well. The proper choice of commencement speaker can get any school’s name listed among the top tier ones and allows for great exposure. 

Graduation ceremonies are one of the few occasions in life where a person can truly believe that anything is possible. Educators have a responsibility to capitalise on this moment and inspire their students until the very end of their journey together, in order to usher them into the world with enough inspiration and motivation to change it for the better.



This article was published in The Gulf Today on June 19th, 2011.



Sunday 12 June 2011

Too much Twitter

A few days ago I posted this statement on my Twitter account: 

“Most used term this year, social media. I’ve about had it! And yes I realise the irony of tweeting this statement so don’t even.” 

We have been reading about the social media ever since its inception but after it has somehow been given all credit for the revolutions happening in the Middle East, social media has become the subject of the year. Endless debates and analyses of websites such as Facebook and Twitter’s role in the Arab revolutions flooded the region drowning other important elements in its wake, hence my Twitter outburst.

Yes, the social media sites have aided in exposing parts of the revolution that governments tried relentlessly to keep hidden and a Facebook page might have set a revolution in motion, but those were nothing but tools used in the building of a national dream. 

Believe it or not revolutions did take place prior to Facebook. 

In 1952 Egypt there was no ‘Free Officer’s Movement’s’ Facebook page calling to overthrow the British backed monarchy. Gandhi’s non-cooperative movement did not ‘tweet’ about its struggle with ending the British rule in India. Neither Castro nor Guevara uploaded videos of their forest march to Cuba onto Youtube and although there was no live-stream of Martin Luther King Jr. from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the entire world still heard his dream. 

Throughout history revolutions did take place and ruthless governments have been overthrown. So before we go overboard in giving credit to the social media we should evaluate what it really did for today’s revolutions. 

Social media sites did not create these revolutions they merely advertised them, in the same way pamphlets and underground newsletters did in the past. They are a medium, granted they have a wider reach, but they are a medium nonetheless. Credit for the revolutions must always be given to the people and the people alone, they are whom we need to be debating and analysing in this case not Zuckerburg’s Facebook and Dorsey’s Twitter.

The exaggerated attention given to social media sites has resulted in an infatuation that has led users to believing that their existence on them is more important than their existence in the real world.

A social media site is designed to make you believe that the more followers you have the more important you ought to be. Therefore, the more followers you have the higher the need becomes to retain them. Every user is given the opportunity to become a critic and many have seized it.

Some users act like politicians running for the Twitter presidency, addressing certain sections of the world, hashtagging, re-tweeting and monitoring fluctuations in their followers’ numbers. Contrary to what our Twitter users/politicians believe the reality of social media remains that you gain followers and you lose them. You really do not need to be developing alter egos to better suit your cyber world persona. It’s not science, it’s Twitter.

To our social media addicts I pose a question: “If a tree falls outside of Twitter, does it make a sound?” 

If you took time mulling this question over then, in the immortal words of Tyra Banks, congratulations you are in the running to becoming Twitter’s next top user. 

Indeed the numbers might be pointing towards a life lived solely through the social media but statistics do not always reflect the ways of the world. There are indeed millions using these sites but there are billions of people walking this earth who are not. Of the many activists that have taken to Twitter and Facebook during the Middle Eastern revolutions hundreds have died on the streets with no social media account to their names. 

The question is are we being led to believe that if some people choose not to be on such websites that we should neglect their actual existence? 

If they are writers do we not read their works? If they are politicians do we not hear their views?  If they are activists do we not pay attention to their cause? Do we leave them behind while we set sail on our fancy boat of modernity, christened ‘Social Media’?

The term social media is in fact an oxymoron for there is nothing social about this media. There is nothing socially satisfying about tweeting to no one in particular. It is not a revolution, it is just a way for us to vent out and hope that someone in the cyber world is listening to what no one in our real world actually wants to.

This article was published in The Gulf Today newspaper on 12th June, 2011.


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