Grading a homework from my course in Advanced Macroeconomics II, I became aware that the majority of the students did not understand the course materials — they replicated the materials in the textbook or taken from the internet, without displaying any understanding of the words, sentences, and concepts, they were using. This cause me heartbreak and pain, because my passion is to try to pass on the knowledge that has been given to me as a gift from God. Allah T’aala is the One who gave us knowledge of that which we did not know, and this knowledge is the greatest gift of God to mankind.

I would like to see many more students who understand what is being taught. The material that you are being taught is at the frontiers of the field, much more important and relevant than what is being taught at Harvard and MIT today. Furthermore, the subject matter is VERY EASY compared to what is taught in standard Macro textbooks today, which involves heavy and incomprehensible mathematics. What I am teaching is simple, common-sense stuff.

SIDE-ISSUE: Of course, an immediate question that arises is: IS THIS the knowledge being referred to in the Holy Quran? The idea that there are domains of knowledge outside the purview of religion is “The Second Poison: Secular Knowledge“. Seeking knowledge, when acquired for serving the creation of God, for the sake of the love of God, is a form of worship. If we study economics to protect the Ummah from the likes of John Perkins — “The Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man” — then we are performing act of service to humanity, which suffers greatly due to faulty economics which has led to the global financial crisis, as well as environmental collapse of the planet, and also widespread immorality.

Coming back to the MAIN THEME — how can students become better at the acquisition of knowledge — learning to understand what is being taught. I provide a diagnosis first:

Failure to understand is partly my fault. I have been only lecturing, and I have not had time to conduct question and answer sessions. This is essential, because students do not understand until they raise questions, and think about material. Unfortunately, I have serious time constraints. If I stop for Q/A, I will be able to cover only half the material. And you NEED to know all of this material in order to be able to write a good Ph.D. thesis in Economics. However, as I have explained in “Teaching Fish to Fly“, a real education requires personalized attention to each student, and tailoring the content to the capabilities and interests of the student.

Failure to understand is also partly the fault of the METHOD of teaching that you have been accustomed to in the past. It only focuses on making you memorize things without understanding them. You have not learned to pick up concepts, ideas — you have only learned to IMIITATE without understanding.

Failure to understand is also partly YOUR fault — you have not put in the EFFORT – blood, sweat, and tears — required to understand. You have not put in this effort, because you DO NOT KNOW the value of knowledge — This is a paradox. If you do not know that it is of value, then you will not put in the effort. But if you do not put in the effort, you will not find out the value of knowledge. This is why the first (and maybe the ONLY) JOB of the teacher is to inspire and motivate students — the students cannot be TAUGHT anything, they can only learn by their own efforts, but how to make the students realize that it is WORTH it to make the effort? This is the job of the teacher. This is why I frequently give talks to students trying to inspire and motivate them. Students need emotional energy in order to put in the efforts required to master the subject. They also need to overcome the Fear of Failure, which has been created by a hopelessly bad educational system. Students have been taught huge amounts of matter at levels far beyond their current capabilities, and have absorbed the WRONG lesson that they are too stupid to really understand the subject matter. The truth is that the subject matter has been inappropriately chosen, in a one-size-fits-all manner, and no attention has been paid to TRYING to get the students to understand, by taking them from their current level of understanding in a step-by-step way, to where they need to be taken. So we need to RESTORE the confidence in the students that they CAN learn, and previous failures to learn have been due to bad teaching, not due to their own incompetence.

Some of the posts below address the issues raised above in greater detail. Some of the talks below are in Urdu (when I need to communicate to my students in a heart-to-heart way, then Urdu is essential). Others are in English. If any one would like to see translations (either written or spoken, and in either direction), please mention it in the comments on this post, and I will try to provide, if I see high demand for something. ALSO, please JOIN the Islamic WorldView blog, by clicking on the JOIN button which appears on the homepage for the blog.

Secrets of Success: Lessons from my life experiences — recent video-lecture in Urdu (1hr 45m), farewell to my PIDE students as VC PIDE, giving them the essence of what I have learned about the pursuit of knowledge from a lifetime spent entirely in teaching and learning.  For more on my personal experiences with Western education, see Lessons MIT Did Not Teach Me (shortlink: bit.ly/mit4az)

Reaching Beyond the Stars: English post, explaining why we should not sell our lives cheaply, for jobs and money. Instead we should set very high goals, even going beyond the stars.

The Ways of the Eagles: This lecture explains to the students that our current education teaches us to be crows, to feed on dead matter, which weighs us down. To soar like Eagles, we must change our vision, and aim high.

Urdu: Unlock Your Infinite Potential – Short ten-minute convocation speech urges students to realize their hidden potentials. Brief summary of main points of talk is provided in English in the post.

Exploding Myths which Block Our Minds: English post explains how certain myths are implanted in our minds which make us think we are human resources, for sale in the market for labor. These myths prevent us from realizing that we are unique creations of God, and the gift of life we have been given is of infinite value, if we can learn how to use it well. So we must avoid turning into a part of a money-making-machine, and instead learn how to be real human beings.

Talk/Discussion with PIDE Students: Post provides a brief English Summary and a link to video of the urdu talk. The topic of “Stop making excuses, and start taking responsibility” explained how, instead of making excuses for failure, we should have the courage to try and fail. Success comes from determination to succeed — to keep trying after multiple failures, without giving up hope. The talk explained the obstacles that arise due to false indoctrination via our Western education.

The Search for Knowledge: (English video & summary) This was a training on Research Methods at PPMI. I explained that the concept of “Knowledge” is very different in Islamic and Western traditions. Because knowledge itself is differently defined, methods of SEARCHING for knowledge (research methods) must be different in Islamic and Western traditions. What these differences are, and how we can do research which would be beneficial for us and be of service to humanity — these topics are discussed at length.

Farewell to IIIE Students: (urdu) Some five years ago, when I left IIIE, IIUI for PIDE, some students organized a farewell party, and I gave them some words of parting advice.

The Central Importance of Knowledge: To be motivated to learn, we must understand how vital knowledge is to the business of living. Unfortunately, since we been bombarded by completely useless knowledge in our Western education, we have learned the OPPOSITE lesson — the knowledge is of no use except to pass exams. To correct this understanding, we must re-learn the Islamic concept of knowledge, instead of the Western concept.

Is Islamic Knowledge Relevant for Modern Business?: Apparently the West has been extremely successful at business, acquiring huge amounts of wealth, while we in the Islamic world have been left far behind. So it would seem that Islam is an OBSTACLE and a HINDRANCE for learning to do business, instead of being relevant and useful. This is an illusion, created by the idea that our goal in life is the accumulation of wealth. If we want to lead meaningful and rich lives, we must change these goals. The deadly nature of current business – complete destruction of planet and humanity, due to exploitation for wealth — has become obvious to those who are at the center of Western business. Islam offers us the solution to the problems of today.