i was reading this post (To you, women of arabia..) by trevelyana on (http://trevelyana.wordpress.com/) and it got me thinking.. although what i have to say has'nt much to do with what she was saying.. i realised that the problem lies mostly within our society.. if the majority do this, then u must do the same..
since i was a little girl at school. i have never been asked for my opinion, if you take a look at the Saudi educational system, it is mostly based on memorising texts, and reciting what you have learned (word for word) at an exam. ur opinion is not of any interest to your markers. when i went abroad to study, i found that analytical skills were of the essence. in order to pass an exam, you must show understanding of the topic, and have AN OPINION, rather than reciting the author's opinion from the book you used to study.
Thankfully, my thoughts were not completely neglected growing up. as my opinion would be taken into consideration in the house were i grew up.
However, on the larger scale, as a society i am sorry to say that the majority of people need guidance before taking any steps. more distressing, people need to be guided on how to think. examples of this may be seen socially; what is socially accepted and what is not, does not necessarily make sense, but it is what u have been taught to think. even when it comes to religion, people will not take any actions (even minor ones) until they get the approval of a scholar (despite how dodgy his/her background may be)
as an Arab, u also learn to blame ur problems on other people or factors,, so today,, i have decided to blame the educational system in Saudi..
p.s. on the educational note, froggy ur right, exam time is the best time to blog!!!
p.p.s. sorry i don't know how to link the post