North American universities are generally assumed to be imparting an excellent standard of education by most people within and outside of North America. This is a commonly held misconception by educated Pakistanis as well. Like all things ‘foreign’ we buy into the high standard of foreign education as well. The truth is different.

Most of the so-called high rated North American Universities are considered to be brand names for success. Employers, students and parents automatically assume that these universities will churn out qualified graduates.

Although the faculty at these institutions may be involved in break through research but this fact does not guarantee that they may be able to engage students in the subject matter through their teaching skills. Universities are funded by public and government grants, student tuition, endowments from alumni and donations. The research determines much of the university’s credibility. Although idealistically this aspect should help the students since a qualified faculty is teaching them. But unfortunately it hardly does. The faculty maybe more knowledgeable but they lack good teaching skills. Teaching, then, is a secondary part of their duties. They are not hired on the basis of their teaching experience but on the research they have conducted over the years while they may be working for other institutions or teaching. In addition to a PhD, there is no certification directly relevant to the field of teaching that one needs, to be able to teach in a university. All other fields that are directly related to the public sector require some kind of qualification to determine one’s ability.

The students at North American universities are generally considered by most faculty members to be ‘in the way’ of conducting research, simply because teaching and dealing with students takes up a huge chunk of quality time. Most of the North American professors are not skilled teachers but are skilled researchers. This aspect blatantly victimizes students. Unfortunately, the complacent students of these universities fail to see that their teacher is simply not interested in teaching and even when they do they feel powerless to change the system. They are doubly oppressed by the frustration of not being able to learn at these universities and of paying extremely high tuition fees generated through student loans. Plus the financial expense pushes them early into the North American cycle of paying interest for a considerable duration of their life.

Educated Pakistanis abroad and at home generally feel that, still those students are better off in North American universities than studying in Pakistani institutions. I disagree: simply because imparting of education has a higher purpose than getting a mere job, which even those students are having a hard time finding nowadays. Most of the students going from Pakistan to these universities hope to get a job simply because they attended a foreign institution. This is not true anymore. The North American economy is very cyclical and if one gets caught in a downturn, its highly unlikely that one will be able to recover even the original expenditure on education.

The job market has become increasingly competitive so where before a Bachelors degree was required, now they require a Masters. This is not because an individual holding a Masters degree is more capable of performing the duties better but simply because there are too many incompetent Bachelors degree holders looking for a job. Why they are incompetent? Because teachers are not being able to impart the knowledge to these students, neither at the Secondary level and nor at the Post-Secondary level. They are incompetent because majority of the primary and secondary schools are unable to teach them the basic skills like writing. These schools do not hold back students who are failing courses or doing marginally because getting a high school diploma is almost considered a human right like freedom of speech. Further, when they apply to these same universities, they are admitted although they may not have the skills to go through an intensive four-year long curriculum. Yet the professors give them minimum passing requirements and they ultimately get their degree, but usually with no functional skill set. Therefore, the employers have started to look for higher credentials for even lower level jobs to determine employability skills. Although, there are always multiple reasons to a problem and in this situation there exist other reasons as well for the performance of students. But the North American education system does have a clear responsibility that they are not fulfilling. And this basic tool is to instil knowledge in these students, where the important role of teaching is undeniably central.


An education is supposed to create a critical thinker. Someone who can live his/her life better than before in more than one way and brings about some measure of change in the lives of others. Is this belief a utopia? I have been told, ‘yes’. But refusing to look at the glass as half empty, I still believe that education can do more than secure a high paying job and upward mobility.