Paper graduates… while the mind is absent.
In the age of diplomas, no one asks: What has this graduate truly learned?
Instead, the questions are: Where did he graduate from? What was the GPA? Did he stamp the paper?
The diploma has shifted from being proof of intellectual maturity… to nothing more than a ticket to employment.
Some graduates now bear the title “Doctor,” yet cannot write a single page without copying, nor explain a single idea without Google.
A shocking 2022 Gallup study revealed that only 11% of employers in the Arab world believe university graduates are actually prepared for the job market—while over half lack critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
So, what is the value of a diploma… if the mind does not work?
What is the worth of a title… if it merely wraps an inner emptiness?
Can intellect be measured by paper, or by the ability to ask a real question?
In a symbolic scene, a student stands at graduation, diploma in hand… yet his only memories of university are copied exams, recycled presentations, and plagiarized projects.
Some universities have become factories of titles… and society a festival of empty credentials.
Everything is measured in: Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD… but no one asks: And then what?
We are not producing graduates… we are reproducing printed sheets.
So, to those who polish the diploma: do not make it proof of mere attendance, but testimony of awareness.
Do not grant titles before asking: What has this mind added?
For the danger ahead is real: a diploma… without a mind.
The true threat is not in the number of diplomas… but in the absence of the question behind them.
A student who graduates forced to memorize—never trained to think.
A curriculum detached from life—yet later, he is expected to change his nation!
Another study by the World Bank’s Education Global Practice shows that 58% of Middle Eastern graduates rely solely on rote memorization during their studies, while fewer than 20% feel they have gained any practical or discussion-based skills.
Here lies the paradox: the more diplomas rise… the fewer ideas emerge.
The more titles multiply… the quieter the voice of inquiry becomes.
A university, in its essence, is a home for the searching mind, the student who errs and learns, the thinker who corrects.
Yet we have turned it into a platform to polish résumés… not a laboratory of ideas.
Students now dream of the title more than they dream of any real change in their lives or communities.
We applaud the graduates at ceremonies… yet never ask: What would this graduate do if the internet vanished for a day? Could he write a thought, shape a stance, or comment on a phenomenon without relying on artificial intelligence?
A diploma not born of awareness… is a certificate shelved, not a mind alive.
And a mind never tested by questioning… remains in its infancy, no matter how many titles are hung upon it.
So, O decision-makers: ask of the mind before the paper, of thought before the GPA, of impact before the job title.
We are not fighting diplomas… we are defending the mind buried beneath them.
So that we do not wake up one day in a Republic of Diplomas—where everything is recorded, except thought.
