2. Problems and Hindrances

In the previous part of this study, I have tried to emphasise the fact that parental education in the Muslim World and other countries consists in daily practices and conducts that can take different forms and appear under various colours, which oscillate between right and wrong, positive and negative, practical and non-practical, according to the nature of principles and objectives and the sort of determinants and methods involved. Whenever the objectives are guided by appropriate principles and the methods are shaped by adequate determinants, these practices certainly have good effects on the level of a child's education. Whenever the principles and objectives are contradictory and the determinants and methods are disparate, the results of these practices are disastrous as far as the development and adaptation of child are concerned. I say this because I am completely aware of the fact that in the Muslim World the problem of parental education usually lies in this obvious disparity between its theoretical components which are mostly used as bombastic slogans that are deployed on certain occasions, brandished during certain discussions and evoked whenever there are problems or serious crises. Though its scientific qualities may appear to be of paramount importance for some culturally and economically privileged social groups, parental education still remains for the majority of social strata a domain of limited effectiveness and results and a futile enterprise. Certainly, Muslim society, not unlike other societies, has been aspiring after an educational practice that is flexible, open and has objectives which lie in helping the child have a personality that is undisturbed, well-balanced, competent, able to adjust, communicate, assume responsibility, and keep the child safe from all possible dangers and challenges. Despite successive rushes to fulfil this aspiration and eagerness to overcome all possible problems and difficulties, the majority of Muslim society's classes appear to be stumbling in its movements and steps and has limited objectives and desires. This reality has negative effects on the parental education practised in the Muslim World, because this education is most of the time confronted by problems and hindrances which "check its progress paralyse its movement, and draw it backward so that the efforts of some parents who know the elements of an appropriate education yield unfruitful results or deceptive illusions" (Ahrchaou, 1998, pp.17-18)

Therefore, what are the main weaknesses of parental education in Muslim countries ? And what are the various conditions which check the effectiveness of this education, thus creating hindrances and obstacles which prevent it from playing its required role, especially on the level of preparing a competent human being capable of confronting life's problems and contemporary challenges ? Does today's reality of Muslim societies help to motivate the family and through it the parents to play their educational role in the domain of building the emotional and psychic capacities of a child and developing his knowledge competencies ?

To answer these questions we have to rely on two types of aspects and specificities that incarnate, on the one hand, the depth of the big problems and challenges which confront parental education in Muslim countries and, on the other hand, the tenor of a series of weaknesses and drawbacks which the state of these practices cannot change except from bad to worse.

In spite of the interlocking of these problems and weaknesses and their organic interaction, I have chosen to deal with them separately so as firstly to specify the nature of their determinants and the degree of their effect on the educational practices of the parents, and secondly to preserve the psychological perspective which shapes the contents of this study. By resorting to this last consideration, I will mostly concentrate on the aspects of the second type (namely the weaknesses and drawbacks) because it represents the specific dimension that suits my psychological perspective. As to the first type, consisting in the big problems and challenges, I am not going to deal with it except to a degree that would be advantageous to the aims of this study, thus leaving room for researchers in sociology and economy, because it is a subject that interests them more than us.