Al Maghrib -- first year - No. 18, May 28, 1937.
Does it suffice that one tells us that we are cultured for us to sleep on our laurels, to thank our destiny and to fall silent? Does it suffice that one tells us that we have acquired an unquestionable knowledge to be so convinced? Does it suffice that one tells us that we have become scholars for us to really be ones? What mockery! What stupidity! Are there cultured or even half cultured people in Morocco? It is not necessary for us to delude ourselves or to let others try to mislead us. We must understand that we are the furthest away from true knowledge which consolidates the foundations for renewal and reinforces nation building. If not so, then where is the doctor? And the lawyer? And the literary scholar? And the engineer? And the legislator? And...? And...?
We demand reforms for the entire educational educational system and for the sending of student missions abroad where they can acquire true learning and a solid education. We wish that there is call for instructors from the Arab East. It would be proof of a total lack of conscience for us to remain content with these palliatives and statistics that we hear about over and over again. We are not building pies in the sky for one to reply with foolish fancy. We demand that which must make us a nation that is aware of its duties and understands well its rights, a nation which derives profit from the experience of others and which is at the same time capable of its own proper initiatives.
Send Moroccan students abroad following the example of what other countries are doing and following the practice that you yourselves have established here by sending to France the children of your immigrants who reside in Morocco. That will be when we can envision an educational policy with some optimism/hope and to conceive of a new orientation of instruction that can lead to true productivity in Morocco. That will be when the government would have accomplished its duty, without the slightest difficulty, given the immense resources of the Moroccan budget that is spent with largesse on behalf of the children of the colonial immigrants and spent only with the utmost parsimony on the native children of this country.
We demand an education in the truest sense of the word. No enticement will get the better of our thirst for instruction, whatever the efforts that you will bring yourselves to deploy to dress up the presentation of newspaper articles embellishing them with admirable photographic illustrations. You must understand that we have begun to appreciate the nature of our problems based on the same criteria that you have recourse to in your calculations. Moreover any attempt to lead us astray lacks any of our interest and is headed only towards failure.
