The Pareto Technique: The Secret Behind Gontor's Rapid Learning Success
“If 20 per cent of the core lesson is sufficient to enable someone to understand and practise Arabic, is the remaining 80 per cent still necessary to learn?”
In the modern era, the words “effective” and “efficient” have become new mantras in the world of education. Almost every course brochure offers similar promises of being quick, practical, and hassle-free, sometimes even sounding overly ambitious, such as “master Arabic overnight”.
On one hand, humans are increasingly required to move quickly. Parents want their children to be able to perform immediately. Students desire instant results. The professional world also values practical ability over long processes where results are not immediately visible.
This trend has circulated among the general public, triggering a rather sensitive question within the tradition of Arabic language teaching: “If the ultimate goal is to understand Arabic, why do many pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) require their students to memorise thousands of verses first? Why not use a more practical method?”
The question sounds simple, but it actually touches upon a long-standing debate regarding the philosophy of learning: “Should education emphasise the depth of the process, or the effectiveness of the outcome?”
Interestingly, the world of pesantren offers various answers. Some circles maintain classical methods because memorising nadzam (verses) is not merely a tool for understanding knowledge. This method is part of an Islamic scholarly tradition that has been preserved for centuries. It involves training in patience, perseverance, etiquette towards scholars, and the preservation of intellectual lineages (sanad) that cannot be measured solely by the logic of “rapid understanding”.
In this tradition, futuh—the opening of understanding—is often believed to be more than just a result of intelligence or the effectiveness of a learning method. It arises from a combination of mujahadah lahiriyah (external struggle), involving the earnestness of attending classes, understanding, and memorising, and mujahadah batiniyah (internal struggle), involving the spiritual blessings found in the relationship between student, teacher, and the knowledge being studied.
However, others believe that teaching methods must constantly evolve to meet the needs of the times. The focus is no longer on how much text is memorised, but on how quickly knowledge can be understood and then applied in real life.
Indeed, within Islamic history itself, efforts to simplify learning have long existed. The arrangement of the Al-Qur’an mushaf into 20 pages per juz, the addition of vowel marks (harakat), and the codification of Makkiyah and Madaniyah are all forms of endeavour to ensure that knowledge is more easily understood by the community.