Arab youths, who are the majority of the population in our society, face an ideological problem. It is natural that throughout history youth are the ones that are always searching for existential issues as they search for their place in this galaxy. What is prevalent in our society is that spirituality and religiosity is the focus of this search. Many put the blame, and rightly so, on our educational system for its failure to help address this spiritual and emotional need that our children are youth are facing as they question life and the future. When it comes to spirituality (which is a wider topic than religion) we notice that what is given to our youth is restricted to religion class given to them by unqualified teachers. These classes usually contain cold material that is given to them in one direction and is not open for discussion. Religion class which is mandatory from grade one to 12 is forced on all students without any reasonable opportunity for discussion and exchange of views. Also it is unfortunate that during religion class, Moslem and Christian students are separated.  Christian students are also taught their religion in one direction without any exchange of ideas. What if the religion curriculum is replaced by a world religion class that teaches about all religions and not just the three monotheistic religions? Or if this world religion course is added to the student education curriculum in order to widen their horizon as they learn about what millions of human beings around the globe believe in. Does this negate or oppose religion? No. Islam began with a simple yet powerful  word. Read. In Christianity the Gospel of John begins with these beautiful words “ In the beginning was the word.”  Knowledge therefore, reading and the word are the basis of religions and this doesn’t oppose our efforts to teach our girls and boys and add to their understanding. Knowledge is power and not weakness. Knowing ‘the other’ doesn’t lessen what we believe, in fact it will strengthen it. It will stop the current teaching of religion without discussion and allow for analysis. Some might see in this call a revolution to what we are used to. But doesn’t our current situation require an ideological revolution. Most Jordanians say that Jordan after the martyrdom of Muath Kassasbeh is not Jordan before this terrible crime. There is a huge popular demand for fighting extremism and defeating it. We need to think outside the box and take advantage of the limitless popular support for the leadership in order to introduce new changes to our educational system. Revisiting the educational system is much more important that repeating the same lines that Daesh has nothing to do with Islam. Or saying that, our success will only happen if we follow moderation rather than extremism,  when it comes to religion issues. Extremism which is shaking our very beings can’t be tackled simply by focusing on religious moderation. We need to address the desire deep down in the human soul for wanting to know who he/she is and where they are going. With the availability of the information revolution, the idea of blocking information including religious information is like sticking our heads in the sand and expecting that no one sees us. We need courage and the desire to change. It is wrong to try and make this change using the same tools that we are used to. Healing requires that we find people willing to learn from world experiences, applying this information in a clever and reasonable way on the ground. This is not needed only in terms of religion, we need it in other areas like history, philosophy and world civilizations. ************************* *The author is former Ferris professor of Journalism at Princeton University and director general of Community Media Network in Jordan. Follow him ontwitter.com/daoudkuttab