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The Fifth Column
Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 331
Location: His habitude with lexical items protrudes not unlike a damaged pollex!!!
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 Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| buravirgil wrote: |
| The Fifth Column wrote: |
| ~If you, God-forbid, fail them for being the failures they were brought up to be, then YOU get the ax because it was YOU who failed them by not preparing them properly. |
You have likely found your own solutions to so thoroughly articulate the problems, so it's likely my response isn't novel to you, but when the default position of students and management is passivity/apathy a strategy to adopt is transparent metrics to provide a ranking and abandon western notions of competency. People talk about standards as principles and it is naive.
There is a bell-curve to present and that's an expectation found around the globe. The ethic of such a strategy is a system was in place by which your population was clustered (with a few exceptions no doubt) before you arrived and said system will carry on when you are gone. Any insistence an institution's population is monlithic can be interpreted as disruptive. |
Is that why you left Tabuk University? |
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The Fifth Column
Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 331
Location: His habitude with lexical items protrudes not unlike a damaged pollex!!!
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| Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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| johnslat wrote: |
Dear The Fifth Column,
And the downsides?
Regards,
John  |
Oh! He wanted to hear about the downsides???  |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| The Fifth Column wrote: |
| Is that why you left Tabuk University? |
Do you know the term doxxing?  You should.
I left Tabuk because I lost an exam team-- a Torontonian with a degree in Rhetoric/Semiotics and a Jordanian/American with a B.S. in Biology/Fisheries Management, since you've asked-- two of the best teachers I've had the pleasure to know and uniquely qualified to develop measures from the ground up.
Through four deans, I navigated the half-truths of two, quite young and local* managers (Jordanian and Syrian) for three years and three months before, and through, the Arab Spring. Between the five of us, a single contractor was used for both staff and testing-- our exams also served satellite campuses, some 9000 students in all. By matching the STEP exam, Tabuk received a larger than requisite grant for its computer labs.
And then I lost my team of a little over two years. Luck like that wasn't going to repeat. I had had enough of the sandbox, and after the grant, I wasn't as valued. Matching the STEP wasn't exactly popular with the student body (or NNESTS), it was "too difficult".
Contractors are, from a policy view, a necessary evil. The agricultural regions of Tabuk and Al Jowf are, in many ways, the last populated areas of KSA before the vast emptiness of the northern region-- Al Qurayyat, Turaif and Arar are more outposts than developing cities.
When I left, on Christmas Day of 2012, many observers were predicting no end to Syria (our staff was nearly one third Syrian, lot of tragedy) and fully expecting Israel if for no other reason than peace, without compromise, never lasts.
*Tabuk was once part of Jordan, and so far from Riyadh, the tribes are still relevant. |
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robhenniker
Joined: 14 Jan 2014
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:59 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for everyone who has chimed in so far. You know your opinions are super valuable to someone who hasn't been to Saudi yet. Anyone else with knowledge of current salaries in military jobs, I'd love to hear it. I'd especially love to hear from anyone working for B3H, either by post or PM. Thanks again. |
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GENO123
Joined: 27 Mar 2014
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:17 am Post subject: Thank you for your post |
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Military jobs don't sound very good. Maybe I ask one more thing are the classes hard? Are they are hard to prepare for?
Thank you again |
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The Fifth Column
Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 331
Location: His habitude with lexical items protrudes not unlike a damaged pollex!!!
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:23 am Post subject: Re: Thank you for your post |
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| GENO123 wrote: |
Military jobs don't sound very good. Maybe I ask one more thing are the classes hard? Are they are hard to prepare for?
Thank you again |
No, the DLI sets the curriculum & tests...
It's the students that are detestable.  |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:48 am Post subject: Re: Thank you for your post |
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| The Fifth Column wrote: |
| It's the students that are detestable |
OK, that is hilarious-- very detestering.
And explains, a little, a doxxing response from you because you're not allowed to simply rank a roster. Are any latitudes granted?
Ok, okay, What about this....anonymously circulate simplified and translated expressions of regression toward a mean and the standard of deviation of two rolled dice. One is haram and the other begs lower stakes.
That's all I got. |
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The Fifth Column
Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 331
Location: His habitude with lexical items protrudes not unlike a damaged pollex!!!
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:34 pm Post subject: Re: Thank you for your post |
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| buravirgil wrote: |
OK, that is hilarious-- very detestering.
And explains, a little, a doxxing response from you because you're not allowed to simply rank a roster. Are any latitudes granted?
Ok, okay, What about this....anonymously circulate simplified and translated expressions of regression toward a mean and the standard of deviation of two rolled dice. One is haram and the other begs lower stakes.
That's all I got. |
Sounds like more than just a testing team was lost out there in that hot, hot sun!
Now, where did you say you put those marbles again? |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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| buravirgil wrote: |
| The Fifth Column wrote: |
| Is that why you left Tabuk University? |
Do you know the term doxxing? You should. |
Does it matter? It seems to me that anyone that makes enough posts here ends making themselves visible to anyone who cares to figure out their history. (when I first retired, I would do this to see if I had worked with someone before since they seemed to have a similar employment history)
Besides, the two of you seem to be in agreement about the "joys" of teaching Saudi military. So, I'm not sure why you two are sniping at each other.
VS |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
Does it matter? It seems to me that anyone that makes enough posts here ends making themselves visible to anyone who cares to figure out their history. (when I first retired, I would do this to see if I had worked with someone before since they seemed to have a similar employment history)
Besides, the two of you seem to be in agreement about the "joys" of teaching Saudi military. So, I'm not sure why you two are sniping at each other.
VS |
You've misread VS. I didn't teach military. I haven't complained about Saudi students. Looking someone up is cool. I've sniped at no one. Please show me where I've sniped. Doxxing isn't just looking someone up. It's a form of bullying based on personal information. And now I'm reading a personal attack from 5th column. |
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The Fifth Column
Joined: 11 Jun 2014
Posts: 331
Location: His habitude with lexical items protrudes not unlike a damaged pollex!!!
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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Relax, buravirgil. I'm just joshing with you as I thought you were.
No attack intended.
I'm not a bully & I don't have any personal info about you. I'm just a good guesser.
I just thought that a detailed response was needed for GENO123.
I, actually, was confused on why you got involved in the thread in the first place as you didn't seem to address the military component of the Saudi teaching experience. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I learned a new word:
"But this wasn’t a hack attack, police and cybersecurity experts say. It was a classic case of “doxxing,” the act of obtaining and posting private information about a person by scouring the Internet. And it’s surprisingly easy to do. In many cases, it’s not even illegal.
“You can post it as long as there is nothing nefarious about it,” says LAPD cyber crimes detective Andrew Kleinick. “They are public figures and that kind of thing happens. It’s not right, [but] I know of no crime.”
The exception, says Kleinick, occurs when information obtained through doxxing is used to threaten someone, steal someone’s identity, or infiltrate private emails."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/13/doxxing-it-s-like-hacking-but-legal.html
Regards,
John |
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buravirgil
Joined: 23 Jan 2014
Posts: 967
Location: Jiangxi Province, China
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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| The Fifth Column wrote: |
| I, actually, was confused on why you got involved in the thread in the first place as you didn't seem to address the military component of the Saudi teaching experience. |
That's a good point. |
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fledex
Joined: 05 Jun 2011
Posts: 342
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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Truth is what one old timer said to me when arriving in Saudi," it's all about the income, not the outcome." So, to get back to the original post, pay attention to the income, not the outcome. If the income doesn't justify the miserable time you'll be spending in Saudi, forget about the job.
Some military contractors were already pressing the bottom line for income a year ago. If they surpass that bottom line now, people will move to universities where the vacations are better; or they'll move to other countries, where life is better. One can see the quality of teachers going down in all sectors of the biz. But then, when did quality ever really matter in KSA anyway? You can be the best teacher in the group, but it doesn't matter. If some illiterate who holds the right kind of passport will work for less income than you, that teacher will eventually get the job. |
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fledex
Joined: 05 Jun 2011
Posts: 342
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| Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: Thank you for your post |
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[/quote]
Ok, okay, What about this....anonymously circulate simplified and translated expressions of regression toward a mean and the standard of deviation of two rolled dice. One is haram and the other begs lower stakes.
That's all I got.[/quote]
Hahahahaha. I actually did this once to a class after the department head told me to start grading on a bell curve. It wasn't in an islamic country. So there wasn't any question of "haram", but begging lower stakes applies. I eventually gave the students a break, based on actual merit for those who really scored higher than the dice roll. It threw off the curve, but students were happy about it, and the administrators didn't seem to notice. Everyone got the highest score they either deserved or fell into on the original bell curve. Remember 7 is the mean, the rest will fall into place. |
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