Job Discussion Forums

[15yearsinQ8]

A recent announcement by the Min. of Educ (herself a long time teacher with 'liberal' attitudes) said that 95 expat adminsitrators in Kuwaiti private schhols would be replaced by Kuwaiti adminsitrators. Incidently, 95 would count every Principal, asst principal and superintendent of all Kuwaiti private schools.
This may or may not be linked to the Phillips (the former MS Asst Principal at BBS who was given a travel ban as a result of a parent complaint) scandel - see below for my opinion.
Now, as this is Kuwait, and so the implementation and enforcement of such a ruling is really and truly up in the air, much should not be immediately read into this. There is a call - obviously from a Westerner who doesn't understand Kuwait's pace of life - for immediate! petitions to go to the Min. to reverse her 'decision'.
If truth be told, it is my opinion that she is giving school owners a 'legal out' should they not want a potential conflict with your customers (dinar paying parents)- E.g. Western adminstration ("Mr. and Mrs. Al Bigshot, your son is suspended, this is why blah blah blah") vs. Arabic adminsitration ("Oh, poor Ali, here have a sweet, has the teacher been shouting at you? Oh, poor boy, sit here and rest for a while then go back to class.") style in discipline.
Now, what I find REALLY find distasteful is some in blogs and teacher forums who espouse the overt or covert messege that Native speaking teachers and adminstrators (solely because they're native speaking) make better teachers and administrators than non-native speakers. The only word for this is 'colonialistic'. Yes, I admit there are some truly rotten non-native speaking teachers and adminsitrators, but so there are many rotten native ones as well. The louder some call for a reversal, the more it is apparent they're only looking out after their jobs (in a most colonialistic way).
Some teachers are really idealistic and want to change the world one life at a time - the first thing to be changed here is bigot, stereotypical colonialist attitudes....
there, now i'm gone....
don't pm me

[trapezius]

Reality speaks louder.

From my experience of at least 15 educational institutions in Saudi Arabia, from middle schools to universities, those run by Western management tend to be a lot better than those run by Arab management.

And I believe that a lot of members have experienced the same.

[canadashirleyblue]

Kuwaiti schools should be run and staffed by Kuwaitis. Totally if possible. They should be training people now to take over.

Kuwaits should be responsible for themselves.

[stoth1972]

It is a sword that cuts two ways for all Gulf Arabs, IMHO. I think there's a level of resentment. English teachers and administrators from English-speaking countries are needed. No one really wants to feel indebted to another group of foreign nationals for providing education, infrastructure, etc. It is the "we need you, but really would rather not need you" mentality. Should they be in charge of their own education? Absolutely. Like Shirley mentioned, they should be preparing for this now. Though I can't speak to Kuwait, I can say countries like the UAE are a good way off from doing this, and the biggest barrier is mindset of the Emirati people when it comes to choosing professions and positions.

[miski]

There are many well experienced Kuwaitis and dual nationality Kuwaitis willing to step in and fill the positions of the fly by night ex-pats who come in for two or three years with no desire to improve the school, but simply to make their wallets fatter.

Can't wait until the ruling comes into effect.

www.donaldwheresurtroosers.wordpress.com

[stoth1972]

[trapezius]

[miski]

[Stephen Jones]

What will happen of course is that they will appoint Kuwaitis. The odd one will try and do something, only to leave in disgust after three months. The others will turn up every now and again, as they do in the civil service, and do nothing. Mugs amongst the expats will get co-opted or pressurized into doing for pennies what the previous lot of expats did for a salary.

[stoth1972]

[canadashirleyblue]

I think the reason that Kuwaitis are not taking responsibility for their education system is that the jobs do not pay enough. Kuwaitis prefer a fat wallet.

[15yearsinQ8]

poo poo this is shirley,
kuwaiti teachers who work at private schools recieve an extra 184 kd monthly in addition toi their salary and are eligible to retire after 15 years instead of 20 years at a govt school.
they would ACTUALLY MAKE MORE at private schools compared to govt schools, but few choose to do so. school owners are IMHO hesitant to hire too many as
1) they want western faces
2) they have to pay 11% of salary to social security - they perceive this more than the housing and airfare and ademnity they pay overseas hires

as teaching is considered a safe and culturally accepted profession , i suspect most kuwaiti women don't want to work around men as is the case in most private schools and few kuwaiti women are could ever be 'pioneers' and be the first in their family NOT to work in govt schools but in private ones

[qas419]

I have already raised this issue in my previous postings where I argued that the inhabitants of the Gulf regions (Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Bahrain Qatar & Saudi) are different socially culturally and economically from other Arabs. First of all, they are not shrewd like other Arabs; you can describe them as simple-minded, generous, hospitable,, undiplomatic and nomadic in nature. They only came into contact with Europeans during the period of colonization. Two distinct socio/economic factors differentiate these states from other Arab countries: abundant wealth because of the discovery of oil in the early twenties and low density of population. The British snatched these states from the Persian Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries and grouped them under one umbrella which is called today GCC. Most of the early schools and hospitals in these states were built by the British. However, the British never trained these people to be self-confident, self-reliant and secure. The lack of confidence coupled with a sense of insecurity meant that the inhabitants of the Gulf region will never be able to depend on themselves but will always seek the assistance of others. This is not because of education or competence; it has got to do with the lack of initiatives to work on their own. The British left these regions in the seventies and let these wealthy tribal states in the hands of shrewd Arabs and Asians from ex-colonies who penetrated the educational system and controlled the government offices and private sectors. They brought with them corruption, bribery, favoritism and crimes. I have lived in these regions for years and never knew bribery but today if you want to do something you have to pay to officials in order to get your things done. Thousands of Arabs from Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Yemen were imported to these states. They make up approximately 80 to 90% of all academics, health staff, and court clerks in these states. In Kuwait alone and before the invasion, 85% of all teachers, administrators, court clerks and lawyers were Palestinian. So when Saddam invaded Kuwait, most Palestinians ungratefully supported him, but later when Kuwait became free, they were sacked.
In the UAE, almost all academic and administrative staff at educational establishments are Lebanese/Syrians or Jordanians of Palestinian origin except, of course, at American universities. The have set up a sort of Mafia educational network where it is almost impossible for other nationalities from developing countries to be employed. Fortunately, they cannot reject applications from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the US. Of course, sometimes they make a mistake by recruiting African Americans or aborigines from New Zealand or British Asians, thinking that they are white people.
The same thing can be said about Bahrain: 85% of the Defense Force are Syrians, 90% of the Police are Asians, 65% of the Traffic Wardens are Yemenis, 55% of teachers at schools are Egyptians and Jordanians. Recently, all of these Arabs and Asians have become naturalized Bahrainis because of the Government�s policy to subdue the Shia majority. At the University of Bahrain, 65% of the academic staff are of Egyptian/Syrian and other nationalities. Their children study abroad in the US and Britain at the expense of the University. Most of the scholarships and grants provided by Bahraini Ministry of Education go to these people.
So we come to the last point: why aren�t the locals given any responsibility? First, because they have never been trained for that position and second, the local officials or authorities prefer non-locals because they themselves (the officials) know nothing. At the University of Bahrain most of the locals resigned recently because they were reduced to second class citizens. The only Gulf country, in my view, which encourages the locals is Oman and the worst is the UAE followed by Bahrain.
I don�t know what will happen to these states within 10 years; first, it is impossible to get rid of them because of their invincible power and on the other hand, if they become citizens, there is a possibility that one day they will be the leaders and policymakers of these states.

[Stephen Jones]

[kiefer]

Qas: I see on your profile you like to read and listen to music. The Nietzsche reference makes sense. As for music, lemme guess: Richard Wagner?