Job Discussion Forums

[like2answer]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2008/April/theuae_April787.xml&section=theuae

[veiledsentiments]

Just one of the reasons why I was never interested in teaching in the schools. By university, they are much better behaved.

One thing that wasn't mentioned in this article which would surely be telling is the nationalities of the teachers. I would suspect that most (all?) of them don't carry a Western passport. One can just imagine how the servants are treated in a family where the parents go in and assault the teachers and administration of their children's school.

VS

[helenl]

Their nationality(ies) probably had a lot to do with how far the family (and student) felt they could go.

Life is not perfect at HCT but such behaviour is not tolerated - however, most teachin-g faculty are white/western plus we are pretty well supported by various Shaikhs and Shaikhas (particularly the latter) who are often employed at the local college level.

If I have a problem, I tell my supervisor, the student is asked for their version of events (there are always three sides - yours/mine and the truth) and we proceed from there. At least I always felt my side was listened to - even if the outcome wasn't always what I would have wished (see note on various versions)

[eha]

'.... (there are always three sides - yours/mine and the truth) and we proceed from there....'

Do you mean, "In the local tradition, there are always three sides"... or is this your own personal belief? I mean, what about the times when there are only two versions, and mine is the truth, only I'm low man on the totem pole?

[15yearsinQ8]

i was teaching in a school in kuwait when a parent of a grade 1 student called his son's teacher 'a c^%*' to her face
the boy was disenrolled the next day

at the same school, a mother of a grade 6 boy entered the school and classroom and assualted another boy (who had fought with her son the day before), that boy was not allowed to re-enroll

soon afterward strict controls were put on school security and parents had to arrange to see a teacher...

during my student teaching days in new hampshire i had the usual amount of spitballs when my back was turned and even a snowball ! this was the same school where i met a prent who had a swastika tatooed to his forehead (his was the local schitzafernic mechanic)
when i taught in boston, there were fights amongst students all the time -

[eha]

15yrs: is that an international school ---in Kuwait--- or a state school? Couldn't agree more about the levels of aggression and savagery that prevail in many schools in Europe -- esp England--- and USA today. Saw it coming; been there; been through that. Wasn't listened to.

[reemmalak]

I taught in Abu Dhabi in two different schools, the first one was all nationality school and the second one an Emaratti based school. The second was the worse. I had a parent who literally marched to the superintendents office, cursed her, called her a lier and pushed her. The superintendent started crying. No action was taken by the school they even apologized to the parent.

[15yearsinQ8]

it was a private school
to the credit of the new superintendent, they were in the process of cleaning house and flushing out many ill behaved students

[eha]

'Blaming the victim' is the most common way of settling disputes in inadequate administrative environments--- other variants are: 'shooting the messenger'; 'scapegoating the whisteblower'.

I--- and one or two others-- have been royally roasted on this forum, and in various employment situations, for daring to suggest that such things happen, and that 'accepting the way things are' may not be the best way to deal with certain issues. At least not if one wants to hold onto a shred of integrity.