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WellRoundedSquare · Joined: 07 Aug 2009 Posts: 28 Location: New York

I read a lot of posts and information on this forum before I came to Oman. I was incredibly excited to touch down in the Middle East and dive into a new environment.

However, I think that much of the advice offered on this forum (albeit genuine, encouraging and done with the best of intentions) is becoming increasingly out of date with the reality on the ground.

The idea that Oman is the last vestige of traditional tribal friendliness is a myth. That the students are the best in the gulf is a slope that is sliding more toward unjust arrogance with every day that goes by.

Oman is moving along the same trajectory that the Emirates, Kuwaitis and Bahrainis have slid down.

15 Years ago the Emirati's were encouraging, friendly, and genuine.

10 Years ago Oman took up this mantle.

I expect now it is in it's death rattle or has been entirely extinguished from the Gulf. I believe the only thing anyone can say about the facilities, faculty, or students in Oman is that "they're better than Saudi Arabia" which is in effect saying nothing.

The Recruiting Companies in Oman are the same bottom feeding, greedy *beep* you'd find tricking teachers into working into the abominable f aux schools in Vietnam and China. But most people don't have many illusions about them coming in.

In the end though the most tragic thing about teaching in Oman, is that the government run schools are completely fake. Whether the ministry of manpower is complicit in the facades created by the recruitment middlemen I do not know. What I do know is that these kids that desperately need fair education are getting nothing of the sort. Anyone who has been to China, or Taiwan, or Japan or really anywhere outside of the Gulf understands immediately that if the future of Oman rests in the hands of the children who show up at their secondary schools, this country will be swallowed whole.

The fact that the administrators are complicit to the whims of the recruitment companies, and simply laugh off the insane policies of Oman's government ministry as they pass off the burdens to their underlings is the most frustrating aspect of teaching here.

If you are a teacher at the end of your rope, who just wants some money for retirement by all means come to Oman and zone out for a couple of years. If anyone is thinking of coming here in their prime, for the love of the job, for the chance to experience a culture through communicating in the classroom, or to have a better idea of the greater middle east. Stay home, or take a pay cut and go back to Asia.

For teachers, the job here carries the same possibility as the landscape between Sohar and Salalah, rocky waste.

Neil McBeath · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Saudi Arabia

This is a bad case of culture shock.

What you expected has not lived up to what you have found, but the brush with which you paint is far too broad.

Perhaps you would be happier elsewhere.

But I would not.

And I am not a teacher at the end of my rope, who needs money for retirement.

balqis · Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 373

There is nothing basically wrong with painting that uses broad strokes of the paint brush. It is just a matter of taste, whether someone likes Manet or expressionism of, say, Schiele or Munch.
What matters is the amount of thruth a picture conveys.

I'm still thinking of Oman before I shut my decade in the Middle East, and its tribal allure and landscape still appeal to me.
If there is little difference between Kuwait and say Salalah, then maybe I should stick to where the money is, and turn a blind eye and ear to the Empty Nothing Else that surrounds me where I am now?
So for me this posting is interesting and important.

balqis

jdl · Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 632 Location: cyberspace

Ah the stages of culture shock....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock

Although there is no set time allowed for one to move through the natural and inevitable process of change whether it be a new job, new land, new relationship, new family status etc., the process being a process is measured in months and years rather than days and weeks for most individuals.

It is said we learn the most about our selves when we are under some stress; that is not to say that more stress equals more learning but rather that each individual must manage his or her response to stress in order to take advantage of the learning opportunity.

Our responses to a situation say more about ourselves than the situation.

WellRoundedSquare · Joined: 07 Aug 2009 Posts: 28 Location: New York

jdl · Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 632 Location: cyberspace

Stage Three?

Patience, with some time and a little self work (doesn't take much really), it will pass.

This is not to minimize the pain and anger one feels or the certain existence of frustrations with the way things are; but an understanding of one's natural responses to a new situation is a very positive step toward equilibrium.

Perhaps a little historical perspective can be of value here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Oman

Prior to 1970 there were no hospitals, power grid, telecom, paved road infrastruture etc. outside the capital region. Quite an amazing accomplishment considering a 40 year time frame.

ThaneKerner · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 139

desultude · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 614

Not all university jobs in Oman are placed by recruiters.

I doubt all recruiters are evil.

Not all mature faculty are waiting to either get enough money to retire, or to die.

Some of us are here to do our jobs well. Not to move the Earth, or accelerate the modernization of Oman, but to teach well, and enjoy our lives in a pretty spectacular place.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

WellRoundedSquare · Joined: 07 Aug 2009 Posts: 28 Location: New York

The inherent problem VS is that Omanis have to work. Yet they can't and don't as a whole.

Since Wikipedia seems to be the only source of information that is tossed about here, I'll give some updated information from the Ideation Center. Booz Hamilton's Middle Eastern Policy Research Center.

Oman as of last year has an unemployment rate of 15%. This would normally be pretty terrible, but the fact is that expatriates cannot become citizens unless they've been here for 20 years and they can't loaf about without a work visa.

So this 15% unemployment rate coincides with the fact that 70% of jobs in Oman are done by expatriate labor. So Omanis take up 30% of the work force and have a massive unemployment rate.

Things might move slower in Oman, but the birthrate certainly doesn't because more than 60% of the Omani population is under 20 years old.

So for you budding sociologists out there, what happens when you have massive unemployment and a huge young population? Add to the fact that the majority of educational institutions are being hamstrung by mismanagement and being "gamed" by self-serving recruitment companies.

Stay tuned I guess...I'm just going through culture shock, what do I know.

Pikgitina · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 420 Location: KSA

Okay. But now you're there. And you will probably be there for at least a year if you've signed a one-year contract and intend to finish it. Don't you think it's worth it to try and find some good things to focus on and think about? Something that would make your time there at least bearable, if not enjoyable.

Also, many of us here in the Gulf and Oman are young and we CHOSE to come here, knowing the game and what things are about, and yet, choose to stay. The reasons are varied, but of course, the good salaries and generous leave (etc!) always have something to do with it. Personally, I prefer living and teaching here. I'd rather have a slightly out-of-hand group of students than a group of Taiwanese students who refuse to open their mouths in a conversation class, for example (and sorry for the stereotype).

Again, if you plan on staying, find a way to deal with it. I, and many others, know how you feel. Socialise, make friends, do things at the weekend and in the evenings that get your mind off things. When you're at work, perhaps try and focus only on your own teaching and what you can do in class. Maybe this is one of those few places in the world where the bigger picture doesn't really "matter" that much, simply because we, as foreigners, cannot change the system. But it's still possible to teach good lessons and perhaps help one or five students.

My intention is not to preach to you, just to say that I've really felt what you're feeling now and have come to terms with it and have found/am trying to find ways to make it work (even if it's just inside my little bubble), because I want to. It can be rewarding and some of them do learn and improve.

Good luck!

jdl · Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 632 Location: cyberspace

Actually, WellRoundedSquare, you know more than you think. Give yourself some credit.

As one continues to gain experience and some maturity in the work world all that which seems so foreign, different and 'wrong' will come into focus and a context for interpreting and integrating new information will evolve.

Gradually facts will become a means by which one can understand the world rather than the tools for supporting a strongly but narrowly held point of view.

Make the best of your stay in Oman.....enjoy, experience, learn.

Great advice Pikgitina

johnslat · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:58 pm Post subject:

Dear WellRoundedSquare,

Could you provide a link to those statistics provided by the Ideation Center?

I couldn't find them at this link:

http://www.ideationcenter.com/media/file/Oasis_economies.pdf

But I did find the "15%" figure provided at this link:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mu.html

Unemployment rate:

15% (2004 est.)
country comparison to the world: 154

As noted, though, that's only an estimate, made about six years ago.

So, it's still the same estimate?

Regards,
John

jdl · Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 632 Location: cyberspace

John,

Thanks for the ideation link.

johnslat · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:50 pm Post subject:

Dear jdl,

As you may have noticed, the Ideation Center seems rather upbeat about the region:

"Surrounded by tension and unnoticed by many observers, the nations of
the Middle East are building their own kind of sustainable prosperity."

But then, it's produced by a company that has a LOT of commercial interests there, and so, it could be considered, perhaps, to be a "puff piece."

Should we heed the words of Public Enemy: "Don't Believe the Hype?"

Regards,
John