Job Discussion Forums

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

Apologies, tjc, this is thread hijacking deluxe! Very Happy

helenl · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 1202

I would have to agree with Pik - but with a caveat. I think that children in the Emirates are not encouraged to ask questions or be curious. The primary school system relies on rote memorization.

I remember arriving in 2001 and asking a student what kind of bird was sitting on the lawn between buildings. The student's reply? Who cares. it's just a bird - determined to find out what kind of bird I asked several more students (between the ages of 18 - 23) and got the same response - sad really.

In my home country, very small children can tell you "that's a robin" "that's a blue jay" "that's a crow" - it's just not something that is generally "encouraged" here at a family level - let alone in the school system. But hopefully that is changing with programs like ADEC? Confused

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:15 pm Post subject:

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

I bet tjc is being enlightened to no end. Laughing

It doesn't directly answer his question, but at least it gives him a little insight into what the university level students are like... even at the best places.

If my memory serves, I do believe that all of the current comments are coming from teachers who have been teaching women in the Emirates. Is the experience teaching the males the same? I know that they are likely as irresponsible and procrastinating... but do they have no curiosity or interest in what they are studying? Or are we mostly talking about foundations courses... and this situation improves as they get into content courses?

For our original poster, are the students studying education at all interested in teaching?

VS

PC Parrot · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:28 pm Post subject:

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:34 am Post subject:

To answer an unasked question, VS, wealth is as destructive...if not more, than poverty. Anybody who is half-alert, will see that wealth in these oil-sheikdoms have robbed these folk of incentive, a nation-building experience, and curiosity of the world around them.

In a way I pity these folk...

They're very GOOD people (an' I don' hafta be tellin' YOU dat!), but they've had so much stolen from them by the oil wealth.

When I'm at a mall and I see the Indonesian-Malaysian-Filipina-Whatevernationthathastoomanypeoplebutnotenoughmoney maid herding the uncontrollable children or the young national who pulls up outside a shop and incessently honks his horn until one of the downtrodden comes out to serve his whim by getting whatever he desires instead of him using his own bipedal functions and jes' goin' in, I think, smugly, to myself, "Jes' like in to good old days of his grandfather/great-grandfather..."

Yet, these folk show such great pride in the notion of going out into the desert to relax as it is a natural function. Most nationals here could no more survive in the desert conditions as could Americans survive as did Danial Boone in the Great American Wilderness. That young squirrel in Alaska proved that a couple of years back when he tried to rough it out in Alaska and wound up starving himself to death in the back of a bus.

At least, his memory was served by a movie being made about his foolish endeavour..."Into the Wild", I think it was called?

NCTBA

ludhilltoysoldier · Joined: 01 Feb 2009 Posts: 31 Location: UAE

Yes...'Into the Wild'. Excellent movie..sad and thought provoking.

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:13 pm Post subject:

tjc · Joined: 19 Mar 2010 Posts: 4

Hi,

As suggested, I've done a bit of research now. Excluding HCT, all of the universities which were listed by VS (in the KSA forum) do run courses in Education and seem to be ok.
[It's completely off topic but one of the assistant professors at Zayed University is named Peter Parker... that put a smile on my face... working side-by-side with the real Spidey]

PeterWilliams suggested BUiD and MDX in Dubai; BUiD "collaborate" with the University of Birmingham's School of Education but it isn't a British university. I quite like the idea of working for MDX though and will certainly follow that up. I think working for a British institute abroad should increase my chances of returning fairly soon.

Thank you all for the feedback.

homeless vet · Joined: 01 Apr 2009 Posts: 80

People with terminal degrees tend to not be happy as faculty at HCT. Administration, perhaps, but not teaching.