Job Discussion Forums

[John Kalani]

General warning for all teachers. Laureate is a contender for worse place to work in the worse country on earth. Jeddah male college is especially bad cause the boss is a complete tool who hasn't the slightest idea what he is doing. American but with a weird Iranian accent. He operates thru intimidation to hide his incompetence. His teaching staff is afraid of him because he shouts at them at meetings for just talking out of turn or even smiling at one another when he says something ridiculous. The students hate him so much they regularly pull the fire alarm at least once a month to get out of class. It is their only recourse to fight a man who will have them expelled for speaking if he addresses them in class, and screaming at them under the slightest provocation. He claims to be an ex fire marshal, but has ordered the teachers not to let the students leave the building if the fire alarm rings cause he knows it is just a thing the students do cause they have no respect for him.

The school just opened last fall, but was no where near ready due to his having no clue how to run a school, For weeks there were no books or internet or any materials whatsoever. The staff was so short that we had to work 30 hours thru out December, and never got paid overtime to this day although the tool guy keeps promising. He has no problem with firing people regularly and always has a new victim he focuses on to fire that month so that every one knows how powerful he is and is to be feared.

He goes around peeking thru doors to make sure the teachers never sit down in class during their six hour shifts. Having no idea how to teach, he believes the only way to control a class is to never ever sit, and never let the students speak - never mind that there are no books and nothing for them to do in the 50 minute period! The classroom doors all have one way plastic see-thru material so that it looks like a mirror from the inside, and you can't see him spying from outside. He will d insane things like have a teacher pulled out of class to report to him to explain why they were two minutes late - these interrogations can take up 15 more minutes of class time. Absolutely every staff member is miserable and hates this man, and thinks of nothing but how to leave, and so do the students.

[lcanupp1964]

Hello John,

May I ask a sincere question about your situation? Are you still there? If you are still working there, are you quitting soon? I understand if you need the money and are kind of stuck there. If so, I hope you can finish out your contract and leave on good terms.

If I had to work with this guy and experience all the crazy things you described on a daily basis, I wouldn't be able to last more than a month. Just yelling at me in front of my peers would be enough for me to leave and get on a plane back home, or to my next job. I know it is easier said than done, but I hope all teachers coming over to KSA have enough money in savings so no one feels trapped working in this kind of hostile work environment.

A “snarky-free” comment.

[John Kalani]

I'm still here, coz when people quit the head makes it look like they resigned to keep them quiet. then when their gone he tells them they quit and will get no compensation or a letter of reference. the good news is he cannot last long, this tool, the Saudi bosses are onto him coz the students complain. his days are numbered, he just don't know it yet

[scot47]

Maybe he will take you with him ? He certainly will not be happy about your posts !

[John Kalani]

More like I'll be taking him down with me.

[2buckets]

If he is not a Saudi national, then he will surely be gone, especially if he actually has an Iranian background.

In the Gulf, the students always rule.

That being said, the "boss" in many, if not most schools in the Gulf are similar to yours. It's rare that faculty can say:"I like and respect my supervisor and upper management"

Management gets these positions not through competence, but more likely cronyism and suckup-ism. In cases of nationals, it's "Vitamin Wah", WASTA.

I say this based on over 30 years experience in 3 Gulf/Middle East countries.

[John Kalani]

Good to know. Thanks brother.

[gorkomi]

Good luck!

[rollingk]

[scot47]

Foreign managers are handy scapegoats - in national football teams and language training.

[spiral78]

[cultofpersonality]

Saudi....

Just go there, do your job, don't ruffle any feathers, collect your money, send it back to your country, say a few as salaam alaikums, be the token, go home!

Trying to westernise Saudis...we are not there for that...we are there for that oil money!

Once you start thinking you are the Western Light and Saviour of the Middle East you start losing your sanity!

There are many expats in Saudi that have delusions of grandeur. You are just there to fill numbers and allocations, especially if you work for a contractor...and no, they do not value you as an individual teacher and they do not see you as a liberator. They know you are there for the money!

I once knew an American teacher who thought he could change the system by holding the administration to account by verbally berating them. How long did he last? Not long. Did he leave with his sanity? Nope! Did he fill his original objectives? Nope...failed miserably!

[johnslat]

Dear cultofpersonality,

"Did he leave with his sanity? Nope!"

Hardly surprising, seeing as he apparently didn't arrive with it.


Regards,
John

[gorkomi]

What I meant to say, in regard to picking and choosing, is that the schools want Western learning structure. It is very much Westernizing them when they're studying KET, PET, IELTS, and what-have-you, and the college lobby has Aunie Anne's pretzels. I'm not saying they want the kids themselves wearing polos and slacks. If you're going to keep functioning like a third world, then skip the borrowing of Western company names and bringing over renowned guest speakers, and just use locals who have traveled and know English, and let the students help each other on exams, as they grew up doing.

[spiral78]