Arab News runs a piece on the culture shock some Saudi students meet while studying abroad. The story provides a couple of lurid examples; most Saudis know of others.
The writer identifies an inconsistent program of pre-departure orientation for students. Coming from a closed society that has many rules at variance with the prevailing global norms, Saudi students have to make some major adjustments. The ‘coding’ of behavior that they could read easily in their own society is no longer accurate. They need to learn to read behavior, customs, and mores with a very different eye.
A solid orientation program is necessary, but more is needed. Better vetting of scholarship students will have to play a role. In addition to high grades, applicants will need to be assessed for their flexibility of outlook—tolerance for difference. Sadly, because many Saudi schools tend to develop inflexible thinking, this will mean that a large number of potential scholars won’t make the flexibility grade. That brings its own problems, short and long term, that need to be addressed in the Saudi education system as a whole.
Coping with culture shock
Laura Bashraheel | Arab NewsJEDDAH: A 26-year-old Japanese exchange student was assaulted in February inside a YMCA co-ed student-housing complex in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
A man donning a mask turned out the lights of the laundry room and grabbed the woman from behind. She screamed and broke free. Other students came to the rescue and, according to local news reports, detained 19-year-old Khaled Al-Harbi. The student, who was in Canada on a Saudi government scholarship, was diagnosed with psychological problems and has been seeking counseling.
In another case in Bournemouth, UK, earlier this month, another Saudi student was sentenced to 24 weeks in jail. His identity has been registered for seven years on a local law-enforcement list of sexual harassers, according to the Daily Echo newspaper. In that case, the student, 23, was found guilty of public intoxication, stripping naked and chasing a 36-year-old woman through the streets. The woman punched the man and fled.
…
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
July:03:2009 - 09:25
I agree with much of what you say, except perhaps for this:
“their flexibility of outlook—tolerance for difference”
I don’t think this is a matter of intolerance as the quality of the student. Most of these students are very tolerant, of drinking and whoring, for example. The problem isn’t an intolerant view of difference but rather rich, entitled spoiled brat Saudis getting these scholarships because of wasta and not due to merit — then acting quite libertine when they go abroad. Add to that an inexperience with dealing with women and alcohol, and there you go.
You establish a clear and strict meritocracy, and there would be fewer incidences of “Saudi dudes” getting what all too often is viewed as an extended vacation overseas (to paid for by the Saudi government). They’re no intolerant. Quite the contrary some look at this as an opportunity to act like pigs, and some of these students haven’t so much as made their own beds in their entire lives.
Meanwhile, more deserving Saudi students (lacking in wasta and wealth) are shut out of the program. I suspect that some of the worst behaving Saudis are disproportionately more likely to get these scholarships.
I’d even go a step further and say more conservative and austere Saudis — if they’re open enough to do well in academics — would be far better choices than the rich, libertine retards that sometimes get these scholarships through family connections.
July:04:2009 - 17:58
Give me a break! So, some Saudi citizens turn out to be criminals big deal!:S They want to turn it into something big because there is “saudi” in it. Like there were never people with other nationalities that have misbehaved, engaged in misconduct in a foreign land. In UAE two Australians were charged for sexually assualting-& raping, if I remember correctly- a woman in a bar, no one went and made a big effin deal about it. Cut me some slack. I’m Saudi & I’m tired of this shit. Saudi, Muslim, Saudi, Muslim, Saudi, Muslim…lawa3too kbdy! I’d like to see some motherf*c7n-KKK-racist-bullsh!tter be called a terrorist for a change. And since I’m venting here: That assw!pe of a scientist that thought it wasn’t offensive at all to say he’d like to figure out why black people were good at sports & are intellectually behind, needs to discover what is in the genes of white-Americans(not white people)that makes them hate on others while he’s at it! (add in”why they make up the majority of serial killers?” to make it more offensive)Really people? really? Are you Fuc7in kidding me?!:S F white people, F black people, F arabs, F asians, F hispanics, F everybody that thinks they are effing different! You are all the same and you are all lame, deal with it!
July:04:2009 - 18:44
Thanks, I guess, for the venting.
Please do note that I’m citing an article from Arab News, owned and published by Saudis in Jeddah. This isn’t taken from some Islamophobic or Saudi-bashing site. It a Saudi recognition that they have a problem with not getting their kids sufficiently prepared to deal with different cultures.
July:04:2009 - 23:13
The comment wasn’t aimed at you. It was just a desperate need to express one’s self. And it’s not even about the article its self. It wast just a lash out at how many westerners react, scartch westerners, “non-saudis” react to Saudis in general, and how western media chooses to be extremely biased with using certain terms. In the meantime, I’d like to express my appreciation for you not having deleted my comment-because of its irrelevance among other things-by saying THANK YOU. aaaaaaaah..a7s bra7a(just a sigh of releif)
July:05:2009 - 07:22
Americans–and most others–knew very little about Saudi Arabia before 9/11. What they knew, or thought they knew, wasn’t necessarily true. It often depended on stereotypes created by what they saw (or less reliably, what they heard about) Saudis and Saudi society. Much of that was less than edifying. Egyptians, to take one example, don’t like the way most Saudis behave while in Egypt. They like Saudi money perfectly well, though, so they put up with things they rather dislike. Many Saudis are aware of these stereotypes and don’t like them much; they don’t like the misbehavior that led to them either.
I am sympathetic to some of the problems–and some of the defenses–raised by Saudis. On the other hand, there are certain kinds of behavior, perhaps natural withing traditional Saudi contexts, that do not transfer well to the non-Saudi world.
BTW, I welcome comments that don’t agree with mine! I draw the comment line on intentional and unsubstantiated insults to me, to other commenters, and to racist/Islamophobic rants. I might censor language as it is not my goal to have my blog banned in Saudi Arabia through someone else’s actions.
July:06:2009 - 16:44
saudithissaudithat: You make a valid point. The AN story also made this clear, kind of:
“While cases of criminal bad behavior may reflect just a few bad apples among an estimated 60,000 Saudi men and women studying in 26 countries under government scholarships, some are wondering if the Ministry of Higher Education should do more to pre-empt bad behavior through more intense pre-departure counseling.”
That said, Saudis abroad have a bad reputation. Exchange students tend to fall into certain categories and Saudi exchange students happen to have an image problem due to, as you point out, a few incidences of a few bad apples souring the whole pot. But it’s clear the reputation is there, and preceded 9/11. The Saudi stereotype of wealthy people with a strong sense of entitlement has been perpetuated by the Saudis themselves; you cannot blame others. If you take the whole gambit, it boils down to a PR problem: the treatment of subservient people like maids, the rhetoric that Saudis are somehow more noble because of the whole “cradle of Islam” thing, the discrimination, the stereotypes of paternalism exacerbated by coded discriminatory laws in the Kingdom, the fact that the only Saudis most people meet are wealthy world travelers (with all the fair and unfair implications that implies), the observations of aggressive condescension on the part of Saudis in their treatment of foreign (especially South Asian and Asian) sales clerks, and other issues.
(I say this also being able to list many lesser-known positives of Saudis, like generosity, the ability to enjoy life and family and sharing these experiences, the unwillingness to hurt others, the inherent aspects of modesty, generosity and charity, that, as John points out, is not one most outsiders have had a chance to experience.)
My main point was that the scholarship program should do more to include those Saudis who are more deserving students so that the student community of Saudis abroad is more reflective of the better values of the culture. And it’s valid to suggest that some Saudis treat their experiences overseas as an opportunity to imbibe in behavior and habits that are forbidden for them at home.
I could also very easily level this criticism of foreign exchange students from other (often developing) countries — we get a one-sided view because often these students are not the most deserving from their countries. And yes, college students in general can be bad boys and girls.
And, finally, as the story pointed out: we’re not talking about most Saudis. My dentist is a very conscientious UT-educated Saudi; he’s the type of person with whom more foreigners should have the opportunity to interact.
But please don’t feel victimized. I suggest you at least understand what I (and others) have said.
And John makes another excellent point: Other Arabs seem to not take a liking to Saudis. I see some Lebanese families tossing out French in public in order to make sure others know they’re not Saudi. Moroccans I’ve spoken to (at least several) think Saudi men come to their country to sexually exploit Moroccan women. In general it seems to me that much of the Arab world views Saudis as backward and undeserving of the oil wealth they happened upon while looking for water. That’s not Americans, or Europeans; that’s neighbors in the Arab world.
July:06:2009 - 19:23
I agree with all of the above, but also want to point out that jealousy does play some role in bad-mouthing Saudis. I’m not sure a Lebanese or Egyptian would act any differently had oil in vast quantities been discovered beneath their feet. Somehow, humility does not seem to be the foremost trait of Arab culture.
That said, the entire country of Saudi Arabia suffers–often unfairly–from the behavior of some. The solution isn’t to blame those who hold the opinion, but those who create it through their misbehavior or insensitivity to other peoples’ cultures and values.
July:07:2009 - 13:43
I don’t think the issue is “jealousy”. I think the issue is exactly that displayed by Bashraheel and saudithissaudithat, the divide between those Saudis who are apt to blame themselves vs. those who prefer to look elsewhere for the source of their problems.
The first attitude seeks solutions in internal reform. The second attitude seeks external compulsion. The first can make Arab conduct society a different place; the second allows the existing order to exploit the populace while by its attention elsewhere.
Us Westerners, we are objects and incidental victims in the debate – it seems offensive to both sides if we voice an opinion, does it not? “Flexibility of outlook”, then, is not nearly as important as working to create an absence of bigotry – embracing difference, not just tolerating it. As George Washington wrote:
Visitors to the U.S. need not support everything the U.S. government says or does, but they are expected to comport themselves as well as U.S. citizens do.