Comments on: Education in the Arab World http://xrdarabia.org/2009/10/16/education-in-the-arab-world/ Informed comment and commentary about Saudi Arabia, reform, and its relations with the US Fri, 25 May 2012 21:12:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: John Burgess http://xrdarabia.org/2009/10/16/education-in-the-arab-world/comment-page-1/#comment-24353 John Burgess Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:51:18 +0000 http://xrdarabia.org/?p=8976#comment-24353 Worse than not knowing anything about it is 'knowing' things about it that aren't true. The Islamic world has its own Darwin-denialists, including the extremely popular Adnan Oktar, better known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Oktar">Harun Yahya</a>. And Jon, Welcome! Worse than not knowing anything about it is ‘knowing’ things about it that aren’t true. The Islamic world has its own Darwin-denialists, including the extremely popular Adnan Oktar, better known as Harun Yahya.

And Jon, Welcome!

]]> By: Jon Claerbout http://xrdarabia.org/2009/10/16/education-in-the-arab-world/comment-page-1/#comment-24347 Jon Claerbout Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:32:16 +0000 http://xrdarabia.org/?p=8976#comment-24347 I had an orthodox Christian education in America; and after I heard and read all the bad things about Charles Darwin, I went to the county library, found his main book and read it to form my own opinion. Perhaps my experience does not relate to any experience anyone could have in an Arab land. Better they should know why they don't like it than to know nothing about it. I had an orthodox Christian education in America; and after I heard and read all the bad things about Charles Darwin, I went to the county library, found his main book and read it to form my own opinion. Perhaps my experience does not relate to any experience anyone could have in an Arab land. Better they should know why they don’t like it than to know nothing about it.

]]> By: Sandy http://xrdarabia.org/2009/10/16/education-in-the-arab-world/comment-page-1/#comment-24325 Sandy Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:36:26 +0000 http://xrdarabia.org/?p=8976#comment-24325 Well, this article preaches to the choir as far as I'm concerned. Until quite recently, in Saudi, even most private schools had to use the same government curriculum the government schools used. The main difference was a better quality facility and perhaps some additional classes-like English at an earlier grade, PE for girls, or Karate or something like that. Often the teaching quality did not improve much, but sometimes it did- and I think the parent/student ratios were better. But the private schools have their own problems. They are businesses and want to keep customers- and sometimes that gets in the way of setting a standard. There can be pressure on teachers to give good grades to everyone, to show how well they're students are doing. It can get very convoluted. A few years ago they started letting some private schools run different curriculum (still with ministry approval and lots of religion)- including American diploma's, which require external accreditation. This year they also loosed the stranglehold on Saudi students being allowed into the international schools (should they qualify) though some Saudi students had managed to get in through combinations of legitimate excuse (child already spent many years abroad/learning disability etc), wasta and bribery. Of course, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child- parents should be allowed to choose without special gov't permission. Ok. I'll get off my soapbox now...:) Well, this article preaches to the choir as far as I’m concerned. Until quite recently, in Saudi, even most private schools had to use the same government curriculum the government schools used. The main difference was a better quality facility and perhaps some additional classes-like English at an earlier grade, PE for girls, or Karate or something like that. Often the teaching quality did not improve much, but sometimes it did- and I think the parent/student ratios were better.

But the private schools have their own problems. They are businesses and want to keep customers- and sometimes that gets in the way of setting a standard. There can be pressure on teachers to give good grades to everyone, to show how well they’re students are doing. It can get very convoluted.

A few years ago they started letting some private schools run different curriculum (still with ministry approval and lots of religion)- including American diploma’s, which require external accreditation.

This year they also loosed the stranglehold on Saudi students being allowed into the international schools (should they qualify) though some Saudi students had managed to get in through combinations of legitimate excuse (child already spent many years abroad/learning disability etc), wasta and bribery. Of course, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child- parents should be allowed to choose without special gov’t permission. Ok. I’ll get off my soapbox now…:)

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