Back to School...Time to Start Fillin' the Gaps

12/5, 5:45 PM EST: I returned to school today, and my students were excited to see me! I drove to school in jeans and button down shirt, but when I got into my classroom I pulled on my thobe, igal and gutra...the traditional Saudi garb was a big hit with students and teachers alike.

Now that I've been home for almost 48 hours, I need to start filling in the gaps of my trip. It was difficult to maintain the blog because we were constantly on the go, and I tried to upload pictures when I had the time after answering emails and Skypeing my students at school. I took over 2300 pictures, so I've been trying to narrow them down to the very best pictures for the blog and to show in a presentation.

The focus of our trip was to learn about the culture, education system, industry, and the history of KSA. I feel that my posts didn't follow any sort of order, but then again, that's okay. As a group we did so many different things in a day, it was hard to stick to one major topic. So let me start with education...

While we were in KSA, we visited several schools. The schools that we visited were private schools; we did not visit any public schools, and it would have been nice to have seen how a public school operates. We were informed that the private schools abide by the same regulations and curriculum requirements for the public schools. Many students begin learning a foreign language by the age of 7, and typically that language is English. It was interesting to sit in a classroom at the Dhahran Aliyyah school where the teacher and students conversed and wrote in English. English is a very important language for students because many of them want to attend American or European universities.

KSA has modernized in 75 years, and that's due to the discovery of oil. The country has modernized in several generations...often I heard the same story: my parents didn't have a high school education, and I graduated from college with a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and a doctorate degree. Can you imagine the drive and determination required to make that giant leap in educational levels in just one generation?

The events of 9/11 have detrimentally affected the relationship between the United States and the KSA in regards to education. I am not an expert on terrorism nor do I have great insights into the mind and thoughts of Osama Bin Laden, but it would seem that he or his executive officers carefully decided that 15 of the 19 terrorists were Saudi. If that is the case, then it would seem that that decision has had its desired effect. Today, Saudis and Americans are finding it difficult to obtain visas, whereas in the past it was relatively easy to get a visa. Many Saudi college students in the United States cannot return home due to the tightening of visa restrictions in America and the KSA. American business interests in KSA are failing and are being replaced by Chinese and Indian business enterprises.

I am encouraged that many foreigners, like Saudis, want to receive their college educations in the US. This speaks volumes in regards to post-secondary education system. Unfortunately, our public education system is not held in the same regard. The students that I met our trip know much more about the US and the world than American students do. I would even be so bold to guess that Saudi students know more about American history than many of our students!

I've not exhausted this topic so I am posting this for now and return to it later.