4275336deb688210VgnVCM200000e66411acRCRDapproved/thenational/Articles/Migration/2009-Q1'This is not the West' is no excuse for failing schools3275336deb688210VgnVCM200000e66411ac____Put a couple of western-looking, western-speaking people in the front office, pass out some worksheets and books in English and you have a western-looking school - but not a western education.parents<p>The last time I wrote about education I mentioned that my children's school was missing an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) teacher. Of course, it's not just my children's class that is missing this teacher, but the entire school. I have called the school so often that in my mind's eye I can see the secretary cringe when she hears my voice. But that's OK, it doesn't bother me. Let's just say the school has potential, but it needs my help. This is my job: fighting for my children's education.</p> <p>Last week I received a notice saying that the children were going to have something called an Enviro-Spell-a-Thon, whatever that is, which would count towards their ICT assessment. Of course, I hit the roof. I called the school and was told, as I have been told for the past three months: "A new ICT teacher is coming this week." If that doesn't shut me up, then it's: "We have asked so many people and interviewed so many people. They say they are coming and then they don't. This is not the West, where people keep their promises."</p> <p>I could have argued with them, and I wanted to, but I decided to save my precious breath. If they were running a school that genuinely catered for westerners, they would be out of jobs. Arguments that begin with "In the West…" really get on my nerves. We are not in the West, and we can't force the West on everybody; some people have never been there and never want to go there. And if we were in the West, the two people posing as principals at my children's school would have been out on the street the minute it became obvious that they don't know the meaning of leadership.</p> <p>What they do know is that in a private school in the West there is no way that they could get away with having no teacher in a specific subject for three months, then calling for an assessment in that subject; making the children watch a video one day, giving them a revision sheet the next, and then an exam the day after that. When I asked the school principal how they could do this, she said that they might not use the grades if everyone didn't pass. What?</p> <p>So how does the school do this? By using the irresistible appeal of "the West". Put a couple of western-looking, western-speaking people in the front office, pass out some worksheets and books in English and you have a western-looking school - but not a western education. The real tragedy is that many school owners can't tell the difference. In general, I don't have any problems with the teachers at the school; they are doing their best for my girls, I know that. It's the administration and the school's owners that I call into question - especially when they stress out children and parents over an exam in a subject in which there has been no teacher since the first week in January.</p> <p>Many of the parents are unable to decipher the mystery of the Enviro-Spell-a-Thon - and even if they do, they feel that this nonsense is somehow part of the programme. I take the miswak approach. Miswak is the herbal branch that the Prophet recommended that we use to clean our teeth: it's a sort of pre-modern toothbrush, still used today, with a tough bark that you have to chew through to get to the good stuff. And this is what I am doing: chewing my way through the madness.</p> <p>In the end, I have to ask: those schools that sing the praises of the West and say that it is so great over there, do they really want the same standards here? Do they really want to be held accountable in the same way? Do they want parents holding meetings to protest against their failings? Do they want parent-teacher conferences and councils to have a say on the selection of teachers, principals and curriculum? Of course not.</p> <p>The fact is, many of those who swear that they are filled with nostalgic longing for the West are here because they know that, over there, they would never have it so good. A good education doesn't belong to any hemisphere. Many nations outside the West are doing so well that they provide millions of new minds to fuel the West's "greatness". Where would Silicon Valley be without Asian computer geniuses? Where would Nasa be without its Arab scientists and engineers? Or western hospitals without non-western doctors and nurses - all of them educated in their countries first before going to the West?</p> <p>"This is not the West" is the mother of all cop-outs. It is not the East we have to fix, it is the attitude and the mythology that the West has everything that is best. When schools improve their reputations by operating in a professional manner then they won't have to make up impromptu whatever-a-thons to compensate for missing teachers. My children's school administrators know this but won't change, because they don't have to - because they know this is not the West.</p> <p>Parents, even if they don't understand the language very well, still know when something doesn't smell right. They need to take the time to go to the ministry, not the school, and let them know that this is not what they paid for. They paid for an education, not a virtual trip to a mythical West where everything is not so great anyway. <i>Maryam Ismail is a sociologist who divides her time between the UAE and the US</i></p> 82,235YYOPINION2009032400000020090324000000100ARhttp://adedit.ad.atl.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090324/OPINION/184754781111847547812009032410000000090815a023b4b8210VgnVCM100000e56411ac____3275336deb688210VgnVCM200000e66411ac____1218b5e183448210VgnVCM200000e66411acRCRD