Actually, the government apparently declared the Eid holiday would extend for a few more days... meaning that today was "officially" (?) a holiday... but not for us at the institution. I met my first class of students who looked stunned as I explained to them that I would be teaching not English, but modern literature (or were they just confused by my rambling?)
Anyway, I find the above cartoon funny not only because I am starting my year off with Children's Lit (Lewis Carroll), but because it reflects some of the atmosphere at work. Every year a lot of policies change and students, not really being familiar with appropriate means to voice concerns, picket or otherwise create chaos over issues both big (and possibly deserving) and small... VERY small. This year, they have been told they MUST FOLLOW POLICY... Let's not forget that it seems a distinct possibility that some of us might actually have been hired to be some of seven maids with seven mops to clear the quantities of sand.
3 comments:
Hi,
Welcome back,
Do you think that overchanging of rules in the universities is normal or the university that you are working in is an atypical. If it is the second then what reasons are behind it.
Why policies are changing a lot in your institution?
Dear Kurdistan (and anonymous),
I don't really know what is normal in this region, but yes, I would guess that the university I am working at is atypical... if only because the entire education is being conducted in English and with a different system than is used in the other universities. If you think about the difficulties of starting anything completely different from what has been there before, it is clear that there are going to be some "growing pains" and some adjustments.
In addition to growing pains, I think there is the difficulty of lack of information on both sides. If the planners of the university had an accurate account of the numbers of students with university-level English and with detailed information of the high school curriculum (which seems impossible as students all seem to have varying experiences of high school), it might have been easier for decision-makers to make enforceable policies. If the students knew the expectations of the institution, they could make more informed choices about whether they can handle the academic load or not (which of course is heavy as the program is a scholarship program to be recognized by a foreign body).
Finally, the administration has changed, and with that change, comes changes in policy. HOPEFULLY there will be fewer in the future and that those changes that have been made will benefit those already in the programs... that the program will be able to gain some recognition both in the region and abroad.
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