Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Segregation again...Diwaniya



Al-Onaizi: “men should always come first, then the woman.”


I didn't hear this one myself when I watched the re-run of Dr. Ghabra's Diwaniya yesterday. I wasn't able to stay tuned as Al-Onaizi kept going around in circles, failing to answer questions directly, and swaying away from the main topic (If this was one of the papers my students present, I'd have OFF-POINT written all over the pages)
Did he actually say men should come first? or is this taken out of contest?

School's starting soon, and segregation will again present itself as a hurdle in assigning classes to teachers. I just had to add a boys only class to our schedule to cater for the need of probably 2 or 3 students when I have other classes that hold 10 students over the limit with some still on the waiting list. In a department that is predominantly female, it becomes almost impossible to maintain segregation. Our literature male students are even fewer in number than our linguistics ones which means that many of them have to spend more years in college that they should just to be able to find the classes they need.

As we promote classroom discussions and student interaction in the knowledge-learning process, classes of 2-3 students seem to be a barrier hard to cross. Small classrooms are usually easier to handle in terms of discussions, with everyone given the chance to participate. But 2-3 students is not a classroom. It's private tutoring. And the rules for private tutoring do not hold for classroom discussions that should promote an interactive, debate-based discussion. 2-3 student classrooms means teachers have to resort to lecturing, so we're back to students listening, teachers speaking, exams being proof of the students ability to memorize what the teachers says in class.

So much for liberal/creative thinking.

6 comments:

Jewaira said...

2-3 guys in an all girls section is ok I think. I've heard that they are accommodated.

dishevelled said...

takhalof!
Walla ma3indihom salfa. When co-education existed, Kuwait was a much better place. Walla now all the guys and girls are going nuts over each other min kithir ilkabt.

Oo the thing they want about segregating handasa and 6ib. I mean, when we work tomorrow we'll be dealing with the other gender.

Magool ila "kilin yara ilnas ib3ain 6ab3a". So all I can say for people who fought for this law "horny basterds" :P

Maya // مايا said...

My God! This is scary!

Hon, I seriously don't know how you manage to do it all and still stay sane. I'd probably rest my oversized cha-chas on the fools and make the roundest, flattest khoboz outta 'em.

If you need help, let me know. I'll turn into a cursing gypsy and spit "May the flees of a thousand camels infest your balls and may your hands grow too short to scratch em" to those buggers!

Alia said...

Segregation presents itself at home too

Remember ..

مو قلنا بنسوي سفرتين .. ونخلي الرياجيل المزعجين بروحهم ونقعد إحنا - السيدات - الحلوين المؤدبين الهاديين بروحنا
:)

Hanan said...

jewaira. Usually our co-ed classes have this ratio anyway, 2-3 boys and about 25 girls. My problem is with opening a subject just to accommodate 2-3 students, males usually, in a boys only class. Waste teacher energy, waste of classrooms also.

dishevelled. Maybe they should implement curtains in the OR, separating predominantly male surgeons from the predominantly female nurses (3ad madree where to fit the patient here)

maya sane? moi?

alia starting tonight?

Maya // مايا said...

oui, toi!