Focus (Opinion) Of the Week - Issue 47

47 - Nov 20 thru Nov 26 2000, Vol X

“Don’t Believe the TV!”

COMMON SENSE
By: Hassan Al-Haifi
Arrogance is often accompanied by mischief, if mischief cannot be said to be the driving force of those who insist that there are just no common denominators between them and the rest of humanity. Sometimes, arrogance can become so blinding on those who rely on it to maintain their onerous perspectives of themselves and the world around them. So much so, that every effort is exerted to belittle any other non-condescending outlooks or observations that others may perceive in light of the facts on the ground and the moral implications of the situations under scrutiny.
It is said that power oftentimes also breeds arrogance, but in a volatile and tumultuous part of the world, which the Middle East has proven to be, time and again, power is no guarantee for endurance and abrupt and sudden shifts of power are a common characteristic of the region, almost like the shifting dunes of the desert. On many occasions, power has shifted to those who, perhaps occupied the remotest areas of the minds, and soon enough a once prevailing power becomes overtaken and evaporates into the annals of chroniclers and historians, leaving behind archeological ruins and inscriptions that tell of their once unchallenged mastery of the land and its inhabitants. Perhaps no region in the world has seen so many powers trod on its soil, only to find it an unwelcome haven and a graveyard for the most glorious of their masters and masterminds. It is also common to discover that those powers that prevailed in the region by sheer might, yet possessing weak dogmatic foundations and a poor association with the region, ethnically and culturally, were those that, relatively, had the shortest life span in the area. The Crusaders, the Mongols, the European powers, during different stretches of the Age of Imperialism, just to name a few of the recent fly by night invaders of the region, have come and gone as fast as the monsoons, leaving behind nothing except the havoc and destruction they caused to a land that is blessed with a rich moral and cultural heritage and is honored with the reception of many of the missions of deliverance sent by the Almighty for all of humanity.
Mind you, all these past powers enjoyed their own autonomous elements of power, yet the best of them could not sustain a presence in the region beyond a century and half of the human time scale. Before these nations, the Roman did experience some recurrence of their presence in the region, but it was the Eastern Roman Empire – the Byzantines – thanks to their more relative cultural refinements to those of the region, they sustained a longer presence than most other occupiers of the region, partly fostered by their early institutionalization of Christianity. However, even the Emperors of Constantinople and their Orthodox Patriarchs were confronted with contestants all along the duration of their reign. First, the Persians challenged their omnipotence in the region, during the Pre-Islamic Era, then the Arabs, who knocked on the gates of Constantinople on several occasions, then the Seljuk Turks until, finally, the Ottomans came and rooted them out of their very own domicile, carrying the banner of Islam to its farthest Northern and Western stretches. Yet, even with all the autonomous elements of power all these great nations enjoyed, they neither relished their presence nor sustained it for long.
But now, we have an invading “power” - Israel - that has proven to be of a far more arrogant and alien nature to the region than any other one that preceded it, because it seeks, not to occupy the region, as a greater expansion of its original domain, but seeks to establish that domain in the heart of the Middle East, relying on unfounded claims of a historical reign in the region and horrendous distortions of the manifestations of the will of the Almighty, without any possession of a mandate from the latter, nor a universal mission of deliverance while only ascribing to a heinous chauvinistic ideology that the Almighty is completely innocent of, and could never condone as part of a universal theological order that submits to His Omnipotence and the universality of man.
It would be worthwhile for the Israelis, then, to really have a more in-depth understanding of the history of the Middle East, to realize that no matter how much might is at their disposal now and no matter how much senseless bloodshed they can unleash against the indigenous population of their “homeland” and the surrounding countries, their demise is inevitable. Notwithstanding their claim to “belonging” to the region historically, or mythically, to be more accurate, they must bear in mind that their hostile nature and contempt for any moral and ethical standards, which the region has always evoked and set, not just for its inhabitants, but for the world at large, is bound to be countered by a force that will never be brought to submission to such chauvinistic contempt for the will of God. The Israelis must also remember that what ever favor they had with the Lord had been forfeited long ago, when they refused to adhere to deliverers from the true Hebrews of the past, who relished in the killing of their own deliverers and any other prophets, who sought, in vain to challenge the will of God, for themselves and for the universe at large, and accordingly lost any hope of ever carrying on as the Lord’s agents on Earth.
Israel is very remote to the region, culturally, dogmatically and even ethnically. Their claim to being returnees to a long lost “homeland” is justified by neither religious decree nor national affiliation. Notwithstanding the Ashkenazi minority in Israel, who might be said to mold into the various oriental cultures they come from, for all good and intents, Israel is a mutation to the region, with cancerous traits that could never hope to gain acceptance, not because of the hostility of the long-standing indigenous populations of the area, but because of its reliance on an archaic chauvinistic philosophy that defies the foundations of the very source of the spiritual roots of their claims to existence. Their spiritual claims to the region, or even to God’s favor, have been denied a long time ago, even by the Al-Mighty himself, who sent their forebears wandering throughout the world carrying the damnation of the Lord, because of their refusal to recognize God’s deliverers from their very own true Hebrew blood. On the other hand, the application of their chauvinistic aspirations raise a lot of doubt as to their inability to be compatible to a region that has dissolved itself of even lesser chauvinistic forces in the past, that at least saw no reason to uproot the indigenous populations of the area, though they were not the greatest of practitioners of tolerance, and which had their own autonomous claims to power and greatness.
Israel is a fictitious power that relies on other powers to provide it the muscle behind its destructive war machine. In fact, Israel has yet to show that it was set up by its own “organizers”, let alone prove that it can sustain itself for any length of time, without the umbilical cord that ties it to the United States. Moreover, Israel (as well as the Arabs) must realize that this umbilical cord is in itself delicate and lends itself to easy breakage. The existence of this umbilical cord is based on a false impression of the Americans of the philosophy and motives of the Israeli regime and the romantic image projected of the pioneering spirit of the Israeli settlers, which was engrained in the American psyche by a tireless misleading media campaign, unleashed by a misguided propaganda apparatus that is unchallenged by any corresponding counterpart channel to project the truths that belie the fallacies that the American people and Government have been spoon fed for more than a century by the Israeli Zionist lobby in the United States.
That is why, Ehud Barak, had to come and tell the press last week that what is being seen on television by the whole world every day should not be believed, when he tried to insist that the Palestiare responsible for all the violence in Palestine over the last two months, but realized that for the first time, just because the Israelis say it, it is not always the God sent truth, most people will find believable anymore, since the world press is showing who is firing the shots in the Holy Land, who is doing the killing and who is doing the burying. All he could then say was: “Don’t believe the TV.” It is not enough that the Israelis are also injuring members of the press, but to also call them liars, that is really hard to swallow. Then, arrogance can also be blinding.

Whither In-Service Training?

Dr P.N.Ramani,
Associate Professor of English, Faculty of Education, Sana’a University

After an In-Service Training Program is over, the organizers, very often the Ministry of Education, judges the impact of the program by trying to find out whether the teacher participants are willing and able to use the materials and methods ‘recommended’ to them on the program. Some teachers may adopt the new methods and materials for a while after they have had the training, but most of them, sooner or later, slide back into their ‘normal’, pre-training practices.
The purpose of this article is to examine the possible effects of the in-service training programs that are generally offered on the practicing teachers and to suggest the need to look for an alternative approach to in-service training. The observations I make here are based on my experience of interacting with teachers of English, but they may well equally apply to the teachers of other subjects.
Many of the participants of such courses have returned without support to their schools only to develop feelings of inadequacy, confusion, insecurity, and often guilt. I would like to describe three stereotypical kinds of in-service course participants and to consider the influence of the ‘training’ on their attitudes and behaviors.

The Untouched
A majority of the participants attend such in-service courses for the break these courses offer them from their teaching routines, for the certificate, and perhaps for the company of other teachers (i.e., a kind of social get-together). These teachers are quite happy with their own teaching practices and have no intention of risking their self-esteem and security by listening to new information and ideas. They sit passively through the course and then return to their schools untouched by the course, hence unchanged, and carry on exactly as before.
These ‘untouched’ teachers are not willing to accept the theories of visiting academics or the recipes of visiting ‘super teachers’. They find the new ideas threatening and perhaps the best defense against this imposition of ideas is to hear but not to listen.

The Guilty
Some of the participant teachers are, however, eager to learn new ways. They listen with keen attention and express genuine appreciation, and even gratitude, for what they have received. They return to their schools determined to improve their ways but fail to match the new ideas with the old realities, such as large classes, poor resources, lack of time, the demands of the set syllabus and exams. They quickly fall back upon their old ways but now feel guilty and insecure; they also lack the confidence and conviction they had earlier in their teaching.
These teachers are told that what they have been doing is out of date and ineffective, and they are persuaded to try the new ideas. However, when they get back to their schools, they find that they cannot make those new ideas work and they put them away guiltily for use, hopefully, in the future.

The Radicals
Some of the eager, attentive, and enthusiastic teachers are so convinced of the value of their new wisdom that they rush back to their schools with revolutionary zeal. They want to change their approach overnight and flood their students with the new materials and activities they had received at the in-service course.
A few of these ‘radicals’ succeed because they have clearly understood the principles underlying the new approach and are able to adapt the new materials and activities to their own situations; they are even able to develop their own supplementary materials and activities. But many of these ‘radicals’ who have not clearly understood the new approach may often ‘damage’ the learning process by imposing on their students inappropriate materials and activities for a short time; they revert to the old approach when the received supply of materials runs out.
What are the constraints on teacher development? First, many teachers refuse to change any of their practices so long as the examination results are good. Second, they feel insecure if they have to give up practices they are used to. Third, they have no motivation to change because they often complain about problems such as large classes, syllabus to cover, ‘indifferent’ or ‘uninterested’ students, too easy or difficult materials, lack of administrative support, student indiscipline, fixed or no seating arrangement, and so on. Fourth, a shift from safe routines to the insecurity of finding new ways of teaching involves effort, extra work, and emotional energy.
The major problem, therefore, with the in-service training programs that are being offered now lies in assuming that the ‘input’ provided to the teachers in these programs influences and changes the teachers’ perception and practice. We need to carry out studies of the impact of these programs on the teachers and make the necessary changes based on the actual needs of teachers. We need to encourage institution-based and individual-based professional development.
Each Faculty of Education should develop a network of schools in its area and prepare common programs each year for working together. This would make the schools not feel isolated from teacher education institutions. It would also solve, to some extent, the problem of finding schools for practice teaching for the students of the Faculty. Schools and teacher education institutions should co-ordinate their efforts in this direction.
I often hear the teachers say: “Tell me and I will listen; teach me and I will remember; involve me and I will learn; share my concern and I will change.” We have been telling teachers that they should change and teaching them how to teach better. Can we now involve them and share their concerns so that they may learn and change themselves?

Adam’s Head Is Not Enough!

Jalal Al-Sharaabi,
Yemen Times
Will the drama of the Medical Faculty be over by passing a verdict sentencing Mohammed Adam to death as if he is the only criminal confirming what he wrote in one of his letters while being in prison stating “Yes, I’m the Scapegoat.”
As a matter of fact, the big fuss made about the Medical Faculty crime at the beginning was not in the least reasonable. Similarly, playing it down and covering up those accomplices was not logical too and was not fair at all.
It is certain that Adam is not the only one who is involved in this for there are some other hidden hands involved in this matter. Adam has a lot in mind about a heinous crime. However, he remained silent unwilling to say a word.
The judge handling the case should also take into consideration all aspects of the case. Claims of Hamdan tribe should also be paid heed to. All were expecting that new persons other than Adam would be presented to court. However, this did not happen. To disappoint all hopes, 20 of November 2000 was fixed a date for passing the final verdict on Mohammed Adam.
Besides the ambiguity and blackout imposed on investigations and court sessions, the court seems to be in a hurry to pass the verdict on one person only. Consequently, killing the case by pointing fingers at Adam only.
Despite the fact that the media has played a substantial role in exciting the public opinion, making extensive reports, sometimes baseless, it was not able to unravel some of the underlying mystery of the crime.
Passing the verdict in this way will have lots of serious consequences as the relatives of victims won’t be satisfied with. They have already threatened to avenge if Adam’s accomplices were not tried. Besides, this will also taint and distort the course of justice which many believe it has been diverted by some influential accomplices.
The disappointing thing is that no one of the university officials and security men there were held accountable for their sense of irresponsibility and total negligence. This has made the whole thing appear strange, making Adam the only criminal who takes the brunt of the whole affair.
It is also noted that some other issues came after the Medical Faculty crime holding the public attention.
All by all, Adam’s accomplices have become safe and secure now. This will give them the chance to do more and more crimes. However, Adam’s head is not enough. If Adam was scapegoated this time, others who were involved would pay for this later as the victim’s families would never let it go easy.