There was a student in an elementary school. No one knew her social or economic status; all they knew was that she was a student. She studied like any other normal student in the class. Some of the teachers assigned her to accompany workers to maintain the school and show them where they should work. The reason for the assignment: Her father was a doorman and her mother once worked as a servant in schools, but they were too old and could no longer work. Teachers used the student to do their work on their behalf when she should have been sitting in school like any other normal student. The teachers insisted that she should be like her mother, a servant. These teachers did not give equal treatment to all their students and contributed to developing rifts and grudges among them.
Another teacher threw her pen at one of the students, almost causing her to lose an eye. She not only injured her physically, but she also injured her emotionally and psychologically. The student now refuses to go to school, fearing the teacher might repeat her behavior. The teacher, instead of being an educator, became a source of horror.
A school principal inspects the morning lineup before students are sent to their classrooms in a military way. She carries a big stick and hits students for not standing straight. She beats one for wearing the wrong color; she beats another because she was misbehaving the day before in class. When she ends her “military” inspection, she honors all the students and calls them the best in any school. Isn’t she confusing?
Students in a high school located in a poor area suffer a lot at the hands of their school principal who does not consider their poor conditions at home. She does not care that they are unable to get the basic things needed for school. She does not bother to ask about their social situation. She instead asks teachers to apply harsh punishment be-cause of their negligence. She pulls them by their hair and takes off their shoes because they are not the right color. She makes them stand outside in the heat of the sun or in the cold without their abayas and calls what she is doing educational discipline when the right name for such is torture.
Another high school student is born and raised in this country. The student is good-natured, respected by her teachers and classmates. She sits with her classmates and chats with them until the teacher storms into the room and shouts, “All foreigners stand up.” The non-Saudi students stand up, not understanding why they are different. The teacher then shouts at them to bring their iqamas and other documents and adds, “May God help us to deal with these foreigners who have stolen the seats of our Saudi children.”
These teachers should not call themselves educators.
