The story “Teacher abuse leads to behavioral problems, study says” (April 9, 2013) is disturbing to say the least. The story of the abused young autistic boy in Jeddah made me cry. We had our own experiences in both Saudi and private school systems and eventually switched all four of our children to home schooling, enrolling them in accredited US schools.
I am happy to report that two of them are graduating this month from US universities. The third has another year to complete and the last one is graduating from a reputable home school in the US. The point I want to make is that home schooling works.
However, it is also true that every one cannot opt for it and therefore is made to face what the story reveals. Violence and abuse from teachers and students is just one problem, albeit the most serious.
As a matter of fact, many of the teachers either grew up in the Saudi school system or went through similar systems in their own countries.
Therefore, they are doing what they have learned during their studies. We have seen many foreign teachers, especially women, to be rude and verbally abusive. That was our experience in one international school in Alkhobar. Often these women are not trained as teachers. A college degree does not make one a qualified teacher, just as burger cook in McDonald’s does not make a person a five-star hotel chef.
Now, this article has studied bullying and reveals a crisis in schools.
So, what is to be done? Many studies, we read in the media, detect the problems but offer no real answers to the problems. — Abooismail, By e-mail
Abusive teachers
