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Article DetailsArab Students and WASTAby Carol Fleming - 03/15/2011 "This article defines WASTA and how an Arab student may attempt to use wasta against a teacher in order to change a failing grade. What should a teacher do? What does an Arab student fear more than the cultural use of wasta?"
(7 votes)
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comment(s)  Syed Suhail Khalid Monday 28 March 2011, 2:57 am This article tells us of what an Arab student can do to cause problems to the teacher.It doesn't deal with any specific procedure or practice that a teacher may use when confronted with WASTA using students.A teacher may be firm,but that is only one side of the job.Does the management come to the support of the teachers when students threatens them?Will the management have the student expelled for using WASTA?Can the teachers take judicial help when dealing with WASTA using learners?peter downey Monday 28 March 2011, 6:03 am In my couple of years of living in Saudi I never came up against this problem, though I have heard of high ranking Saui military officers turning up to talk to the dean to get results changed.
The closest thing that happened to me was when I had to invigilate an exam and was told that some students who had failed to attain a certain level of attendence were not to be allowed to take the exam, We were give a list of those students ineligible. I made a mistake and allowed, what turned out to be, a son of one of the Royal prince's. I told my boss of my error and apologised. He told me not to worry and that the boy's father had phoned stating that he believed the boy should not have taken the exam and felt that his son should be failed. Soheila Rescic Monday 28 March 2011, 11:34 pm It sounds as something the Bush family has done throughout the years, along with other prominent capitalists in the USA.
Buying education that has not been earned exists around the globe.
Ismael B. Alango Tuesday 29 March 2011, 3:57 am you are right. parents wrath is mightier that that so called wasta. teachers effectiveness is measured by menas of progress in learning and change toward a more commendable attitude of the young ones. Ismael B. Alango Tuesday 29 March 2011, 3:59 am you are right. parents wrath is mightier than that so called wasta. teachers effectiveness is measured by means of progress in learning and change toward a more commendable attitude of the young ones. K Bellew Tuesday 29 March 2011, 8:32 am Same happens in China, but if Daddy is an illiterate thug made good there are real problems and the teacher may well end up being fired on a trumped up charge.Nasir Rashid Saturday 9 April 2011, 11:01 pm Having taught in Jordan for more than a decade, I have to agree with this article. If a student mediates for a grade,it may be perceived. However,when your superior at work asks you to change the grade(imperatively), your conscience and fear of losing your job dominate your action. Unfortunately, this among many other corruptions is what inspired revolts in some Arab states, Coming Soon to a Country near you!!!!??? Although my parents could not read or write, they cooperated with my teachers, who had great respect in society during that era. Thus and rather than using
wasTa, they used to ask the teachers to take care of me-that is to me sure I learn something at the end of the day.Larissa Natarelli, PhD Saturday 16 April 2011, 9:34 am Wasta is an eternal evil, because college administration, dependent on financial subsidies and eager to satisfy the paying “customers” (students), does not encourage the respect for learning. Honesty is no virtue anymore, and a dedicated professor is always smashed between the hammer and the hard place. Unfortunately, academe (at large) has become a routinely corrupted workplace, where moral entropy is on the rise and the Renaissance man is no longer welcome.Fiona Forster Saturday 23 April 2011, 12:27 am I worked at a university in Saudi where WASTA was the norm! Failing students suddenly had their grades changed on the computer by the Dean one supposes and it was considered "Normal" I am now in Kuwait and it is the same- a disruptive boy was expelled at the end of last year; this year he is back- why? Daddy has WASTA- which to me is another form of bullying. Parents complain and the teacher is removed or relocated within the school-parents know they will get what they want and they invariably do! My one consolation? I can earn good money here, the sun shines a lot and the lifestyle is good; some students like learning but learning by rote rather than understanding but my mortgage is being paid so I am happy!!DavesMom Saturday 23 April 2011, 5:11 am I've worked at secondary and tertiary schools in Saudi for 23 years. At one school where I stayed only three months, the English Department coordinator was open about changing marks of students whose parents were particularly wealthy. (I quit as soon as I'd finished marking the exams.)
I taught an 11-month English course at a famous private hospital. At the end of the course, two of the twenty students failed; they really had learned nothing at all. I was denied access to the final report to the administration, but a colleague slipped me a copy. The students had, of course, been certified in spite of almost total illiteracy. If they hadn't been, the managers would have looked bad.
At the next place, a govenment-funded college, teachers were not allowed to view the students' completed records, and, again, people who were completely incompetent passed.
OTOH, I taught for ten years at another private school which has an excellent reputation. Their students do extremely well on external exams (IGCSE, AS and A-levels, SAT, etc.) Changing marks was not allowed, even when the cheater was a royal. The students were mainly the children of expatriate professionals, and that made all the difference.
In general, I would advise people to sign up with schools that prepare students for independently administered international exams. These organizations have nothing to gain by cheating or by allowing it.gloria Monday 25 April 2011, 11:30 pm Sounds like USA only the students are white. I taught 20 years in a college where this was the norm for whites so I moved to a corporate school and it was the same but white students attack teachers too.Jim Tuesday 17 May 2011, 3:53 pm After teaching for a few months in Saudi, I can say that wasta is used at the end of the semester (just before grades come out). In this hot hellhole, students are paid to attend college, so they regularly check up on their attendance records to see their number of absences. Some even are courteous enough to tell the teacher that they will miss class, but "please mark me present." But as for grades, some really don't give a damn. john Thursday 11 August 2011, 2:18 am over 62 years; any real chance in SA or Mideast of making applic.? |
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