RSS 2.0 FeedApril 2008, Editorial
Lost in the translation
This is The Middle
East Educator. Read about a translation initiative called Kalima, Greek
to many potential Arab readers. Abu Dhabi’s book fair KITAB yielded
concrete results, but what miracle might pull “Arab” reading out of
quicksand? The UAE and Qatar are measuring up their students with
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The
early results are dismal, but John Joseph says we’re too preoccupied
with whether kids can read and write and do arithmetic at the same
level as everyone else on the planet, whereas the fundamental goal in
schooling is to contribute to the personal development of each child.
But even this is a disputed issue. Read a study on UAE teachers and
mothers. They played the blame game on why the kids weren’t developing.
English speaking people interviewed Arabic teachers, making the
situation worse because the responses were shallower in their English
form. But hey, the West is not immune to errors of judgment. When an
Arab school principal in New York distributed to her students T-shirts
with the word “Intifada” printed she was fired and the entire state was
in uproar. In her words, she used the politically sensitive expression
in poor judgment but her aim was to refresh the kids’ outlook and shake
off the negatives in their lives. Talk about lost in translation. This
is who we are.
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