October 17, 2002
Through the course of this Field Study Seminar, I have found that the time available to prepare, conduct and analyze interviews has been scarce. The difficulties presented themselves not as a function of finding people to interview, as the number of students willing to criticize their education is only exceeded by the sheer number of students available, but of as good problem within the public education system on which to focus. The students I have spoken to were not all willing to share their viewpoints clearly or in depth. Attending classroom sessions was not at all a possibility, with the exception of the very open English classes at the Amideast institute. Sessions at that particular institution, however, have little in common with Rabati classrooms. The common theme among the students was a desire to not only study abroad, but to permanently move abroad. This fact was not surprising for the locale at which I chose to focus. My best sessions were conveniently with one young man and one young woman.
Nabil is a 22 year old young man who still lives at home and has completed all of his education at a public level. He speaks English very well for someone on their fourth language and has a good command of the language due to his classes recently at a private language school. He considers himself an expert in the Moroccan public education system seeing as he went through it from beginning to end. Our conversation jumped generally from topic to topic as he had quite a lot to get out. I had to prod very little in my line of questioning, save to keep it on track.
Nabil barely remembers his pre-school years. He does remember that he attended a private pre-school and that it was neither a whole lot of fun, nor particularly harrowing. He went with some kids from his neighborhood in Agdal. Primary school was also a bit of a blur for the young man as he claims that he really did not have all that much fun. He has had close interactions with quite a few American students who generally recall their years as elementary schools students with fond memories, so he believes that his by comparison were drab and far more regimented. I suppose that this is his major fault as interview subject; the fact that he has had happy-go-lucky Americans for the basis of comparison may skew his reflections about his own primary education. As for the continuity of his education, he says that he got good marks and that he was not suited for technical education. He passed all of his exams and did not really explain the specific nature of the exams. This was actually the general consensus of most of the students I talked to. Apparently all of the students passed fairly important exams on “general things”[1] and some, like Nabil, didn’t think that they were that big of a deal. After his 9 years of primary school, he went to a General Secondary school. This had to do with his score on the tests at the end of primary school. From what I gathered, his score could also have sent him packing to a technical track. In his three years of general school, he was forced, like most students in his particular situation, to pick a subject of study. Because of his interest in the English language and his general success at learning it, he chose English literature. After three years of English Literature, and some other general education subjects, he prepared to take what he called his “Baccalaureate,” which he failed. This has recently left him with nothing to do. He currently does not work. He has bounced in and out of English improvement programs, but has settled on nothing. His options, as another test told him, were of “Restaurant and Hotel Management School.” He does not really want to go to such a school and would much rather work on getting into an American college and out of Morocco. “Ma reve,” he says “is to work hard at leaning computer programming and go to college in America.”[2] He wants to study at college in America because he feels that he was cheated by the education system here in Rabat.
“In America you have so many chances to do so many things, so many places to get jobs,”[3] he concluded.
The young woman I talked to, named Loubna, painted a much more optimistic picture of her education, though she still wanted to leave Morocco. Loubna, unlike Nabil, began her education at a Quranic school. Her father insisted that she go to such a school so that she would have a stable basis for her religion. “He did not force me to do religious studies after that,”[4] she claimed. After Quranic school she went to public school. She remembers quite clearly that her Quranic pre-school did not prepare her well for a secular education. She just remembers a great deal of memorization, but not much more than that. The kids who had a secular pre-school, she recalls, had started on French, and some were even able to read without help. All she really had was a solid knowledge of Quranic Suras. She remembers doing well in the long run. She passed all of her exams and actually had quite a bit of fun throughout her primary school. Her secondary school was a little bit more harrowing, she recalled. “The teachers, didn’t care,” she claimed, “they had no interest in us [the students].”[5] Despite a lack of interest by the teachers, she says that she did fairly well in secondary school. She did not have the best time, however. After three years, she took her exams and passed her Baccalaureate. She did not say what she focused on during her secondary school, but she did, despite passing her Baccalaureate, want to go to “Tourism and Hotel School” (sic).[6] She finished one year of that school and now devotes all of her time, and parents money to improving her English. She doesn’t see herself working in either restaurants or tourism, so she has discontinued her studies in that area. Her long-term goals are to study in the U.S. As for staying there permanently, she really just wants to free herself from her father’s watchful eye. “I see America as a place to make money, he sees it as a mistake.”[7] From what I gather, she has the freedom to do as she wishes with her education, but does not have social freedom living at home. She believes that going abroad will give her much more freedom and opportunity.
With detailed stories of student’s feelings on the Rabati public education system, we were really at the whim of what they were willing to share. Most students who were easy to communicate with had plans of getting out, so their perceptions were somewhat sour. The students who are choosing to stay, or who had fewer opportunities were far less accessible. For the most part however, we were able to gather that even within the public education system, there are really only good opportunities for those with money.
[1] “Notes in Possession of the Author” – based on an interview that took place on 13 October 2002.
[2] “Notes in Possession of the Author” – based on an interview that took place on 13 October 2002.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “Notes in Possession of the Author” – based on an interview that took place on 14 October 2002.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
