前途: A Year in Morocco

Know what?

My lesson was bomb.

Know how I know?

#1. Students. Were. Literally. Hanging. On. Every. Word. Seriously, I’ve never had such an intensely focused audience. Don’t worry, they were participating too!

#2. They told me so after class. “Teacher, we finally feel that we are studying!” “You will still be here?” [This is an Arabinglish-ism; the translation is, “Are you teaching us all semester?”]

However, today’s tale was not all happy.

Before I begin my tale of woe, I would like to emphasize that I have NEVER felt unsafe at the university nor had my personal safety threatened on campus. In fact, I seem to have struck a nice balance: the students generally like me and recognize that I’m not really a part of the system they protest; the teachers are nice, talk to me, and seem to recognize that, because I’m an American, my goals for students differ from theirs; the administration and campus police don’t really have much to do with my existence. I feel simultaneously a part of and outside of the university.

Last week was a week-long strike for the whole university. Or so I think. I didn’t teach at all, but some of my students said it was only two days, and some said the whole week. They also cannot seem to tell me if it was the students striking or the teachers. I’m sure it was the students, and know that it happened all across Morocco.

This week, we’ve experienced student protests again, but only in the English Department. I *think* (this is all based on rumors and stories from students and teachers) that there have been two incidents. One was a move to dismiss a professor, and they say that it was due to his poor treatment of students in general, and some misogynistic discourse against female students in particular. I am still not sure if they succeeded or not.

Having never attended his classes, I cannot say I have an opinion one way or the other. However, from talking to students and professors, I believe that the students are criticized and subtly (sometimes blatantly) put down because of their “bad English.” My opinion on this subject is very strongly that non-native English speakers do not need perfect English. They need to be able to communicate effectively, and they need to understand the culture behind the language. I feel that professors should concentrate more on content and communication than on grammar, form, and errors. I agree that students should not be coddled or spoon-fed, but they should also not be criticized and put down for not having perfect English. For heaven’s sake, the professors make small errors all the time; it’s a natural part of being a non-native speaker!

I get really passionate about this subject, because I spend a lot of time telling students that communication is ultimately the point of speaking a foreign language, and that it is okay to make mistakes, as long as they don’t get in the way of communicating.

The second round of protesting seems to be related to an incident of police brutality against a student, apparently in an attempt to stop students from moving a protest. Where they were going, I’m not sure; nor do I know if the protest in which the student was beaten up was related to the strike against the professor.

In other words, I’m not really sure what’s going on, and it’s really hard to know because every time I ask, I get opinions, stories, and vague ideological statements, instead of concrete details and big-picture comparisons. Here are some of my observations and quantitative experiences.

-I was at the university each day. Monday and Tuesday, the mood seemed to be upbeat, energetic, and unified against the one professor, and I did not teach any classes. Wednesday, I found four students who said they were tired of the protests, so we sat in a classroom and chatted for a couple hours.

-Today, Thursday, I was supposed to teach for one of the professors I’m assisting. She is out of the country, and she had created a reading on the American Revolution for the students. Due to the protests, most of them had not picked it up nor read it, so with that in mind I planned a lesson around the reading. I started by talking about reading strategies and gave them some tips on how to read effectively in English.

I then highlighted differences between American colonial society and British society at the time, having the students read the bold text from the reading out loud, and then stopping to define words, concepts, and talk about the meaning and implications of each difference and how it contributed to both the Revolution and the American mindset.

I then moved to the Declaration of Independence, directing them to a website where they can read the Declaration in both English and Arabic, and I then read them the opening sentence (“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”) translated it into normal English, and explained its historical significance. After that, the reading contained the list of grievances the colonists had against the British king.

To get them thinking critically, I wrote out each grievance (in its short form) and cut them into strips. I then created four categories for the types of grievances so we could classify them together. Instead of going through the grievances in order, I organized them by which ones I thought were most important, and resonate most with Americans today—and I told them this. We only ended up classifying ten or so, by reading each one, rewording it, explaining its meaning and history, and then moving it into its appropriate category.

-In both sections that I taught, I was interrupted by student groups who wanted my students to join today’s protest. Their modus operandi is to have 2-3 representatives of the group enter the classroom and ask to speak. I let the students have their argument, which was in Arabic, although I did hear some of my students (in Arabic) point out to the protesters that this was not fair to me, since I could not understand everything.

-My first class refused to leave, stating that I was not a Moroccan and therefore not part of the system that complaints were against. Furthermore, they argued, they were tired of protesting and wanted to study, because midterm exams are looming on the horizon, and due to all the disruptions, they haven’t had many classes, and who can expect to succeed on an exam when they have not been able to study? I was so proud of them for standing up for themselves, and I told them so. We finished the lesson, and did some general discussion.

-My second class was forced to leave, and I think there was a bully boy among the representatives who was getting into a couple of the boys’ faces and making quiet threats. Students committing violence against students who refuse to participate in such events is not unusual. The second attempt also included female representatives, and I noticed that (with one exception, she was on fire and I saw her later and told her masha’allah, you were amazing!) the girls did not attempt to argue with the boys, but allowed the other boys to argue instead. The girls did argue with the girls, and the girls were the last ones to leave the room, trying to hold out as long as they could. At no time did any of the protestors attempt to engage me—the discourse was all between students.

As they left the room, most of the students apologized, and I told them I recognize that it wasn’t their fault and thanked them for coming. They know where to find me for my personal sessions, so I hope we can continue our discussion later.

The irony is clear: the students protest because the system does not give them what they want, but their protests impede the system even more, and in ways that cause damage to society as a whole because students are not getting any education. Isn’t some education better than none? Furthermore, there are a significant number of students who do not wish to participate in protests, yet are forced to through coercion and threats. The result is that everyone is harmed, and no one respects anyone. I think I may make a lesson out of the expression, “Shooting yourself in the foot.”

Anyway, let me put it like this:

Week 1: No students show up, except for those who are still taking exams from last semester.

Week 2: Some students attend, but classes tend to be short and deal only with professors instructing the students on which materials to buy. Some classes only happen once or twice a week, so letting the students leave after administrative details further detracts from any learning opportunities.

Week 3: University-wide strike. Most classes do not meet. I finally get my room numbers from the administration.

Week 4 (this week): English Department student strike against a professor for 2-3 days. Things escalate on the third day due to an incident of police brutality, but some classes are able to be held due to students settling things among themselves.

Week 5: ???

Week 6: SPRING BREAK/NO CLASS. Students will likely take off early in week 5, and may not show up until midweek week 7, except that…

Week 7: Midterm exams. Students last semester staged a strike to delay exams, and I would not be surprised to see this occur again.

Also, as I was writing this, the power went out. I heard yelling in the hall, and went out to find that one of the neighbors had gotten stuck in the elevator and another was trying to find the concierge with the key to get her out. She’s out now though and the power is back, alhamdulillah.