“Hi. My name is Asser. I am starting my 8th year of school in few weeks. It’s going to be the 4th year I study English. I hate English… and Arabic… I hate school. I now live in Cairo. Back in my village, they don’t force you to go to school. If you want to work with your father instead, that’s fine. You will pass anyway. My father is the doorman of the building where Ms. Nelly lives. She has been helping me with English for few months now. She always tells me that I have to work harder if I want to speak and understand English like she and the rest of the residents do.”
This letter is imaginary, but Asser isn’t. Truth is, Asser can never write a similar paragraph. Four years of English classes, private lessons, and he still can’t read, or write a letter so simple. He can’t express himself in English and believe me; his Arabic accuracy isn’t that great either!
Asser has two English teachers other than me, his school teacher and the private teacher. I believe I’m his least favorite. The other two tell him he is great! He is excellent! According to them, English language has two Fs. Ef khafeefa (F) and Ef te2eela (IF). They taught him to differentiate between blay and play according to its kersh. YES! ALPHABETS HAVE KERSH NOW! The bee be kersh is written as P – the bee be KERSHEIN is written as B.
They solve his homework for him and give him (answered) practice tests to (memorize). I look in his books, and I find that half of what his teachers have told him is incorrect. The teachers don’t know the answers to a 1st prep student book! Those teachers are the grown-up editions of Asser. They weren’t taught, yet were handed the responsibility of passing on knowledge.
So how does he pass? He just does. One day before the final exam, I solve with him several Sela7 El Telmeez tests and he scores no more than 10/50. Weeks later, he passed! I congratulated him thinking HOW! I wanted to see his answer sheet! I wanted to visit that control room! How could this be helping those poor kids? The teacher doesn’t want to do his job, or worse, doesn’t know how to. The private teacher cheerleads for the young boy and his parents, assuring them that their kid will pass. The school falsely corrects the papers to guarantee a certain percentage of success. The government doesn’t perform its monitoring job, because whatever the problem is, they have no intentions and show no efforts to fix it.
Asser isn’t alone. Most students who go to public schools are very much like him. Those kids are smart. They have just as much potential as your average being if not more. What they lack is an opportunity. What they need is a decent education system to foster their young brains and get them going. They deserve to know that “always” is a word and NOT “elly benshoofo fel saydaleya wel subarmarket”. That “enjoy” is more than just a juice brand. I have a lot more bitterly funny jokes to share. What learning methodology are they following? Would the other subjects be any different? Are you angry yet? Now what are you going to do about it?
1)Support education! This is where it all starts and nothing will ever get moving in this country without quality education. Donate, volunteer, follow-up on any promised progress, pressure the government!
2)Teach, correct, even start an illiteracy eradication class if you have extra weekly hours
3)If you know illiterate workers in Zamalek please let us know, as I intend to start a class soon
4)Don’t bully, correct! Privately and nicely. Let them practice, that’s the only way they can ever learn
5)Count your blessings. You could have been Asser if you weren’t so lucky