Likewise,
during the final week of the semester, i.e. prior to the final exams, student
attendance becomes extremely low once again in Omani Colleges. This is quite possibly due to the
over-dependence in all Asian lands of a peculiar cramming tradition. That is, students are told to cram during the
weeks prior to high-stakes test rather than trying to acquire knowledge through
well-paced time-on-task activities during a semester. This means from Japan to India
through the Middle East, students are told be
their families to go off by themselves and study, i.e. not to waste time
hanging out with others, e.g. in the classroom, etc.
In
other words, a tradition of low attendance and the high rate of tardiness has
been encouraged traditionally by family, students and society in Oman. This severely undercuts student achievement
and has lowered expectations for most instructors and students as to what can
be achieved in any single semester or term. This cycle will not be broken until
institutions--including families--determine that the loss of quality time spent
practicing must end (or radically curtailed).
NOTE:
To be fair, in a county like Oman, the family is the most
important institution--educational institutions are not even in second place in
the lives of most young people and families. For example, once a male student
is old enough to drive a car, he often becomes an official chauffer for the
rest of the extended household. He is
on-call to run people to the doctors, pick up siblings from school, and you-name-it
(rather than attending college on time).
It will take a revision of roles within the
household and a re-prioritization of time-and- interest for education to be
allocated in order to support the appropriate time-on-task emphases in the future here. Nonetheless, in the
meantime, perhaps the government, colleges and other institutions in Oman could
offer financial incentives which are tied to high attendance, e.g. bonuses for
outstanding attendance.
Such (and
similar) intermediate steps might enable the greater modeling of appropriate
student behavior here and allow good instructors to empower their students
better in the coming years and generations here in the Middle
East.
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KEVIN STODA-has been blessed to have either traveled in or worked in nearly 100 countries on five continents over the past two and a half decades.--He sees himself as a peace educator and have been-- a promoter of good economic and social development--making-him an enemy of my homelands humongous DEFENSE SPENDING and its focus on using weapons to try and solve global (more...)
