I don't know how the schools disseminate the information, but the Ministry of Education (Department of Private Education) sets policies and even sets a range for how much the school can charge in tuition fees, how much they should pay teachers, etc.

I think I read some vague reference to the professor showing an innappropriate film, but the newspaper didn't mention the university or any other details, and I didn't pay much attention. But I happened to be talking to an old friend of mine recently, and she told me about it firsthand, because she was in the class.

The English newspapers often ignore or kind of "paper over" things done by Westerners, and there's a very different version in the Arabic newspapers. A long time ago (before the current war in Iraq), there was a British guy missing near the Iraqi border, or taken by Iraqi border guards or something. From reading the Arab Times, I understood that he was a caterer, just trying to do his job, and he got disoriented, and the poor, innocent guy got lost and crossed the border without realizing it, and was in a difficult situation; the Embassy was supporting him, and all the Westerners felt sorry for him and worried that it could happen to some other innocent person.

When I mentioned that to some Kuwaiti friends, they laughed, because the version they read (and knew) was very different. Apparently, everyone knew that this area was a dangerous area near the border, where Iraqis had a black market in alcohol and prostitutes. The guy was up there drinking and buying alcohol and got himself into a messy situation... Since then, I've seen other stories that were very different from what my husband reads in the Arabic-language papers. So take it with a grain of salt.

I'm familiar with several of the bilingual schools, and their curriculum is like this:

English-language: English, Science, Math, Computer, Art, Sports

Arabic-language: Arabic, Islamic Studies, Social Studies, National Studies. (All of those use the Ministry of Education books, like the government schools.) In the Islamic-oriented schools, there are also Quran classes to supplement the standard Islamic Studies curriculum.

Even in Kuwait University, Science, Math, Engineering, Medicine, Business Administration, etc. are taught in English, so the kids in the English-language and bilingual schools have a big advantage, whether they want to go to university in Kuwait or they want to study overseas (which the Kuwaitis can do at government expense if their grades are good enough).

I've worked with Kuwaitis in different government ministries, and there are Kuwaitis who come to work every day and work hard. Many of them are intelligent and competent, and are just as frustrated with their jobs as foreigners, because they really have an interest in making things better. Most of the schools in Kuwait have Kuwaiti administrators, if you include the government schools. There is a smaller pool of Kuwaitis who are fluent in English, although there are also a number of Western women married to Kuwaitis, and they get Kuwaiti citizenship after a while.

I'd also like to know more about the other American teachers who were supposedly arrested. At least one of them was for drugs, right? And there was one American professor, in the prestigious MBA program of a European university, who left suddenly after students complained about a film he showed them. He was discussing the collapse of Enron and saw fit to show his MBA students - men and women - a film where top executives went to a topless bar, with the dancers shown stripping and then dancing topless. So are there any American teachers that were actually harassed and arrested for no good reason?

I'm really starting to wonder about whoever runs this ISR website...

There's a link on the homepage now saying "Kuwaiti Minister of Education Bans Expat School Administrators". One might think that because of this case, they've suddenly decided to get rid of all the expat administrative staff.

If you go to the article, though, it's old news. The Ministry announced a while ago (as I mentioned before) that they were trying to phase out expats in administration positions of private schools. The last sentence says: "Official sources also expect that within a few years all administrators employed in private schools would be Kuwaitis." So it's obviously not an immediate ban.

(How come when I preview the comments, the word "e x p a t" has turned into a period?)

Miski, I think with the government health insurance, expats have to pay some fees - maybe one dinar for a visit to a clinic, or something like that. And there are some services that they don't get; for example, I think they can get root -, but not crowns and bridges, etc. Of course, KD50 for the government insurance is quite a bargain compared to what one would pay for medical and dental insurance in the U.S. I thought these schools provided other insurance packages, though, don't they?

By the way, no, I'm not working now.

da3boyz, I don't want to repeat everything I already wrote, but let me point out again that the families who send their children to the American and British schools, and the Kuwaitis who have parties with drugs and alcohol, are a small section of Kuwaitis; they are not representative at all. There are many Kuwaitis whom you will probably never run into, because they go to work and visit their families and go to the mosque, and they don't hang out in Salmiya or Salwa trying to be Westerners.

I couldn't believe it when I picked up today's Arab Times and saw Katherine Phillips' story on the front page again.

Only a few days ago, there were urgent appeals to get her out of Kuwait because supposedly her physical safety was in danger. ISR was asking school personnel to resign their own positions, knowing full well that it might be hard for them to get new positions at this late date. This forum, and others, was full of diatribes against Kuwait and Kuwaitis.

And today, Ms. Phillips is complaining again, but this time because she can't come back! And ISR, instead of asking why she made a fool of them, is asking people again to resign their jobs, so that she can go back to hers!

Yup, Miski, I've known a number of women who sent their CVs to the American or British schools and were called for interviews. Over the phone, they got an enthusiastic response, but when they showed up in person wearing hijab, suddenly there was no interest; sometimes the administration actually asks, "Do you have to wear that?", and if the answer's yes, then their answer is no. Or some schools would hire women wearing hijab, but only in places like the library, where they wouldn't normally be seen by parents and visitors. I remember someone saying that her school's unwritten - but well-known - policy was that a teacher with hijab would only be hired as an absolute last resort; if there was anyone else available, no matter the qualifications, that person would be chosen.

zackandedie, she has left the country, but the things that she said and did were resented by a lot of people and will have a lasting effect. Not to mention some of the things said in these teachers' forums, which were reported in the newspapers. The Ministry of Education already has policies in place, I think, to phase out the hiring of non-citizens in management positions in private schools, and this will only speed that up.

aasoudesuka: "By the way, when you tell me that Kuwaitis wouldn't dream of putting their children in "those schools" because they don't adhere to Islamic or Kuwaiti cultural standards, you are enforcing another (hopefully false) stereotype of rigid Islamic insularity and fundamentalist thinking. You might as well call us dogs and infidels."

Wow... I said that these aren't Islamic-oriented schools, and you say I'm calling you a dog or an infidel? Quite a leap, isn't it? You're not teaching here, too, are you? (Or in any Muslim country? I hope not.)

I said that MOST Kuwaitis wouldn't put their children in those schools. Of course, SOME Kuwaitis do, but it's a small percentage of all the Kuwaitis.

The fact is that they aren't Islamic. Is anyone seriously going to argue that? They celebrate Halloween, Christmas, and various other holidays, the boys and girls mix together, they rarely if ever hire teachers who wear hijab, and their schedule - unlike all the other schools in Kuwait - is based on the calendar of the Western teachers, with a long break at Christmas/New Year's, etc.

Another drawback is that many of the Kuwaiti students come out of those schools with weak skills in Arabic language, which some parents don't mind, but most wouldn't want. Bayan used to be pretty much the only bilingual school, but there are many others now, so parents who want their children to learn English, but don't want the Western environment, have a lot of choices now.

Generally speaking, it's a small subset of Kuwaitis who enroll their children in the American and British schools (and Bayan), and they're not representative. They're from the wealthier sections of society, because the schools are extremely expensive, and they usually aren't the more religious families. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are exceptions.

I'm not sure why this is considered offensive; it's a fact. Teachers on forums like this are well aware of, and concerned about, which schools are Islamic, I'm sure.

"I suspect that a lot of this conflict arose from the fact that the administrator in question is a female, and the powerful Kuwaiti father is punishing her for what he perceives as the humiliation of his adolescent son being disciplined by a woman. Am I way off here?"

Yes, you are way off. Just to cite one example, the Minister of Education is a woman, and there are many highly-educated (at government expense), prominent, powerful women at senior levels in government and the private sector. That's a stereotype I had when I first came here, which was completely wrong.

I think "overreact" is the operative word here. Ms. Philips had a court case pending, and so she was banned from traveling, as anyone else would be - including Kuwaitis themselves.

I've seen all kinds of breathless articles and letters printed in the local press - and at ISR - describing her as being "detained", demanding her release, alluding to rumors about sending in the American troops to get her out, and fearing for her safety, even after she's left the GCC!

There's no evidence of any threat to her safety, and anyone who knows Kuwait knows that's ridiculous - especially now that she's out of the GCC. Does she really expect people to believe that the father is going to send thugs to beat her up, or assassins to kill her? Please...

Obviously, I don't know what really happened in this incident, but keep in mind that we're only hearing one side of the story. From the way she has exaggerated and distorted things, I wouldn't be shocked to discover that her side isn't completely accurate.

She was never detained; she simply was prevented from leaving the country until the case was resolved, so she had to stay in Kuwait for part of the summer (like about 2 million of the rest of us). I assume that other countries have procedures like that, too.

In her last letter, she feigns surprise that this could have reached the level of the Prime Minister. Who is she kidding? Kuwait is a very small country; the population is something over 2 million, only 1 million of who are Kuwaitis. It's basically one metropolitan area, and this woman - with the help of ISR - has had her story on the fromt page of the newspaper, in big red headlines. She's talked about contacting the Amir and the Ministry of Interior, so why would she be surprised that the Prime Minister (who's under the Amir and chairs the Cabinet) had heard about it?

The one thing I will agree with is that the U.S. Embassy is completely useless. Anyone who comes here thinking that its mission is to serve American citizens will be sorely disappointed. That's at the bottom of their list of priorities; their efforts go into helping American companies get contracts, taking care of Kuwaiti citizens, and pushing their propaganda about democracy, etc.

Anyway... For those of you who claim to have been here and seen so many drug problems and abortions, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you say, but let me explain something to you. The students who attend the British and American schools (and Bayan Bilingual, which is known for being very westernized) are not representative of Kuwaiti students. Most Kuwaitis (including me) wouldn't dream of putting their children in those schools, because they don't adhere to Islamic or Kuwaiti cultural standards. As is readily apparent on this forum, many of the teachers have disdain for Kuwaitis and see them - their culture and religion - as backwards. So the students there are confused, because they're trying to be Western, not understanding the Westerners will never accept them anyway.

For those of you who show such contempt for Kuwait, PLEASE don't come here. (Kathryn, for example, seems surprised that she would be expected to follow the laws of the country - presumably, she thinks she shouldn't have to, since she's a Westerner? It's true that many Westerners do ignore the laws, about alcohol, for example, but they shouldn't complain if they're ever caught.) If you're coming with a colonialist attitude, if you think that you own the country because your country "liberated" Kuwait 17 years ago, if you're going to do nothing but complain about how uncivilized the natives are, if you're not going to make any attempt to get to know Arabs and learn their language... then stay home or go somewhere else.

If you're interesting in traveling, interested in learning about another culture, interested in teaching, then you're very welcome. Certainly there are problems in Kuwait, but many people find it a good environment, especially for raising children. And don't believe the people who say that Western teachers being arrested is a normal thing in Kuwait; that's absurd. (Keep in mind that Katherine Philips wasn't arrested.) Westerners are at the top of the pecking order and are treated very well, which is why I think there's more to this story than we've been told.