On our last day in Rabat, we were literally flying across the city, cramming in our last few meetings. At one point we were literally shoving chicken shwarma down our throats between in the preschool van between meetings. Nevertheless, these meetings were some of the most valuable since it was the first time we really branched outside of the MoE departments and focused solely on practitioners and organizations that worked on education outside of the formal system. It was a great way to broaden our perspectives and round out our waning hours in Rabat.
Higher Council of Education
Our first meeting was outside of the city center, and I had the pleasure of viewing the drive from the front seat next to Brian. As we escaped from the bustle of downtown, the streets began to widen, and we saw rows upon rows of palm trees. There were signs also indicating new development and construction projects, The buildings themselves were obviously more modern and contemporary, with sloping curves juxtaposed against steep angular architecture. One of the more beautiful buildings featured Mediterranean style balconies at each room, and we initially thought they were condos or luxury residences (upon closer inspection, they turned out to be rooms of a hospital). Next door to the hospital housed the offices of the Higher Council of Education.
Rita prefaced us about the Higher Council by referring to them as a Ministry “watchdog” organization. Although they are funded as a public organization, they are an independent, non-partisan public organization who is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the MoE. They were the ones who penned the report in 2008 which demonstrated the deficits of the National Charter, giving way to the Emergency Reform Plan in 2009. More recently, their responsibilities have expanded to offering advice and recommendations on all matters related to education, from early childhood all the way to higher ed and vocational.
We had several questions about their complex organizational structure, which includes a General Assembly composed of stakeholders such as teacher unions and student groups. While I’m still somewhat unclear on their actual role within the government, they seem to play a valuable role in a game of checks and balances.
UNESCO
Our next stop was the UNESCO offices, which as Meaghan has demonstrated below, are absolutely gorgeous. I loved the domed ceilings and the latticework mosaics – it gave the illusion that the walls and ceilings rose forever. The conference room where we convened was reminiscent of a college professor’s office, with bookshelves that wrapped around the entire room and colorful posters that peppered the walls. There was a period in my life when I dreamed of being an academic, and I fantasized about having a study like this to display all the Barnes & Noble classics I accumulated over the years.
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| Someday I can afford all this on my educator's salary |
Speaking of collegial, this meeting just had a much different vibe from the other ones that we visited. Although they grabbed our passports at the entrance, the meeting felt much more informal. It was conducted the most like a roundtable. It also helped that one of the representatives spoke excellent English. So well, in fact, that he was flying through his presentation to save room for Q&A (also a sign of collegiality!). This is the first time that there are some missing bullet points in my notes, since I could not scribble quickly enough to keep up. I realized then and there that amid the back and forth of translation, we had become fat and indolent in our notetaking. Now that we were back in English, there was no time to let our mind wander in between phrases. After weeks of vacation, it was a great warm-up for getting back into Harvard mode.
Then again, there is also the distinct possibility that I was distracted by the officer's rugged good looks, impeccably styled hair, flashy purple shirt, and the penchant for uttering adorable phrases such as “Mauritania’s Eskimo society” and “backstage shadow ruler” (both in reference to matriarchal households where women are the decision makers).
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| I think he shops at Express |
Either way, once I pulled my jaw up from the floor, the presentation turned out to be very enlightening since it provided a more global, “big picture” perspective of the region within a larger context. This UNESCO branch actually operated in the entire Maghreb region, which included Tunisia, Algeria, and Mauritania. In our past meetings, any mention of international systems tended to refer to first world powers, such as the US, UK, France, or Japan. While these countries certainly serve as “bright spots” around the world, there clearly is a cultural and economic disconnect that would complicate any policy transfer. For this reason, it was fascinating when the presenter mentioned Romania and Spain as countries that underwent successful reforms under similar conditions of instability and unemployment. These unorthodox, but no less germane examples, only go to demonstrate the importance of understanding context in comparative study.
USAID
From UNESCO, we bolted down our chicken shwarma wraps and french fries before heading to the USAID offices. You could tell it was an American office from the metal detectors we had to walk through. Upon passing the onerous security, however, the meeting itself turned out to be one of the most relaxed, pleasant experiences. Since it was a beautiful day outside, Tricia had the foresight to invite us out into the backyard. Since we’d be returning to Boston shortly, we all relished the opportunity to stock up on Vitamin D deficiency. I have to admit, midway through the meeting, I slipped off my shoes to enjoy the feel of green grass on my feet.
Again, without the delay of translation, it was easier to maintain a substantive dialogue between parties. It’s sort of the feeling you get when you’re backpacking in a foreign country and find yourself chatting up a storm with fellow travelers you meet in the hostel. After several days of only speaking English amongst ourselves, it was such a welcome relief to hear from fellow visitors. It was also wonderful opportunity to hear about experiences that could conceivably become our own. At this point, it became less about the education system and more about sharing experiences. I was particularly interested in hearing about their experiences as Americans. There was an interesting dichotomy going on, in which issues like the government shutdown in Washington or the Iraq carried very concrete ramifications that rippled world wide. At the same time, most of the officers agreed that despite who was president or which political party was in power, at the end of the day, their “work” and their mission remained the same. Tricia went so far to say that sometimes she felt like she worked in a bubble. It was an interesting paradox that just reminded me of both the complex dynamics that govern our world and the shared commonalities that underscore them all. How’s that for waxing poetic?
(Note: I did far less waxing poetic that evening at the USAID cocktail party. I was however seduced by the dark side).
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| Beware of little girls in Spider-Man pajama pants |
World Bank
Our last stop of the day was the elusive World Bank office which is completely unmarked from the outside. Fortunately, we had allowed ourselves extra time to walk, and we passed several foreign embassies along the way (the British one was notably plain and oppressive looking). The World Bank office was especially well-hidden, in that we had to answer three riddles before being allowed to enter the building. Inside the décor seemed to strike a nouveau Asian tone, which seemed oddly out of place. Nevertheless, the offices were immaculate, and from my seat at the table, I had a lovely view of a well-kept garden.
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| TLC must have done an episode of "Trading Spaces" with the Tokyo World Bank office |
The World Bank enjoys a certain level of prestige as a global organization, and refusing to disappoint, this presentation struck me as highly academic, with statistical graphs and thoughtfully-crafted answers. In particular, their carefully measured language (“the trend is lightly positive”) would make Professor Terry Tivnan proud. It’s also possible that everything sounds more intelligent when spoken in European and inflected, nondescript accents (he mystery accent turned out to be a very well-disguised Kiwi with a background in syntactic linguistics). This presentation played heavily onto my humanities side, drawing on interdisciplinary literature from economics, history, politics and sociology. I completely nerded out when he used multiple lenses to try to explain the causes of gender disparity at the secondary level. I confessed it earlier, but I thoroughly enjoy listening to people who really know what they’re talking about. I can just sit back, let them talk, offer an occasional nod of assent or bemused “hmm,” and just drink it all in. It makes me feel like I’m enriching myself as a human being. It was also fascinating to hear outsider perspectives on heavily contentious issues such as the political implications of Arab Spring or the language policy. Interestingly enough, perhaps it was their role as outsiders that allowed them to speak with a special level of openness and candor.
**Author's Note, obviously these posts are coming post-Morocco. Due to internet problems and overall jetlag/exhaustion, there will be a slight delay in the remaining posts. That said, I took copious notes, and I fully intend to finish my posts in the near future, before I become consumed with my spring coursework and you don’t hear from me for four months. Thanks for your patience, and welcome any comments/feedback/questions!
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