Crossing Roads
- Lindsey Smaka
- Mar 13, 2019
- 3 min read
It's always a learning curve when acclimating to the ins and outs of a new country as you settle in. Today was a day I felt I was really starting to navigate these social norms.
Our group was able to head to MACECE (Moroccan-American Commission on Educational & Cultural Exchange). This is the organization funded by both the Moroccan and U.S. government that implements Fulbright exchange programs between the two countries. Here we received a safety briefing from U.S. Embassy officials, after which we all felt a small sense of unease, which is a good thing. Here are some rules:
-Don't walk right next to the road with your purse (potential motorcycle purse snatchers)
-Minimize how often you take your cell phone out.
-Don't walk alone at night
-You can always trust the police and people of authority
-Don't engage with people calling you out on the street.
-etc...
After receiving these rules, we came to the realization that this is good practice ANYWHERE you go in life. In the states, we should all abide by these common sense rules because we have similar issues. From what I have gathered thus far, Morocco is a VERY safe and extremely welcoming country.
Crossing the street..... How does one cross the street in Rabat? Even when there are sidewalks?
This is definitely a tricky one. There is a "red person" and a "green person" signaling when to go, but as I was walking around yesterday, I found that cars were still passing during the "green person" signal. This is the one thing to remember.... cars may take these colors with a grain of salt. So therefore, pedestrians should have the same mind set. As my fellow teacher, Sabina, and I went for an early morning walk before our day began, we stood on the side of the road for many minutes waking for a constant stream of traffic to break... or someone to recognize that there is a crosswalk there and take mercy on our patience. Before this was able to happen, a Moroccan came along and was able to stop traffic, wave his finger shamefully at drivers who weren't stopping, and escorted us across the street. Many mispronounced "Shrukrans" from us were given and he went on his way. This happened again later in the day. Moroccans are super helpful, friendly and are willing to stop traffic for people they don't know.
Thankfully, this is not footage of us. This was taken before one of our training sessions on the roof of the hotel. But you get a sense of what the traffic is like:
Training: Education System in Morocco
Our afternoon consisted of a training on the Moroccan education system put on by our fabulous in country consultant, Meriem. The training started with a history of the education system, which touched again on the complicated dynamics of the three main languages in the system (French, Arabic and Tamazight). Which language should be taught at all of the levels and various subject and why? She then touched on the structure of education from pre-k to secondary. It is very similar to the U.S. (see photo), but VERY different once high school is reached.
Paths:
Students choose a subject path as early as 9th grade. Students still receive instructions in all areas, but focus more and take more classes in their chosen area. (See photo) Common core is 9th grade. From there they choose a path and continue on in 1st baccalaureate. In 2nd year baccalaureate, students zone in further and get more specific in their path. The pros and cons were discussed in depth. Students may be pigeonholed into a career path when they are in their early teens, but are more likely to be very prepared for their chosen path.
For science, our horizontal curriculum (freshmen year - physics, sophomore year - chemistry, junior year - biology etc), is essentially flipped vertically. Students receive basic instruction on ALL THREE their 9th grade year, then go more in depth on all three the following year, etc. I am amazed at this approach and really can't wait to see it in action next week.
I also can't wait to see what crosswalks are like in Taroudant.
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