I moved here 60 days ago from California (USA). I have two boys ages 7 and 4. In the U.S. I was homeschooling my kids because I was not impressed with the narrow-minded thinking and teaching in our local schools. As a result I was part of a group mother's who were university educated, peace-oriented, & free-thinking who decided that they wanted “more” for their children's education. We taught based on the methods of Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf curriculum, however, were not bound to these. It was difficult to leave them behind as our school was very supportive of each child's personality and “gifts”.

We even took a stand on nutrition and many kids were on a no sugar, wheat, dairy or gluten diet. (Although I wasn't quite as strict).
However, here I am in Jordan and need to put my kids into school. I just don't know what to do. I feel SOOOO strongly about positive encouragement and honoring each child's gifts. I DO NOT want my children to be exposed to some of the issues we have been discussing here. They have already lost the sugar-free diet as everyone in our village gives them money and they run to the markets and buy chips and candy. I can see a HUGE difference in their personality already. We will be living in Amman in Abu En Seer. Does anyone know of a supportive and positive school that doesn't cost $14,000 a year?
Have any of you heard of homeschooling in Jordan? Any information would be helpful. Thank you.

There is no excuse whatsoever for allowing this kind of behavior in schools to continue. On paper, corporal punishment in schools is prohibited, but in reality it is an everyday occurrence and the teachers and school administration are never called on their behavior.

I realize it’s a complicated issue to deal with. I have had numerous discussions with teachers and I know that while they condone beating children and claim that it is the “only way” to deal with rowdy or difficult students, there is also a feeling helplessness and a lack of tools at their disposal to do otherwise. This is in addition to the fact that they too were brought up in this way and to the other disturbing fact that parents sometimes encourage teachers to beat their own children as a way to make them “better behaved”.

With the older boys there is the dilemma as well, that by not allowing the teachers to hit the students; the students would then sense weakness and beat the teachers, which even under the current set-up, sometimes happens.

Teachers and school administrators need to be trained, counseled and treated fairly by the system, but they also need to know that any abuse they inflict on their students will be met with tough and immediate measures that no “wasta” would be big enough to get them out of. We cannot sit by, as a government or a people, while our children are subjected to physical and emotional abuse on a daily basis at public institutions that are set up to serve the people.

It’s no wonder so many boys in the 8th and 9th grade in Jordan don’t know how to read and write. The problem of fear and abuse is at the heart of many of our children’s inability to learn and to become socially responsible citizens.