Page 251 - Arabia the Gulf and the West

248 Arabia, the Gulf and the West

Dhahran, which began life as a technical school started by the Arabian Ameri­
can Oil Company. ‘Sleek concrete towers and serene rows of Islamic arches
rising from the sands mark UPM, Saudi Arabia’s temple of higher education’,
the report starts off, and it goes on to list, with the respect that such matters
naturally call forth, the benefits to which the students are entitled - free
tuition, meals, accommodation, medical services and air fares, in addition to a
monthly stipend and bonuses for obtaining good marks in their courses. Only
the most advanced pedagogical methods are employed, the report emphasizes,
quoting one of the institution’s professors. ‘We tap data bases. If we are
working on structural research, we can tap by telex into a computer at Lock­

heed in California, search the departments there and answer problems
quickly.’ Such techniques come naturally, the report goes on to remark, to
Saudi Arabs.

The greenest freshman delights in using the school’s own IBM 370/158 computer and
quickly becomes familiar with the remote processing terminals and other equipment in
the data processing center. A $91 million building under construction will house
projects in all fields of energy research under the direction of Dr William Pickering, the
ex-chief of the U.S. Viking probes to Mars.

As if these costly baubles for the intellectual diversion of the students were not
enough, lavish provision has also been made for their physical recreation.

The latest innovation in an already remarkably equipped physical education depart­
ment is a $430,000 environmental chamber where 17 full-time European coachesofas
many different sports plan to subject their young proteges to varied humidities,
temperatures and simulated altitudes. ‘This way, if we have a team which is going to
play in Switzerland, we can put them in the chamber and freeze them for three or four
weeks,’ says the physical education director.
While such wide-eyed reportage may have some entertainment value, it tells
us nothing of the nature and quality of the education in general being received
by the hundreds of thousands of children at school in Saudi Arabia-if, indeed,
they are at school. Since Saudi Arabia cannot provide teachers of her own, the
schools have to be staffed by teachers from abroad. Most of those in Saudi

schools are Egyptians, who come on short-term contracts and return home
after three or four years. Apart from the question-mark that hangs over the
academic ability and professional competence of the teachers themselves, the
lack of continuity inherent in this arrangement means that the standard of
education provided must be less than adequate. There are considerable
restrictions, also, upon what can be taught in the schools. The religious
establishment frowns upon secular education as it frowns upon most innova­
tions, and its tentacles reach into every classroom. Even the glowing report just
cited on the university at Dhahran noted, en passant, ‘Textbooks are banned
from mentioning Darwin’s theory of evolution, anthropological photos 0
bare-breasted Pacific islanders are covered with black ink.’ The ruling house is