The Summer of Love

We can all breath a sigh of relief. The long awaited summer in finally here. Thus signalling the end of another year. But lest we forget that soon is the beginning of another. Another year of a pointless system with a Nazi-esque like dictator who is in fact by all means, a stooge. But lets not talk about that! I'm sure allot of us celebrated in our own way the last days of the year, while certain idiots who pose as head supervisors believed we were actually working in class as "normal". Yeah right! and suddenly they expect us to see them in some sugarcoated school fantasy with all smiles. Missing and Idolizing them. BULLSHIT!!!. Any who, I might not post back for a while since I'm gonna be doing quite allot of travelling. And about the Penguin Vs. SABIS case, still going on, still no new info but I will try and keep you posted. Anyways, you all enjoy your summer and do something out of the ordinary, because I have a feeling that this one is going to be one worth remembering.

March of the Penguin

Penguin Publishing, a UK company responsible for bringing you great books such as Kite Runner, the controversial Satanic Verses, and owning rights for reprinting allot of the great classics such as Pride & Prejudice, Frankenstein and Death of a Salesman. Has decided to file a lawsuit against the SABIS system for all it's blood money. On the charges of plagiarism. That Choueifat has been violating copyrights by taking Penguins material and selling it off as SABIS' own. Choueifat is finally getting the bitch slap that 25,000 people have been praying for. I'm not exactly sure why a case like this hasn't been reported in the media, but apparently Choueifat is asking them to keep this confidential because it wants to protect it's already shattered reputation. Mr. G himself is also being cited as the lead figure in the case, because according to sources, it was his idea to publish them in the SABIS books. Could this be the end of the G Man's career? Has the shining beacon of hope for thousands finally come in the form of a metamorphic penguin?

Let me remind you that this is what I gather from sources in the school and in Penguin Publishing, I suggest you don't start telling everybody now, until I can actually get some leads to show to you all.

But I hope that the Fall of the House of Sabis will soon begin.

The Regional Dictator. (Part 4)

In this continuation of The Regional Dictator, I would like to shed light on Mr.G's morals, ethics, and absolute insanity. Some interesting facts about the man have recently come to light, facts that are enough to make anyone believe there is a 666 scar somewhere on his body. The man believes in everything he says, which is kind of sad. Unfortunately he thinks that people should believe in everything he says too. He once tried to tell a member of his staff to divorce his wife, because her uncle opened another school. Stupid, I know. But it gets worse. I found this out recently, I don't know if it is exactly word by word. A charity approached him long ago to ask if Choueifat could donate to the starving and dying people of Darfur and other parts of Africa affected by famine. And his reply to the charity Representative was:

"If we give them money it would make them more dependant on us. And they would continue to breed and be poor and have a lack of education and create limited jobs. And world poverty would continue. Would it not be better to let them just die? because then we would not waste any money and resources and poverty would be eliminated" - Mr. G

Disgusting, ain't it ?. I also remember that when they told him that the head chef in the Cafeteria, who was there since the birth of Choueifat in the Gulf, had recently died. He didn't say god rest his soul (even though he doesn't believe in God) or ask if his family needed any help. He merely said.

"Oh no, we are going to have to order out now" - Mr. G

May I also add that he has no family values. He skipped his only son's wedding to attend a staff meeting. I know this is giving off allot but frankly the world needs to know that this man is a monster. his staff know it, the students know it, would it be a shame if the world knew it?

Advising, the word generally is a verb, To advise or to give advice. Mr. G goes on video conferencing and tells us to disagree with higher authority in terms of religious, cultural, political, scientific, statistic, moral, ethics and allot of things. What a hypocrite, he enforces his views upon us and he has the audacity to not even let us question him. He says advising teaches us to think. We are barely thinking there, we are so bored that not a single process of thought goes through our already wasted minds. And why Careers at Grade 9? frankly students at grade 9 don't give a crap about their careers or university for that matter, so why instill a sense of hate and loathing at such a young age?

And to Mr. G personally.

1. Why all the nonsense babble about rules YOU don't live up to either?
2. Why tell us to be honest and truthful when you banned those of lower average from taking external exams just so you can make the SABIS system look like it has high standards?
3. Why tell us to stand up for what we believe in when you barely let us have the microphone?
4. Why do you tell us to hate other student because they are competing with us when it is already obvious we are too busy already hating you?
5. Why are we supposed to pay an average of Dhs50 million from each school when it's obvious that none of that is going for the better of any of them?
6. Why instill your beliefs upon us and force us to accept them all of a sudden just because you say so?
7. Why tell us to report against bullies when you your self are the biggest of them all?

I know that this seems a tad bit of an Insider to the man, but I truly despise him so. I'm probably gonna get alot of unhappy replies to this. But at least I made my point clear.

Unsourced Lies

In today's post, I would like to talk about the current Wikipedia page on Choueifat. In my opinion, It is a heavily edited gaggle of crap written by an obviously ridiculously paid staff of Mr.Germanos. After going through each revision of the page, It turns out that every time someone posts a tiny stitch of reality and criticism. Some moron which I have tracked down in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. Keeps coming back to edit it with and obvious amount of bullshit. Another one from London vandalises it by writing "Germanos rules!!!!" or even more sickening "Choueifat is the best school in the world". I can tell you that even typing in that made me cringe.

Thankfully there are some people that have bothered saying the truth.

The Choueifat schools have a reputation for being among the shittiest schools in the Middle East. Being one of the oldest English-speaking schools in the region, Choueifat has a reputation for a students who don't know their ass from their elbow. Choueifatis have also been known to go on to attend some of the universities most amenable to funding from international student fees in the world. The curriculum has been criticized by teachers and students alike for being overly rigid and formulaic, as well as for a lack of emphasis on artistic activities. There also have been reports of verbal abuse in many branches as supervisors and teachers there seek to enforce an extreme code of discipline. The system has been criticised in the past for its lack of attention to harvesting potential for creativity-based futures for its students.

This was the last edit of the Choueifat Page.

Alright, firstly. I definitely hate the school, shitty would be an understatement. Not all Choueifat students are stupid, I definitely know I don't shit from my elbow. For decades, the students and teachers have been criticizing the system. The constant memorising just so we can get a good mark is absolutely ridiculous, and the lack of promoting creativity in students is a huge mistake to the "Future". And yes there is verbal abuse because the system likes to hire droids that all eat, drink, sleep, breathe and think the same. Like a lot of the supervisors, they come in thinking we are going to be absolutely robotic and do their bidding. And then they finally realise the truth: that we have lives. Yes, some of us were not programmed to be full of shit. They take any form of talking to be "disrespectful"and because it would take them until the second coming of Jesus to think of something to say back. Right before they short circuit they say in absolute slaughter of the English Language "Ya? you say this? come, you go supervisor he suspend you". The man will insult you, and it's pretty obvious he is about as uptight as he is unhygienic. He will give you a smug look when you even talk to him, and even kick you out of class for petty reasons, and when it is absolutely quiet, he threatens people. What a moron. And in the rare case you get to as him "why?". with that ugly condescending look. he will Immediately forget you even existed let alone asked that question.

The current crap on wikipedia is

The Choueifat schools have a reputation for being among the best schools in the Middle East. Being one of the oldest English-speaking schools in the region, Choueifat has a reputation for a students who are smart and privledged. Choueifatis have also been known to go on to attend some of the worlds best universities. The curriculum has been admired by teachers and students alike for being excellent and formulaic, as well as for emphasis on artistic activities.

What shit. I'm absolutely gagging and probably about to cough up my own intestines from this wretched stench of bull shit. I can't type anymore, This is crap. Make your own assumptions. Someone should whack this page to its senses.

NOTE: I know I sound very angry and personal in this post. But this is what being in Choueifat since KG1 does to you. I will do my best to tone it down and not overdo it. Please note I show no remorse for this type of systematic murder done by Mr.G's beloved system.

And Then There Were Two

WELCOME ONE AND ALL UNFORTUNATE SOULSTHIS IS THE BRAND NEW CHOUEIFATI BLOG WHICH WILL BLOT DOWN EVERY GODDAMN PIECE OF CRAP FOR ALL OF CYBER ETERNITY. REMEMBER TO TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT IT TOO! ^_^

I'm sure some of you are wondering who the hell I am. I will tell you that I am another unfortunate human being that reads the words "ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER" written all over that fucking tree. I have another 2 years left in that godforsaken Hellhole. SO I intend on venting all I can. This blog will pick up from where Choueifati left off, since the lucky bastard is leaving The Reich.

NOTE: The Picture noted above is what we all dream of doing to at least one of those twats.

I applied for the position right after I emailed choueifati this

..............................................................

Dear Choueifati, I would like to take the responsibility of continuing your blog. The reasons are listed below.

1. I despise Mr.Germanos so badly, I scratched his car with a key when he was at City Center.

2. The Invertebrate is an absolute stooge. I remember last year tearing my hair out because that moron constantly babbled on subjects he knows nothing about. And being on borderline personality disorder caused by that fucktards unnecessary dribble. A Picasso is worth that much because it is a beautiful expression of human emotion represented in people's distorted view of the world. OF COURSE ITS GOING TO COST YOU ALOT OF MONEY!!!!!!!! Fucking sociopath.

3. I resent the absolute rigidness and ridiculousness of the school rules.

4. I resent the way they hire staff. Preferring people who are incapable of independent thought, proper hygiene, a proper psychoanalysis. With exception of a few people.

5. I hate the so called superiors and especially how they feed off human misery. And how they love to suspend us over petty accusations.

6. I despise the so called life lessons they give us. A memorable quote from a man with an ass the size of a principality and the girth of an oil tanker. "You must always ask permission, you cannot do whatever you want. That is life" and on a personal note, I so wanted to kick him in the balls, but it wouldn't affect him with all that blubber.

7. I despise this systems lack of promoting creativity, and even though I was in that hellhole since KG1 i thank god that my mental strength has managed to hold out this long otherwise I would have done unimaginable things with a steel rod. I'm probably the only person there who even bothered reading Les Miserables. I tried to push for a play but that got scrapped because the school thought that "I was gathering people to commit wrong against school" I hate that fat crap.

I have alot of reasons which would be pretty evident if you saw me. I hope you reply to this soon enough, and congratulations on getting out of that hellhole you lucky bastard

..............................................................

And then he said, like

..............................................................

I love your attitude. You're hired! Feel free to make an introductory post. E-mail me if you have any questions. I'll still have enough time to read the site from time to time.

Best of luck

Just A Choueifati

..............................................................

I will post more soon, I just hope that whoever reads this, will tell all his friends at the stupid milk bar about this page.;)

Retirement

And now comes the end. I've graduated and I'm done with this blog. It served me well as a place to vent my frustration at the system and as a means for me to speak to the world about the problems of the system. I've received a lot of encouragement and praise for the site and I take this oppurtunity to thank everyone who gave it to me. Thank you!

There's a lot more to say, so I don't really want the site to end. I'm hoping to give this to someone who's still going to be stuck in the system next year. It should preferrably be someone who isn't lazy and has a fair command over the English language. If you would like to continue this site, or can suggest someone who would, please contact me at justachoueifati@gmail.com.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed posting!

The End is Nigh

Well, we just had our "Tree Planting" ceremony on Friday and it was loads of fun. Our grade are now unofficially Choueifati Alumni. We wore suits, dresses and robes and celebrated till the early hours of Saturday morning. Then we realised that we had three periodic exams on Sunday that we didn't get time to study for. (As you may have noticed, I've been really busy planning for the Tree Planting. So busy that I haven't been able to post on my beloved blog for an entire two weeks :p)

Choueifat doesn't care what the students are doing. Exams will always stick. If the student is sick, he or she takes a much more difficult substitute test on the weekend. Even for our last ever weeklies (Chemistry, Java and Biology), they were too stubborn to even smile at the fact that they would never see our grade in the exam hall for a weekly periodic exam again.

Nice way to say goodbye, don't you think?

The SABIS Regional Tournament

So I just got back from the SABIS Regional Tournament in Amman, Jordan. It was loads of fun in general for our team and school, and I 'm sure everyone else involved could say the same. I got the rare oppurtunity to meet Victor Saad, the vice president of the SABIS network and to meet hundreds of other students from other schools. All in all, an amazing experience and probably my most memorable time at Choueifat.

Too bad it's all just a facade. The only real reason I can see Choueifat doing all this is to impress others and convince them that Choueifat is a school that actually cares about sports and the health of their students. In reality, we've had to ask and push the school administration time and time again to allow us time to train. Instead of supporting us, they just act as a barrier we have to pass through. All this because Choueifat views sport and physical activity as a deterrent to the learning process.

The tournament itself was great, but only something like 600/29000 students attended. That's about 2%. SABIS is publicising 2% of their students. They're putting 2% of their fittest students on show just to advertise the school. It's not a majority, nor is it anywhere near an accurate representation of what Choueifatis are really like. It's just blatantly false advertising.

The Books. (Part 2)

Out of all subjects, Choueifat prides itself most in its Physics course. By the end of the twelfth grade, an average 12S (sciences section) student would have finished the better part of a two or three year university course in general Physics. Also, for some odd reason, Physics is compulsory for the sciences section students while Biology and Chemistry are not. It's almost as if they want us all to grow up to become little Physicists and Mathematicians!

But that's not the issue I'm going to address today. This morning, while we were revising Physics (or trying to), we realised that we were flipping through eight different books. EIGHT different books. "University Physics 11E", "Physics Level N Core Questions", "Physics Level N Course Extra Practice Questions", "Physics Level N Electricity and Relativity", "Physics Level N Mechanics M2", "Physics Level N Kinematics and Waves", "Physics Level O Core Course" and "Physics Course Level N/O Basic Questions". Usually I wouldn't mind so much, but the thing is that EVERYTHING in the last five books was already in the first textbook.

Why do we buy so many books then? The only reasonable explanation I can logically deduce is that Choueifat wants revenue. They want to profit as much as possible. At times, they seem to be more like a firm than a school. I understand that it's a private school, but shouldn't the students' educations still be their primary concern?

The Brainwashing Sessions. (Part 3)

The above is a fairly accurate sketch of Mr G, probably drawn in one of his Advising lessons by a very bored individual, tired of listening to the same things over and over again. Imagine watching that hideous face for one hour straight, with no breaks or discussion. How he can continue to blab on and on about that rubbish is beyond me. EVERY videoconference, he will never fail to mention that Choueifat is in fact, the best school in the world before citing his obscure "friends" as references who agree with him. I recently heard that he actually thinks he's fooling us as well.

"[You know you went to Choueifat if] You wondered if Mr. Germanos really did have friends in the CIA and the FBI." - Choueifat=Hell? Facebook Group

See, Mr G likes to tell us anecdotes about his so called friends and family. These can range from his son who cryed when he fell down the stairs, to his friends in the CIA who were simply "amazed" by the SABIS system. Well they might not be that far from the truth; I mean, I was amazed as well. He tells us about how inefficient and unproductive other schools are. He tells us about how Ivy League and Oxbridge univerities are "hungry" for students like us. Basically, he talks about Choueifat as if it were more than just an insignificant speck-stain on the planet.

Choueifat Approved Activities

"No playing cards of any kind allowed in school. Cards are associated with gambling and students can always take part in a more productive activity". - School Rules

My friends and I have a total of at least eighteen card decks currently with the head supervisor. Why we can't play "Spades" or "Bluff" in the breaks, I'll never understand. Seriously, we're not ALL gambling addicts who are just looking for a fix at school. If that were the case, I assure you that we would have found some other way to do it. Gambling isn't really Choueifat's main problem with playing cards because even bloody Pokemon Cards were confiscated from the primary kids!

What could the motive be behind banning cards then? Read the excerpt from the rules I quoted above: "students can always take part in a more productive activity". Choueifat wants the students to be PRODUCTIVE in their breaktimes. They want them to put down anything and everything they enjoy and go back to WORK. Children are enlisted as hall monitors (read: guards) and "environment prefects" (read: cleaners) instead of being allowed to play tag. Some students are actually brainwashed into thinking that their duties are fun.

How sick and twisted.

(Thanks for the idea, Alexa)

The Books. (Part 1)

And now I’m finally on the topic of Choueifati books! There’s just so much to say…where can we start? The English course, you say? Okay.

The year before I first moved to Choueifat, I read the likes of Beowulf and The Merchant of Venice in school. Once I moved in the eighth grade, we had to read biographies of Henry the Great and Thomas Jefferson. First of all, who the hell assigns eighth graders to read biographies? They should be given famous creative literary works instead of simplified life stories of politicians. Secondly, the books were something like 80 pages thick with double spaced fonts. I was reading books that size at age 10, and I was still reading a lot less than most of the people in my grade at the time.

Along with these “Class Reader” books, we had Dictionaries and Vocabulary Lists picking on particular words in the stories. We had to memorise definitions and circle the correct answer in the exam, regardless of how obscure the definition would be or how irrelevant the word was. We would then proceed to forget the words after the exam. This may work to some extent in the lower primary grades, but one cannot expect high school students to put up with it.

The literature syllabus in Choueifat needs to be thoroughly revised and updated. The “SABIS approved” class readers aren’t doing much good for the students at all.

Positive And Negative Points.

I have something to confess. I am a "head of department" in Student Life. The school gives me tasks and missions to do, and like a clueless puppet, I do them.

Usually....

Well... more like rarely.

...

Umm...Never?

Anyway, the main reason I do this is for the universities, simply because they generally don't like a huge statement on your report card saying that "This student needs to participate more in Student Life Activities".

How this system works (or fails to work, rather) is through "positive and negative points". Each detention and failed exam is considered a negative point. To "delete" these negative points, students are supposed to spend one hour of their time in an exam hall, whether it be in a lunch break, afterschool or on a weekend. Most of this time is generally spent staring at and scribbling on a desk, all the time having unplugged surveillance cameras staring at you from all corners of the room. Choueifat figures that leaving the students isolated for an hour will teach them that what they did was wrong.

Positive points are gained after a student signs up for a club, activity, peer tutoring or as a prefect. After this, no matter how much work they do, they will gain a certain number of positive points every week. It's ridiculous how useless the system is if it rewards anyone who signs up, rather than those who work.

After all these points are tallied at the end of a term (when the student gets his or her report card), one of two generic comments is given. Either the first "This student needs to participate more in Student Life Activities" or "Excellent involvement in Student Life Activities". Sadly, neither truly reflects what's happening.

They Took Our Sports Away. (Part 3)

Want to know why I haven't posted for over two weeks? Well, it's because I've been happier than usual. Want to know why? The regional tournament is coming up and everyone's working harder to find time to practice sports and athletics. This is the only time of the year that Choueifat somewhat promotes sport and physical activity, solely to beat the other schools and bring back trophies to display along with all those university acceptances that they treasure so.
Back to the point, I've been happier than usual. I've been scoring higher on exams and I feel a lot more motivated in general. I'm now a lot more determined and confident in everything I do. In class, I can manage to stay awake longer than usual. I don't feel like a lazy git any more. Somewhere in the back of my mind, it feels like a wisp of school spirit is actually forming. Why? Because of sports.
Sports should be a huge part of school life. Staff and students alike should be rooting for the home team against rival schools, all for the sake of healthy competition. Sports releases endorphins in the brain, creating a sense of well being. It's completely necessary for a successful school to make sure that their students engage in physical activity frequently. Again, I stress the fact that school, as well as life in general, isn't all about academics.
Most of my classmates and teachers believe that PE should be compulsary in schools in grades 11 and 12. In Choueifat, it's obviously not. Hell, it's not even optional. PE is slowly removed from our timetables in Grade 10 and by Grade 11, it's gone. It's not even available as an elective subject. Along with Arts and Music (and anything else that has anything to do with liberty), Sports is not recognised as a "real subject" in the school. It's sad because after the regional tournaments, We're going to have to revert back to our lusterless Choueifati lives.

A Lack of Art

Choueifati mores dictate that we look down on arts and glorify the sciences. My school just before Choueifat was renowned in the district for their artists and graphical designers, so for me, art classes were always detailed and more interesting than most subjects. We discussed simple artistic techniques and histories of some artists and works. I remember my last lesson of Visual Arts was on one point perspective drawing, a technique I still use today in my random sketches. My final Art exam was to draw my own leg and shoe in 50 minutes. I’m proud to say I got 47/50.

Then it happened. I was forced to move to Choueifat in the eighth grade. Among many things, I was shocked to learn that I would only have one lesson of art a week, on Tuesday (The fourth day of the school week at the time). After a long, grueling three days of mostly textbook math and science, I wondered how creative the art sessions would have to be to balance it out. I waited and waited and eventually it came.

Walking down the corridor to the art room with the rest of the class, I asked a new friend of mine what they last did in art class. He raised an eyebrow at me and laughed. Being the idiotic eighth grader I was, I laughed along and continued walking down. I was among the last ones to reach the room. What I saw there can most clearly be described as chaos.

You see, art is barely even considered a subject at Choueifat. It’s more of a free lesson where you can just sit around and chat with your friends or grab a piece of paper and start folding. The teacher would just aimlessly walk around the room, mumbling, mostly in Arabic. The only art I ever did learn in Choueifat was origami, from a classmate.

The world is not based on Science and Math. The arts are just as important, if not more. The “L” section for literature and arts is still strongly scientifically based, with major subjects such as history, statistics, business studies and calculus. Arts and Literature aren’t even compulsory subjects in the L section. The students deserve the right to choose and not to have these ideologies imposed on them.

An Ex-Choueifati Speaks

Recently, I was talking to a friend of mine who left Choueifat after the ninth grade (-KIRA- for those who know him). The topic of Choueifat came up and I told him about my site. He decided to edit the wiki. I wanted more people to read it, so I posted it here:

Highly noticable is the lack of true "student activities" such as sports and the arts. Students are able to take a minimal amount of these activities during the first 10 grades of the school, but as the students go through the system these activites are replaced by more hours of testing, and this has an adverse effect on the overall education of the student:

1) It is well noted in many psychological journals that creativity and the arts are an integral part of the learning process, and that participating in art and playing an instrument help a student to learn better in the classroom.
2) Students who go through this system end up as "educational robots" instead of "elites" as studying is emphasized above all else. These students rarely have a true hobby or interest that they regularly practice, and any such activity is frowned upon by the school as a "deterrant to the learning process" that takes time away from studying.
3) Another important part of a child's growth process is left out by the SABIS system: social skills. Rarely does a class involve any interaction between students, and if it does it is more of a informal conversation than a true interaction that would be found in the real world. For example, public speaking is one topic that is not covered in the system. Even though the school has "group leaders" and other such functions, no real leadership abilities are learned, as everying ultimately falls on the teacher.

This guy is a legend. Cheers!

The Points Method

Ah, the points method. All Choueifatis have heard of it (In Mr. G's lectures, over and over and over again...), but very few actually know what it is. Basically, it's the method by which the teachers are supposed to teach the students. To simplify it, we can just break it down into a four step method.

1. Teacher explains numbered concept from textbook, as listed in Lesson Plan or Pacing Chart (Sometimes they differ, yet we are never told which one to follow.)
2. Teacher directs general question on explained concept to class.
3. Students work on the questions individually and check in assigned "groups" of four or five.
4. The "group leader" answers the teacher.

The process may theoretically sound good to a non-choueifati, but just like communism, it is very impractical. All in all, the process takes upwards of twenty minutes a concept, and the pacing charts just don't give us that much time. There's hundreds of other smaller problems with the method that all add up and render it almost useless.

I for one, have yet to attend a single class where the method is 100% enforced. I would love to attend a lesson by Mr. G, just to see if he actually practices what he preaches.

I See Stalinism!

I’ve had a few e-mails describing atrocious Choueifati supervisor behavior and decided to share a couple with you all.

Mr. Salim from Al-Ain Choueifat has apparently stopped some children from playing tag with the opposite sex. He has also ignored reports of the PE teacher there throwing a metal rod at a student in grade 9. Mr. Khalaf from Dubai Choueifat forces students to trim or remove their facial hair and attempts to control the length of all students’ hair. Not too long and not to short. If students protest, they are given detentions and told that it’s “the school rules” by “upper authorities”. I see Stalinism.

There are many other stories on these unnecessarily brutal supervisors in the Choueifat schools. I choose not to disclose them until I can background them. In the meantime, stay tuned as I try to log what else I see in the Choueifat schools.

Some Mr. G Quotes

I'm feeling very lazy, so all I'm going to do this week is post up some of Mr. G's quotes from the Student Life video conference last Saturday. Enjoy!

"Your enemy would say: "Let's go home and have fun."."
"We want students to enjoy school by giving them more work"
[Referring to us senior prefects]"You are the elite. You are the selected. You should do the dirty work."
"The heavy guns are over there; feel free to use them."

These are all geniune Mr. G-quotes. I have a few more (Did he actually expect me to listen to what he was saying rather than jot down notes for my anti-choueifat blog?), but the four above would be the cream of the crop.
I don't think I even need to comment. Really, the quotes speak for themselves.

The Regional Dictator. (Part 3)

Mr. G is a man who likes to judge things on his own. He never values the opinions and input of others anywhere near how much he values his own. I don’t recall him ever taking a student’s opinion seriously, whether in person or over the video conference. No-one can influence the regional dictator.
This post is dedicated to his habit of taking stabs at the idea of sentimental value. He is possibly the most cynical person on Earth, assessing everything only by its material worth. I remember a lecture when he ridiculed the price of diamonds, Rolls Royce cars, Rolexes and paintings by Picasso as opposed to fake copies. Normally, I wouldn’t mind if someone voiced this opinion to me, but Mr. G had the nerve to broadcast it to 600 students and not even allow us to disagree. Basically because it’s the SABIS way. Little does he realize that most of the students have parents with diamonds on their fingers...
We’re not debating the idea of sentimentality; we’re going against the apparent authority Mr. G has to try to force his opinions on us.
Thanks for the e-mail

The Brainwashing Sessions. (Part 2)

“Choueifat is the best school in the world!”
What do you think when you hear “Careers” or “Advising”? University guidance? Information on courses? Major career fields? Perhaps just a simple Q&A session for the students to ask for help in their decisions?
Hahaha, are you kidding me? Through almost the whole Careers and Advising courses, Mr. G decided that it would be more fun to teach us Biology and Cell Division, because apparently we need it more.
Honestly, the closest thing the Choueifat schools have to a real Career counselor or advisor is the “University Department” in the Student Life Organisation. Some schools don’t even have that, and are forced to just turn to this chap broadcasting himself live to something like 600 students a day.
One wonders what the point of Careers and Advising is if we don’t get any relevant advice.
Thanks for the e-mail.

A Taste Of Choueifati Logic.

Rarely is there proper reasoning behind the decisions Choueifat makes. One can only imagine the conversation that took place before they began on a new branch in Erbil, Iraq.
“You know, I don’t think developed or developing countries are the way to go for us. They’re not getting us enough money.”
“Yeah I know! Perhaps we should try war torn countries.”
“War torn countries? That's ingenious! How about Afghanistan?”
“No, they’re closer to recovering than some other countries.”
“Oh, I know! Iraq!”
“Perfect. Let’s get to it!”
Not that it affects the current Choueifati students so much, but being able to laugh at and mock the school board’s decisions is a harsh deterrent to the reputation of the school. There are hundreds of other examples of twisted Choueifati logic that could simply be described as “stupid”.
The following question was on a Grade 10 Business Studies exam:
“Which of the following are not disadvantages of nationalization as opposed to privatization?” Way to go Choueifat. You’re confusing hundreds of students with your own stupidity and you’re showing off the fact that you are incapable of the making even the most simple decisions.

They Took Our Sports Away. (Part 2)

An anonymous friend recently pointed out to me how completely wrong it was of Choueifat to keep us from making use of our talents and ambitions. How they strive to block off everything but those utterly worthless SABIS books.
They say that they want us to take part in as many extracurricular activities outside school as possible. Obviously, they hadn’t thought it through before they told us that. How are we supposed to do anything outside Choueifat when we have 9 hour school days plus travel time?
“On the weekend?” you may suggest. You would be wrong. Our weekends are considered to be working days. If the school wishes, they have the power to drag us into school for random prefect chores and exams, or just for their own sadistic pleasure.
I recall many an incident when a fellow student would be forced to abandon his or her dreams because Choueifat simply wanted him or her to. Guitar classes, stage performances, sport training and even charity fundraisers have always been frowned upon by the Choueifati administration. Anything “skipped” on weekends or after school has always had severe repercussions.
I thank my anonymous friend for pointing this out to me. Normally, this would have caught my attention, but it’s just such a typical Choueifati trait.

Choueifat Needs To Understand. (Part 1)

Choueifat needs to understand what the students really need. How far will their studies alone take them? If the students are to do exactly what Choueifat wants them to, they’ll end up becoming outright unsociable morons. As such, eventually in their career, they’ll hit a wall. You can’t get too far at all unless you have these skills Choueifat is so hesitant to provide.
Later on, it becomes more about how you deal with others. How convincing you are. How decisive you are. How you present yourself. Choueifat can’t put these skills into textbooks or tests. Hell, they don’t want to. Their mission is to pilot their students into university and then abandon them completely, regardless of whether the student is doing well or not. But there’s no need to worry, they’ll be sure to let you know if any are doing well in the form of those pieces of paper that they call “achievements”.

The Regional Dictator. (Part 2)

Picture a Grade 12 Advising Lesson.
“One piece of advice that helped me through university and life: Always do the opposite of what your enemy wants you to do.”
I heard sniggers from all around the video conferencing room. It was yet another memorable quote by Mr. G.
He went on to talk about how all Choueifatis are to hate other students because “they are our enemies” in that they compete with us in external examinations and places in universities. To even suggest that students in other schools want us to fail so that they will do better proves how ignorant and cynical Mr. G truly is.How could one even imagine how he expects us to hold a grain of respect for him when all he “advises” us to do is to be misanthropic?
_{I know this is a short post, but I have weeklies to study for...}

AMS Tests And Weekly Exams

One of the scariest facts about Choueifat to newcomers is the number of exams and tests they will be doing a week. I can still remember my first day at Choueifat, laughing when my friend told me that we were going to have an English test, third period. Then I realized he wasn’t kidding…
The average student in the seventh grade has something along the lines of four weekly AMS tests and two weekly periodic exams. By the tenth grade, this generally escalates to something like 9 weekly AMS tests and three to four weekly periodic exams. Every single one counts towards the final grade point average.
A failed AMS would mean a “make-up” exam after school. Failure in the make-up would mean a weekend “retest”. And on the weekend, the student would have to keep repeating it until he or she would pass.
Is there really a point? I mean, we are pretty well prepared for written exams by the end of grade 12, but sacrificing 13 hours a week solely on exams seems a little excessive. Not to mention how tired the students can be after three hours in the exam hall. Then they expect us to concentrate in class for the rest of the day.
What a truly amazing system!

The Regional Dictator. (Part 1)

The Regional Director of the ISC branches in the Gulf is man of many names. “Mr. G”, “Ratman”, "Germaniac" and “Jumanji” to name a few (Sadly, I’m not exaggerating.). I have been, and will be referring to him as Mr. G in my blog for the sake of confidentiality. His name though, is not of much importance. We are supposed to judge people by their actions and this man’s actions have heavily affected the last twenty-odd year groups of Choueifati students.
“Choueifat is the best school in the world!”
He would tell us, over and over (and over and over). Advising, Careers, and any other videoconference he would host. He would take things like the average graduating GPA in the UK and compare it to Choueifat’s, thinking that the students wouldn’t realize how misleading the statistics were. Of course we’re going to have higher Physics grades when the average UK student is allowed to have a life!
“Choueifat is the best school in the world!”
The videoconferences were also filled with post-graduate stories of Mr. G’s private club of “Power Prefects”. (Haha!). The basic layout would be “Dear Mr. G, I would like to thank you and the SABIS system for the huge advantage you have given me in university. Yours faithfully, X”. It would be painfully easy to tell that X was lying, and that he/she simply sent the letter in to get it published in the Advising/Careers textbooks. Or, it could be one of the rare freak students who Mr. G had managed to completely transform into a pure Choueifati. Truly sad stories.
I think that any Choueifati would agree with me when I say that Mr. G is probably one of the most interesting people on the planet. I mean, who else can so blindly believe in the SABIS system and everything it stands for?

The Brainwashing Sessions.

For students in the eighth grade and above, Mr. G holds weekly “Advising” and “Careers” lessons in Abu Dhabi, which is also video broadcasted live to the other regional ISC branches. In these lessons, the innocent students are repeatedly told that Choueifat is “The Best School in the World”. Ha. They are told how they are to think and how they are to behave whilst in and outside of school. It is here where much of the Choueifati mentality is planted in the minds of the children. Although, even at that young age, I thought that both the ideology and the classes were inane. I can even recall some of my friends and I releasing grasshoppers and throwing eggs in the classes…
In these classes, we are supposed to be taught that it is good to be a snitch. That it is good to get other students into trouble, no matter how minimal a mistake they make. This is a serious moral and social problem in some Choueifat schools, especially in the younger grades, when they haven't matured enough to know better. You would probably find that a large portion of the comments on this blog are complaints about it (See: Mr. G and his “Shadow Government” or “Power Prefects” as he likes to call them).
I often discuss with my friends what would happen if a brainwashed grade eight Choueifati were to move to a non-Choueifati school. When it actually does happen, we could take bets on how long it would be before he or she becomes a social outcast…

The Opinion Of An Older Non-Choueifati.

Spoon says (7:06 PM):
i think my old schools going ur way though
Spoon says (7:06 PM):
new principal is an ass
Spoon says (7:06 PM):
turning the students into drones
Spoon says (7:06 PM):
they just dont understand
Spoon says (7:07 PM):
by doing that they r robbing u
Spoon says (7:07 PM):
of social skills essentially

I couldn’t agree more. Although in our case it’s not so much the staff. It’s the entire SABIS system (and the ideology of Mr. G…).
Spoon was telling me about how his or her school used to be more focused on extracurricular activites rather than academics in the past. It was one of the top schools in the city then, and it still is today. I wonder why Choueifat cannot ease on the academic side and still maintain a school of high standards.

Detentions And The "Discipline Sheet" System.

See, Choueifat has managed to create a system to make it just that little bit easier for teachers to generously distribute detentions. Every possible reason, from "Talking in Class" to "Setting a Fire" is coded on the back of the "Discipline Sheet" which the "Class Prefect" has to make sure is signed by every teacher of every class. All the teacher has to do is write the student's name and the code of the "offense" on the sheet and the student instantly loses at least an hour of his or her life.
Of course, since our breaks are usually full of “extra” (read: mandatory) classes, we usually can’t do lunchtime detentions. After-school or even weekend detentions are frequent for students in all grades. These detentions tend to pile up, forcing students to stay seated in a dead quiet exam hall with a textbook for three to four hours at a time.
Apparently, Choueifat didn’t think that having classes from 8:00am to 4:00pm (or even 5:00pm, depending on classes.) every day was enough to build a student body that despises the system.

They Took Our Sports Away. (Part 1)

It's funny how they try to make maths problems sound less dull by using words like "Exercises" and "Activities". It's probably just another daft Choueifati attempt to compensate for the complete lack of physical activity in the higher grades.
In Choueifat, most students are forced to “drop” PE in the tenth grade. In the eleventh, there is no mention of sport or PE whatsoever. If the students wish to play some kind of sport, they have to go through a long and grueling process of registering a “club” at the SLO office.
Not that we even have enough time to play anything. In an average grade 12 student school week (44 hours), we usually get about two (three if we’re lucky) free periods in which we can throw a ball around. Of course, we’re advised to either work for SLO or study in an exam hall for the duration of the free period. Generally, by the time we’ve arranged to get a basketball or a football, we’ve wasted about half the break…

The Opinion of a Fellow Choueifati

Grenade says (8:25 PM):i hate my life
Grenade says (8:25 PM):this sucks

The above is the basic overall outcome of the Choueifat Effect (not to be confused with normal teen depression). For over 120 years, the SABIS system has ruined lives through Choueifatism. The students have been tortured, brainwashed and given no chance to lead a normal school life. We have been given incredibly excessive workloads with little or no proper recreation. There is no school spirit. There will never be school spirit. There is no bright side. There will never be a bright side. There is no hope. There will never be hope.

The Choueifat Effect.

Let's Start With A Few Photoshopped Logos!