Degrees of Development: A Photo Journal of Morocco

By Mandy Bowers


Many of us have a fuzzy idea in our head of what a developing country looks like, or what the Middle East looks like, or even what Africa looks like. Personally, I had a fuzzy picture in my head of what my experience studying abroad in Morocco this spring term would look like. After ten weeks of extensive travel, plenty of harassment, a loving host family, and regular academic questioning, I now have a clearer picture of a developing country trapped between opposing African, Middle Eastern, and European identities.



The Medina of Fez was founded in the ninth century and reached its peak in the 13th-14thcentury. The sprawling maze of streets and tall buildings was surprisingly cool and has changed little in structure in the past few hundred years. Yet, telltale signs of changing residents grace the tops of the buildings — satellite dishes.



The rush of government-funded buildings in the 1960s and 1970s were poorly constructed, meaning that many homes across Morocco are in danger of collapse. Medinas, or old cities across Morocco, direly need restoration to protect the residents. (pictured: Chefchaouen)



Only in the past fifteen years did Morocco name Berber the official language. Despite its ancient roots and its position as mother tongue to nearly half the population, Berber is only now being introduced as a language taught in schools. The Berber alphabet was resurrected despite criticism from some who believe the language would have greater prospects of survival if written in Arabic or Latin script. In southern and eastern Morocco, where Berber is more prevalent, locals may not speak Arabic or appreciate a foreigner’s efforts to use Moroccan Arabic.



Al-Akhawayn University, Ifrane, was founded in 1994 as a Saudi-Moroccan partnership and is one of few private universities in Morocco. Although the university caters to elite students with its hefty tuition costs, if you ask the director, he will insist that the university is public because they still use the normal, government-run postage system. Ifrane, is called Switzerland of Morocco and is known for its European style homes, skiing, and frequent snowfall.




Some restoration efforts, in the name of tourism, are laughable. Can you see what was restored versus original in this picture? Your hint: the bottom faded before the top. When donors fund restoration projects, lack of oversight usually means that intermediaries choose the cheapest contractors available and pocket the difference. Restoration efforts may therefore be little more than scratching a pattern back into a wall — an outcome better described as vandalism than restoration.






In contrast to typical views of developing countries, Casablanca is now home to “Morocco Mall,” complete with an IMAX theater, a constructed pond overlooking the ocean, a star-studded ceiling, and an indoor aquarium.




A public university in Fez displays a bulletin board with the names and faces of jailed students who boycotted the university. Student governments regularly organize boycotts of classes and exams to oppose the governments’ lack of action on unemployment. The government usually responds with military force, in the guise of police action. All students are required to participate in the boycott, whether they agree or not.






The new opening of a mall in downtown Fez with a Carrefour attracts crowds of Moroccans in their best clothes to see and be seen. A few eighty year old women approach the escalator, remain immobile at the top for thirty seconds in fear of stepping on, and eventually dive back into the crowd that has formed behind them for the safer option: the elevator.




“Paradise Beach” in Assilah, Morocco, may remain an isolated home to sheep. The road out to the beach is so potholed and torn apart that only a four-wheel drive travelling below a mile an hour can reach the hidden beach.



Moroccans associate tourists with wealth, and many Moroccans have learned to cater to tourists in hopes of making a little extra money. Argan farmers harvest and crush Argan nuts to create the famous oil. Goats enjoy eating the nuts and tourists enjoy watching the goats climb the trees to eat the nuts. Thus, Argan farmers enjoy selling tourists photo-ops with baby goats and Argan oil.  



Education Inequality in China

By Kristy Choi
A Teach for China Classroom in Lincang, Courtesy Hu Xiaodan 

We are constantly being told that America is underperforming in education. That Asia, and China in particular, are catching up. However, for all the high-achieving, hard-working students that China churns out, there are hundreds more that are left behind. While working with the non-profit Teach for China (a Teach for America affiliate that sends recent graduates of both American and Chinese universities to teach in rural China), I have become increasingly aware of the education gap in China. It is a persistent and systemic problem. The problem begins with the rural/urban education gap. Like many other countries, rural education in China is particularly dismal. However, even if a student wanted to attend school in the city where the possibilities for higher education exponentially increase, they cannot. Teach for China maintains that some 80% of children in urban areas have the chance to go to college; that number is less than 3% in rural areas. The result? Among other reasons, rural dwellers have been increasingly fleeing to the city.  However, there they run into problems that Americans would never think to worry about.

The Chinese government issues a hukou to every citizen: it is a household registration that labels what city or region a person is from. In order to buy a house, a car, or enter schooling in an area, one needs the correct hukou. That would be like everybody in New York City carrying a special license, and no one from any other state being able to move there. As more and more migrants are attracted to the opportunities in cities, hukous are increasingly a restrictive factor. The government worries that overhauling the current system would lead to an unbearable inflow of migrant workers, yet under the current system, they already come in droves. In addition to being an obstacle for migrants, hukous reveal a clear gap in the educational system. According to one study, the average years spent in schooling for those who hold hukou status in an urban area is 10.3 years compared to just 6 for those of rural status; there is a 4 year gap in education simply based on where one is born. Moreover, the Chinese government has declared mandatory education of at least 9 years — that means students in rural areas don’t even manage the minimum requirements by its own government standards. In another startling statistic, 67% of citizens with urban hukous go to high school while only 29.9% of rural hukous make it there. The hukou system makes it so that those born in rural areas with less educational opportunities are almost systematically denied the option for improvement.

The clear solution would be to shore up the rural education system. And there are a lot of places it could be improved. In rural areas, only 20% of teachers have 4-year degrees.  Rural areas in China simply lack the funding and educational resources necessary to keep up. The Chinese government has been taking active measures to fix this gap. Notably, it allocates free textbooks and lunches to those who are unable to afford them and is taking steps to make education free for those in rural areas (at least for the requisite 9 years). However, there are still large barriers to success. One of the most important is the lack of qualified teachers. Chinese schools require an entrance exam and one of the main components is English. Yet, too often, the teachers themselves have a shaky grasp of the language. The Chinese government has taken active measures to confront the problem, but without the qualified personnel to teach, simply putting children in schools will not allow them to succeed.

For as much as Americans worry that Chinese education will soon surpass our own, the Chinese education system has a number of pervasive problems. If China truly wishes to step out from its developing country status and enter the world of the developed world, its education system is going to have to change.

Sources
http://www.tfchina.org/about
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/15/china-migrant-workers-children-education
https://docs.google.com/viewera=v&q=cache:mArWDxXGLKMJ:www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr11-735.pdf+education+inequality+in+china&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShYoFL_IQNvuuvhNWrD4E2610doyMN2sFsEVpha5tdjiKHv5QBilLdQCvEijOUpGd_JhmImLJ_TCVukL1g1BhZ3run4WFyoW-6SPWl9sEW4mympchdnIcs4rMuSFSBiE2txr0Hg&sig=AHIEtbSAH3Qf4ptzAsLQyQk4ZDQMC_Vgbg

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2012/07/25/from-world-factory-to-learning-society-the-education-landscape-in-china-and-the-future-plan/
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-09/26/content_15783022.htm