High School
Having grown up in Saudi Arabia my whole life, I never really cared or thought
anything of high school being different in other countries. Now that I am studying at a
university in the United States I have quickly learned that my high school experience
was much different than others around me. For instance, high school is only three
years long in Saudi Arabia, but we still finish when we are 18 years old. Our high
schools are also separated between males and females; for students and teachers.
anything of high school being different in other countries. Now that I am studying at a
university in the United States I have quickly learned that my high school experience
was much different than others around me. For instance, high school is only three
years long in Saudi Arabia, but we still finish when we are 18 years old. Our high
schools are also separated between males and females; for students and teachers.
The classes we had to take were very standard including the normal subjects like math,
science, and social studies. Since Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country we also had to
take religious classes each year about Islamic history and the Quran. English and
Arabic classes were also a required part of our curriculum. School started early at
7:00am and finished by 1:00pm. Every day we would get a mid-morning break and
snack. Since we finished class by 1:00pm the school did not serve us lunch. Typically
when we go home after school we would have the biggest meal of the day.
After school we didn’t have school sponsored sports, but there are many competitive sports clubs
outside of school that are offered to teenagers such as soccer, horseback riding, and
swimming to name a few. I joined a soccer club where I met some of my best friends.
We traveled around the city and played against other clubs and one year my team even
won the championship.
The schools calendar is based around the Islamic holidays and
holy month of Ramadan, so every year around Ramadan is our three month summer
break.
High school was a really great time for me; I got to spend time with all of my
friends, play soccer almost every day, and didn’t have to worry about anything really. I
really wouldn’t change my high school experience for anything and I’m so happy for the
people that I met.
Very interesting blog, I learned a lot from it. The whole idea of just moving to a different country like the United States must of been very hard and different. And to top it all off having to even start school in the United States must of been too, because in Saudi Arabia it was separated by the student's sex. Reminds me of the articles of segregation we have read.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post, it takes travelling to different countries to experience differences in education. Different class for male and female is something I heard about some Islamic countries, but I never knew male teachers have to teach male class and vice versa.
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