April 2008
Exposing the Choueifat Myth
This is a serious warning to anyone thinking about joining the SABIS organisation which manages the International Schools of Choueifat. This is a ruthless, fanatical business group to be avoided at all costs. They are constantly advertising for teachers as their retention rate is abysmal. Their sole aim is financial gain and nothing or no one will impede this.
Choueifat cares about its staff - Wrong!
They do not treat them as human beings but people to be bullied, blamed for children not achieving or not completing their work and definitely expendable. To maintain this regime, they employ people whose main responsibility is to spy and report back to a higher authority. If they cannot detect any wrongdoing they are pressured to invent something. Even students are asked to report on teachers. Sadly the higher authorities listen and encourage this sort of behaviour. They hire and fire at the drop of a hat. They do not have structured pay scales and pay according to nationality. Procedures are not standard but vary from person to person. Employees have few rights and can be given as little as twenty four hours to leave.
Choueifat Education is for a changing World - Wrong!
The organisation is run by mainly Lebanese, senile personnel with rigid outdated ideas about education and curriculum delivery. They are fanatical about their teaching philosophy, .the points method. which is based on the mistaken assumption that all children master every concept at the same time and one method of delivery is suitable for all facets of the curriculum.
Choueifat is serious about educating the whole child - Wrong!
They are only concerned with the intellectual facet. Their curriculum is extremely narrow. They do not have a child centred approach. They believe in whole class teaching. No differentiation of what is taught is allowed. They also believe class size is irrelevant. This leads to many students being under challenged, bored and unhappy at school and a similar number unable to cope with the degree of difficulty of what is being taught. Every teacher must cover a prescribed amount of material each week using the prescribed method of delivery and move on irrespective of level of mastery of the class. Constant exams are given which require rote learning of material. Harsh punishment, which includes relearning and resitting the same exams until a passing average is achieved, is meted out to low achievers. This could take up many hours after school or all of the student.s weekend. There is no attempt made to teach students how to think or research material independently. Teacher judgement is not used in assessment or reporting to parents. Most of the schools have no library facilities or substandard ones. Audio visual material is not used in the classrooms. Supply teachers are not used to replace teachers who are absent. Students from the classes are used as it is much more cost effective.
Choueifat students can all go to University - Wrong!
Parents are fooled by the promise that all Choueifat students can go to university. Many beat their children if they achieve low grades and make them study for endless hours every evening from a young age. A large number of students are psychologically damaged by their Choueifat experience. There are no support services at any of the schools and no provision is made to assist children with learning difficulties as according to one Senior Choueifat long serving staff member, this type of phenomenon doesn.t exist.
Choueifat offers quality extracurricular activities . Wrong!
New extra curricular activities have been added in recent years supposedly to make the school more attractive for parents. Choueifat.s financial greed is such that in addition to compiling all texts used in the school they now market SABIS ballet outfits, SABIS gymnastics outfits etc.
These activities are mainly taught by Eastern Europeans who are paid much lower salaries than their Western counterparts and made to work much longer hours. Their command of English, the medium of instruction, is very poor.
Choueifat is a non racial organisation - Wrong!
This organisation is extremely racist and discriminatory. It does not welcome Africans or Afro Americans. It pays Eastern Europeans lower salaries and makes them work longer hours.
Do not sign a contract with any Choueifat school unless you are prepared to tolerate the above conditions. Do not allow yourself to be brainwashed by their human resources personnel who try to entice you with various inducements. They are chosen because of their ability to deceive, hire and exploit gullible people like me!