Mohammed Amine Belarbi ( Morocco, 10-12, RCN)
When you get your Facebook and email flooded with the KONY2012 videos and articles, you realize shit has just got serious. Massive posts and sharing of the KONY2012 short documentary has indeed stirred countless responses, mostly favorable, yet a frantic minority has been calling out for a conspiracy.
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Mohamed Amine Belarbi ( Morocco, RCN 2010-2012)
A lot of tumult has been raised concerning the outraging initiative Itisalat Al Maghrib, the leading telecomunication company, undertook in the last period.
The provider of internet decided to cut the VoIP services and thus thousands if not million of Moroccans are unable to use softwares using this service such as Skype and others.
Mohamed Amine Belarbi ( Morocco, RCN 2010-2012)
Some learned from History only how to spell it, others strive to learn from it how to avoid what didn’t work that well in it, and implement what performed greatly during it enlightened decades and centuries.
JFK said in his last speech when referring to the Soviet establishment:
“…It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.”
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Mohammed Amine Belarbi (Morocco, RCN, 2010-2012)
A striking feature of UWCs, and which I realized the importance and the danger while reflecting on a similar institution, African Leadership Academy, is the lack of an Entrepreneurship spirit in student’s initiatives. There are, to be honest, several projects and leading ventures on campus which operate on the basis of social entrepreneurship, mainly fundraising groups. The elementary driving force, though, is not a core part of the student life when engaging in such fundraising projects: Profit!
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Mohammed Amine Belarbi (Morocco, RCN, 2010-2012)
Educational leadership cannot be acquired without geographical dominance. This is what some of the expansionist nations and empires taught us in the early days, but this way of governing is not valid in today’s world. Continue reading
Mohammed Amine Belarbi ( Morocco, RCN, 2010-2012)
Nothing can resume better the necessity and the role of UWC in investing in politics and influencing it than the statement of Albert Camus:
“Politics, and the fate of mankind, are shaped by men without ideals and without greatness.”
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Mohammed Amine Belarbi ( Morocco, RCN, 2010-2012)
A huge challenge the UWCs constantly face is the financial hardship the world today’s crisis has imposed on the educational movement worldwide. The reason, UWCs mainly base their budget on the government financial support, and without tax payers the organization is doomed to collapse. What the institution failed to secure is its economic independency, since relying entirely or mostly on the economic performance of your host country is a risky bet UWC almost lost during the economic crisis which hit the world on the past years.
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Mohammed Amine Belarbi (Morocco, RCN, 2010-2012)
It is indeed the most recurrent question today in the board office, administration corridors and students dorms in the light of the recent 50 Anniversary of the educational movement. What future for UWC? How will this institution transform in the next decades?
What I will attempt to answer, or at least give an insight on, is how UWC should operate in the coming years if the educational tycoon wants to establish an unshakable reputation throughout the world.
Mohammed Amine Belaarbi( Morocco, RCN 2010-2012)
On the request of a friend, I’ll be writing this post on a subject loosely related to politics, specifically on the New York University of Abu Dhabi, with a modest approach to the Gulf politics, just so to keep the writing line of the blog present…
It is quite unique to observe a new trend in Education, sourcing in the Gulf countries, namely Qatar and the UAE… students around the world have noticed the fierce advertising of a new “kind” of Universities who, strange enough, bear US brands while being located in the middle of the oily arabian deserts.
Quite an explosive cocktail one would say, especially that the Middle East was never recognized for being the harbor of US Universities with great caliber. (Some even still think of the Middle East as an empty desert populated by bedouins…)
Jessie Brooks ( United Kingdom, AC 2009-2011)
I arrived at 9am on Wednesday morning, and now, coming to the end of Friday, I am beginning to feel at home. On my first day I was met at the airport by Chris, Vera and Gilly (the ex-headmistress who is to be our trainer and house-mum of sorts). We had a rushed breakfast and then, along with Catherine and Ingvill, we went to meet an Ex-UN worker who now works as an adviser for the Cambodian government. He is also the father of one of my Atlantic College first-years, Shimon. He told us all about Cambodia’s history and explained to us the governmental system, which as far as I can understand it, is based upon columns and columns of departments that work almost entirely without cohesion.
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Alan Jenkins ( AC teacher, UK)
The problem with meat free Monday as it is, is that it will never persuade a carnivore to eat less meat and this is the reason it is being reviewed. Vegetarians also need to show that they understand the arguments of carnivores too. It is no good being vegetarian on sustainability grounds if you consume potatoes grown in Egypt, non free-range eggs, large quantities of dairy products, etc. There are also question marks over Soya production and mycoproteins (Quorn) to consider.
Jessie Brooks ( United Kingdom, AC, 2009-2011)
Less than three days until I fly out to The Kingdom of Cambodia. This is the first blog I’ve ever done, and it’s going to be very much a spew of thoughts as opposed to a well-thought-out monologue, but hopefully it will give people a good idea of what my United World Schools experience will be like. First, I guess I should say how I managed to get onto the project in the first place. Chris Howarth, the project’s leader, came to the United World College of the Atlantic early in my second year there. His talk was inspiring and a little forceful, but had its effect. A group of about ten of us displayed interest in going out and working on the project for our Gap Years, but only four of us (partly because of the British university fee changes – I won’t get started on that!) have managed to see the plan through ; myself, Vera form Mexico, Catherine from Switzerland and Ingvill from Norway. We all arrive in Cambodia around the 26th of September and will stay there, teaching in Chris Howarth’s schools until next March.
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Ken Corn ( AC teacher)
Whilst I understand the intentions behind The Sustainability Council’s recent proposal to adjust (ditch?) Meat Free Mondays, in order to ensure our sustainability policy meets less resistance, I believe that this approach is misbegotten.
Amy Clark( AC, England, 2011-2013)
Attending Atlantic College can sometimes feel like living in a bubble. It’s a bubble full of activities and services to do, as well as extremely interesting people to meet and countless other opportunities with which to fill your time. However, all the business within the bubble can sometimes mean that it’s hard to get out and remember that there is an outside world, and that part of the reason we came to a UWC is to engage in the world and impact the world as much as possible.
Madison Lahey (USA, UWC AC 2011-2013)
On October 13, 2011, the House of Representatives, one of the two legislative bodies of the United States government, passed H.R. 358, dubbed the ‘Protect Life Act.’ This bill would prohibit women from purchasing health care programs that receive federal funding to cover abortions. This means that a woman would not be able to receive financial help for an abortion (except in severe cases, such as rape, incest, or the life of the mother) from the government. She would be prohibited from buying a health care plan that covers abortion even if she was not planning to get an abortion. The Protect Life Act also includes a conscience clause, which allows doctors or hospitals that have a moral objection to performing abortions to deny a woman an abortion even if she is dying and an abortion could save her. Previously, doctors have faced prosecution for denying dying women abortions. This act would eliminate that prosecution—but could also be seriously harmful for a dying woman who needs an abortion.
My first reaction to this bill was outrage. I dislike infringement by the government in what I view as a woman’s decision during the course of her pregnancy. What right do others have to interfere with that decision? The conscience clause particularly bothered me—the idea that a woman who wants an abortion to save her life could be denied it was disturbing. As I thought about it more, I became angrier. This bill was passed by people who have a moral issue with abortion, which I respect. However, this bill doesn’t actually address the moral question of abortion. Abortion is a legal right in the USA, and Congress does not have the power at this time to take it away. What this bill does is take away a woman’s accessibility to an abortion—but it does not affect all women: Only those who would need financial help to get an abortion are affected. So the bill seems a discrimination against lower-class women, women who cannot afford to pay for an abortion out of their own pockets. That is more infuriating still, since lower-class women are statistically more likely to seek an abortion. What will their alternatives be? A furtive abortion attempt with a hanger in a dark alley with drugs for the pain and the hope of not bleeding to death on the street? How could the politicians up on Capitol Hill not foresee this consequence? And what right do they have to sit around and rule over people’s lives?
Those were my questions. They are still with me, just as my principles regarding this topic are still with me. However, my anger no longer propels my own views to the forefront of my mind with the exclusion of all else. There are two sides to this bill, and there is a reason why every single one of the 242 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to pass this law. First of all, doctors should have some legal protection if they follow their own moral obligations in good faith and refuse to perform an abortion. I might not agree with their moral reasoning, but I do recognize that many people are strongly opposed to abortion. I still believe that doctors should have a responsibility to do whatever they can to save a dying person, even if that means aborting an unborn child, but if there are other doctors on hand who can take over the task there will not usually be a conflict with this bill. The issue would arise if a woman is unable to find a doctor who will help her and dies because of it. Yet the number of situations when this would happen is likely to be small. With regards to the removal of federal funding for non-extreme abortions, there are valid reasons for it. Some women get a shocking number of abortions, with extreme cases showing 40 or 50 abortions in one lifetime. There are also instances of women using abortion as a form of self-injury, which is incredibly harmful and unhealthy. Removing the financial incentive for multiple abortions could decrease the need for abortions and prompt women to take care of themselves in different, healthier ways. The number of abortions performed now wouldn’t all be translated into back-alley abortions—-a good portion would disintegrate into better methods of avoiding unwanted pregnancy, which would improve women’s health overall.
In truth, this bill will not pass through Congress and become law. When this was written, H.R.358 had not reached the Senate, but the second legislative body will almost certainly vote against the bill. So why is the bill even being discussed? Because it reflects a deep divide in a major social issue in the United States right now. I dislike the government limiting a woman’s ability to exercise her legal right to an abortion and interfering with her life on such a personal level. I am surprised that so many of our representatives felt that they had the responsibility or right or need to pass this bill. Its passage in the House shows just how split the parties in Congress are, and how unwilling they are to compromise.
-United Words team-
