Tawjihi!! And Beyond

Today is an important day in Palestine. Every year all the graduating secondary school students take a standardized national Test, the Tawjihi. This is huge. The score determines their future. Whether they get into University, and which University. Or not.

Today the scores were made known. The scores are read on the radio - everyone listens, family and friends. It's a national event. All day we heard car horns of those celebrating their sister, son, niece, nephew who did well. Those who didn't do well had a much more somber occasion. Now, as I write this, a young man sits next to me looking at all the scores published in the newspaper. His sister took the test; she did well and should get into one of the good universities.

Education is terribly, terribly important here. It is a source of great pride and honor and families do all they can to provide the best for their kids. The young man next to me is the oldest brother and much of his salary goes for his sister's education while he defers his.

There are more universities here than you might think, all rather good as far as I can tell.

I think maybe this emphasis on education here has two sources. One is historical and racial/cultural. Going back hundreds of years, when Europe was in the Dark Ages and practically living in caves, the Arab world was rediscovering the Classics and making new knowledge of their own that we still depend on today. I think this tradition is held in great esteem here and carried on.

But I wonder if a second reason is that a good education gives young people here at least some promise. There isn't much promise here and even with all the education in the world, if things don't change, it might come to naught. I have ridden with plenty of cab drivers with college educations who just can't get work. With others who have no work at all, and only their diploma at home to attest to what they tried to make of their lives.

The plight of young people here can tear at your heart. Like young people everywhere, they're full of energy and hope. Like everywhere, the young men are riding the wave of the testosterone surge, spending alot of time and energy on their hair, clothes, and being tough and cool. The young women are learning to be poised and counting on a good marriage and children.

Everything here is about the family. There is simply no comprehension of a place, like the US, where so many people choose to be unmarried and choose not to have children. People here see this as a sign of the decay of the society.

The coming together of male and female here is much, much different from the west. Save in only a few places, like Ramallah, there really is no dating as we know it in the West. A young man and woman may have time to talk, always when others are present, to get to know each other a little, find out whether there is some kind of attraction and commonality. But as far as I can tell there is not the sort of "romantic love" that we in the west think is necessary. Nor is there the emphasis on "relationship" that we have been so Oprah-ized and Dr. Phil'd about in recent years. I might be wrong but it seems to me marriage here is mostly about raising children.

I hope these kids who got their scores today, whether celebrating tonight or not, will in fact have that future of hope and promise. I believe they can if we can give it to them. If we can leave ourselves and our greeds behind for long enough to make a new way for them. Inshallah.