Leaving for Egypt–Lebanon

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Morgan and I are leaving for Cairo and Beirut this coming week. We are eager to return to friends in Egypt–and particularly discover how the revolution is going.  Our friends have mentioned that some released convicts are looting cars on the road to Alexandria breaking into a few homes, and engaging in a few kidnappings. A major concern is the increasing power of the Muslim Brotherhood–not in reference to safety, but in terms of the future of governance in Egypt.  We’ll be staying at the Shepheard Hotel and be more cautious than is our usual style. We’ll keep you posted.

The overall purpose of this trip is that I’ll be working in Beirut with TAMAM, an outstanding, inspiring school-based reform program based on an inquiry approach to improvement.  What is most remarkable is that the program is turning education on its head: inquiry instead of memorization.  Now, that doesn’t mean that students won’t memorize concepts, but it does mean that in these schools, memorization will no longer be the primary approach to learning. The pioneering schools–now in their 4th year–are in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Lebanon. In addition, guest from Morocco, Egypt, and Oman have been invited to attend.

More next week, Linda

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