Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2011 An Educational "Clip": Arab Students' Experiences of Curriculum in a U.S. University Daad Adel Rizk Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Rizk, Daad Adel, "An Educational "Clip": Arab Students' Experiences of Curriculum in a U.S. University" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 547. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/547 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN EDUCATIONAL “CLIP”; ARAB STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF CURRICULUM IN A U.S. UNIVERSITY by DAAD ADEL RIZK (Under the Direction of Grigory Dmitriyev) ABSTRACT This is a multicultural study of culture adaptation, language challenge, identity formation, and power struggle -”CLIP”- depicting three Arab students who have attended or are currently attending a University in the rural South East Region of the United States of America (circa 2009-2010) When Arab students go to college in the United States of America, two cultural extremities (East and West) meet and attempt to form relationships; two different languages, Arabic and English, written in opposite directions search for a middle page to help them communicate. Books in the Arab World are read right to left, while pages in the West are written left to right. Beliefs in “No God but One God”have to comprehend the complexity of the “Holy Trinity”.The purpose of this qualitative study is to construct meanings from personal experiences by Arab students; to explore the cultural transformational process of adjustments to the U.S. university curriculum; to unfold the process of reconciliation of vast differences between the two cultures. “Guess who is coming to dinner”takes on a new meaning in a complex multicultural diverse environment. Diversity provides opportunities as well as challenges; it offers multiple possibilities to 1 acquire new knowledge and to re-examine current ideals (Banks, 2001; Cummins, 1996; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Garcia, 1998). Concurrently, diversity arise racial prejudice and discrimination as challenges for multicultural way of living (McCarty, 1990; Sleeter, 1991; West, 1988). Universities are ideal places for diversity to meet, tell personal stories, exchange customs and ideals, and saver the bitter sweet taste of cultural contact. The research shows that the complexity of the cultural transformations of the three Arab students depends upon the cultural heritage they bring from their countries –Saudi Arabia (conservative authoritarian monarchy culture), Jordan (culture of liberal monarchy), and Israel (democratic culture). The study of this complexity based on the “CLIP”model provides a more complete insight of cultural transformation in Arab students. The “CLIP”concept is a new approach to understanding marginalized groups that go beyond cultural groups. The “CLIP”concept can be used in other disciplines to study many different aspects of these disciplines. INDEX WORDS: Arabs, Arab students, Arab students in the south, U.S. university curriculum, Students’ adjustmentto college, East and west, Culture, Power, Culture shock, Culture transformational process, Language, Education, Academic, Identity. 2 AN EDUCATIONAL “CLIP”; ARAB STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF CURRICULUM IN A U.S. UNIVERSITY by DAAD ADEL RIZK BA, Warren Wilson College, 1981 MBA, Georgia Southern University, 1996 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCAITON STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2011 3 © 2011 DAAD ADEL RIZK All Rights Reserved 4 AN EDUCATIONAL “CLIP”; ARAB STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF CURRICULUM IN A U.S. UNIVERSITY by DAAD ADEL RIZK Major Professor: Grigory Dmitriy Committee: Ming Fang He Robert Lake Nancy Shumaker Electronic Version Approved: April 2011 5 DEDICATION For My Parents: my raison d'être My Daughter: my inspiration for living And for all those who believe in humanity as the ultimate source of knowledge, peace, wisdom, and grace; who embrace all living creatures and nature with compassion. “…And for all those who believe that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart”(Obama, 2009). 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS “Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.” (Gibran Khalil Gibran) I owe my thanks to my Major Professor, Grigory Dmitriyev and to my Committee Members, Ming Fang He, Robert Lake and Nancy Shumaker who kept me crying in wisdom, laughing in philosophy and bowing in greatness before children. I extend my gratitude to the participants in the study, my Arab friends who gave their time, knowledge, and their hearts to make this study possible. I appreciate the shared laughter and tears that wrote every word and weaved every sentence. Above all, I thank my beautiful daughter Leila, my inspiration for living, adapting, and adjusting to a world I did not grow up in, but it grew up on me because it is her world. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................7 LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………...........11 Autobiographical Roots of My Inquiry.......................................................15 Justification of the Topic.............................................................................21 Purpose and Context of the Study ...............................................................24 Research Questions “CLIP”.......................................................................29 2 LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………...30 Multiculturalism in Education ....................................................................30 Education of Arab Students in the United States ........................................38 Cross-Cultural Narrative and Narrative Inquiry..........................................47 3 METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………..50 Multiculturalism as a Theoretical Framework ............................................50 Selecting Participants, Criteria and Methods ..............................................54 Participant from Israel .................................................................................55 Participant from Jordan ..............................................................................57 Participant from Saudi Arabia.....................................................................63 Collecting Narrative Stories ........................................................................66 Analyzing Emerging and Recurring Themes of “CLIP”.............................68 Limitation of the Study................................................................................69 8 4 “CLIPS BY THREE PARTICIPANTS……………………………………..70 An Educational “CLIP”from Nazareth, Israel............................................72 An Educational “CLIP”from Irbid, Jordan.................................................82 An Educational “CLIP”from Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia..............96 5 REFLECTIONS ON INQUIRY ...................................................................114 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................129 APPENDIX A Research Questions “CLIP”......................................................................137 B Specific Challenges ...................................................................................140 C Definition of Terms ...................................................................................143 9 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Analysis of Student Enrollment .......................................................................52 Table 2: Country of Origin ..............................................................................................53 10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Culturally diverse students are disempowered educationally in very much the same way that their communities have been disempowered historically in their interactions with societal institutions….[A]genuine commitment to helping all students succeed academically requires a willingness on the part of educators, individually and collectively, to challenge aspects of the power structure in the wider society (Cummins, 1996, Preface iii) Some individuals might challenge the notion that the United States of America offers a quality higher education system through its colleges and universities, but many will agree that receiving college education in the U.S. universities is extremely attractive to other nations in the world including the Arab world. Western knowledge has increased in demand as the world continues to become global and interconnected economically, politically, and socially, which becomes evident in the continued increase in international students applying for students’ visas and enrollment in universities yearly (SEVIS, 2008). International