It's Complicated

April 20—Before our arrival in Morocco, we received a packed agenda.   As I look back at it now, I remember the early sense of excitement and anticipation, but also the mystery of it all.  We would learn so much, obviously.   On paper, sessions about the "Linguistic Landscape in Morocco," "Morocco's Effort in Sustainability," and "Gender Dynamics in Education" immediately caught my eye.  So much of these one-liner titles have now come to life!  Here's the full agenda:

One of the sessions that I was most anticipating, "Gender Dynamics in Education" with Dr. Souad Addouda, continues to occupy my mind days after her presentation back in Rabat.  In particular, her response when I asked about Morocco's position on the World Economic Forum's latest "Gender Parity Index" has continued to resonate.  My World Lit class was in the midst of examining gender parity in Japan as part of one of our daily world new stories in March.  Then, as we took a quick look at the index, one of my students pointed out that Morocco's position was quite low on the list.  Ms. Frontier, they said, you're going to Morocco soon.  What about that?  They asked with that look students give you when they want to know more but they're not sure they'll get what they want.  Hmm, I thought.   Now I have a job to do.  Find out more.

After learning about her research on urban feminists collaborating with rural women on land rights (images above), I asked Dr. Addouda directly about the World Economic Forum gender parity number, in the hopes of learning something more clear.  Her response was immediate, "It is complicated," she said.  "Women are not oppressed in Morocco.  Look at me.   I am teaching men and women.  But it is complicated.  Numbers don't tell the full story."  I don't remember every single word she said, but those first two words keep resonating in my head.  It's complicated.  Numbers don't tell the full story.  I know that, yet it sometimes feels easy from far away to look at a reliable source such as the World Economic Forum's data and create a story in your head.  I was reminded of this just a couple of days ago - nearly two weeks after Dr. Addouda's presentation.  I checked my email to find a message about the 'top schools' in Michigan.  Several Ann Arbor schools made the list, and both Skyline High School and Pioneer High School made the list of top schools in the e-mail.  ​

It was certainly a nice email to receive and read while far from home.  But of course I also know that at Pioneer, any students who see this list will have some things to say about the fact that one of their rivals, Skyline, was ranked a bit higher.  Is it because they are ranked as a magnet / STEM school?  How does their data look on paper versus what is happening in each classroom?  What is the school experience for students at Skyline versus Pioneer?  Either way, both schools are outstanding in the grand scheme of Michigan educational spaces, but after Dr. Addouda's "it is complicated" comment, I realize even more that looking at numbers and lists is not the way to understand the story of a place.  And this goes for just about every topic, issue, and story that we've learned about the friendly and hospitable country of Morocco - and also for our own American culture, educational systems, gender dynamics, and more.  There is so much more to the story than data.  Each day, even more, we are extraordinarily grateful to exchange ideas and learn the story beyond the data from our Moroccan hosts and colleagues.