A few days ago my students told me the VP and Ruler of Dubai was soliciting comments on Facebook about the academic calendar. Ramadan starts in late August, meaning the school year would start in the middle of Ramadan. Eid, a celebration at the end of Ramadan, cancels all classes.
So it's a relevant question: Is it worth having two 1/2 weeks of class before sending everyone off for Eid vacation?
I heard my students but dismissed it. There's no way the government will change the academic year based on Facebook comments, right?
Yesterday the government announced that all public schools will start after Eid based on the Facebook responses.
There's no word if this means the universities start later as well. I hope they do. It would mean 2-3 more weeks back in Iowa - going into early fall, my favorite time of year - but it also means I could attend the Harkin Steak Fry. This year's headline speaker is Senator Al Franken.
I'm not holding my breath. Literally, hundreds of people have already bought plane tickets to come back for August 30th start. They will not be happy to have to pay to change the ticket. Then again, thousands of elementary and high school teachers expected school to start on August 30th... until yesterday.
Maybe I need to start a Facebook group, "University faculty in support of starting after Eid." Who knows? Facebook is that powerful.
It's phenomenal, isn't it, how Web 2.0 is changing our world and how we interface with others in it. People using the power of Web 2.0 almost crashed the entire Internet when Michael Jackson died; a ruling official of a gov't solicits immediate public opinion which helps shape gov't policy. We live in a fantastic era!
ReplyDeleteBTW, the Gulf News reported that so far, the university schedules are unaffected. My hunch is they'll stay the same, although apparently it will be discussed next week at cabinet meetings.