Nathan Hale

After Nathan Hale was executed by the British in Revolutionary War times for his amateur spying, George Washington was determined to have an organized intelligence system.

George Washington, 1782 Painting

I have been reading all about it in Nathan Miller’s Spying for America.

Nathan Miller, author of numerous books on defense, explains how throughout the Revolutionary War, Washington organized “spies, double agents, counterintelligence, covert operations, disinformation, propaganda, and codes and ciphers….he personally recruited agents, issued them instructions, and analyzed and acted upon their reports.”

What I am finding most fascinating is seeing how ordinary citizens contributed to our country’s defense. Most of Washington’s spies were ordinary Americans who volunteered their services.

Invisible ink was used to write messages so that incriminating documents would not be found on those carrying the papers. Sometimes, informants ran out of invisible ink, so various codes and ciphers were used.

Revolutionary War Letter Using Invisible Ink, with the message written between the lines of normal text, image from: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/wip/examples/spies/index.htm

The Quaker Darragh family lived upstairs in a home that had been occupied by British officers. Lydia Darraugh used to write secret messages in shorthand, and sew them into the large, cloth-covered buttons

on a jacket, which her teenage son would then wear to go visit his brother Charles, a lieutenant in the American army. Charles knew shorthand, transcribed his father’s notes, and got the information to General Washington.

I loved reading one story about how several points were arranged for the drop-off of messages. One a message was dropped off somewhere, a friend of the messenger, AbrahamA Woodhull, would visit a particular lady, who then hung out her wash. “If it included a black petticoat and several handkerchiefs,

Caleb Brewster, who was usually lying offshore in one of his whaleboats, came in and picked up Woodhull’s message. The number of handkerchiefs indicated in which inlet they were to meet.”

Eileen

The new college entrance requirements are REALLY SCARY for parents…..

If I were just entering high school today, I think I might have trouble myself meeting the new college entrance requirements for 2010 (at least in my home state of Colorado)! I just found out about all this last week when doing some on-line research about current prices of universities. I have not yet had a chance to research if this is also a nationwide trend. Does anyone know?

Our family has just made the decision to move our daughter (with dual American/Middle Eastern nationality) out of an Arabic-French school into the American school here (that is, if she can pass the entrance test, and the school lets her in). She will take the entrance exam in late July. It was the search through university entrance criteria, together with her own desires, that have led our family to this decision.

The new requirements for ALL four-year schools in Colorado (even ones that aren’t universities, but are just four-year colleges) call for FOUR years of ADVANCED math (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus)(2008 requirements call for only three years of math); THREE years of natural science (TWO of which must be LAB courses, such as Biology, Chemistry or Physics); TWO years of the SAME foreign language; FOUR years of English (at least TWO of which must be COMPOSITION classes); and THREE years of Social Sciences, including a year of American History.

If I, myself, fell under the new entrance requirements, it would have been the MATH requirement which would have gotten me. I don’t think I would have been able to meet the MATH requirement, no matter how hard I worked.

After being a teacher for many years, I think many kids (and even adults) need a certain level of maturity before they are able to see things in a mathematical way (and I didn’t get that until I was in my early 40’s). If I had to take those advanced courses NOW, I’m sure I could do so and be successful; but I could never have been successful at calculus before that age (not that I’m anywhere close to that level now), because my BRAIN wasn’t READY!

I have found that math is a LOT like ART. People who know how to draw are able to SEE things differently than people who can’t draw. Once you are shown how to SEE properly (making the shift to right brain), your drawing ability improves dramatically in a matter of HOURS. It happened to me in my mid-20’s; I had a great art instructor; I KNOW now how the shift FEELS.

Math is just the SAME. I had an extreme case of math anxiety as a child, and struggled through Algebra II, just so I would never again have to take it in university. When I started teaching Grade Three years ago, it was my most disliked subject. Now it has become one of my FAVORITES. Why? Because I MADE THE SHIFT and SEE IT DIFFERENTLY. My biggest challenge is to try to help KIDS see it differently, too. It’s very hard. Some are ready, but most are NOT.

This is why I think moving calculus into high school as a MAINSTREAM math subject is a mistake. But this is a subject for another post.

Anyway, as a parent of a daughter who will graduate in 2012, I’m SCARED.

Eileen

An Older Groom, with a Younger Wife

As a follow-up to my recent post on the ten-year-old girl in Yemen who just got a divorce, I wanted to explain WHY young girls are marrying older men in the Arab-Muslim World, and in other traditional societies.

When I first moved the Middle East, I could not understand why this phenomenon was happening. I had read books about the British girls who were taken to Yemen “on vacation” by their Yemeni father, forced to marry country boys, and live in Middle-Ages type of conditions for many years. After living in the Middle East for many years, I have finally come to understand (but not necessarily to like) the thinking behind this issue.

After many years of living here, I have seen that there are some logical reasons behind this sort of marriage. I can finally see how it ever came about. Furthermore, the Arab World is NOT the ONLY place where such marriages take place, as I will discuss later in this post.

Let’s look at Western society first. I once read in a women’s book from America a discussion about why some men who are 35 or 40 marry 20-year-olds. These men feel that they are finally ready to settle down and start a family. Are most 40-year-old women ready to do the same thing? Not usually. But some 20-year-olds ARE. Furthermore, these sort of men aren’t necessarily looking for an “equal” partnership. They want to make the decisions, be in control, and often want the stay-at-home wife who will “take care” of their needs. Some twenty-year-olds are looking for a relationship with a well-off man, where they can stay home, not work, and have kids. Two people of different ages, but of like-mind, CAN make such a marriage work, if it is what they both want.

Donald Trump marries third, younger wife in 2005

Now let’s look at Middle Eastern societies. Men in these societies often have VERY protracted adolescences–to between 30 and 45 years of age (yes, it really IS true). Not every man is living this way, but the majority are behaving like Western teenagers until well after they are married. Most men do not even think about getting married before age 30, when normally they receive family pressure to do so.

How are most men in their 20’s behaving like adolescents? It is the norm for most Middle-Eastern men to live at home until they are married. (For privacy, they get together with friends and together rent an apartment where they can “have fun.”) So, they never have to learn things like doing their own wash, cooking for themselves, cleaning up after themselves, or getting along with roommates. In addition, most young men are running around until the wee hours of the morning with male friends (occupied with women, music, parties, and more often than not, alcohol).

When these men get married around the age of 30 (usually after parental pressure to do so), their wife takes over the duties that their mother previously did, such as picking up after them, cleaning for them, having a meal ready whenever they choose to drop in at home. This behavior, including staying out until all hours of the night with male companions, and without ever calling home to inform the wife, continues with most men well into middle age (45). Of course these behaviors do not describe everyone, but they do describe the majority of men. and yes, if Middle Eastern women love their husband, they are bothered by these behaviors, too. Of course they do not have the same freedoms to go out, although they do get together with friends in their own homes. Only upper class women, with either trusting or indifferent husbands, have the freedom and transportation to go out regularly, without question, to friends’ homes in the evening.

First, unless the man is from a wealthy family where he can enter into his father’s business, jobs are extremely hard to come by. Typical unemployment in most Arab countries constantly hovers around twenty-some percent (figures higher than the depths of the 1930’s Depression in America).

Unless a man is a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, or factory-owner, nearly ALL jobs working for someone else (even if one has a university degree) are for minimal salaries, while the cost of lodging, clothing, and transport remains much higher proportionately than in the West. It takes years to secure a good job, start saving, and obtain the wherewithal to be accepted as a husband when one makes a marriage proposal.

Not everyone is running around acting like an adolescent (but 80 percent are). Serious men are working on university degrees and/or advancing their career. But even many professional men continue to hang around with male friends, excluding their wives, for most of their married lives.

Meanwhile, girls/women are kept at home until marriage. The Double Standard is in full force. In Middle Eastern society, a girl or woman of ANY AGE (even 90) MUST be a virgin at marriage. They must be PURE. If she is not, she can be divorced immediately the morning after the marriage. (Any unmarried woman who is not a virgin is considered to be “dirt.”) It would be very difficult for a woman divorced in such a fashion ever to get married to anyone else, and her family would be extremely dishonored. They might even throw her out. In my Middle Eastern country, she would be unlikely to be killed, but in some Middle Eastern countries, she would be killed by a family member in order to restore the family’s “honor.”

So why is this “honor” so important to the family? Because they would be completely shunned and ridiculed by others. For example, no one else would be willing to marry the daughters of that family. No family would accept for their daughters to marry the sons of that family. Maybe merchants in the town would refuse to let the family buy food or other supplies from them. No one at school would be allowed to speak to, or play with, children from that family.

So, Muslim families are eager to marry off their daughters at as young of an age as practicable, because of the fear that the daughter might “disgrace the family.” In my country, the marriage age has been raised to 18 (although the poor, or countryside people, sometimes obtain false ages for their daughters stated on official documents). This is mostly an attempt either to find a husband to feed the daughter (if the family is too poor to support her), or an attempt to be sure she’s married off by the time of her first period, so that she has no chance to “disgrace” the family.

Child-Bride-Afghanistan, photo by Stephen Brown, Front Page Magazine, July 9, 2007

Most girls are now going to school, and as long as a girl is in school, her family does not pressure her to get married. If she is fortunate enough to get a job, sometimes her family doesn’t pressure her for a while. However, by her early to mid-20’s, the family is keeping their eyes open for potential partners.

For example, I have a maid right now who is about 22. Her family has decided that since she is not married, and her first cousin is not married either, that both of them should get married. (She doesn’t seem to be objecting.) She told my daughter that she doesn’t love him, and he doesn’t love her, but that is not considered important. It’s clear that her family is worried that if she gets much older, she might have a chance to “disgrace” the family. Marrying her off will guard against this possibility.

So ever since ancient times, in most societies, the men around age 28-40 were most ready to get married, and the girls around ages 15-18 were most ready to get married. This is where the disparity originated. In some modern societies the same conditions are existing as were existing then. So, it continues.

In Western societies, the conditions have now changed. Because women now go to school and hold jobs equal to men, for the first time in history, women are now able to marry men their own age, counting on their two incomes together.

It was not so long ago in American society, that women upon marriage had to promise to “love, honor, and obey” in their wedding vows (I made sure that word was not in MY wedding vows). For many years, I wondered WHY that had EVER been in the vows. Now I understand.

Back in previous times, generally an American husband could not afford to get married until he was at least in his late 20’s, or sometimes even longer. In those days, the girls who were considered ready to get married were about sixteen. It’s only logical that when one spouse is 10-15 years older than the other, that they will expect to be making most of the decisions. It will not be an “equal” partnership. By promising to “obey,” it legitimized the older spouse’s claim on authority and decision-making.

Finally, I’d just like to give an example of another society in which it is most common for young teenage girls to marry older men. It is in Amazonian rain-forest society. Why? The teenage boys are after sex, and often try to trap girls in the forest. Girls who are not married to an older man (such as age 30) , and thus have a “protector” are likely to be raped. So the parents try to get the girl married usually between 12 and 14 (if my memory about what I read a couple years ago serves me correctly).

So, it is not just in Middle-Eastern, or Muslim societies where this practice originated. This practice was all over the world.

Eileen

Ancient Egyptian Street Scene, as imagined by an eighth-grade student

This week, our eighth grade had their latest Western Civilization projects hung up on display in the corridors. The assignment was to take a picture of your own street, and then draw your street as it might have appeared in ancient times. The drawing above, of the ancient Egyptian street scene, depicts the actual modern street shown below, next to the Renaissance conception of the same street………

The photo above shows the student’s street (on the right), and shows a conception of how the street might have looked during Renaissance times (with the top photo showing how the same street might have looked during ancient Egyptian times).

Another student’s project:

Student’s conception of their own street, in ancient times

Below are some other drawings student’s did. I am amazed by their drawing skills! Sorry I don’t have pictures of these students’ streets to show you:

Drawings (above) of Late Middle Ages, China’s Golden Age, and Renaissance Times

Student Conception of Ancient Rome (above)

and below, the same street, as conceptualized during the Neolithic Age:

Student Conception of the Neolithic Age

I was impressed by these projects. I hope you were, too!

Eileen

After spending about 70 hours (outside of school time, of course) on our new on-line report cards, we spent our final week in Grade 3 studying a little more about the ancient Romans. Time was also taken up with rehearsals for our final music program for the parents. We finished our Roman unit with a “toga” party on a Thursday. The last Friday, students came to sing for the parents, and receive copies of their report cards, leaving at noon. In the afternoon, I actually got EVERY LAST PIECE of paper filed away!!! (for the first time in several years) before leaving for summer vacation).

This past week (no students) the senior play (a Shakespeare production) was held on Monday evening.

Tuesday was a lavish, catered (Middle Eastern) dinner for Juniors, Seniors, their parents, faculty and staff, and our retiring headmistress. Here are some of the things we had (photos off the web, however):

Pigeon Pastilla

Chicken with Olives

Mechoui (pronounced “MESH-wee”)- Whole Roast Lamb, served on platters almost a meter wide

Couscous

Wednesday evening we had graduation on the school lawn. The American ambassador from our country attended, as well as the new incoming headmaster and elementary headmistress, and a few other local impressive figures. It was our school’s first twelfth-grade graduation, complete with caps, gowns, and sashes ordered from the United States. Eighth-graders passing into high school also participated in the graduation, wearing suit and tie for boys, and elegant white dresses with high heels, for girls.

I’m not as exhausted, mentally or physically, at the end of this school year, as I was last year at this time. I hope to get busy cleaning up the numerous things around my house that need doing, such as unpacking and sorting through boxes from when we moved into our new house almost three years ago. I also hope to be starting a diet in the next day or two. I got to the swimming pool for the first time this season, and was able to swim ten laps. Please wish me luck all on these endeavors!

Eileen

Before I was a teacher, I was a stock broker back in the early 1980’s, with a large regional firm in the western United States. I’ve kept in touch with some old colleagues. Today I asked my former boss (and a working financial adviser since about 1970) what he thought of the world situation and price of gas, and food, and about the possibility of a world recession, or even depression.

I was gratified by his reply. He said that he finds the current economic dislocation a bit similar to the 1970’s. He feels that because the global economy is much stronger today than it was then, we’ll probably scrape through with a recession, and that a worldwide depression is unlikely.

Eileen

Nujood Ali, 10-Year-Old Yemeni girl Who Successfully Got a Divorce, Photo by Delphine Minoui

This inspiring story, to women the world over (if people take time to read it) shows how even most of Yemeni society is now against child marriages. But old laws and customs take a long time to change.

I know everyone (especially in the West) is wondering HOW this marriage have ever happened! In this post, I will try to explain.

There is a a great MISPERCEPTION in the West that Middle Eastern men are pedophiles. This is not true for the great majority of Middle Eastern men, any more than it is in the West. Generally speaking, in the past, when some girls were married off at really young ages (like four or six), this did not mean they were living as a “wife.” They were growing up in that household, and sometime after puberty took up wifely duties.

This marriage has far more to do with poverty and Old-World lifestyles than anything else. The girl’s father has two wives, sixteen children (probably too poor to afford birth control; also children are looked upon as security to provide for parents in old age), and is unemployed. While the article doesn’t say so, it’s clear to me (and my Middle Eastern husband) that this was a case of marrying the child off so that she didn’t starve to death (as well as her father’s explanation that he wanted her to have a husband’s “protection” in that rough society for women).

Another reason for traditionally marrying a girl off by fourteen, or even shortly after the age she has her first period, is that if a girl has sex outside of marriage, it sullies the reputation of the whole family (the reason for honor killings). To avoid ever having to be put in this position, the father marries off the daughter before she has a “chance” to sully the family’s honor.

Yemeni law does not permit marriage before the age of fifteen. However, many poor parents circumvent this law by paying for falsified papers. Since the papers for marriages in some Arab countries can be filed by the father (in many Arab countries, a girl of ANY age cannot get married without her father’s, or male guardian’s consent), it could be done without the officials seeing that the girl is actually a child. This practice of falsifying papers for a girl to appear old enough to marry) does not just exist in Yemen, but in many countries throughout the Arab world.

Even in Yemen, the behavior of this girl’s husband completely outrages most people. The husband, a 30-something motorcycle deliveryman, married Nujood, and promised to raise her with a normal childhood, and to espect her chastity until after puberty. But instead he beat her, and forced her to have sex from the very first night (when she was about eight years old).

Was Nujood’s husband a pedophile? Probably not. He was dishonorable and selfish, probably very poor himself, got Nujood without having to pay a dowry, and probably didn’t want to spend his money on a prostitute when he had a “wife” at home. (Yes, because women’s chastity is so important, nearly all Middle Eastern men visit prostitutes before they are married around the age of 30-35. But weekly prostitutes would be quite expensive for a motorcycle deliveryman.)

One reason her family would not help her is that they had no food to feed her, nor any way to support her (obvious to my Middle Eastern husband, and me). An additional reason given in the LA Times was that her father claimed, “My cousins would have killed me if I dishonored the family by asking for a divorce.”

Nujood’s aunt discreetly gave Nujood the bus fare to go to court.

Unfortunately, under Yemeni law, the judge who arrested both the father and the husband found that there is no penalty in Yemen for a husband having sex with his wife (no matter what age the wife). So both the father and husband had to be released, but the judge WAS able to grant this young girl a divorce.

Nujood has gone back home to live with her parents. People internationally have contributed a lot of money, so now there is no problem about food. She is now starting back in third grade, and looking forward to her education. She intends to become a lawyer and help other women.

If you aren’t already up on all the details, read the excellent article (with photos) in the Los Angeles Times today (link below).

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-childbride11-2008jun11,0,5271790.story?track=rss

In my next post, I intend to take up the topic of how it ever became normal for a 30-year-old+ man to marrry a girl of fifteen or even younger. Believe me, there really ARE some reasons (as i’ve learned from living 16+ years in the Middle East)……please tune in this weekend……

Eileen

Briouats - A Favorite Food at Our Middle Eastern Class Parties!

Photo from: http://www.lejus.com/recette-1032.htm

Briouats are triangle-shaped filo pastries, which when served here are usually filled with shrimp and vermicille (hair-fine spaghetti), or with cheese, sometimes with a mixture of cinnamon-spiced ground beef or lamb, and scrambled egg.

Our last week of school is a bit different than in United States schools. I read some schools have Field Day on the last day. Here it would be too hot to have Field Day in June. We have that in early April. We always have a show the last day of term. All the classes sing a song or two for the parents,. Some classes do a poem, a skit (short play) in English , or something else. We also have short Arabic plays and French plays. Our students come late, at 10:30, and by 12:30, are going home with their report cards.

Usually the day before this show, most of us have class parties. Students bring in gargantuan feasts of pizza, briouats (pronounced bree-watts), chicken, Chinese food, custard fruit tarts, lasagne, spagetti, pannnini or whatever their favorite foods were.

For tomorrow’s party, my third-graders were supposed to be having ancient Roman foods. But my students’ parents mostly didn’t follow through with searching out ancient Roman recipes on the internet. So I suggested yesterday that we dress in our togas, and pretend we are introducing the ancient Romans to our modern favorite foods. Some kids are haivng togas made, other kids are bringing sheets, and probably some kids will just be in school uniforms. The party’s tomorrow. Expect a post of mouth-watering pictures in the next day or two!

Eileen