Tall as Trees Noureddine Boutahar

I come from a family of towering men. My grandfather, father, my one uncle, and both my elder and one younger brother—all tall, standing like proud cedar trees of the Atlas Mountains. In people’s conversations, our family often served as the quintessential illustration, whether height was praised or poked fun at.

I had always been a bit taller than my peers, but during junior school, I shot up like a reed in the wetlands. I sprouted to almost six feet, a height that came with its own set of challenges. Adolescence is already a time of turmoil, but this sudden stretch added a layer of body dysmorphia to my other teenage worries. Not only did I loom over my classmates, but I was also skinny—an easy target for a barrage of teasing. Giraffe, beanstalk, long legs, minaret, house ladder—these names clung to me like weeds in a garden. I laughed along, but inside, the sting was bitter and hard to ignore.

My height came with practical problems too. Shoes were an issue. I needed larger sizes, which made my feet seem oversized and awkward. Clothes didn’t fit either—pants barely reached my ankles, shirt sleeves stopped at my wrists. It was hard enough being a teenager, but when your body doesn’t fit, literally and figuratively, into the world around you, it adds a new burden  to your shoulders. I spent my youth trying to shrink myself, folding inward, as if that could make me blend in.

Standing or walking with friends, I towered over them. The tallest barely reached my shoulders, and so I adapted. I hunched, bent my knees, wore shoes with no heels. I positioned myself on the lower ground, hoping to appear less tall. I suggested we sit on the floor, on the grass, on doorsteps—anywhere but standing, where my height would set me apart.

In class, being a good student came with its own complications. I liked to sit at the front, eager to learn, but students behind me often grumbled when they couldn’t see past my tall frame. I slouched or leaned left and right to give them a view of the blackboard. Some teachers, noticing the complaints, often relegated me to the back of the room. I didn’t like it, but I had no choice.

One particular incident stands out. My French physics teacher, a beautiful petite woman named Miss Barbara, called me to the board to solve a problem. As I stood writing, she slowly approached, her comments drawing her closer until she stood beside me. The class erupted into a loud laughter, louder than usual. Amidst the giggles, someone muttered, “il, il, il,” the French pronoun for "he." It didn’t take long to understand why—the teacher beside me formed the “i,” and I, towering over her, was the “l.” Together, we spelled “il.” Miss Barbara’s face flushed tomato-red, but not in anger. She turned to me, confused. I explained, "Madame, ils rient parce que vous paraissez très petite à côté de moi, qui suis très grand." (Ma'am, they're laughing because you look so small standing next to me, as I'm quite tall.) Her face softened, and she leaned into the joke, standing even closer to emphasize the contrast further, which made the roar even louder, almost hysterical.

As laughter died down, the teacher began speaking. She wasn’t just talking to me now—she was talking to the entire class. She reminded us that none of us are born the way we choose, that the beauty of life lies in its diversity—of height, language, skin color. She spoke of tolerance, of empathy, of putting ourselves in others’ shoes. She continued for a while, and although her insightful words have faded from my memory over the years, her speech held the room captive. For the first time, I felt something shift. Some of my classmates wore guilty expressions, and I could tell the teasing had lost its bite.

Miss Barbara’s ‘lesson’ gave me something I hadn’t realized I needed—a foundation to build on. Gradually, I started to accept my height, wearing shoes with small heels instead of hiding. I began to see the advantages of being tall, researching famous tall figures in history—both saints and scholars. Over time, I learned to laugh at my height. I’d even joke about it with friends, suggesting we line up by height and laughing heartily when I easily topped the list. I’d tell friends and classmates that, while I wasn’t a seer, my height gave me a unique view of the future. The girls especially liked when I joked that one day I’d marry a shorter woman—so she wouldn’t notice when I started going bald.

In the end, tall or short doesn’t matter. What defines a person isn’t the inches they stand but the character they carry within. As the pre-Islamic Arabian poet, Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma said:

A man's tongue is one half, his heart the other,

Leaving only the form of flesh and blood.

How often does a youth's beauty captivate you,

Yet his worth rises or falls by the way he speaks.

That’s what I’ve come to learn—no height or nickname could define one more than one’s words and actions ever would.

AI is Teachers' New Bud Noureddine Boutahar

In the realm of education, there exist three distinct groups of teachers: some who find comfort in the familiarity of their established routines, some who display hesitation when it comes to embracing the unknown, and individuals like myself, who possess a natural inclination for exploring innovative approaches. These distinctions become particularly evident in the context of incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into education, which is not only indispensable but also timesaving and transformative.

First of all, AI has become an indispensable part of our lives, permeating various aspects of society and reshaping our methods of work, communication, interaction with technology, as well as teaching and learning. Those who resist it today are just mirroring the mindset of the small-minded Internet Luddites from the early days of this millennium. Like it or not, Artificial Intelligence is poised to assume a central role in the field of education because it is increasingly recognized as a transformative force that can enhance teaching efficacy and learning outcomes. In education, AI plays an inexorably imperative role, rendering resistance akin to tilting at windmills and ultimately anchoring us to the past.

Secondly, AI offers vast transformative potential for language education. It stands to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness, providing language teachers with powerful tools to create more engaging and successful learning lessons for their students. AI algorithms can revolutionize teaching and learning by enabling personalized and adaptive instruction. Besides, AI-powered tools can offer instant feedback on various language aspects like pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, allowing students to address their weaknesses in real time. Moreover, AI can provide a wealth of resources, for both teachers and students, such as interactive language applications, chatbots, and language translation services, which make language learning more engaging and accessible. It also has the capability to collect and analyze vast amounts of data, helping teachers identify learning styles and adjust their teaching methods accordingly. Overall, and to echo George Couros, AI will not replace great teachers but it will make them more transformational.

Thirdly, AI has the potential to both save time for teachers and alleviate their time constraints. It can aid teachers in saving time by providing services like summarizing lengthy content and generating video transcripts in the blink of an eye. It can create level-relevant tests, games, and exercises in a split second. Moreover, it can adjust the formality, tone, and style of written content immediately, and address individual student requirements instantly and free teachers from the 'one size fits all' model. Additionally, AI can make lesson planning more efficient by offering the most up-to-date and insightful methods and strategies available in no time.  It can also offer thought-provoking discussion prompts for both discussions and written assignments in a heartbeat, enhancing the overall teaching experience. Is there anything on Earth that could possibly top this? Isn't it absolutely worth giving it a shot.

Fourthly, in a constantly evolving world, marked by shifting trends and evolving societal norms, it is imperative for educators to acknowledge that times change, and consequently, people change as well. To remain effective and relevant in their roles, educators should avoid isolating themselves from embracing tools and practices that have become ubiquitous in the wider community like AI. AI is increasingly asserting its influence and is poised to take the lead in the field of education, without a shadow of doubt. So, any teacher who hesitates to leverage its power is essentially failing to adapt. Any teacher who is reluctant to play students at their own game is fundamentally refusing to change. In Charles Darwin’s words, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most responsive to change.” Therefore, the ability to adapt and stay current is not merely a choice but a necessity for educators seeking to excel in their profession.

In a nutshell, AI has become the must-have superhero in the world of language teaching, swooping in to create a super fun, super accessible, and super flexible educational experience. It's a win-win for teachers and students, making learning a blast!

Teachers Give Life Noureddine Boutahar

There has been a scorched-earth campaign against teachers and public education in Morocco recently. Teacher-bashing has become a national pastime that selfish corporates have been encouraging and propagating to further hidden agendas and vested, narrow interests which are none but the privatization of the sector. In fact, blaming teachers for the failure of the Moroccan education is totally ridiculous and misplaced, and it is meant to distract us from the real causes and expedite the process of privatization.
There is not a dollop of truth to the accusation that teachers are responsible for all that ails our schools. Our education is sick because of top-down, corporate-driven, for-profit reforms. Even well-intentioned plans and projects of reform on the part of the governments have often been infected with proverbial wolves in sheep’s clothing that lurk for opportunities to wring out personal benefits. In addition to complicated corruption cases, there is the problem of privatization whose proponents are working at full throttle to take control of our national education. They spare no effort to persuade the public and policy makers that the nation’s public schools are failing - and teachers are to blame.
There is not even a modicum of truth in the allegation that teachers are responsible for the failure of our schools. Our education fails because our schools are ill-equipped, our teachers are poorly-trained, and our curricula are dull and irrelevant. For schools, most of them are really dilapidated, overcrowded, and lack appropriate equipment for both physical and educational needs – unless they call the hand-me-down scrap from China equipment. As regards teachers, they are the making of the system’s Universities and teacher training schools. So, if there is anyone to blame here, it is the system itself not the teacher-victim. Finally, our curricula have always been top-down scriptures that focus on quantity at the expense of quality. These curricula are meant to create semi-literate, malleable, and robotic citizens.
There is not a shred of truth in the claim that teachers are responsible for the deficiency of our educational system. Teachers have always gone above and beyond for their students. Many teachers routinely spend money out of their own pockets on photocopies and other supplies for their students. I know of teachers who bought clothes and school supplies for students. I know of others who painted their classrooms and fixed cracks and electrical plugs in their classrooms out of their own money. In addition, teaching not only takes a toll on teachers' pockets but also remains "the only profession where you steal supplies from home and take them to work". I think, no other professional can claim to have done so.
There is not a grain of truth in the incrimination of teachers as the cause of all Moroccan educational problems. Teaching is one of the most humane professions on earth and teachers are saints and heroes and paragons of virtue. They are the shoulder-to-cry-on for most students who bring not only their ignorance and different learning styles to school but also their fears, worries, and family struggles. Whenever there is a family problem, a death, or a tragedy, it is usually the teachers who discuss it with the children first. It is the teachers who brood them under their wings until they get over their difficult period. For this reason, teachers are obliged to know every one of their students’ names (more than a hundred each year), their learning styles, their unique personalities, their performance, their challenges etc. They play multi-faced roles including that of educators, disciplinarians, psychologists and psychiatrists, advisors, and much more.
There is not a particle of truth in the claim that teachers have it cushy. Teachers are often envied for long summer breaks and other holidays. However, there is more than meets the eye here: Teachers work 24/7 and juggle between different responsibilities. In fact, teachers work nights, days, and weekends sacrificing time with their family to correct mounds of papers, prepare lesson plans, make quizzes, tests, and exams, and do administrative work and so on. Also, teachers often have poor and disturbed sleep because they are haunted by the students they didn’t reach, the violent unruly kids they didn’t understand, and the lessons they taught wrong. In short, teachers are worn-out, over-worked, and underpaid but they keep on serving selflessly, patiently, and modestly.
There is not a seed of truth in the indictment of teachers as the root problem in education. The truth is there are great and bad teachers just as there are great and bad doctors, lawyers, politicians, businessmen and so on. So, it’s not fair to single out teachers and judge them with biased wrong standards when there is usually a bad apple in every bunch. It is undemocratic to condemn the majority with the sins of the minority. It is true that there are individuals who do not belong in education, who abuse their profession, and who misbehave, but these individuals should remain a strange anomaly and not the norm. Allowing such micro-fraction of bad teachers to cast a negative shadow on the rest is a grave injustice against this profession.
There is not an iota of truth to many of the accusations targeting teachers and public schools because they are mainly meant to manipulate public opinion to accept privatization as an antidote. However, it is worth mentioning that education is more than a right and much more than a service delivered to a consumer. Education is essential to life and nurtures the mind as food nurtures the body. So, handing it over to businessmen and foreign organizations puts the health (and mind) of Moroccan citizens in jeopardy and threatens the very existence of this country and its legacy. More to the point, teaching is the profession that makes all other professions and should be free, compulsory and accessible to everyone.
Yes, there is a jot of truth in the Minister of National Education’s statement that “good teachers are a rare commodity” because good teachers are lost in the chaos created by corruption, conspiracies, impunity, unaccountability, and other social ills that eat away at our society. There are great teachers, good teachers, and bad teachers as well. The latter have to be weeded out once the recruitment is fair and non-discriminatory, appropriate good training is afforded, working conditions are provided, salaries are raised to match teachers’ workload, and teachers are considered partners rather than adversaries.
To conclude, what we need, so far, is a radical paradigm shift in thinking about education including the way teachers are trained, treated and looked at. So, let’s start where the best performing education systems like Finland and Singapore started: high-quality pre-service and in-service training for teacher, deeply thoughtful relevant curricula, and quality teaching and learning materials. Let’s not commit such huge moral mistake of throwing our kids into the gaping mouths of businessmen because, “Democracy’s sacred mission is to protect and empower everyone equally by the provision of public resources, what we call the Public.” I rest my case.