In general people have issues with kuwaiti schools for the following reasons:
1. Kuwait is a dirty and in general not very clean place to live. Between the dust storms (like the one this morning) and the trash and constant construction it seems like a never ending mess here. This is not the worst thing to live in but it truly is a health problem if you have any type of health issue to begin with. Many people end up as asthmatics due to the dust here.
2. Most schools in Kuwait are for profit meaning the students and parents are the priority not necessarily the academic rigor. I know people and principals from several schools and across the board they say kuwaiti students are 1-2 years behind academically and very unmotivated to catch up. This is partly because of a dual language culture and partly because students here are from birth used to maids and drivers doing their work. Maids clean up after them, deliver their meals and snacks and pretty much are on demand at all times for the parents and students. In class students will tell me what to do and demand I get them a pencil or complete the work for them. This is not the students fault but rather a society expectation. As teachers you have to figure out how to combat the sheer laziness of many students and keep the hard working students motivated.
3. Racism is alive and well in kuwait. I do not think they feel that way about themselves but it is evident in the system they have in place. As western teachers we are fortunate to be at the top of the list. Students will be very rude and disrespectful depending on the color and origin of a staff member. Indian teachers are basically disrespected and treated poorly even if they are actually from Canada or a western country. We are not allowed to talk about or teach Jewish history or culture. In fact Jewish teachers are not allowed to even work at most schools here. Although Kuwait is actually one of the most open countries and allows christian churches you still have to be careful and not share anything about your faith or anything that is not apart of the Qua-ran with anyone. The students will actually refer to dark skinned kuwaitis as the the black ones. This is culturally accepted to look down on what they feel are lesser races brought here to serve them.
4. Censorship limits schools ability to function as the western school they are claiming to be. ALL schools in kuwait fall under the ministry of education. Private or public. ALL Books are read and in some way censored. Many books and educational materials are banned all-together. If for example a fact book about a country lists their religions all religions will be blacked out except "muslim" any references to angels or images that show women's legs or shoulders will be either torn out, blacked out or paper glued on top. Imagine all the stories we read and share with our kids and realize only about 50% being approved and about 20% of the approved with blacked out images and words. Ironically even when shopping for underwear and bras at the stores the pictures on the packages are stickered over even if the shop is completely private and closed off except for the entry door.

These are generally true of all schools. The thing to consider is are these all acceptable and workable for you?
A few other considerations in Kuwait jobs are:
1. Housing location. I have been to the Gulf housing and it is OK. The location is not ideal but no the worst. It is a short drive away to a big grocery and "wal-mart" type store. The gulf is about a mile or two away. My friends at gulf are not thrilled to be there but one is staying on and one is leaving so it is not all bad.
2. Salary and cost of living here. Is the salary you are offered equivalent to the quality of life you want to have? Kuwait is expensive. Everyday personal and household items cost more. fresh foods cost less. If you have no bills back home to pay most salaries are good since housing and usually bussing to school is free. If you have to send most of your pay back home then you will live on a tight budget here.
3. Travel. Do you want to travel to other countries? from Kuwait you can see and travel to other countries fairly cheap compared to coming from north America. I have been to some pretty cool places I would never even have considered from home because of the flight cost. From Kuwait a flight to Jordan was $200. Dubai you can get deals for as low as $100. Travel from kuwait is great if that is your goal. Many people stay for the travel not the quality of their schools and jobs.
Anyway I hope that gives you some more perspective. GES is not an exception to kuwait standards but the norm. The grass is not always greener form one school to another here. The pay and accommodations are the real difference.

Have you made a decision? We had a meeting yesterday and Andy said all positions were filled. He also let us know he did not aprecaite anyone who had anything to say about DMS posting it online. I will give him the credit of being human. In our evaluations I do think sometimes we forget admin is people with feelings too. It is not a personal vendetta against Andy or anyone else. I just wish I knew what to really expect before I came here. It does not mean I would not have come I would have just had a more realistic perspective. All of lifes experiences good or bad can help you to grow as a person and educator. I have met some excellent teachers and made life long friends. We have to have a good sense of humor to stay here too long.
Hope you at least feel informed in making your decision. And whoever wrote evaluation #20 about DMS was clearly just trying to earn some Andy points. It was a sweet gesture anyway.

Specific answers will vary depending on experience within a department. But here are the general answers:
How are the highschool students? They are much better this year but still our worse behaved. They expect good grades wether earned or not and in general it is the practice that everyone passes all their classes even if they dont actual attend or do any work. This pattern has been in existence forever but individual teachers choose how much effort they want to give to fighting the system or just playing along. Keep in mind highschool is going to have an almost completely new staff this year because of their issues with admin and students.

The special needs section? The special needs kids are among the best behaved and have the greatest expectations on them from their teachers. SN students pay the highest tuition (double what all others pay)and have the least amount of admin support. They also have a "psychologist" who miss places and demonstrates no evidence of qualification in placing or testing the students. The superintendant is a micro manager who wants to control SN without any qualifications of knowing anything about Special ed.

How is the housing? Suitable to live in? The apartment itself is nice. The location is literally one of the worse places to live in the Kuwait. We have a 30-45 minute bus ride one way every morning and afternoon. The neighborhood is filthy and full of trash from the dumpsters, construction and all the other imigrant workers who live with 10-12 men in one apartment smaller then ours. It is not good for walking or even being outside. The dumpster cats and wild dogs add to the unpleasantness. We have had three fires since the year started and we have no fire alarms or extinguishers so it is by word of mouth and phone call that you find out your building is on fire. The resturaunt below the apartments literally had an explosion and caught the building on fire. So far only one apartment has had fire damage but still a little unerving.

How many expat teachers are working in the school vs non-expat teachers? the school is more arabic staff than western. As with anyone each person has their contributions and lack of contributions.

Do they usually abide by their contract?
Contracts in general are worked out. This year we had about 12 people flee in the night of get fired before contracts were done. We have a large amount of staff completing their contracts and leaving and a group of teachers breaking contracts (some are telling the school others are just leaving and not telling)
How is the new superintendent?
Andy can be a kind person. Depends on his mood and if he is having a bad day as to if everyone has a bad day. I will say he seems to be making a better effort to make positive comments on his emails. However note that he is very keen on calling people in the office and blindsiding them with disciplinary actions. More "negatives" come to us on emails and notes from the HR and PR about what we will be in trouble for then what we are doing right. Due to past problems Andy actually has very little control or decision making power in finances or school wide decisions. The board and HR are really running most of the real decisions anyway.

Please know that there are good people here and in the end we have to help eachother because often times we do not get any support from the admin. Money is tight and profits are high. Individual attitude is what makes your time here good or bad.

A note about Kuwait: it is expensive to live here. Although you can find things to do there is a great lack of entertainment here. Shopping, eating and hanging out at peoples aprtments is your big day out. Most people try to get out of the country and travel as much as possible.

Thank you soo much for all the advice.. I have a lot to think about :)

Kadra[/quote]

I do not know if you got any response but I do work at DMS. It is NOT the premiere school they would like to think they are. DMS has a reputation for letting all the kids in who got kicked out of the good schools. You would be hard pressed to find a good review about the school. I have been told over and over it is the school that is the issue not Kuwait. However Kuwait overall is a lifestyle you love or hate. It is a harsh and dirty city (with trash, dust and wild cats and dogs.) The people in general here are fine but foreign women are very much stared at and often times followed or have comments made when out in public. The housing is very far from school in one of the least developed and dirty parts of Kuwait. There is no close shopping or even grocery stores except the very dirty and crowded "7 Eleven" or bacalas with limited items. Taxis will run you about 4-12 dollars (one way) from Mabhoula Where the apartments are) depending on where you go. You have to think about living as well as working here.
DMS is a low end Kuwaity Private school that offers low pay and few benefits compared to other similar schools in kuwait. Even if you stay in Kuwait many foreign and western hires leave either during their contract or at the end of the contract and go to other schools.
As with any where you go all is not good and all is not bad but overall admin is poor and the board is very much in charge of the money of this for profit school.
This info may be a little late but still to be considered since you are not here yet. Kuwait labor law allows you to end a contract before you start it with out penalty as long as you have not actually worked on the contract or cost the employer any money yet.

Posted twice so I deleted one.