THE FOOTHILLS of the Atlas mountain range provided a majestic scene as we rode our tour bus to the Ecole Lhadchat, our first school visit on the outskirts of Marrakech in Morocco. Our guide told us that the parent community set up a tent outside the school and prepared a lavish reception for us.

As the bus came to a stop, we saw the striped canvas tent and a huddle of men standing in front of it. I was the first one out of the bus, and I quickly moved forward to shake the hand of the person in front of the group whom I assumed to be Abdul Wahat, the principal of the school.

This year’s AASA International Seminar took us to North Africa. Our delegation numbered 22 individuals, 16 of them women. Ordinarily gender is not a factor in the makeup of our delegations, but this year we visited a predominantly Muslim country where, historically, women have not been treated equal to men. Back home, in an American school, a parent gathering would have a considerable number of women. At the Ecole Lhadchat tent, only men could be seen.

As our delegation came off the bus and moved toward the men, I could see the surprised looks on their faces as they began to retreat. The women in our group, including five past and current presidents of AASA, continued forward and began to shake hands, followed by hugs. The look of surprise changed, followed by smiles and laughter.

We learned that the delicious Tagine meal that we were served had been prepared by the women, whom I had seen retreating out of the back of the tent as we approached. For our delegation, it was an unexpected introduction to the role of gender in the culture of this tribal community. Nevertheless, our hosts welcomed us warmly as they regaled us with food and good spirits.

Resource Poor
We learned during our visit that this is a poor community. The school itself has no access to water and therefore lacks toilets. The school building consisted of three classrooms, typical for tribal communities. In this case one of the classrooms was unusable and in need of much repair. The cost to dig a well and repair the classroom, we were told, would run about $15,000, an amount totally out of reach for that community. Yet the parents shared the little food they had with their American guests.

About 110 children attend the school in split sessions in grades 1-6. The children we saw gave us as warm a reception as their fathers had, except there were girls in the classroom. Not as many girls as boys, as gender inequality also exists in school attendance. The parents value education and see it as a way out of their current social and economic reality. We had seen written on the wall in an alley, “Be the son of anyone you want, but just be educated.”

We also visited the Kchait Primary School in Ait-Ben-Haddou after traveling over the High Atlas Mountains on a former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. Similar to our first school visit, Kchait also lacks water and toilets but its three classrooms are operational. Arabic is the language of instruction with French introduced after the 3rd grade.

We met a delegation of fathers who submitted a proposal to the principal to allow a family to prepare lunch for the children in the school, on a rotating basis, so the children would not have to walk the mile plus from school to home and back. This school serves a Berber community, the indigenous people of Morocco accounting for about 40 percent of the population.

American Presence
As we approached the city of Rabat, we were invited to visit the American school there by principal Sean Goudie. This is a private school receiving assistance from the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Schools program established to educate the children of American diplomats throughout the world. The school also caters to the children of the American business community as well as Moroccan families. It is situated in a new, 24-acre campus on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, housing about 450 students, pre-K to 12th grade. Over 80 percent of their graduates receive the International Baccalaureate diploma.

Our visit to Morocco covered the extremes of the education continuum. The native schools were poor, but the poverty there was accepted as a way of life and a condition that could be overcome with an education. The American school offering an American education was a reminder of what can be accomplished when you have the resources.