Back in Beirut, Parents Scramble to Get Kids in American School

Ramzi’s parents fidget nervously, reassuring each other that their son has passed his exams. Eyeing the sealed envelopes that contain the results, they are among hundreds of parents who will happily hand over $2,000 if the letter begins: I am happy to inform you. . ..

Ramzi and 95 other 3-year-olds are competing for 60 slots in the nursery section at the American Community School in Beirut. Getting off on the right educational foot is a serious matter for Lebanese parents who invest thousands of dollars starting at the preschool level to ensure that their children someday might qualify for a Western university.

With an expected 130,000 Lebanese returning this summer for a look-see at postwar Lebanon, their first question will be, “Where will the kids go to school?” And for many of those families returning from the United States, Canada, Britain or Australia, there is only one choice, the American Community School.

Bassem Ajani’s daughter Juhayna, 5, was born in the United States but the family has lived in London for the last several years. Juhayna speaks Arabic but doesn’t read or write it. Now that Lebanon again seems to have become calm--somewhat--Ajani, a journalist working in the Persian Gulf region, has decided to base his family here.

Fortunately, Juhayna passed her placement exams and was accepted at the American school.

Parents seeking admission to the institution for their children often go pale with anxiety. They rip open the envelopes and search for the words “accepted” or “rejected.” One father, his eyes brimming with tears when his son was turned down, could only say, “But where are we going to put him?”

Of the 70 private schools in Beirut that offer an education from nursery school through the equivalent of 12th grade, only the American school has a U.S.-style teaching system--meaning, in part, that English is the language of instruction.

Meantime, Lebanese public schools are so poorly maintained and staffed that even lower-middle-class families scrimp and save to put their children in private institutions. And during the 15 1/2 years of war, hundreds of schools were hit or destroyed. Dozens were ransacked and looted.

Private schools fared somewhat better. Their tuitions are being used to repair and maintain their premises. Cathy Bashshur, the American school’s director, estimates that her institution needs to spend at least $500,000 on such repairs; the school spent $200,000 this past year on basic fix-ups.

Ministry of Education officials will speak off-the-record about the poor quality of most private institutions. “Only four or five are really first-class schools,” said one official, revealing an opinion that parents know to be fact as they try everything from bribe to brute force to get their children into one of the top five.

And for children coming from an English system in which little or no Arabic is spoken, there is an added complication: Three of the top five schools use French as the language of instruction.

Parents in Beirut “show up flashing the (business) cards of government officials, politicians and professors, hoping to add to their child’s chances of getting in,” said one teacher.

The exam features assessment materials produced and used in the United States. The test scrutinizes the children’s knowledge of colors, ability to follow directions, basic vocabulary and simple math. All the testing is conducted in English.

Determination to get the child into ACS takes many forms. One father who sat with his 2 1/2-year-old son during the tests gave the child a good whop when he failed to identify the colors.

“We spend a lot of time calming down the parents,” another tester said.

The school dropped from a top enrollment of 800 in prewar 1975 to a low of 70 in 1984. Today’s student body numbers 750, virtually all Lebanese and 95% of them Muslims. Before the war, almost all the teachers were American. Today, only five of the 78-member staff are native English speakers.

The allure of the school is, first of all, its use of English as the main language of instruction, but kindergarten teacher Mona Ghanem says it’s also the way ACS students are encouraged to build their own personality and become independent.