Classroom Research on Polygamy

In some ways my job is fascinating. In others, it sucks. I suppose most of us could say the same thing about what we are doing with the rare exception of a few of us out there.

I have been sitting on this one for a while, but since today is my birthday I suppose I should get around to posting this really interesting classroom research I did a couple of weeks ago on polygamy. I asked my class of male students (I am not allowed to teach female students here in "the Kingdom") this series of questions and had them write on them.

Q1: In your view, what percentage of marriages in Saudi Arabia are polygamous?

Q2: In your view, what decides whether or not a man will take more than one wife? i.e. why would he decide to do it or not do it?

Q3: When you are able to get married, do you think you will have more than one wife? why or why not?

Q4: Some people criticize the idea of polygamous marriage, what would you say to these people?

I will expand this a bit more later, but a quick look at the data showed me this.

Q1: most said about 5%
Q2: whether or not he has the money to do it and can treat both (or more) wives fairly (howo would this be checked by anyone besides him? you may ask)
Q3: I was surprised by the number of students who said they would not do this because it would be unfair to the wives. more later
Q4: Several students actually said they agreed with the criticism. others said they did not care what others think because this is condoned in the Qur'an. more later.