Misconception. I don't think oil money is dirty I think it is being used to fund terrorism and the political and religious expansion of Islam. It's a relatively new religion begun about 680 AD. My fellow teacher Megan Heffernan(US) was blown up in the 1st Bali bombing. She was not even 30 years old. Ya, terrorism touched me in a personal way.

I was asked to come to Kuwait to teach highschool English (UK system) and it was a circus. The kids have no discipline at all. Later they asked me to teach social studies (they ask almost everybody) and grade 6 math (a fun change) and esl to small kids who know Arabic and little English. The discipline problems in Kuwait schools are really outrageous and the management can't do much but shout because the parents don't want to discipline their kids and don't want a foreigner to do it either! It's an impossible job, incredibly stressful. A lot of teachers freak out there. On my floor all but about 3 teachers resigned at the end of the year.

The money is nothing special as Kuwait is not a cheap place. Many of the jobs that were once done by Brits, Americans and Canadians are now being done by South Africans as the Kuwaitis can pay them less.

The racism is thick in the air. It colours all relations. The Kuwaiti men always wear their special white clothing to set them apart. "We are the ruling class", and all other nationalities are sort of ranked. Arabs fom poor countries (like Syria and Egypt) are just a notch above Africans and Indians. The children bring all their prejudices and values into the school. What do you imagine happens when a black African teacher tries to teach Kuwaiti kids? They call him a nigger to his face. All in all I don't see a solution and I feel sorry for all concerned. The kids get a really poor education. There is also a lot of paranoia as the security situation is pretty iffy. Even the rich know that it can all be taken away again like when Saddam invaded.
My advice, don't bother applying for a job in the region. When teachers are forbidden to discipline kids you cannot run a school.