I think Gulf countries are starting to change and see the value in better educating and training their citizenry. Unfortunately, they still do ridiculous stuff like give them a salary for going to school, giving them an exhorbitant salary when they're a beginning employee, etc.

They're still stuck in the "carrot" mentality, and I think it's hard to break away from that once you've started that pattern. People will expect to get something in return, rather than simply having some internal sense of satisfaction and having that be enough of a reward.

"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou