What is it about?
Democratic experience in Middle Eastern educational systems are built upon the Ottoman beginnings. As a result, much of the premises have not changed as the countries were colonized by French, British and Italian rulers. Their languages were taught in the schools and the matriculation systems altered to match those of the colonizers. The greatest folly that has continued since Ottoman days is the promise of a job in the military upon graduation from secondary and universities. With guaranteed employment, students are motivated to pass national tests with high scores but not necessarily master subject matter. Democracy is threatened as employed graduates have little educational experience in governance, elections and conflict resolution. Democracy requires citizen participation which is not encouraged in students' learning.
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Why is it important?
Expecting employment regardless of skills results in large cadre of educated, unemployed youth. When they are hired in government positions, graduates are not paid a living wage because there are so many more graduates than there were under the Ottomans. Disgruntled, educated unemployed youth are ripe for protests, rebellion and employment in rebel armies.
Perspectives
How can countries build an economy with poorly prepared employees? The government educational system is efficient and standardized. National graduation tests measure content that is presented in state written textbooks. It is efficient as subject matter is absolute and not questioned. It is standardized as all tests measure the same content. Student memorize subject matter for the tests and then forget it. Once they graduate, many wait years working part-time jobs until they secure the government positions. Even though they are low paying, most will wait for their guaranteed jobs as they are provide employment security. The governments can't afford to pay all graduates to be hired in the government to do work that doesn't exist. For this reason, countries such as Jordan and Egypt, depend upon US funding for economic stability.
Dr Judith A Cochran
UMSL
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Limitations of Middle Eastern Educational System in Democratic Governance, November 2013, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-03143-9_7.
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