What is it about?
From its beginning in 4,000 B.C., education in Egypt has profiled the history of the country. This book traces education's impact under leaders such as Mohammed Ali and the colonizers of Egypt. As the country that supplied teachers throughout the Middle East, the education in Egypt became the education of the entire Middle East, with the exception of Iran. Its expansion from a military purposed system to one that serves the entire government, the educational system is now in crisis. It neither prepares employees for the marketplace nor provides them with a livable wage. Graduates are assured employment in the government once they graduate. However, they must wait years before obtaining this secure employment. As a result, large percentage of the youthful population are disappointed and unemployed. A crisis is coming.
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Why is it important?
In 2011, the crisis predicted in this book took place. Mubarak was deposed, Morsi was elected and deposed, military leadership was imposed for order. This book provided an alternate hypothesis to the political dissatisfaction offered by the media. The cause of the crisis was that the youthful population saw no future of economic survival in a marketplace where their only opportunity was with low-paying government jobs. Their educational system had not prepared them for modernity with science, technology, problem solving and private or international business skills. Neither had it given them experience in democratic governance through student councils, clubs, election of class presidents, etc. It had taught them to hold a single leader responsible for their plight.
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This page is a summary of: Judith Cochran, Educational Roots of Political Crisis in Egypt (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2008). Pp. 240. $65.00 cloth., International Journal of Middle East Studies, January 2011, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0020743810001510.
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