It Can and it Does Happen
One perspective on the delicate role of politics in America's public education systems
You're wrong.
It can happen here and it's lookin' more and more like it will.
The reason my family fled Iran in the summer of 1979 was religious and political persecution. Beginning in the late 50s and up to the late 70s, Iran was modernizing. The shah (king) set out to bring the country into the fray of the richer nations (European and American). The people, for the most part, loved it; no religious oppression (like you didn’t have to wear a head scarf and men could wear shorts in public). Massive numbers of women getting graduate degrees. Women owned and operated stores. Folks could listen to, I don't know, Fleetwood Mac, if they liked, etc.
But as a result of said modernization, the monarchy began questioning why it was sending the same improvement monies (basically, greasing palms out in the lesser townships) to the outer villages and townships which were administered by mullahs (local priests; think evangelical preacher meets city councilman meets school principal). The country was modernizing. So, the shah slowed down the amount of land grants and monies it would bestow onto the mullahs to run the little villages teeming with soulful, creative, uneducated, poor, and the devoutly religious.
So, to send a message to the monarchy that they weren't going to make do without what they considered their rightful due (more money and land so they can live powerful and lavish lives), the mullahs UPDATED SCHOOL CURRICULA (so to speak) and otherwise worked to teach students (of all ages) and their parents that the shah had abandoned traditional, conservative principles. He was trying to secularize the nation and make Iran subordinate to America and Europe—the “West”.
Now, here’s how the mullahs—now considering themselves scorned rebels--used schools and students to provoke a revolutionary mindset so to scare the monarchy into giving them more land and more money. A general practice was instituted in schools requiring nearly weekly by reporting all of the misdeeds, crimes, scandals, slight infractions of Islamic practice/worship, etc. Basically, to snitch on their own families giving the local mullahs to indite and get tribute from the accused so they aren’t ridiculed and shamed (or worse) in the towns.
Now remember, as discussed briefly, in many instances, the teacher is ALSO the town mayor, main banker, priest, and judge in all civic and criminal matters. So if the child’s weekly writing prompt is something like
In writing, detail the bad things your mother, father, and relatives did last week and be prepared to read your essay aloud to the class.
…and they DON’T have any juice or gossip or anything to report, then they are obviously not being a good student (he said sarcastically) and disrespecting the mullah so 5 lashes for you and you get to go sit in the corner and write your report while the other students read theirs.
So, that's what the students did. They reported. So the families fell right in line and slowly, surely, the sentiment that religious leadership and values must be maintained in the country caught fire. And, as fires do, it grew out; out into the suburbs of Tehran which set up the Islamic revolution, which led to the hostage crisis, followed by the fury religious leaders felt when, the Shah fled to the USA (of all places). And then, came the students to aid in the toppling of the American Embassy in Iran—the overthrowing of the monarchy which turned Iran into a defacto Islamic Republic--a theocracy in disguise.
An apt analogy would be as if Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, and Johnnie Moore were, not elected, but declared (by themselves, mind you) as Congress and the Supreme Court with Shawn Hannity self-declared as, not POTUS, but the God of America (in effect).
Iran changed from a democratic monarchy to a religious theocracy thanks in part to schools.
Nearly overnight, the world of the more educated middle and some upper-class folk had been turned upside down. A very successful and nearly 30-year effort to modernize the nation and its economy, its innovations, and its culture—obliterated. At first, slowly but then, no build up--just an eruption. And suddenly.
I was schooled in those schools, K-3. We were not taught Islam. We were taught to add, subtract, play nice, share/care, to sing the national anthem (non-religious), to learn to write in Farsi and Armenian (and other languages), to recite poetry, etc.
So what became of the schools after the take over by the nation’s staunch, religiously conservative “patriots”?
"First, came Islamization of textbooks. The schools were then segregated regarding to the sex of the student. Observation of Islamic Law in the schools became mandated and religious ceremonies maintained." (Farhady, H., et.al., March 2010, Electronic Journal of English as a Second Language).
The curriculum, less than six months later, was Islamified. Students were segregated by sex. 3,000 new textbooks reflecting Islamic values in education were produced. Teaching materials primarily based on Islam were presented to primary grade children. Committees to oversee the institution of Islamic values in education were formed...people who didn't know the first thing about educating (pause) were placed in direct charge of the nation's education system!
Talk. About. Indoctrination.
The criticism here isn’t of Islam. Islam is a globally recognized world religion worshiped in just about every nook on the planet. As is Christianity and Judaism. All of the Abrahamic religions have beauty, grace, and insight in them. It’s the systemic indoctrination of a specific religion, philosophy, ideology, etc. to students that are college-aged to students that are in primary grades. How can students develop a critical lens for analyzing the world around them in such a setting? Are they even aloud to criticize? I assume you know the answer…
My understanding is that the Shah wasn't trying to secularize the nation. But in the process of modernizing, there was the unmistakable hum and buzz of a nation just champing at the bit to secularize. It's pretty tough for the Iranian citizenry to look over at France, Germany, and America with their world class universities, hospitals, airports, etc. and then look at what the depressed economy of their less secular country had done to them. The Shah promoted principles of more secularized and modern countries but not the banning or diminishing of the role of God and religions across the land. But because he was centralizing civic engineering and management, monies and land grants for the outskirts were less necessary...which threatened the mullahs and slip------down came the rain and washed poor Incy out.
The monarchy was deposed. The Ayatollah Khomeini (very much a Rush Limbaugh type but without the bluster) who represented the antithesis of the Shah, was deemed the Supreme Leader (basically, a demi-god). Democracy, bye bye. Alternative lifesyles went deep, deep underground. The burgeoning cinematic arts were sliced up. Women couldn't vote. If they were raped by their spouse, too bad. And scarves, scarves scarves (chadors, burqas, etc.) If a woman's hair was seen in public, she was reprimanded (sometimes, abused).
Is something similar happening now in America? Are the down-trodden and poor marching in the streets screaming "Jews will not replace us!"? Is half the country learning about the Great Replacement that's being promoted on certain news networks? Does there seem to be a distinctly noticeable reemergence of the quietly racist, classist, ablelist, etc... who aren’t even trying to hide it anymore? Are folks discussing who is a patriot and who isn't? Has a large portion of the nation’s parents lost their sense of respect for what schools do and just yell at their children's teachers, administrators? Are people relying solely on news networks to tell them what they should think? Are we making celebrities out of chefs? Are entertainers being mistaken for leaders? For crying out loud, there's talk of The Rock running in 2024. Nice guy. Funny, strong. But a head of state? That’s in the offing for Dewayne?
And what of our own public education system? As public employees, we are bound by social contract (at the very least) to not sway our students toward certain political persuasions. And yet, we are expected to both provide a physical and academic education, but to also impart egalitarian, multicultural, and anti-racist values. Is it not the responsibility of America's schooling systems to provide a social pathway for students to break through whatever barrier they're dealt as their lot in life? To be upstanding, honest, civically minded, wise, and educated citizens who can participate in a democratic republic?
These are all values that I have come to know as American. And, fittingly, the major political parties have adopted some of these values in their position platforms.
But what happens when the values our teachers impart have become so associated with a particular political party (who declared those are THEIR values) that you are accused of "bringing your politics into the classroom"? You think the teacher will feel empowered to impart those values ANYWAY? Values such as overcoming unfairness directly caused by unequal access to economic resources and power; expanded opportunities for real participation in the decisions which govern people's lives; greater equality of access to goods and services, to ACTUALLY respect others (not just say respectful things), respect the environment, respect the need for healthcare for even those that can’t afford it, life isn’t all about money, etc.
You know. Those values.
You think persecuted educators who will inevitably be labeled as "indoctrinators" (just like professors are being, right now) are going to want to risk getting to know what their students think and feel? To discuss decency vs indecency? And risk being accused of partisanship or some trumped up charge of prejudicial or biased teaching/behavior?
And what of us?
Are we, education leaders and local governing boards, going to cower to these accusations? Or are we going to stand up and actively support an anti-racist curriculum? A curriculum that DOESN'T consider scientific study as "one side of the story". That doesn’t relentlessly work to include religious ideology in textbooks (and call it Science?).
You don't think it can happen here in America?
I wonder what the people, who escaped the Islamic revolution of '79 in Iran and found refuge in a country that offered opportunity and protection from religious bigotry--I wonder what they’re feeling today about what’s taking place, front and center, in America? I wonder how other American's of primarily Iranian descent who serve our American communities as educators and KNOW what went down in '79 think about whether or not it can happen here...
I’m telling you. You’re wrong. It can happen, even here…land of the free. Home of the brave.
P.S. Interesting article regarding the need to welcome discussions of human rights and equity without being dismissed as partisan or political…