Iran has imposed restrictions on 12 different social sciences that were deemed to be based on the 'Western' school of thought and were incompatible with Islamic teachings. The restrictions have been set on studies such as law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science, women's studies and human rights. "The content of the current courses in the 12 subjects is not in harmony with religious fundamentals and they are based on Western schools of thought," said senior education official Abolfazl Hassani to state radio.The restrictions prevent universities from opening new departments in these subjects and will revise over 70 percent of the content in current social science courses. In 2009, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a public announcement stating that the subjects could lead to "religious doubt". Out of the 3.5 million students studying at Iranian universities, 2 million are currently studying a social science, according to government statistics.
This is one of many examples of Iran's fundamentalist Islamic beliefs interfering with human rights. In my opinion, with the hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign to turn Iran into a strictly fundamentalist Islamic nation, there is no room for social tolerance. With cases such as Monired Baradaran (a human rights activist who was imprisoned for 9 years due to her opposition of Iran's faith based regime) I find it apparent that Iran needs separation of mosque and state. A plethora of liberal arts professors are being forced into retirement by the Iranian government under the expectations that any form of protest will be met with jail and torture as it has in the past.
Relating back to our teenage lives, how would you feel if Mr. Silton was replaced with Mr./Mrs. (Blank) who only taught what agreed with his/her religious ideals? Also, students and teachers alike both protested laying off teachers from Aragon High School. What if your peaceful protests led to your imprisonment?
3 comments:
It is clear that the Islamic belief is interfering with humans rights. But i feel that this is no different than the banning of all ethnic studies in schools in Arizona proposed this summer. I feel that people should not be denied the right to learn a specific field just because it interferes with beliefs or policy. But it is not the place of the US people or the US government to go and tell the Iranian government that they are wrong to ban those studies when states in the US do the same. Also, the Islamic belief is much more prominent in Iran and is an important part of their daily lives. Therefore, i think that it is unfair for us to judge that they are completely wrong for banning certain areas of study.
Islam is a very touchy subject, but in general it is important to realize Islam is much more to many people than many Americans see religion. We have been exposed to freedom, but over 1.5 billion people still practice Islam. The Vatican City also can very interesting decisions from time to time. President of Ahmadinejad is doing what he thinks is right. Though, we may not agree, there is little we can do to change it. The sad part is this happens across the world, whether in Iran, North Korea, and to some extent even China. Most people who are in power are scared of people who want to take away that power. To the President this is a great danger to his power, thus he would like to take that right away. Even the United States, will ban certain teachings, like Al Qaeda or other extremists. On a side note, "peaceful protests" can sometimes quickly escalate to violence. Protests can also be very disruptive. Though, it may not seem that way, protests can affect learning as it often allows passion to take over reason. For example, the protests in France are for the most part "peaceful", but they contribute to a lack of productivity in the economy and ecosystem as a whole. Therefore, it is important to realize the potentially harmful effects of protests. Going back to the main question, our beliefs and ideals often still do affect the way teachings occur. Therefore, it is always hard to judge what is right and what is wrong. If you never tasted freedom, would you still be willing to say the same? We, as Americans, are allowed to express our feelings much more openly. Many people in Iran may already consider this a part of their life and with Muslim being so ingrained in their culture; they might even approve of this.
Echoing Ayaka and Jonathan, it is, unfortunately, completely futile to try to compare the Western world to the Middle East. From our privileged perspective here in the States, it's difficult for us to understand how the people in the Thrid World would let their leaders get away with the stripping away of freedoms. And let's not try to fool ourselves into thinking that Ahmadinejad is just doing what he thinks is right and holy. Like Jonathan said, he undoubtedly knows that the uneducated and ignorant (which, unfortunately, is what the Third World is becoming) is a lot easier to control than the educated and informed.
While it's true that Islam plays a huge factor in the lives of many in the Middle East, I don't believe that leaders there are doing their people a great service or favor by dangling that lone carrot in the donkey's face and trying to shut out the rest of the world. If it was such a wonderful, righteous faith, why are the leaders in the Middle east afraid that education will "create religious doubt"?
Then again, who are we to judge another culture? If nothing else, we can take comfort in the fact that the Middle East will not be able to remain isolated forever, and that one day, their society will advance as the rest of the world has.
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