New Educational Restrictions on Youth in Iran
Two recent announcements by Iran’s hardliners signal renewed efforts to repress Iranian youth. A senior official at the Education Ministry has announced that Iran will not allow “western” influenced courses in universities and will review 12 humanities disciplines to make them compatible with “Islamic teachings”. According to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, humanities studies are […]
Can Obama Keep His Promise to Iran’s Youth?
The early verdict on the new Iran sanctions is that even the “smart” sanctions have proven to be, well, dumb. Instead of targeting Iranian government officials connected to the nuclear program or who are complicit in human rights abuses, the new sanctions are punishing young Iranians who have been the greatest allies of democracy, human […]
Smart Sanctions
New sanctions have caused ETS, the Educational Testing Service, to block Iranian students from taking standardized tests required for Western educations, such as the TOEFL and the GRE. From ETS’s website: Registration temporarily suspended in Iran The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution affecting banks and financial institutions that conduct business in Iran. As […]
The Elimination of the Concour: Better Late than Never
For some time now, education policymakers in Iran have debated the necessity of the infamous Concour examinations for university admissions. After several years, Iran has decided to implement guidelines that would do away with these compulsory university entrance examinations. For the majority of Iranian students, this dreaded exam is a one-way ticket to the bottom […]