Madreseh
Sep 23rd, 2009 by pedestrian
(These photos are from January 18th, during an even in Tehran called zangheh havayeh tazeh – ringing the bells for clean air)
As I mentioned here yesterday, today is the first day of school in Iran.
I have a new category called “madreseh” (school). I’m going to start featuring more stories and photos from school kids in Iran.
While Iran and the world has tried for years now to pick its brain over nincompoops like Ahmadinejad (and those who came before him), schools and students in Iran go mostly ignored. This is while so much of the change that has taken place in Iran in the past 30 years started from these students, and started from these schools.
Here’s wishing a safe school year for every last one of them.
Pedestrian, again, thank you so much for your blog. I really like the topics you choose – they give me the impression to snatch at least a tiny little glimpse of life in Theran, if not Iran. Thank you for all your efforts!
For those who went to school in Iran during the past thirty years, what sort of socialization was more effective? School or home? I’m just trying to get an idea as to how, as you say, these kids became part of the Mowj-e sabz and what might their goals be for it. Has the school curriculum been directed at creating a Basiji nation? Do the teachers temper this objective or advance it? Do students develop a greater sense of pride for the democratic aspects of the Islamic Republic or reverence for Khomeini and the position of vali-e faqih? Or both? Obviously, it’s hard to talk about absolutes in these cases. There aren’t any. Anecdotal as they may be, it would be interesting for me to know people’s positions on this.
supp, everyone of those questions could be a phd dissertation
(not that you were expecting me to answer them, I realize it’s a stream of thought)
Surprising enough, I don’t believe the curriculum was aimed towards achieving a Basiji nation, at least not “basiji” in the stereotypical sense we use now. Did you go to school in Iran? my mother taught me the Iranian curriculum at home. Remember the “Hashemi” household in grade 4 social studies? I think the curriculum was aiming for that sort of collective body of people.
I spent half my school years outside Iran and the other half inside. I think the teachers are VERY careful to stick to the curriculum. But as I mentioned here before, that very curriculum is now problematic too. At the same time, the textbook always left room for the teacher to glorify what was in the interest of the students. I particularly remember teachers speaking continuously about the “fairness”, the “justice” and the “mardomsalari” that was inherent in the system, and they weren’t pushing any boundaries, they were simply highlighting parts of the text and dimming other parts. This was post-2nd of Khordaad after all. They knew what the students wanted to hear.
I have fond memories of attending high school in Tehran, even more than my experience in American schools. At the time, I never would have guessed that would become the case.
As Minister of Education during the 1930’s, my grandfather was instrumental in implementing a public school system for the country (while at the same time he closed down many religious schools, much to the dismay of the clergy). He would tour schools and give talks to groups of students, similar to the address Obama recently gave to schoolchildren. At that time, the emphasis was on nationalism. The old people I know that still remember his speeches would tell me he was very strict, and made a powerful- if not intimidating- impression.
There was a large high school in Tehran named in his honor. It’s funny, years ago I was at a casino in Reno and happened to run into an Iranian young man. Upon introducing myself, the man remarked he’d gone to a high school with the same name. Reporting this encounter back to my family, we were amused that the Revolutionaries hadn’t yet changed the school name.
I’m sure my grandfather would have mixed feeling about the present state of Iran’s public school system. On the one hand, he’d be extremely proud of how well it’s developed. But at the same time, I know he’d be disappointed with certain aspects of the curriculum, being a dedicated secularist and all.
Pirouz, your grandfather sounds fascinating. What I wouldn’t give to sit down and listen to his experiences.
First of all just want to say how much I’ve enjoyed following your blog these past few months – not only as a first-hand account of the post-election events but also for the evocative descriptions of Iranian life and culture. It truly is fascinating to be given this sort of window into another culture and its yearly rituals, its approach to life, its view on the world.
One of the things that really struck me about this entry and your other two related to school was how the first day of class is seen in Iran as something to be CELEBRATED. We don’t have any ritual like that in North America. But I remember how, as a young child going off to Grade 1, my mother (who’s of German background) made me a “Zuckertuete” (a “sugar cone” or “goody cone”) – a large “cone” of colored paper almost as big as I was, filled with all sorts of treats and toys. Interesting how it compares to the Iranian tradition.
There really seems to be, in the Iranian consciousness, a deep respect for and love of learning for its own sake – particularly literature – that we don’t have here in the West. For me a especially poignant example is poetry. I have no clue why, but I seem to have the sort of brain that can memorize vast amounts of poetry with no effort. So for me poetry has always been a very powerful and central part of my thought. But in general, it is not given much respect in the West – it isn’t part of the general consciousness like sports figures or movie stars or celebrities are. Rather it’s seen as either old-fashioned, sentimental and a bit silly (like Coleridge and the Romantics) or modern and avant-garde and incomprehensible (like Ezra Pound or T. S. Eliot.) But from what I’ve read on your blog, in Iran poetry is very deeply respected and in fact quoted in day-to-day conversation. Something we in the West could really take a lesson from.
Well, I think I’ve babbled on for long enough. Keep blogging and THANK YOU!
Eowyn9 (Twitter)
Hello Eowyn9,
Wow. Thanks so much for your comment. I didn’t know anything about “Zuckertuete”! Fascinating!
It’s lovely the way you put that: yes, the start of the school year is always seen (by the grownups!) as something to be celebrated, and this goes beyond the IRI, though of course they give it their own twist with the religious headbands, speeches, etc, etc.
In Iran, poets like Hafez or Sadi are more famous than movie stars, b/c they are accessible to all. We have hundreds of cities in iran that don’t have a movie theater, but poetry books have always been available. No regime or government has changed that. I wonder how much younger generations read them. Here’s my take on one of our most renowned poets, Sadi.
I’m not sure how much Iranians value learning for its own sake, but I can say that poetry goes beyond that for many. It’s such a part of their lives that they don’t even view it as learning. My great grandmothers didn’t know how to read or write, but they were memorized dozens and dozens and dozens of very difficult Persian poems. It’s something that’s just always been with us, very much part of Iranian-ness.
“It’s such a part of their lives that they don’t even view it as learning. My great grandmothers didn’t know how to read or write, but they were memorized dozens and dozens and dozens of very difficult Persian poems.”
Yes…that’s just what I mean. It’s so deeply embedded in the Iranian culture that it’s not even seen as “education” per se. (I guess it’s because the oral tradition stayed strong in Iran for much longer than in the West?) Whereas Western kids are never taught to memorize ANYTHING now. They’ll throw a fit if they have to learn a twelve-line poem. Really, I am not joking.
), Keats, Auden, T.S. Eliot, Hopkins being just a few of my favorites. All largely forgotten and ignored by my own generation. Sigh.
It’s such a shame. There’s so much beautiful English poetry out there…Shakespeare, Coleridge, William Blake (who reminds me a bit of Hafiz
Loved your blog entry on Saadi. For years I’d read Persian poetry in translation from time to time – mainly Rumi and Hafiz – not in fact knowing that it WAS Persian (just another way that we in the West are uneducated. Apologies in advance…)
Lately I’ve started studying Farsi and of course I couldn’t resist looking at some of Rumi’s poems, just a few quatrains, with the help of a literal translation of course. (Yes, I know it’s crazy, like trying to learn English by reading Shakespeare. Can’t help it, I’m just a poetry geek.)
Hey, actually I have a poetry question you might be able to answer. When reading Persian poetry (in the original) what is the meter like, in other words what pattern of accents is used for the syllables? When I’ve read things (like the Saadi poem you mentioned) in the original Farsi, it naturally seems to fall into an iambic pentameter (da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM-da). But I have the feeling that’s just my Shakespeare-influenced Western ear imposing a pattern on it. How is it meant to be read? Let me know….
THANKS!
“But in general, [poetry] is not given much respect in the West – it isn’t part of the general consciousness like sports figures or movie stars or celebrities are.”
That’s definitely true now but it wasn’t always the case. You don’t have to go back too far (i.e. to the “pre-modern” era) to find examples of popular poetry in the West. The most common book that British troops, for example, carried with them into battle in WWI was Edward FitzGerald’s translation of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. There were popular modern Western poets too right into the 1940s. Robert Frost, for one, comes to mind.
supp, this is an uneducated question: even in the old days, was it as widespread or as rooted as in Iran?
Eowyn9, I have a good time with Shakepeare but I’m not a poetry buff in any way. Off the top of my head, I do remember reading and enjoying pieces by dylan thomas, lord tennyson, butler yeats, emily dickinson, edgar allan poe, Wilfred Owen.
You should give modern poets a try too. My personal favorites are Akhavan Sales (I feel a personal connection to this man, as I’m sure many do!), Fereydoun Moshiri.
I’m afraid you’ve asked the wrong person! But I can ask my grandfather for you, who is one of the most knowledgeable people I know on Persian poetry. (Let me know if you want me to do that). As I mentioned in that post, I’m only slowly learning to read Persian poetry!
Thanks for the recommendations! Yes, please do ask him when you get a chance. One of the things I love most about reading poetry is hearing the sound (either out loud or in my mind) and it bugs me not knowing how it’s supposed to be read! I keep worrying I’m doing it wrong.
Thanks, and talk to you later!
I will ask and email you (that email you registered works, right?)
Wow, we must be both online at the same time. Yes, the e-mail works
Just thought of another question, am sure you can answer this one. What are some poems that I can start with that are a bit less daunting than, say, Saadi? I mean something that teachers would give students to read in, say, Grade 3 or 4…a level I could handle now. Like nursery rhymes in English
Thanks!
Eowyn9, yes, that I can do!
I’ll email you some tonight or tomorrow!
“supp, this is an uneducated question: even in the old days, was it as widespread or as rooted as in Iran?”
until just a few decades ago, it was very close. frost was quite recent and absolutely a *sensation*.. (owen, by the way, is fantastic- i’m glad you mentioned him). up until the 60s, (i think?) poetry was still a huge part of life in the West and poets very highly regarded.. it’s unfortunate that the trend now seems to be in its death throes..
up until our generation (i assume you’re in your mid-20s?
), russians had a passion almost equivalent to that found in iran. pushkin, esenin, akhmatova, mayakovsky – they remain national monuments… but the kids are raised on something different now. they don’t *breathe* it the way their parents did, their grandparents.. their great-grandparents..
and if you’re looking at western europe, and the “old days” of shakespeare, or the “recent” days of eliot, then yes – especially in britain
Inna, thanks for the note!
Wow!
How well one can trace the lines of modernity in something like a poem …