Quote:
Originally Posted by Archaea
There have been significant studies showing how backward the education models are within all Islamic societies as those religious schools actually thwart thinking and thereby undermine the purpose of education. Basically the sole purpose of these religious schools is political indoctrination and radicalization of the younger peoples.
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My analogy would be the political indoctrination of citizens of the Soviet Union or China. There is a huge mix of good and evil. Good=more education and literacy. Bad=truth is mixed with falsehoods, and people aren't actually taught to think very critically.
Even though communism in the USSR and China is purely atheistic, I think the pattern of indoctrination and mind control is very similar to what goes on in Iran. Communism in the USSR and China is actually a religion (Lenin or Mao worship).
As you educate the population, the truth ultimately wins. The soviets already proved this, as Russians were carrying secret books (samizdat and tamizdat) that they were publishing themselves either within Russia or smuggling books in from the west...people eventually discovered the truth. But it was the education system promoted by the Soviets themselves that led to their downfall.
In China, the process has moved more slowly, especially since ~15% of the Chinese population is illiterate (compared to 0% in the Soviet Union). But the internet is changing China. You can't censor everything. I work with about 15 Chinese dudes, and you should see them read about Tiananmen Square. And when they see pictures of the tank guy and actually realize what happened there, they talk to each other and send emails to all their friends back home, and people find out the truth.
The very same thing goes on in Iran. There is a reasonable percentage of the Iranian population that is well educated, and the internet is everywhere in Iran. They try to censor FoxNews and Youtube, but much like samizdat and tamizdat in the Soviet Union, people find their way around the censorship. With an increasingly westernized and educated youth, I believe that Iran can only become more moderate.
On the other hand, I suppose that you could make an argument that a society that promotes education could also end up like Nazi Germany, where you have "educated" people believing in a very evil concept and wanting to destroy an entire race.