U.S. Ambassador to Cairo Margaret Scobey recently announced a plan by the U.S. administration to open dozens of schools for gifted students in Cairo and Alexandria, as part of the U.S.'s aid to Egypt. According to the ambassador, the schools and their curricula will be run by the U.S., with the consent of Egypt's Education and Culture Ministry. [1] She added that tuition at the schools will be free, and that they are meant to create a cadre of graduates educated according to American standards. [2]
Egyptian reactions to the initiative were mixed. Its detractors called it "interference in Egypt's affairs," and expressed concern about its possible impact on the students' Egyptian and Arab identity and their loyalty to their homeland. Supporters said that the schools would be a welcome addition to the Egyptian education system, that their graduates would help to advance Egyptian society, and that any fears about the potential Americanization of Egypt were baseless in this age of globalization.
The following are excerpts from reactions to the project in the Egyptian press:
Egyptian MP: Has the U.S. Ambassador Become Our Education Minister?
Dr. Gamal Al-Zahran, an MP from the Muslim Brotherhood bloc, submitted an urgent question to the government, in which he protested Egypt's lack of response to the ambassador's announcement, and stated that the schools plan represented grave interference in Egypt's affairs. Addressing Education and Culture Minister Yusri Al-Gamal, he asked sarcastically: "Has Scobey become Egypt's education minister, or perhaps its prime minister?" [3] A question to the government on this matter was also submitted by MP Sheikh Sayyed 'Askar. [4]
Dr. Hosni Al-Sayyed of Egypt's Center for Education Research termed the plan a "blatant infiltration of Egypt's education system." He called on the Education Ministry to raise the issue for debate in the parliament, and to allow civil organizations to supervise the American schools. He found it ominous that Scobey did not set out the schools' acceptance requirements and did not specify whether the curricula would respect the students' national and religious identity. "Will the students be loyal to the U.S., which would finance their studies, or to Egypt?" he asked. Hassan Al-'Isawi, a workers' rights activist in the education sector, warned that the establishment of American schools could create a generation of graduates completely ignorant of their Egyptian and Arab identity. He said, "Education is a matter of national security, and any attempt to infiltrate [our education system] must be resisted." [5]
Egyptian Education Expert: The Schools Will Be a Deadly Blow to National and Religious Education
Dr. Hamed 'Ammar, a professor of education at Al-Shams University, wrote in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram: "[The issue of] internalizing American culture pertains not only to education, but also to many other spheres of life. [It is reflected], for example, in eating Kentucky [Fried Chicken], drinking Coca Cola, wearing casual clothes, listening to [Michael] Jackson's music, saying 'hi hi,' [and adopting the system of] free trade and international finance and development banks. In short, [Americanization] is reflected in our values, our economy and our institutions. This is what we call in social studies 'the McDonaldization of society'... Since the 9/11 attacks, there has been American involvement in our lives in the Middle East, in an attempt to redraw the map of the Arab homeland...
"The New Middle East agreement includes a plan to open 800 American schools in the region, with American teachers running them, teaching at them, and setting their curricula. This is a real problem... [The project for establishing American schools in Egypt] is an opening for further violation of national educational values, [and for] Americanizing [the Egyptian] mind, conscience and national identity - [all] with the aim of training personnel for foreign projects in Egypt or of [convincing Egyptians] to emigrate to the U.S., thus increasing the brain drain from Egypt. This project will inevitably deal a deadly blow to [our education in the spheres of] Arabic, Egyptian history, national studies, and religious studies, [and will do severe harm to] Egypt's development initiative...
"The Education and Culture Ministry must take great care, and everyone in Egypt who takes an interest in education seconds this warning without hesitation. The American school system [in Egypt] has [already] expanded to the point where there are more American junior high schools than Egyptian private ones, which we see as a storm that threatens national education [in this country]. If this is a storm, Scobey's plan is a tsunami that will undermine the very foundations of the training received by the citizens of this homeland called Egypt..." [6]
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Coptic Intellectual: The Project Threatens Egyptian Identity
Coptic intellectual and former MP Gamal As'ad likewise objected to the plan. He wrote in the Egyptian daily Roz Al-Yousuf: "A country that opens schools or universities [in another country] is not doing so for altruistic motives, or for Egypt's sake, but has a specific purpose in mind. [Opening these schools] is an ideal way to blind [the students] with foreign education and culture, turning them into Egyptians who are affiliated with another country. This situation is made possible by the infuriating lethargy of the education and higher education ministries, which have given up on supervising these foreign education facilities in any real way.
"Will they make sure that Arabic studies will receive at least as much [emphasis at these schools] as the study of other languages? Will Egypt's national and political history be studied from a national Egyptian perspective?... What will remain of [the students'] Egyptian sense of self, and how will we preserve the Egyptian identity that forms the most important nucleus of [their] sense of national belonging...? Our Egyptian culture and national identity is the only [asset] we have left in the competitive market of the globalized world..." [7]
Egyptian Columnist: The American Schools Will Be an Excellent Addition to the Modern Education [System] in Egypt
Conversely, Al-Sayyed Al-Babili, who writes a weekly column in the government daily Al-Masa, stated: "I [really] don't know what potential danger to national security is posed by the opening of some American schools that will serve as an example in our country, and will be attended by gifted students who will receive excellent education on Egyptian soil, in an Egyptian cultural environment and under Egyptian supervision. If Mr. Gamal Al-Zahran [who submitted the question to the government on this matter] fears that these youngsters will become Americanized, and will be American agents in his country, then his reasoning is obsolete.
"We are living in a new world where borders and citizenship no longer matter. This is the age of the 'citizen of the world,' who has neither a [specific] citizenship nor a homeland. In his mind, he is a citizen of the [entire] world, sharing [its global] concepts and culture, [which he can access] with maximal speed and minimal effort [thanks to] the revolution of the satellite channels and the internet.
"If we are afraid of some students who will attend American schools here in Egypt, what about the thousands of Egyptian students who live [in the U.S.] and attend university there? Should we subject them to special surveillance when they return, to make sure they don't pose a threat to national security? Or should we assign each of them a guardian, to make sure that he remains committed to his nationality, that he listens only to Egyptian songs and watches only the Egyptian TV channel?
"If [this is our attitude], why is there an American university in Cairo, and why have we heard of German, Russian, Canadian and French [universities] that young people compete to attend? [These universities are popular] because they offer a different [kind of] education and a different atmosphere, and provide better training, more suited to the requirements of the work market.
"Opening American, British, or French schools in this country is an idea that is neither strange nor offensive to our society. On the contrary, such schools have played a part in [developing] culture and enlightenment [in Egypt]. They have produced outstanding Egyptian graduates who have impacted our society with their abilities and their advanced thinking, and have become one of the forces spearheading social change and leading the transformation towards a modern and advanced society...
"I neither understand nor accept the fear that overtakes some [Egyptians at any mention of] a new idea or of foreign influence - as if imperialism could return, and as if this could destroy Egypt's Arabness or Islamic [character]. These people have forgotten, or pretend to have forgotten... that [Egypt] was under Turkish, French and British occupation for many years during the modern era, yet the Egyptians remained [loyal] to their country and preserved their customs without changing their character and without mixing [foreign cultures] into their own... The new American schools referred to by Ms. Scobey will be an excellent addition to the modern education [system] in Egypt..." [8]
Endnotes:
[1] In late October, the head of the Ministry's special and foreign education administration, Hussein 'Abd Al-'Azim, said that the U.S. Embassy had not yet submitted the project for the Ministry's approval. Al-YawmAl-Sabi' (Egypt), October 23, 2009.
[2] Al-Misriyoun (Egypt), October 21, 2009.
[3] Nahdhat Masr (Egypt), October 22, 2009.
[4] Al-YawmAl-Sabi' (Egypt), November 6, 2009.
[5] Al-YawmAl-Sabi' (Egypt), October 23, 2009.
[6] Al-Ahram (Egypt), November 6, 2009.
[7] Roz Al-Yousef (Egypt), November 11, 2009.
[8] Al-Masa (Egypt), November 7, 2009.
