Islamic values and their reflection in the Iranian elementary textbooks

Virtually from the outset of the 1978--79 Islamic Revolution in Iran, scholars began to study the event from different social, political and economic angles. Yet, the rapid speed of the Revolution, its predominantly Islamic character, and the numerous changes that have occurred during the last nineteen years remain sources of mystery to many students of this area. The goals and philosophy of education and its relation to the basic foundations of the Revolution is one issue however that has been given less consideration.This thesis is an attempt to identify and study the cultural foundations and those religious values underlying the educational system of today's Iran. The study examines some of the elementary school textbooks from both the Pahlavi and Islamic Republic eras, contrasting Pahlavi educational policy, which tended towards secularization, Westernization and de-Islamization of the country, with the attempt of the Islamic Republic to Islamize all aspects of society, including schools. The study especially looks at the relation between Islamic culture, religion and the curriculum. The study stresses that school plays a fundamental role in the Islamization of the post-Revolutionary Iranian society. How one defines Islamization, however, is crucial. This concept is clarified through a scrutiny of the process of Islamization visible in textbook reform by focusing on the spiritual, moral, social and political values in some school texts