0 Cover design Ahmed Elsheikh 1 Enlightening Knowledge An Alexandrian Experience in Egypt’s Education System Gained by Abbas Metwalli Edited by Olga Mattar 2 Dedication To whoever taught me even one letter… 3 Contents 1. Introduction 6 2. The Cooing of Pigeons 10 3. The Courtyard 14 4. Hygiene is part of Faith 19 5. School Excursions 25 6. Corporal Punishment in the School 30 7. Young Students Indulge in Politics 36 8. The Aggression of 1956 41 9. Jumping over School Walls 47 10. The Hobby Classes 54 11. Get to Know Your Homeland 61 12. Religious Education and Harassment 69 13. Attending University 74 14. Arts and Free Education 80 15. Alexandria University… 85 A Music & Drama Pioneer 16. University Stars…and the Merry Nights 91 17. Oh ! Damascus! 95 18. The School of Pleasure 101 19. Professors Who Left An Indelible Mark 106 20. Theatrical Activity in the English Department 116 21. Alexandria’s Great Swimmer 123 22. Music in the School 127 23. Indoctrination in our Educational System 133 24. The Bullying Phenomenon in Schools 138 25. The Brain Drain 142 26. The English Language…Ignore it 147 27. Our Beautiful Language…and its Protectors 153 28. My Experience with the Arabic Language 156 29. Final Word 197 4 Synopsis The writer paints a realistic picture of the education system in Egypt from the early 1950’s to the mid-1960s, through a personal experience. It started with the primary stage, passing through the preparatory and secondary stages and culminated in university attendance. He sees that the education system then was, without doubt, much better than today. Classrooms were not overcrowded, health care was not neglected, attention to education and ethics was not absent. The teacher was not busy giving private lessons or concerned with his turn on the Secondment list. In the 1950s and 1960s, schools did not witness the violence prevailing in schools today. In the relationship between teacher and student, the slogan “I become a slave to whoever teaches me even one letter”, once prevalent, is now lacking. The writer reviews sport activities, the cultural, musical, recreational, and artistic performances which were an integral part of the education system. During that period, Egypt surpassed a major country like China. The author does not focus, though, on nostalgia for the past, as much as he tries to incite this nostalgia to reach a momentum that would lift the education system today to the top of State priorities. 5 Introduction BY Dr Gamal Hussein Hammad The Voice of the Arabs The Alexandrian educational experience in “Enlightening Knowledge” is nearly a global one. It is simply the educational experience that all students go through in this world. We are all still living this experience, as students, graduates, qualified professionals, parents with children who become students and follow their parents’ suit, or repeat their experience, their grand parents’ experience, or similar experiences of relatives and friends. 6 "Abbas Metwalli” went through his education, and lives every snapshot of it as he reviews his memories in a full- fledged integrated film, describing the images, echoing the dialog and moving the camera, with accompanying music, in a scenario written by fate. He submitted all this to us in a special representation within this book, in which he mixed memories of the past with a strange reality, complemented with similar and contradicting images and scenarios, to chart a shapeless future. “Abbas Metwalli, the student – through memory - has a replica in the past, and a replica in reality- and maybe more than one replica- there are Egyptian, Indian, English, Russian, old Arabic, or old Chinese replicas, or… there are similar models that make 1,000 personalities like Abbas Metwalli, who received his education in Egyptian schools during a historic era in modern Egypt, reminding us of the past lives of a much older education. He even reminded me of "Petah Shebnis”, the first Pharaonic language teacher in Ancient Egypt who had many disciples, among whom was "Petah Amoun”, the greatest celebrity writer then. With Abbas Metwalli, I am reminded of the great stages of educational life in Egypt – through the age of the great veteran writers - until we reach the age of the Ayoubis who set down educational systems to correct and set right the corruption of the Fatimid systems, and then on to the modern stage in the "Mohammad Ali " era. This latter era 7 witnessed the genial contribution, planned for by the engineer “Ali Pasha Mubarak", up to the free education decree that Dr Taha Hussein" long sought, then followed by an expansion in the Egyptian education movement. The writer, in offering this Alexandrian experience- which is global as I indicated earlier - walks us down the events of memory lane on a bright night, because memories and imagination are latent in nature and only blossom in a glimmer of light that makes them vanish and reappear, spreading here and there. We can then catch them, ponder about them, remember them, speak about them or write about them. The encoder is the author, who dispels the darkness of the memory from which he drew, experienced and digested events. He has lived them in smiles or in pain, and submitted them to us with creative art and professionalism- as the media expert or storyteller he is, not missing any event around him. He was honest- as always- in translating them professionally like a sincere media personality and prudent man of letters, who wisely adopted the narrative of the true course of events. "Abbas Metwalli" in this experience chronicles the meaning of what we call the literature of autobiography, to which we are accustomed in reading books such as "Homes and Houses” by Prince "Osama Bin Munqidh", "The Days" by Dr Taha Hussein" and "The Nights" by Dr Taha Wadi, among 8 others. Poets have also their share in chronicling their experiences and memories, which they translate into biographies and stories. We benefit from their experience and enjoy the joyful snapshots of the author with a smile here and there; but the memories as a whole, represent old images and we adore their magnificent history. The author is armed with language, literature and illustration abilities. His talent in eloquence, acting and playing the drum benefited him as much as he benefited from English and Arabic alike, which made him a brilliant announcer, actor and a historian, recording the events he personally witnessed. He put down the information that I have missed, such as that which followed the 1952 glorious revolution, especially the attitude of the Revolution Command Council towards President "Mohammad Naguib" - may God have mercy on his soul - and the origins of the weird conflict between Abdel Nasser and the Muslim Brotherhood, among other events. The author is faithful to the friends with whom he lived, faithful to what he saw and heard. He enjoyed the company of colleagues at university, and the formation of diverse artistic teams, mentioning many names who later became celebrities in thought, art and literature. The sincerity of beautiful memories underlines the papers of this wonderful book by "Abbas Metwalli”. 9 The Cooing of Pigeons My father, may his soul rest in peace, would have tolerated anything but the neglect of education and learning. Coming from the countryside village of Shaboor, in Al-Behera Governorate, he moved to the urban city of Alexandria seeking a job opportunity, which he had no trouble finding, considering that he only had “Al-Kafaa”, a 2- year secondary school certificate which preceded The General Secondary School Certificate. The job was with the Postal Authority in Alexandria, where he co-worked with Abdel Nasser Hussein, the father of the late leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Aware that he did not complete the 3-year secondary school certificate, he pushed my older brother Ahmed to obtain it, which he eventually did; but due to certain circumstances, Ahmed had to enter the job market and find work instead of studying for a college degree. Consequently, my father’s only hope was that I become the first of his sons and daughters to attend university (I was number 5 in a family of 7 children). My father’s endeavor to get me into the educational system began with the Quranic school of Sheikh Osman, which was not far from our house. These Quranic schools gave a form of elementary schooling; families used to enroll their young there in order to have them memorize the Holy Quran, and perfect their knowledge and proper pronunciation of the Arabic language. Quranic schools, especially in the villages had a particularly prestigious status, focusing mostly on religious education; in the urban areas they were more like a nursery, teaching literacy and 10 numeracy as well as religious topics, such as memorization of the Holy Quran, and social topics that exposed young children to moral values and proper social ethics. This kind of school was known in Pharaonic times as "Temple Schools", and they granted their students a certificate of "writer”. Those schools continued into the Christian era, when they taught students parts of the Holy Book and the Psalms. The major breakthrough in Egyptian Quranic schools occurred after the spread of Islam throughout Egypt. They were always like a "factory" producing great men such as clerics, men of letters, poets, senior intellectuals and scholars. Mohammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt depended on the graduates of Quranic schools in the establishment of Al- Azhar institutes, achieving through them a comprehensive educational Renaissance. Among the most prominent graduates of Egyptian Quranic schools were Egyptian thinker and translator Refa’a Al Tahtawi and the writer, scholar and author Taha Hussein.