Touran Mirhadi: a Prominent Pioneer in Iranian Education
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Hosseini 1 Touran Mirhadi: A Prominent Pioneer in Iranian Education Sajedeh Hosseini University of Virginia Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures Master’s Thesis, spring 2018 Hosseini 2 To My Father, Farid Hosseini who is watching over me from the heaven To My Mother, Sousan Hosseini And to My Brother, Sajad Hosseini For their unconditional love and support in every step of my life. Hosseini 3 Acknowledgement I would like to express my special thanks to Mr. Pirooz Vakili, Touran Mirhadi and Ja’far Vakili’s one and only son, who gave me the opportunity to meet with him, in order to clarify the information that was unclear in the books that were published about his family. I would also like to thank him for providing me with the books and articles that have been published about Touran Mirhadi so far. Without his support, conducting this research would have been impossible. Hosseini 4 Table of Contents Introduction Chapter one: History of Iranian Education Homeschools or Maktab Khane ……………………………………………………...9 Education during Qajar Period ………………………………………………………11 Dar al-Fonun First Institute of Higher Education in Iran ……………………………13 Mirza Yusuf Khan Mostashar al-Dolah and One Word……………………………...15 Mirza Hasan Khan Roshdiye and the Second Group of the New Schools…………...17 School of Shokatiyah Birjand………………………………………………………...19 Bibi Khanom Astarabadi……………………………………………………………..20 Education During the Pahlavi Period………………………………………………...22 Tehran University…………………………………………………………………….24 Chapter Two: Touran Khanoom: A Prominent Pioneer in the Educational System Fazlollah Mirhadi and Greta Dietrich…………………………………………………28 Touran Mirhadi, a Prominent Pioneer in the Educational System…………………….29 Timeline of Touran Mirhadi’s Life ……………………………………………………41 Chapter Three: The Grandmother of Progressive Education in Iran The Declaration of the Rights of the Child in Iran…………………………………….44 Hosseini 5 Farhad School………………………………………………………………………….46 Dismissal of Competition and Hierarchy………………………………………………49 Peacemaking in Education……………………………………………………………..50 Outstanding Disposition………………………………………………………………..54 Enhancing the Culture of Reading……………………………………………………..57 Team Work…………………………………………………………………………….59 The Encyclopedia of Young People…………………………………………………...60 Publications……………………………………………………………………………62 Concluding Remarks…………………………………………………………………..65 Hosseini 6 Introduction Iran’s educational system has changed greatly in the past two centuries and has transformed from its traditional method to the modern system with relatively high speed. In the past, due to the male-dominated culture in Iran, men had the opportunity to study more than women did. Nevertheless, after introducing Western methods, the view towards education changed drastically. Women and children, who had not had adequate opportunity to study, found access to discipline and knowledge through the generalization of the educational system. Creating these changes in the educational system and the public's access to education was impossible without the consistent efforts of many individuals. Yet again, due to the common patriarchal principals in Iran, men were in the majority of those who initiated the process of making these changes; however, after a short period of time, many courageous women began to look after their privileges as well. There is no question that the role of Iranian women in the development of contemporary Iranian society has been essential, having played a crucial and fundamental role in every aspect. In particular, the years surrounding the Islamic revolution saw Iranian women exploring the country’s increased educational opportunities with a newfound confidence. Aspiring to advanced education not only opened their eyes to the realities of society, but it also allowed them to accept more pivotal responsibilities therein. This being said, a careful examination of the work of these prominent women and attention to the treasures they left for society is the least we can do to compensate them for their great service. Touran Mirhadi was amongst those Iranian women who invested her life in creating methods in order to smooth out the path of seeking knowledge, and Hosseini 7 therefore she should never be forgotten. She was amongst the group of people who viewed building a healthy and learned society impossible without educating children well. This being said, the objective of this thesis is to point to the services and changes that Mrs. Touran Mirhadi has created in Iran's educational system as well as in children's literature. In order to do this, I have divided my thesis into three chapters. The first chapter introduces the history of education in Iran from the Qajar period up to the establishment of the Tehran University. Understanding the changes in the educational system in Iran is important to identify the reasons why Mirhadi is to be found amongst the pioneers of education as well as children’s literature. The second chapter is dedicated to the life of Touran Mirhadi. In order to fathom the depth of her work, studying her life is indispensable. I have started her biography with a short biography of her parents since they had a key role in helping Mirhadi to identify her goals and desires. The third chapter will focus on her service to society and the changes she implemented in the children’s educational system and children’s literature. Hosseini 8 Chapter 1 History of Iranian Education The concept of education in each country is not separate from the cultural traditions of that country. The importance of education depends deeply on the depth of education's roots in the tradition and culture of that country. That being said, I show how the changes in the educational system took place and improved over time in Iranian history. This study is intended exclusively to clarify the importance of children's education, children’s literature, and the conceptualization of children’s literature in Iranian society. Since access to this goal is not possible without first looking into the history of education in Iran, in this chapter, I investigate the impact of the generalization and modernization of education in Iran, taking into account the sacrifices of individuals such as Amir Kabir and Mirza Hasan Khan Roshdiye. I then examine the impact of the work of Touran Mirhadi on the modernization of children’s education in Iran. Over the past two centuries, the world began to learn more about children and to provide for their needs. However, the status of children of the twentieth century became different and distinct. In fact, the twentieth century, with all its difficulties, is called the childhood century (Mohammadi, 12). This is because, after thousands of years, children were finally recognized as worthy beings with a distinct entity from adults, who have their own particular needs. At that stage, the rights of the family and adults were recognized as well. Yet the twentieth century is a century of great contradictions. During this period, due to the First World War and the Second World War, as well as regional wars, children suffered most of the injuries in communities and became the main victims of these wars (Mohammadi, 12-16). Hosseini 9 Nevertheless, after World War II, notwithstanding regional wars that harmed children’s peace in some parts of the world, a large number of children, especially in Western countries, were able to gain their rights. Since then the world started to respond to their needs in a more receptive and satisfying way. It can be said that in the twentieth century, when peace was ruling over the world, the situation of children was much better than that of the children of the previous centuries. Iranian children also benefited from these changes. However, the true transformation in the life of Iranian children particularly occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, when education was identified as one of a child’s essential needs, like air, food, and clean water. Recognizing and becoming more familiar with these needs led many people to take extensive measures to address them and provide facilities to meet them. Due to the cultural and cognitive differences and the lack of readiness of Iranian society to accept these changes, the generalization and growth of education in Iran has been slower than in Western countries and some of its neighboring countries (Mohammadi, 16-24). Homeschools or Maktab Khane The late nineteenth century coincides with the time when many new movements took place in Iran in order to introduce modern education to Iranians. During the Qajar period, the common elementary education system in Iran was the traditional one, which was known as the homeschool or Maktab Khane. Until the end of Naser al-Din Shah’s1 reign, schools were limited to homeschools that provided limited education to children and teens. Due to the limited number and availability of these educational institutions, a restricted number of young people had access to them. Familiarity with the quality of education in homeschools and the overall educational 1 Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896, was the King of Persia from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896. Hosseini 10 situation within that period in Iran would help to discover the factors behind the expansion of modern schools (Banani, 85-86, Menashri, 41-42). Homeschool as an educational institution was formed from the second century AD. Their numbers were limited in every city and as the Iranian population was mostly spread out in the rural areas, not many villagers had the opportunity to benefit from these educational centers. Homeschools were single-room schools run by a teacher who oversaw all different levels. The teachers of these homeschools did not have any specific training, and most of them were usually teachers who were educated in Islamic sciences (akhund). 2 The students’ family directly paid the tuition fee for homeschool to the akhunds, and the government did not have any role in it. There was no standard in what was taught to students. Most of the educational concepts were selected from the Qur'an or poetry books such as Hafez and Sa'adi poems.