The Role of Government in Education; a Comparative Analysis of Plato and Imam homeini's Views

The present paper tries to show that Plato and Imam Khomeini, as two thinkers and philosophers of politics and education, though they have some different viewpoints, both believe in the active role of government in education, and they, unlike other thinkers, grant educational goals of government a metaphysical orientation. However, they have different opinion about the method and limits of this special task and governmental goal. This difference exist in three domains: regarding the method, Plato's model of education is linear but Imam Khomeini's model is evolutionary. Concerning the content, Plato prefers the intellectual (rational) judgments, but Imam Khomeini bases his view on sense, reason, heart, and revelation. In practice, according to Plato, a wise ruler is the proper one who is responsible for education, while Imam Khomeini believes that when individual, civil, and governmental factors come within God's desire, they are influential.