Weakness of Society and Absence of Ethnicity in the Formal Education System of Iran before the Islamic Revolution

This article examines the weakness of society in formal education policies in Iran as a threat. In different contexts and periods, a pattern of education often appears in the service of the individual, in the service of society, or in the service of government. In this article, by reviewing the lineage of Iran's formal education system in historical events and dominant rationality, we examined if the weakness or absence of society in Iran's formal education system before the Islamic Revolution has prevented the possibilities of formation of a unified collective identity. The findings showed that the content of the courses and the rationality of the educational programs acted in the direction of identity assimilation by eliminating the capital of identity pluralities. In addition, it is revealed that geography produces a special imagination that produces a kind of ethnic nationalism. The history lesson tries to construct a collective identity based on race by presenting an idealistic and mythical narrative of ancient history and a selective approach to historical periods and personalities. In addition, uniformity, by transcending geography and history, by spreading to all the objective and mental realms of the student, penetrated language and culture.