Enlightening Knowledge: An Alexandrian Experience in Egypt's Education System

Description

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.

An Egyptian-American BroadcasterB.A. In English Language &Literature, Faculty of Arts, University of AlexandriaPositions & Experience1996- Present Reporter, political analyst with Cairo Radio, The Voice of Arabs, Deutsch Welle and Kuwait Radio.2003-2006Kuwait TV correspondent 2002-2003Tunisia 7th Channel correspondent2000-2001Host of the political talk show From America on the MBC world network1993-2000Host of the talk show Live Interview on ANA (Arab Network of America).1995-2000Cairo TV correspondent.1977-1995Announcer-translator, and news editor with VOA in Washington, D.C.1975-1977Announcer-translator with VOA in Rhodes, Greece.1970-1975Chief of announcers in the Voice of Arabs, and host of Unedited, the first live call-in show in the Arab Media.1970Roving correspondent for the Voice of Arabs in Kuwait.1967Supervisor of Taiz, Yemen Radio station.1965-1970Announcer, news reader and show host with the Voice of Arabs