• Turkey’s Curriculum Under Erdogan THE EVOLUTION OF TURKISH IDENTITY

    IMPACT-se  Report  November 2016

    This well-timed report monitors Turkish school textbooks published since the AKP’s (Justice and Development Party)  rise to power from 2002–15, with special emphasis on recent years (2013–15). The report examined 117 school textbooks covering subjects in the humanities, science, religious instruction and civics.  Report  (pdf 3 mb)

  • Iranian Education: The Continuous Revolution

    IMPACT-se – 2016

    iran2015Between 2012–16 IMPACT-se revisited Iranian school textbooks, reflecting new developments in Iranian education.

    Unlike political and diplomatic declarations that are often propagated for diverse audiences and interests, education provides a clearer indicator of a country’s direction. Schoolbooks are measures of a society; one educates children in one’s own language and shares with them a worldview and cultural and moral values.

    The Iranian education curriculum includes a long list of troubling features. It speaks defense, but often means aggression and hate. It teaches love and intimate relations with God, but manipulates students’ deepest emotions—toward martyrdom, self-sacrifice, jihad war and blind obedience to the all-powerful Supreme Leader. It nurtures Imperial Dreams based on a radical religious ideology and an essentialist-racial worldview predicated on Aryan-Persian superiority. It encourages dissimulation and nurtures fantasies such as paranormal powers of the leadership — all to prepare for the imminent apocalyptic final battle against the “oppressors of the world.”

    Full Report  (pdf, 2.1 mb)   Exec Summary  (pdf, 397 kb)

  • The PA Educational System: In the Shadow of the Terror Wave

    By Eldad J. Pardo, IMPACT-se — May 2016

    This IMPACT-se report revisits the Palestinian Authority school curriculum, which is perhaps the chief expression of Palestinian cultural independence. The report covers the main findings of our 2011 report as well as some current observations up to and including, the 2015–16 “Knife Intifada.” Major findings include some positives: civil and gender issues, care for the environment, respect for the internal Other (disabled, authority figures, elderly) and the Muslim/Arab Other (collaboration with Arab countries). Vilification of the West is widespread but not to the point of violence. More troubling from the perspective of Israeli-Palestinian peace is what may be called a “Guerrilla Curriculum.”

    Full Interim Report  (pdf  1.3mb)   Executive Summary  (pdf  790kb)

  • Palestinians in Israeli Textbooks: 2016 Update

    By IMPACT-se – Update for 2016

    This timely report updates ImpIsraeli School Childrenact’s analysis of the current Israeli educational curriculum, particularly as relates to the Palestinian people and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. It is based on the review of 123 state and state-religious textbooks, which were approved and recommended by the Israeli Ministry of Education through the 2017 school year.   Updated Report (pdf, 659kb)

  • Between Sharia and Democracy: Islamic Education in North America

    By IMPACT-SE, Edited by Eldad J. Pardo – March 15, 2016

    The report surveys Islamic Studies curricula studied in The United States and Canada. Four out of the five curricula are published in the United States; one is published in Saudi Arabia for teaching in North America. Other than the latter curriculum, our main conclusion overall is that Muslim education in North America includes many positive elements, is flexible and generally tolerant. They contain a clear “us versus them” paradigm that rejects materialism, secular or liberal Islam. The materials demonstrate a respect for Christians and Jews but show hostility to Israel and distort the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including instances of erasing Israel from maps.

  • Egypt and Israel: Getting Closer, Child by Child?"

    By Marcus Sheff, The Times of Israel — March 3, 2016
    The Times of Israel article a couple of weeks ago headlined: “In a first, new Egyptian schoolbook teaches peace deal with Israel” and based on an Army Radio report by Jacky Hugi, was intriguing.