ERIC Number: EJ834683
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Jun
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-7761
EISSN: N/A
The Political Coherence of Educational Incoherence: The Consequences of Educational Specialization in a Southern Moroccan Community
Boum, Aomar
Anthropology & Education Quarterly, v39 n2 p205-223 Jun 2008
This article is based on an ethnographic study I conducted in southern Morocco during 2004. I explore the historical, ideological, and cultural background behind educational specialization among Moroccan university students. I describe how French colonial educational policies and postindependence Moroccan national schooling ideologies have created a national system of double standards that: (1) privileges French-educated urban middle- and upper-class students, (2) emphasizes the Arabization of the national education system, and (3) discriminates against Arabized, largely rural students, which have exacerbated regional educational and socioeconomic inequalities. I finally contend that educational specialization in noncompetitive degrees such as Arabic language and literature, Islamic studies, geography, and general law is the result of an ideological matrix I have termed "political coherence of educational incoherence." Political coherence of educational incoherence naturalizes the reliance of certain disfranchised regional groups on a traditional preschool Islamic education that is largely based on memorization and inefficient pedagogy and is unsuitable for the modern educational requirements.
Descriptors: Islamic Culture, Islam, Ethnography, Foreign Countries, Specialization, Cultural Background, Rural Education, Educational Anthropology, Educational History, College Students, Educational Policy, Social Bias, Ideology, Politics of Education, Religious Education, Preschool Children, Rural Urban Differences, Developing Nations, Foreign Policy
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Morocco
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A