Revising the high school curriculum… and developing Egyptian character – Mustafa Kamel Said

The public education system of any country is a mirror of the political system of that country, because education is one of the most important channels of socialization, if not the most important, and every political system desires its outputs, which are reflected in personality. The male and female graduates of its schools and universities are the personalities that the political system desires to be in order to ensure its continuity. Some regimes want their male and female citizens to obey authority, respond to authority, and get information from authority, while other regimes want them to be self-reliant, pay attention to what is going on in the world, be proud of their motherland, and be able to deal with people of the same culture and those belonging to other cultures.

Let us understand the philosophy behind the high school curriculum revision from this perspective and compare it with the situation in other countries.

What is the content of the revision?

According to Al-Ahram newspaper, the curriculum of the first year of secondary school was shortened from ten courses to seven courses by turning the second foreign language into a subject that does not count towards the total score, but instead becomes a subject of failure or success, the teaching of geography was cancelled, and philosophy and logic courses were added for all students. In the second and third years, the curriculum of each section was shortened from seven to five, which was done by making the second foreign language a subject of success and failure, instead of teaching history in the science section. In the third year, the same principle was applied not only in the teaching of the second foreign language, but also in the teaching of geology in the science section and applied mathematics in the mathematics section, and therefore, the study of philosophy was completely abandoned in the literature department, as it was only taught to all students in the first year.

The question that arises here is whether it is wise to limit the study of a foreign language to one, to abandon geography in the first year of secondary school, and to transform geology and applied mathematics courses into courses outside the general curriculum of the science and mathematics department. Not giving students the opportunity to choose what to study weakens their independence to make independent decisions on issues that concern them, while shortening the curriculum makes Egyptian high school graduates, both male and female, less familiar with the rapid scientific and technological developments in the world. Turning a second foreign language into a process of failure and success and marginalizing its teaching does not encourage the development of the ability to communicate with other peoples and cultures that speak this language.

What about the situation in some foreign countries?

Would the secondary education systems of other countries avoid such results and develop curricula that contribute to the formation of a different profile of citizens and citizens than the Egyptian education system? It is impossible to explain in this article what all countries do in this regard, but let’s choose two countries; one of them has conditions similar to those of Egypt in the sixties, perhaps more difficult, but it knows how to develop correctly and in a balanced way and has become one of the so-called Asian Tigers, whose scientific-industrial progress has reached the point where its companies have set up branches in developed countries, one of which even participates in the competition with Apple for the smartphone market, contributes to the manufacture of precision equipment for American spacecraft, and even from this country is South Korea, whose per capita income in 1961 was lower than the Egyptian average. Currently Egypt’s per capita income is about 13.5 times higher, from $2,000 to $27,000 per year. The second country is a developed country, and we cite some civil law texts and the constitution of France. The organization of the judiciary and government universities. Now let’s see what high school students in both countries are learning.

What is impressive about the Korean secondary school curriculum is the diversity of the curriculum and its orientation towards the comprehensive education of students’ personality, according to the study plan document released by the Korean government. There are general courses and professional courses. The general curriculum includes four areas: preparatory courses, so-called research, sports, arts, life sciences, and arts.

Preparatory courses include Korean, mathematics, English and Korean history. Studies include social studies and ethics, as well as natural sciences and laboratories. The third area is sports and art. The fourth area is life and art affairs. Technology, home economics, foreign languages, Chinese literary heritage, foreign languages, philosophy, logic.

Each field has specialized electives and general courses, for example, electives include Korean geography, world geography, economics, and political science. Students can then specialize in one of five fields: natural sciences, sports, and the arts, which include music, drama, literature, foreign languages, and international relations. There are no general majors other than these two. For social studies such as sociology, economics, and political science, students may be satisfied with what they have learned. Students are at the basic stage.

The minimum number of units of study that students must complete over three years, and the number of courses taught in any semester for both males and females cannot exceed eight. Since 2018, the areas of courses that students can study have been expanded, with most of them designed to prepare students for professions.

It can be said that compared with the recently revised curriculum in Egypt, Korean general middle schools pay more attention to the overall formation of students’ personality, and therefore include sports, arts, morality, etc. in the curriculum. The core of the general curriculum also emphasizes the study of foreign languages, Korean cultural heritage influenced by Chinese culture, and is not limited to indoctrination, but also includes research methods, laboratory training, sports practice and art training.

In France, general secondary education is divided into two stages: the first year is open to all students, followed by two years of courses taught to all students. In the first year, students study an average of 10 courses throughout the school year, with a study time of 26.5 weeks. Interestingly, they take up less time. The French secondary school curriculum is characterized by covering all sciences, keeping up with the development of science and technology, as well as physical education, moral education and civic education, providing students with a wide range of choices, and all majors have common courses.

After the first year, a girl or boy can choose up to two of three specialties: science and technology, literature and art. In all cases, he must take six general courses in the following two years, including French and other languages, social and natural sciences, and moral and civic education.

The study hours for these courses are 16 hours in the second year, but three additional electives are offered in the second year and two additional electives in the third year. Each course lasts two and a half hours and the choices include a wide range of social and natural sciences, mathematics, languages, digital sciences and technology.

Therefore, the number of subjects students study ranges from nine in the second year to eight in the third year, with students even being able to choose an additional three hours of courses, including languages, physical education, art and sports. Activities in the third year include equestrianism and travel.

The French secondary education curriculum is also unique in that it focuses on the formation of an intellectually, physically, morally and ethically integrated personality, with a critical consciousness through an interest in philosophical teaching, able to choose and keep up with what is happening in the world at the forefront of scientific and technological developments, and even in sports and the arts.

How are decisions about these courses made?

It is not easy to make a decision to change the curriculum, as we mentioned, it is a question that concerns the formation of the personality of future citizens and is a matter of concern to the entire society. For example, we note that in terms of the choice of curriculum and the proposal of alternatives, the Minister of Education is not the only one who decides what courses will be taught at any stage of the year. Instead, the approval of these decisions requires a process. Involving multiple institutions, it is subject to consultation with each of them and is forwarded to the Minister of Education for approval and measures for implementation. This responsibility is assumed by the Supreme Planning Council, whose members include members of Parliament and representatives of the Economic, Social and Environmental Committee, which advises the government in these areas, in addition to ten personalities selected by the Minister of Education from among them with experience in the field of education. The mission of this committee is to make recommendations on the general vision of education and the introduction of digital methods in education and knowledge construction. These recommendations are technically developed by the relevant ministries and, in consultation with teachers and inspectors, are finally submitted to the Supreme Education Council for its opinion. After this long process, it is handed over to the Minister, who begins implementation.

We do not know how the Minister of Education made the final decision, more than a month has passed since he was elected as Minister of Education, and he is not an expert with reliable opinions in the field of education. What we know in this regard is that he attended a meeting on the development of education with the President of the Republic and the Dean of the Egyptian Military Academy, and then held a press conference to announce the decision on the amendments. This surprised Egyptian education experts and public opinion. But none of this is surprising, as we mentioned before, the education system and the changes that take place in it are a mirror of the political system, which uses the education system as a tool to shape the personality and identity of citizens. The system prefers.