La Psicología Evolucionista o Nueva Síntesis: hacia la Modularidad Masiva

As previously mentioned, education in Egypt was already divisive in nature and this characteristic would continue under the rule of Mohamed Ali. Mohamed Ali defeated the Mamluk rulers, destroying this military class and bringing in a new educational system modeled after Europe. Prior to Mohamed Ali and the French invasion, education in Egypt revolved around religious education. Under his rule, Egypt began its path, however slowly, into two distinct educational spheres, the kuttab-madrasa system and one based on the European model. The kuttab is similar to the notion of an elementary school, and one could advance to the next level called the madrasa.83 _{Students in the}

kuttab “learnt the orthography of the Arabic language mainly through memorising the

Kor’an.”84 _{This was an elementary education, rather Islamic in nature, that revolved}

around memorization and recitation. Upon finishing this system, students could continue their studies at al-Azhar, the premier religious university, if he was from the sheikh class, or undertake an apprenticeship usually under the command of his father.85 _Religious

82 _{Radwan, Old and New Forces in Egyptian Education, 72.} 83 _{Cook, Egyptian Higher Education: Inconsistent Cognitions, 58.}

84 _{J. Heyworth-Dunne, An Introduction to the History of Education in Modern Egypt, 2.} 85 _{Ibid., 7.}

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Coptic schools were also available for the Coptic community. Although waqf-funded,86

religious schools were accessible to the poor, few children were sent as they were often needed to work alongside their fathers.87 _{Consequentially, although the schools}

established under Mohamed Ali were technically public, attendees were generally from a somewhat privileged background, and thus became associated with the privilege of the

effendiya. Starting under Mohamed Ali, the government primary-secondary-university

ladder under the auspices of the state became the effendiya’s track to influential positions.88

The core of Mohamed Ali’s modern state-building campaign was the

advancement and improvement of his military to aid his expansionist policies. As a result, concentration on science, industry, and strengthening the military define the changes in Egypt’s education system during his reign. Modern science was needed to create the industries and factories to supply the military. His schools were generally military establishments, a recruitment site, or provided technical support to the military.89

The schools provided Mohamed Ali not only with officers but also civil servants who would become the core of his administrative needs. As the former kuttab-madrasa system was not suitable for his needs and ultimate goals,90 _{he moved away from the}

strictly religious curriculum to teach a variety of skills from languages to geometry. The focus on European-inspired education rather than the old kuttab-madrasa system left the

86 _{Waqf is an Islamic religious endowment usually for religious or charitable purposes.} 87 _{Radwan, Old and New Forces in Egyptian Education, 80.}

88 _{Reid, Cairo University and the Making of Modern Egypt, 14.}

89 _{Heyworth-Dunne, An Introduction to the History of Education in Modern Egypt, 203.} 90 _{Radwan, Old and New Forces in Egyptian Education, 86.}

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latter system in continued disrepair. Social mobility was through these new state schools or being sent on education missions abroad. The following excerpt reinforces the

reproduction of the exclusive group of Egyptians that became known as the effendiya largely through connections and capital or “training” attained through this educational track:

There is still one other important aspect of this educational policy; in spite of the hostility to these earlier missions on their return to Egypt, the very fact that most of them were Mohammad Ali’s picked men, whether Turk, Armenian or

Egyptian, gradually forced the idea in official administrative circles that training and specialization abroad was the hallmark of education. It was these missions that provided the officials for governmental posts and so created a new stratum in society which might be called, whatever may be its quality, the cultured

aristocracy. It was through their training that they were enabled to take over posts that led to high salaries, gifts of lands and titles.91

Due to many costly wars and defeats, finances were heavily strained towards the end of Mohamed Ali’s reign, and education suffered as a result. Most of the military schools previously opened were closed as there was no need for more officers. Many more were further closed under Abbas I, his successor. However, his sons and the sons of many notables continued to be sent to Europe for education and training and would continue his legacy of focusing on the European-inspired government schools at the expense of the religious kuttab-madrasa system.

Mohamed Ali’s impact on the course of education in Egypt is profound. Like his predecessors, he left the religious kuttab-madrasa system in disrepair, further

delegitimizing this educational choice in the face of his modernizing education project. He was the first to thrust Egypt into large-scale consumption of scientific knowledge and expertise available in Europe driving Egypt further into participation in the global

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exchange of transnational capital. Yet his new public school system was not easily accessible, and this exclusivity meant the pathways to power and influence depended greatly on maintaining the bifurcation of education in Egypt. In a sense, he established the foundation for what would later become the field of private, international education. This field would become a derivative of the primary-secondary-university ladder.