Essay on Etemad Newspaper December 13, 2020 -
The original text was in Persian and the following translation was done by Ai.
Not long ago, Dr. Javad Ejei passed away. May his memory be cherished.
His important role was in (probably) conceptualizing and establishing SAMPAD: an organization that today, after about 32 years of its establishment, not much remains. SAMPAD's quantitative and measurable success was strange immediately after the end of the war and during a time of scarcity. Meanwhile, the principle of this efficiency mainly reflected the meaningfulness of the entrance exam to a very acceptable extent. Schools were very ordinary at first, but as time passed and the economic situation improved, the government during Mr. Hashemi's time began to build schools of very acceptable size and quality with facilities that were not found anywhere else. The teachers were also selected with great sensitivity and were not typical of what is common in education. The environment was close to the university but with the enthusiasm of middle and high schools. The school that I personally entered in 1976 had an area of 4 hectares and had a language laboratory, chemistry and physics laboratories (with a delay), two football fields, volleyball, basketball, badminton and a sports room with two ping-pong tables, and later a computer site, a robotics site, a buffet in a corner of a green wooded area, and other departments. The school was built on two floors and a basement. The first floor was a high school and the second floor was a middle school. Books for some subjects, in addition to the education book, came separately from the organization. From the beginning of middle school, physics, chemistry and biology were taught with quality books and separate teachers who had bachelor's degrees (in middle school) and master's degrees (in high school). Every year, a large number of medals in the World Student Olympiads and awards at the Kharazmi Festival were won by SAMPAD schools. Most of the brilliant results of the national entrance exam also belonged to the organization: the organization's achievements were concrete, not slogans. The weakness that was seen from the beginning in the school was the lack of a humanities major, and this was probably an extension of the belief that elites should continue their education in mathematics, engineering, and medicine.
It was said that the school put a lot of pressure on students, which was not the case. However, making the exams difficult in order to show the differences between students caused many children to be dissatisfied with their exam scores. But in general, what was seen from afar, that it was a dry, completely academic and difficult environment, was not the reality. My classmates did all kinds of mischief appropriate to their age, and it was a natural routine. During my studies, I think there were changes in 2002, and in terms of management, the schools of the organization were more under the control of the Ministry of Education. I remember at that time I wrote a letter and sent it to the president (Mr. Khatami) that this was not acceptable for an organization that is one of the most efficient.
There was also a discussion about Sampad University. Critics said that already, in just 7 years, graduates are isolated and distant from society enough, and if a university is established, this distance will deepen and “they will not be of use to the country.”
Finally, during Mr. Ahmadinejad’s era, like many other things, the number of SAMPAD schools multiplied several times, and their “specialty” was completely lost. They gave away quality and bought quantity and public approval: everyone you saw claimed that their child was studying at SAMPAD, which is definitely an obstacle for an ordinary student. The organization was destroyed. But the graduates of the first twenty classes mainly went to their mother universities. They continued their education and then went to Europe, especially the United States, to get a doctorate. They got a doctorate, found a job, became employees, started families, and today, for a large percentage, the primary goal has been lost for themselves. Those who stayed in Iran, like those who went abroad, mainly get it in the private sector.
The main idea with which SAMPAD was started was “identifying elites and training the country’s future technocrats and bureaucrats for sustainable development from among them.” When we say SAMPAD, of course, we should broaden our vision a little and include schools of approximately equal rank such as Alborz, Khrad, Abu Rayhan, etc. But it seems that the country’s administrative system changed its mind. After these graduates left the university, the country’s administrative system did not open the door to them and instead directed them towards immigration and the bare minimum.
Others who had no say in these kinds of contests and whose qualifications had not led to their being absorbed into the public body of the country were not unhappy with this procedure either: the stage was empty, and they, sometimes thanks to the influence of their relatives - even in the lowest positions - in the administration and organization, quickly passed through the labyrinth of recruitment and sat in a non-competitive environment on a chair that was not commensurate with their abilities.
No one remembered anything and did not recognize anything from the past. A small percentage succeeded in recruiting faculty in universities abroad and domestically or in the private sector. But they typically became unappealing experts who were not very well received, accompanied by a kind of frustration. Their ability to communicate in public was also not strengthened as much as it should have been (and this was also the second criticism of SAMPAD), as a result, they saw a society in front of them that was constantly refusing them. By denying what they had carried their entire lives as their credibility and their real achievements: in front of their society and under their feet, they became ordinary people who now had to answer to the average student of the most average schools. We turned the wheel and as a result, they were of little use to the country.
The problems with SAMPAD in its general sense could have been easily solved, at least by the graduates of these schools, and basically, such a large organization is not supposed to be without such problems from the beginning, but the achievements and qualitative distinctions of this institution were undeniable. If the lack of humanities, not working on communication skills, and not sowing the seeds of social and national passion in students were the criticisms leveled at SAMPAD, then the shortcomings of the administrative system that suddenly backed down from its decision, or a society that constantly imitated or denied them, should also be taken into account. If this had not happened, we would have thousands of Ferdowsipour, Zarif, Maryam Mirzakhani, and Kamran Vafa in the country today: in universities, the Ministry of Oil, Iran Khodro, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, banks, military forces, etc.
But now, by stripping away any quality that an individual brings from their past and with the same non-qualitative titles, the administrative and public body of the country is not filled with the most efficient ones. Probably, the short-sighted view in society is not so dissatisfied with this issue because the material benefits of this body can also be adjusted in proportion to their low quality. The general satisfaction is greater because both the person who emigrated feels satisfied and victorious, and the person who was hired in an office without any proportion.
But this inefficient body, which has been perhaps mistakenly emphasized by employment filters, creates security, economic, political, judicial and military holes and also paves the way for the emergence of a cartel of locals, fellow citizens and accomplices, which by any calculation is hundreds of times more damaging than elitism and elitism with all its material and spiritual costs.
In this regard, a criticism that can be made of this type of graduates is that their projects are typically personal and not social, and basically the social and national enthusiasm that turns an elite into an efficient force at the national level is not found in them. As a result, sometimes during their studies and work, they design non-authoritarian concerns for themselves and greatly reduce their perceived dimensions.
But the fundamental question is whether we (the people and officials) want to submit to the kind of precision that Ferdowsipour is paying attention to? Or do we prefer to be more comfortable? In other words, is the idea of cultivating elitism and increasing the speed of reforming matters through elite reforms fundamentally acceptable to our society and officials? Let's remember: elites don't wait.
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