Generation Denied: The Broken Promise of Education in Iran

An examination of the struggles of Iran's youth when education promises success only through loyalty to the regime, and how that loyalty manifests through ideological capital within regime-imposed parameters. Education is highly prized in Iranian society, touted as the key to success and influence.After all, the state's top leaders are themselves scholars and experts in Islamic thought, history, and law, and graduates of elite institutions like Sharif University enjoy better job prospects than their peers.Yet the promise of a return on investment from education is a ruse: what unlocks opportunity is not academic development but loyalty to the regime.Generation Denied shows how the education system, from middle school through university, relies on standardized tests to funnel students into politically quiescent STEM fields, limiting their potential and quashing intellectual opposition to the regime.Students then graduate into a job market dominated by regime-affiliated entities, who hir