Iran Edu Added Text in Article

The concept of the Global Village can only be made manifest with the infrastructure and policies that promote information technology in the classroom. Information technologies, especially access to the Internet, promote the Global Village in real and tangible ways. Students accessing the global wealth of knowledge will be able to think more critically about the concepts, facts, and ideas they assimilate in the classroom. In Iran, the need for more robust information technologies in the classroom is apparent. The outmoded methods of education still practiced, ie. ones that do not ascribe to the Global Village concept, are reflective of the philosophy of Michel Foucault. Foucault argued that the modern education system had become too prison-like. We need to "understand the subtle, complex and harmful effects of power relations that shape and control educational institutions," (McDonough, 1993). A revolution in education is called for, one that maintains some of the essential social and political structures that define modern Iran while also incorporating liberalizing elements that bring Persian students into the era of globalization.

Foucault's analysis of the importance of power in the educational system is especially apt when applied to educational institutions in Iran. "Foucault was concerned mostly with power," as Cheshier (n.d.) points out. Yet the analysis is far deeper than that. It is not power itself that is the problem but the ramifications of that power. Students are powerless in the classroom to guide and direct their own learning, when they do not have access to the Internet and other crucial types of information technologies. It will be impossible for Persian students to achieve high levels of social, economic, and academic success without having the same access to technologies that their counterparts in Europe and North America do. For this reason, an exploration of the specific features needed to revolutionize the Iranian education system is fruitful.

Jacques Derrida proposed an educational system that is firmly rooted in ethical responsibility. Education, like other social institutions, should be responsible to the needs of the people. Ideally, education improves society so that future generations are better off and so that the society as a whole prospers. Based on the critique of power that Foucault provides in his writings, and on the reminder that ethics are needed in modern schools, educators can develop a core set of ideals, goals, and tools. This research is based on the philosophies of Foucault, Derrida, Farmahini, Jiroux. Building on core educational philosophies and sociologies, this research will help to elucidate what educators need in order to perform their ethical duties to students. It is important to explore and to clarify the philosophical underpinnings of any change, especially change as dramatic as revamping the Iranian educational system. It is not enough to talk about what technologies are needed in the classroom. It is also important to speak of the principles upon which those technologies are based, and how those technologies serve students. Technology is not