Building a knowledge society on sand – When the modernist project confronts the traditional cultural values in the Gulf

Abstract

The chapter explores the impact of the global knowledge economy upon education and social reform programmes in the Middle East. It highlights the difficulty of modifying school curricula to accord with a view of education which is based upon human capital formation coupled with standardised testing regimes designed to accommodate performativity; both of these phenomena being products of a neo-liberal agenda of the global north. The narrative considers the contrasting perspectives of regionally based Arab commentators, and it demonstrates the difficulty of reconciling the passionately held convictions of those who shun the modernist project with those who wish to embrace the democratic and social values of the global north. From his first-hand experience of government schools in the region, the author concludes with a plea for the formulation of education reforms which may succeed through more closely reflecting the cultural and educational traditions of the region rather than by the wholesale imposition of western values.

Citation

Lightfoot, M. (2014), "Building a knowledge society on sand – When the modernist project confronts the traditional cultural values in the Gulf", Education for a Knowledge Society in Arabian Gulf Countries (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920140000024008