Part 5
Well after the revolution, all universities were closed down because the revolutionaries believed that higher education was propagating Western culture and civilization! It was against their ideology fuelled by Islamic fundamentalists, Russians, and Palestinians. They formed what they called the "Cultural Revolution Committee" to revise the academic curricula (especially in Humanities to purge any Western traces of knowledge), fire the "Pro-Shah" high-caliber academics who were wearing "ties" at work, revise the textbooks, and Islamicize universities. They were also on another mission of reconciliating religious Shi'a schools and mullahs with universities and academics by somehow merging them together! It took many years and still continues! However, as the Iraq-Iran war was severely going on and they were in pressing need of medical doctors and nurses, they decided to launch the first post-revolutionary nation-wide entrance examination only for medical courses in October 1982. I had received my high school diploma in June 1982 and was ready to attend this examination. In Iran of that time, higher education was free but one had to compete with hundreds of thousands of peers as the seats were limited. This is not really the case now. I believed that I was ready. Ali and I had invested a huge amount of time and energy on this and were both hoping to win a seat at Tehran University Medical School. However, to be on the safe side, we decided to sit the entrance examination of Teachers Training College affiliated with the Ministry of Education for an associate's degree as well, just in case we failed in the medical school examination. The two exams were administered in a week's time difference. We both chose English as our would-be majors to become English teachers at junior high school or middle school level. We both knew very well that if we fail, we have to go to the battlefronts for our 2-year term compulsory military service. We both also knew very well that even if we come back home alive and miss the "blessing" of martyrdom, we are so detached from our books and studies during these two years, that it would be virtually impossible to be admitted to any higher education institution with that fierce competition of that time.
Well after the revolution, all universities were closed down because the revolutionaries believed that higher education was propagating Western culture and civilization! It was against their ideology fuelled by Islamic fundamentalists, Russians, and Palestinians. They formed what they called the "Cultural Revolution Committee" to revise the academic curricula (especially in Humanities to purge any Western traces of knowledge), fire the "Pro-Shah" high-caliber academics who were wearing "ties" at work, revise the textbooks, and Islamicize universities. They were also on another mission of reconciliating religious Shi'a schools and mullahs with universities and academics by somehow merging them together! It took many years and still continues! However, as the Iraq-Iran war was severely going on and they were in pressing need of medical doctors and nurses, they decided to launch the first post-revolutionary nation-wide entrance examination only for medical courses in October 1982. I had received my high school diploma in June 1982 and was ready to attend this examination. In Iran of that time, higher education was free but one had to compete with hundreds of thousands of peers as the seats were limited. This is not really the case now. I believed that I was ready. Ali and I had invested a huge amount of time and energy on this and were both hoping to win a seat at Tehran University Medical School. However, to be on the safe side, we decided to sit the entrance examination of Teachers Training College affiliated with the Ministry of Education for an associate's degree as well, just in case we failed in the medical school examination. The two exams were administered in a week's time difference. We both chose English as our would-be majors to become English teachers at junior high school or middle school level. We both knew very well that if we fail, we have to go to the battlefronts for our 2-year term compulsory military service. We both also knew very well that even if we come back home alive and miss the "blessing" of martyrdom, we are so detached from our books and studies during these two years, that it would be virtually impossible to be admitted to any higher education institution with that fierce competition of that time.
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