How Politics Shape Schools Around the World
For better and for worse.
Around the world, or at least the Northern Hemisphere, many students are starting a new school year. In China, pupils will study curricula that prioritize manual labor, harkening back to Mao Zedong-era policies. Many Haitians, meanwhile, will soon return to classrooms conducted in French—a language few Haitians can speak.
Around the world, or at least the Northern Hemisphere, many students are starting a new school year. In China, pupils will study curricula that prioritize manual labor, harkening back to Mao Zedong-era policies. Many Haitians, meanwhile, will soon return to classrooms conducted in French—a language few Haitians can speak.
In this edition of Flash Points, we take you into five school systems, examining how their education policies reflect domestic politics and geopolitical realities.—Chloe Hadavas
A Chinese employee works on vehicle parts at a factory in Jinan in China’s eastern Shandong province on May 11, 2019.STR/AFP via Getty Images
Xi Wants Chinese Students Back in the Countryside
New labor education policies echo Maoist obsessions, Don Giolzetti writes.
Students look at booklets at their desks on the first day back to school at the National School of Tabarre in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Sept. 5, 2016.HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images
Haiti’s Foreign Language Stranglehold
Around 90 percent of Haitians speak only Haitian Creole, Benjamin Hebblethwaite writes. So why is school mostly conducted in French?
Girls attend a class after their school reopened, hours before the Taliban ordered girls’ secondary schools to shut down, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 23.AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AFP via Getty Images
Taliban Reversal on Girls’ Education Ignites World’s Anger
The sudden about-face could undercut the Taliban’s hopes for international recognition, FP’s Lynne O’Donnell writes.
Palestinians collect food aid at a distribution center run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in Gaza City on July 26.MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images
Palestinian Schools Have a Problem—and Are Running Out of Time
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has failed to fulfill demands for reform—and may soon face the consequences, Yardena Schwartz writes.
Chris Gash illustration for Foreign Policy
The Arab World’s Star Student
What Tunisia can teach its neighbors about the value of education, according to Kim Ghattas.
More from Foreign Policy
A New Multilateralism
How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.
America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want
Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.
The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy
Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.
The End of America’s Middle East
The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.
Sign up for World Brief
FP’s flagship evening newsletter guiding you through the most important world stories of the day. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
Join the Conversation
Commenting on this and other recent articles is just one benefit of a Foreign Policy subscription.
Already a subscriber? .
Subscribe Subscribe
View Comments
Join the Conversation
Join the conversation on this and other recent Foreign Policy articles when you subscribe now.
Subscribe Subscribe
Not your account?
View Comments
Join the Conversation
Please follow our comment guidelines, stay on topic, and be civil, courteous, and respectful of others’ beliefs.