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 hire applicants on the basis not of skills but of political agendas. Those who resist discover that the future they want in Iran does not exist, resulting in compelled migration. Closely following five young men who chose to be outsiders by pursuing education while rejecting political conformity, Reza Khanzadeh situates Iran within a broader global context, offering groundbreaking insight into the roles of education and employment in non-democratic governments.
Reza Khanzadeh is an adjunct professor in Global Affairs and Middle East & Islamic Studies at George Mason University with a PhD in education from the University of Oxford. He was formerly the Senior Foreign Policy Adivsor at the US-Iran Chamber of Commerce and has worked on reports for the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and the Center for Human Rights in Iran.
List of Tables and Illustrations List of Abbreviations Preface Introduction Chapter 1. Setting the Scene Within the Global Debate on Youth Aspiration, Employability, and Unemployment Chapter 2. Setting the Scene Within Iran's Modern History Chapter 3. Conducting Fieldwork Inside Iran Chapter 4. A One-Dimensionality to Human Capital During Pre-university: School, Family, and Society Postponing Living Chapter 5. A Tense Realization Within University: A Feeling of Isolation and Ejection Chapter 6. A Clash of Ideologies in Postgraduation: A Khodi-Versus-Ghayre-Khodi Tension Chapter 7. The Role of the State and Ideological Capital Conclusion Appendix A. List of Graduates Interviewed Appendix B. List of Stakeholders Interviewed Notes Glossary of Key Persian Terms References Index
