فصلنامه راهبرد فرهنگ
پیاپی 1 (بهار 1387)

This article reviews comprehensively, holistically, and meta-analytically, the achievements of the researches conducted on the contents of school textbook in regard to Islamic-Iranian values, trying to find answers to the following questions:1. To what extent, the Iranian-Islamic values have been considered in composing school textbooks on social teachings, Persian literature, and religious teachings?2. Are the values offered in these textbooks in primary and guidance schools adjusted to the mental capacity of the students?3.What are the difficulties concerning the adjustment of contents of these textbooks for making the students familiar with the Islamic and Iranian values? 4.What methods can be presented for optimizing the contents of these textbooks in accordance with the above-mentioned goal? This study has been conducted in the form of a survey or a documentary research. Therefore, 38 researches and 7 documents have been used. The results show that the textbooks in both primary and guidance schools – in accordance with the goal of familiarizing students with Islamic and Iranian values – require review and modification as far as both the quantity of the material and the quality of the ideas presented are concerned.

The main purposes of the present study are: the theoretic and methodical evaluation of the researches conducted on issues pertaining to youth, and the investigation and evaluation of the solutions and suggestions presented in these researches. This is a documentary research of the type of the analysis of text contents, and its method is meta-analysis research. The technique for data gathering is based on the inverted questionnaire. The statistical pile of the project consists of the whole number of research projects and academic theses in the field of social and cultural issues of youth in Iran during the last decade. During six months, 40 research projects were analyzed as the sample bulk. Nearly all the researches are related to the modern issues of the youth; in 70% of the projects, the purpose of the research is adequately relevant to its subject matter; and in 85% of them, the purpose of the research is examinable and practical. In 60% of the projects having hypotheses, the scientific principles have been observed in formulating the hypotheses. In 40%, the main variables have not been operationally defined. Regarding the second purpose in the arbitrator's view, in 25% of the projects, all the solutions presented are based on the research results. The solutions presented in 28% of the projects are not so relevant to the research results, and in 32% of the projects, they are not practical. Besides, in 36% of the projects, the solutions are often general and not operational. From the scores given to all answers in each section of the research, the following means have been obtained: a) the evaluation of research project and its purposes, 2/3 out of 3; b) the theoretical evaluation, 2/3 out of 3; c) the methodological evaluation, 2/7 out of 3; d) he evaluation of the solutions and suggestions, 2 out of 3.

Since human being is a complicated creature, training and educating him is no easy task. Therefore, God has sent the Holy Book, Quran, the prophets and the Imams for the sake of an ideal, true and full-scale training and guidance of human beings. After the victory of Islamic Revolution and the establishment of Islamic government in Iran, a special status was granted to the education and training based on Islamic doctrines, and some formal and informal institutions – the formal institution of education Ministry, inparticular – took on the responsibility for this seminal task. Educating divinely-educated individuals in concordance with Islamic standards is considered the fundamental task for the education system of our country. This specifies the status and the role of religious education and training in the education system. Thus, the authorities are responsible for preparing the ground, with complete awareness and full insight, for achieving this important goal, to realize the ideal conditions for training a faithful and pious generation. Considering researches conducted on the current situation of the religious education in the formal education system, the present article investigates the issue from different viewpoints of planning, content, method, and evaluation. Then, some mechanisms have been proposed for creating an evolution and approaching the ideal situation.

This paper tries to investigate the elements of soft power in the front of cultural management of revolution versus the western cultural NATO. After re-identifying the notion of cold war and the measures taken during that period, the reason and the manner of the formation of NATO have been investigated with a military approach. Some issues such as the victory of Islamic Revolution, disintegration of the Soviet Union, as well as the wakefulness of the Muslim and Oppressed nations, have caused the founders of NATO to face with the necessity of a change in their approach and functions. Combating against awakening Islam or the green threat, in the form of combating against terrorism, becomes NATO's agenda; and the cultural NATO, begun from the period of cultural cold war, takes a new form. After an identification of cultural NATO, its features and the western's principal purposes in resorting to cultural NATO in the period of post- modern colonialism in the light of soft power, and the NATO's strategies in regard to Islam and Iran have been studied. Then, the elements of soft power of Islamic Revolution for organizing the management of cultural front against the western cultural NATO, as well as the requirements of this management have been reviewed. At the end, in view of Islamic Revolution and its soft power, reinforcement of soft power and cultural normalization have been introduced as the ways to combat against cultural NATO, and some other strategies for facing up to it have been stated.

This research studies the inter-relationship of systems of 'education' and 'higher education', and delineates the unknown aspects and layers of this inter-relationship. An investigation of the history of education system shows that Ministry of Education had been in charge of the management of our education system from primary school to university up to year 1346. From that year on, the management of the higher education is separated from Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Higher Education is formed and takes charge of higher education system. After the victory of Islamic Revolution, a new ministry called "Ministry of Culture and Higher Education" was formed, and has recently been renamed to "Ministry ofsciences, researches and technology" which is in charge of higher education. An investigation of the inter-relationship of two education systems, i. e. the general education and the higher education, shows that there is no structural and procedural interaction between them. From the viewpoint of a systemic approach to educational system of our country, this system seems not to be in concordance with some of the educational trends and processes. The lack of a systematic and meaningful structural and procedural relationship between different educational sections and levels is one of the factors showing the lack of a comprehensive and holistic approach to education in Iran. Therefore, we may consider the lack of an ideal relationship between "general education" and "higher education" as one of the challenges facing the education system in Iran.

Human as a social being enjoys cultural system. Human beings are the only creatures being able to make cultures. Culture has two dimensions: material and non-material and, in a special sense, includes non-material and cognitive things. The socialization process consists of a far-reaching mechanism which contributes to transferring, institutionalization, and durability of social beliefs, values, norms, customs and practices. Although culture is a cognitive and subjective matter and – unlike material or concrete affairs – cannot be easily manipulated or changed, a lack or weakness of management in this domain may lead to a kind of cultural dissolution. In this case, the organizations responsible for culture and cultural socialization would suffer dailiness. The natural outcome of such a condition is a crisis of social identity and a conflict in the cultural arena of the society. The organizations responsible for cultural affairs seek to institutionalize, preserve and transmit the culture, beliefs, and the cultural values and behaviors through socialization. In our Islamic society, the formation of socialization system is influenced by universal, national, religious, ethnic and racial conditions, and is formed in terms of preservation and protection of beliefs and values. Conflicting values and behaviors stemming from these various origins, and the diversity of the institutions responsible for culture and socialization would prepare the ground for identity crisis, conflict, offering improper models not consistent with national, local and religious doctrines. Thus, cultural management and cultural engineering become necessary in the society and, it is through them that we may investigate – with a scientific approach – the function of the institutions responsible for culture, their efficiency, and the degree of their effectiveness in society, recognizing their internal consistency and their compatibility with the historical, national, and religious identity of Iranian society.

The present study aims at a qualitative and quantitative investigation of the activities in pre-school educational centers. In this study, 38 pre-school centers (19 centers under Ministry of Education, and 19 under the Welfare Organization) were selected randomly. The process of data-gathering was done through observation, interviews, questionnaires, and the qualitative andquantitative evaluation of these centers; and the data were analyzed using SPSS software. The pre-school centers were compared in their physical appearance, the status of manpower, the equipments and their seventeen functions. The results showed a difference between the centers under the Ministry of Education and those under the Welfare Organization. In view of the results obtained, some necessary suggestions were made and the essential policies were made for planning and policy making in pre-school education.