Opportunities and threats facing the Iranian educational system in the context of globalization in

Globalization in the 21st century has brought about gross changes to the educational system through its three dimensions (economical, political, and cultural). Therefore, identifying the characteristics of this procedure from the perspective of opportunity or threat is a necessity for any educational system including the Iranian educational system. The theoretical framework of this article will primarily discuss the characteristics and outcomes of globalization from three dimensions (economics, politics, and culture) on the educational system. The economic outcomes focus on the application of vocational education and the wide usage of information technology, the political outcomes focus on weakening the supervision and dominance of government on the educational system, the cultural aspects of globalization also emphasis on the advancement of the Western culture, the weakening of local characteristics, and threatening the national identity and religious values in the school curriculum in Iran. According to these parameters the author tries to find the answers to the questions of this article regarding the threats and opportunities of globalization in the Iranian educational system. The opportunities facing Iran in the globalization procedure are achieving the easy application of the most up-to-date information in order to enhance the quality of its education, cultural universality, electronic education, and the fission of the closed rings of knowledge. Globalization threatens Iran by damaging religion in this country, influencing the Persian language and its teaching, bringing about cultural elitism and multi cultural classes. Hence by identifying these threats and opportunities we will be able to preserve our cultural inheritance and improve our educational system on our way to globalization.