Imam Khamenei: Iran must dictate might to US in Persian Gulf

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran must show off its military power to the US in the Persian Gulf waters.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution has criticized the general trend of copying education material from western sources, however he has not ruled out using their experiences.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received and addressed a meeting of teachers from across the country on Monday in the occasion of National Day of Teachers where he touched upon important issues of education of the posterity and cultural and political aspects of a successful inculcation of truly native and Islamic culture on children and teens.

He opened the address with accolade of all teachers whose unassuming efforts “fostered a posterity with robust culture based on self-reliance and an identity creating new waves and developments.” “Only in such a society could Resistance Economy, economy without oil income, independent culture, efficient consumption behavior and a high spirit of resistance against foreign encroachments be realized; teachers’ frugality and modesty however should not deflect the officials’ attentions from working to provide their welfare and social status in par with their contribution to culture; teachers should be given a certain share in governance and an opportunity to decide on their own affairs, however in the frameworks of the system; I believe budgets on education would not be considered expenses proper, but a sort of investing in the future of our children,” Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized.

“In rearing and fostering the future generation of the nation, we are not in a flat ground free of difficulties, but we face a plethora of difficulties and plurality of cultural rivals the most important of which is international imperialism; imperialism, advanced and represented by the US, some western countries, and Zionism, seeks to dominate countries and to impose their own cultural priorities and worldviews in international issues,” he told the meeting. “Their elites had famously proposed a cultural campaign to win the hearts and minds of the public in the third world not through military conquering, but through cultural invasion and infusing their culture and lifestyle to the peoples of subdued lands. This is in line with the cunning measure the colonial powers would adopt in advancing their petty long-term interests and to protect their cultural ascendency in their protectorates.”

Leader of the Islamic Revolution criticized some countries in the region who he believed were clear examples of this cunning plan by the imperialist powers without incurring any costs to their patrons, that is, the US and without receiving any compensation for their service; “only the US would guarantee their despotic regimes continue in these countries,” he added.

Elsewhere in his address, Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the important factors in fostering children in schools; “independent, religiously-robust, and undergirded by a feeling of glory for their country should be the features of an ideal education system of educating the posterity; we should foster a generation of economists, politicians, scientists, and elites who would balk at the idea of easily falling to the cultural attractions and flashy lifestyle of the West; a second criterion of a good education system is that it should promote the culture of tolerance of the opposition; even smallest criticism should not incite the harshest reaction in the rival factions; this means our education has not succeeded in helping students and future generation of statesmen and officials make themselves subject to culture of tolerance and freely listening to conflicting opinions of others,” he objected.

Ayatollah Khamenei criticized the old version of the curriculum in schools as being an outdated version of European school curricula which had been taught for decades without any change; “the curriculum should be reshuffled to include new elements of identity of Iranian-Islamic origin; in terms of teaching living skills, schools should teach different talent-hunting techniques by which every student’s skills and abilities is channeled into proper occupations, thus diversifying the repertoire of our country in terms of expertise and skills,” he recommended.

He criticized the ever-growing rise of ‘not-for-profit’ schools across the country which had been outcome of a systematic collapse of quality in state-run schools; “education is an issue remaining with the public as well as government; however, the status and prestige of state-run schools should be in a level not to derive students out in search of not-for-profit schools which ironically receive heavy sums from families; this is an inaccuracy which should be rectified by the system,” Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized.

Yet on a different issue, Leader of the Islamic Revolution denounced the claims by the US officials to restrict Iran’s missile testing and military drills in the Persian Gulf as ‘excessive and boasting rhetoric.’



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