Introduction

Abstract

This is a study of the educational systems of Egypt and Turkey, two of the largest states of the Middle East. Each in its own way is critical to the geopolitical stability of the whole area and what role they play there depends on how and whether either state achieves economic development. They are states with a common Ottoman past in which determined attempts have been made both in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to modernise traditional social structures along lines modelled on those of Europe. Change in education has been at the forefront of those efforts. The relative failure of both societies to realise these goals fully provides us with an interesting context in which to examine once more the subtle and ever-changing relationship between education and socioeconomic development.