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Egypt’s failure to educate its people is not due to lack of effort. The country’s first modern schools opened in the early 19th century, far earlier than in most of the region. Free public primary education was introduced in the 1940s, but not widely available until after the 1952 revolution. In the following quarter-century university enrolment increased by more than ten times. The number of primary schools doubled, the number of students quadrupled and public spending on education swelled from 3% to 4% of GDP, a respectable figure by world standards.
Yet something went wrong. Before the revolution Egypt’s schools and universities were few but their standard was excellent. The push to boost numbers came at the cost of a drastic fall in quality. Instead of following tested Western models, school textbooks were rewritten to emphasise “nationalist values”, scientific formulas and lists of facts rather than critical thinking. By the 1980s class sizes in government schools averaged more than 60. With student numbers in several big state universities up to six-digit figures, hundreds, even thousands of students were packed into lecture halls. Some of the better staff emigrated to Gulf countries, where salaries were many times higher.

A. 어휘
due to . . . 때문에. primary education 초등교육.
available 이용할 수 있는. quarter-century 4반세기. enrolment 등록.
quadruple 4배가 되다. swell 증가하다, 팽창하다, 부어오르다.
figure 數値(수치). at the cost ...를 희생하고. drastic 엄청난, 격렬한.
tested 검증된, 보증된. emphasise 강조하다. nationalist 민족주의자.
formula 공식. critical thinking 비판적 思考(사고).
six-digit figures 여섯 자리 數(수). lecture 강의.
the better staff 보다 우수한 교수진. emigrate 이민 나가다.
Gulf countries 홍해와 아라비아海 연안 아랍국가들.