Schools in Mitchell's "Colonising Egypt"

            I feel like there is something I am missing in this book, Colonising Egypt by Mitchell. Reading the additional section from Mitchell, the main thing I am taking away is just how eerily organized absolutely everything is. Look (remember):

As well as student monitors who instructed and supervised, there were monitors who promoted students up or down in the order of seating, monitors who inspected the slates, monitors who supplied and sharpened pens, monitors who checked on students who were not in their position, and a monitor-general who checked on the monitors.

There are around ~5 layers of monitors monitoring each other. I feel like there is no trust in these systems. These schools conjure a very grey color in my mind. But beyond that, its really interesting to ponder on what things they thought were of value, like:

All instruction was received standing, which was said to be better for the health

Of course these schools were structured in a very particular way, which is why Mitchell is telling us about them. Egypt wanted to people modern. The time frame was during the Industrial Revolutions of America and Britain. So, with this mindset, people desired everything to be overly structured, because the belief was that structure produced more and better quality objects. Thus specific views about education were popping up ‘cross the Britain and, then, Egypt like:

learning is a process of discipline, inspection and continuous obedience; order and discipline of modern schooling were to be the hallmark and the method of a new form of political power

Add to these views the admitted reason for structuring Egypt this way, because Egyptian leaders wanted to create a modern people; seeing schools like this in London and Paris, of course copying is the way to progress. This is the problem though, times like the Industrial Revolution put countries ahead not because they copied each other, but because they created new ideas themselves. If all someone does is copy their neighbor, they will never have a chance at being ahead. Now though I feel like copying is a waste of time, I thought it was really smart to choose education as the way and place to implement desired changes long term:

        To change the tastes and habits of an entire people, politics had to seize upon the individual, and by the new means of education make him or her into a modern political subject - frugal, innocent and, above all, busy.

After the ‘modern’ schools had been implemented, the fellow critiques about it were clear about the changing views within the country. It becomes very clear that as Egypt attempts to modernize, it relates ‘order’ with ‘modern and relates ‘disorder, “chaos”’ with ‘old Egypt.’ This association is a blatant example of western colonization, because the west is directing Egypt in what is deemed to be true ‘order’ vs. ‘Egyptian disorder.’ Mitchell sums this up here:

Just as the model schools offered the model of a modern system of power, this image of the old style of teaching was also the image of existing Egyptian society. Movement is haphazard and undisciplined, space is cramped, communication is uncertain, the presence of authority is intermittent, individuals are all unalike and uncoordinated, disorder threatens to break in at any point, and order can be reestablished only by the swift and physical demonstration of power.

This excerpt really speaks for itself. There is one other short quote that I feel represents the point of this chapter. It describes power and power relations in Egypt and the effect on how/why these schools were chosen and on why schools were added to mixture. Schools were added because just adjusting the layout of the city wasn’t enough. ‘Updating’ the city layout did not have enough of an effect here. Because:

Power now sought to work not only upon the exterior of the body but also 'from the inside out' - by shaping the individual mind

And this is where I’ll bow out, because I’m past the limit. But I do really enjoy this quote. I think it represents colonization in general really well.

-W.H.B.