Education levels in Egypt stagnated or declined amid rapid population growth

Evidence

Another threat to ‘order’ singled out in the writings of this class was Cairo’s youth. They were under-educated, under-employed, and under-amused, and formed a distinct and potentially disruptive social problem. They lacked the discipline of an education, it was said, for schooling had done nothing to keep pace with the increase in population, and except among the country’s Christian population had actually declined. The youths took to the streets of the city every evening and roamed about in groups. Their latest fad (bid`a), we are told, was practical joking. The author of The Present State of the Egyptians mentioned that he himself had been a victim, accosted at his club by three strangers two of whom were dressed as women. They turned out to be young men from the government office where he worked, the sons of well-to-do families and probably drunk at the time. During the daytime, instead of being occupied with school or work, young men idled their time, like the poor, in cafés, particularly in the late afternoon when the daily newspapers appeared, and argued without point or end over the latest Reuters reports. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 382

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the chapter’s broader thesis that ‘order’ and ‘discipline’ were discourse tools of Egyptian elites; the café-politics scene foreshadows the nationalism section that follows. — connects to: Colonial rule worsened Egyptian women’s education despite feminist rhetoric — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 159
• CANDY: Wealthy young Egyptian office clerks from good families pratfalling as cross-dressed practical jokers in evening clubs is a delightfully specific 19th-century detail.