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Student Profile: Realities in Iran at odds with American perceptions
Building bridges
By Clayton Woullard
cwoullar@mscd.edu

Photo by Geof Wollerman • gwollerm@mscd.edu Masoud Kholghy recently visited Iran.

Masoud Kholghy is an American-born citizen with the blood of two nations running through his veins.

His Iranian blood put him in line for military service at the age of 18, but ultimately a student visa kept him from serving and allowed him to go to school. Now at age 20, Kholghy is majoring in biology at UCD Health Sciences Center and Metro.

“A lot of people (in Iran) get stuck … if they don’t get accepted to college, then they’ll have to join the army, so there’s a lot of pressure for men,” he said.

Kholghy was born in small-town Kansas, but travels to Iran about every other summer. He recently returned from a three-month trip to Mashhad – the second largest city in Iran – where his father and relatives live.

Recently Iran has made headlines over accusations by the U.S. that it is funding insurgents in Iraq. But according to Kholghy, a dichotomy is brewing in Iran: its mostly young population – the median age is 24 – is choosing to ignore politics in favor of enjoying various aspects of American culture. They watch American television and follow American fads closely. While American products are banned, youth find a way to smuggle them in, including anything from cell phones to the latest blockbuster movies, Kholghy said.

“At the same time, they have all these pressures of politics which they don’t really care about,” he said.

Animosity toward president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is prevalent among Iranian youth, whom Kholghy said are more politically active than their parents’ generation. For example, some are angry at Ahmadinejad for the amount of financial support he gives to Palestine – money that is driving Iran further into debt.

“They don’t care what the president says, but whenever the president of Iran says something it pulls them back, like, three years in life,” he said.

And while Kholghy has witnessed the mandatory anti-American rally day that students must attend, he said the students put little enthusiasm into such things. For them it’s like having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Iranian youth also criticize Ahmadinejad for his failure to improve the educational system. Kholghy said young people throughout Iran share the same concerns many young Americans have, such as getting into college and what to do after they graduate.

To get into a public university, students must take a national test, and out of approximately 1 million applicants only 1,000 get accepted.

Kholghy added that out of those chosen, the top 10 students would likely be recruited to be educated and eventually work in another country such as the U.S. or Australia.

“Iran has the highest brain drain,” Kholghy said. “They educate their people very well, but they never get the benefits.”

This leaves many young people feeling angry because they have nothing to do.

Some young people are trying to get an education in order to better their situation, while many others are just hoping they’ll be able to find any job to sustain themselves, he said.

What’s most frustrating, Kholghy said, is how many people find themselves stuck economically. While they may not become any poorer, there’s no opportunity for upward mobility.

“If you don’t have a house and you have to pay rent, like you’re a young couple, you’re never going to get anywhere because your rent is more than your monthly paycheck,” he said.

And the price of land is increasing there, he said, creating anticipation for when there’s a bust.

The feeling of going nowhere has caused many young Iranians to get involved with drugs such as opium, marijuana and homemade alcohol – all forbidden by the Iranian government. Hookahs, Middle Eastern smoking pipes that have become increasingly popular in the U.S., were banned in Iran several years ago for health reasons.

“They (Iranians) don’t know how to get drunk because it’s not part of the culture. They’re not responsible,” he said.

But despite these challenges, Iranians manage to vacation one-third of the year, Kholghy said.

“They put the quality of life on their happiness, not the things they have,” he said.