Values Expressed in Egyptian Children's Readers

Abstract

Several hypotheses concerning values and societal development, with special reference to Egypt between 1952 and 1972, were tested. Content analysis of stories in Egyptian children's readers for the pre- 1952 period and the 1972-1973 academic year showed no significant rise in achievement, affiliation, or power imageries and no significant decline in moral teaching in the later period. Two main arguments were offered to explain why the results of this study did not conform to popular "universal" theories. The first suggested that textbook writers in both periods came from similar social backgrounds. The second explanation maintained that motivation is a function of factors other than social and economic changes and that different countries might react differently to such changes.