Get Educated
Our Man in Tehran (2018)
Thomas Erdbrink is one of the last Western journalists living in Iran. In this two-part series, he goes beyond the headlines and gets Iranians to reveal the intricacies of their private worlds as their country goes through a rollercoaster of changes — with a modernizing society pitted against ideologically conservative clerics.
You can watch the two-part series on PBS here or check your local TV listings for the Frontline airing schedule.

"Young Iranians (70 percent of all Iranians are under 35 years old) mostly find their pride in education. The country has a complicated acceptance process for the state universities, which charge no tuition and are free to attend. The screening process, called the concourse, is a nail-biting nationwide event in which hundreds of thousands of boys and girls compete to be one of the top 200,000 students to be accepted. They are ranked, with one student earning the celebrated top spot. It’s very competitive."