The Mediterranean Society of Comparative Education

Abstract

If one views the current scenario of comparative Education Societies around the world (of which there are about thirty), it can be easily noted that there is no one specific Society of Scholars devoted to the study of Mediterranean issues. This is even more astonishing if we think that nowadays anything ‘Mediterranean’ has become almost a trend (from diets to cruises). Sadly, however, it is also famous for the high number of illegal immigrants who die in their attempts to cross the sea and reach the rich ‘Fortress Europe’. Naturally, a scientific society needs some specific criteria in order to exist, beginning with its own objective. What exactly should a Society of this kind compare? The first obvious answer is: the school systems of the Mediterranean countries. But here we come up against the first problem: would it be possible to compare—and if so to what extent—school systems with such different traditions as those of the Mediterranean countries? To answer these questions means to enter in medias res of this problem, something that this article will specifically try to do. Let us start from a very general overview