Education Quote by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

A filmmaker describing a homeschooling project in Iran is never just talking about lesson plans. Makhmalbaf is smuggling a whole political argument into domestic logistics: when the official system can no longer hold a child - emotionally, intellectually, ideologically - the private sphere turns into an improvised public institution.

The intent reads as both protective and quietly defiant. He frames Samira's refusal as a humane crisis, not a political protest, which is strategic in a context where motives are scrutinized. "Regular school system" carries the weight of standardization and control: a pipeline that produces acceptable citizens. His response, "I set up a home school", is a plain statement that lands like an act of dissent precisely because it is ordinary. He doesn't claim martyrdom; he claims competence.

The subtext sharpens with the pivot: "It wasn't just for my family". This is where a personal workaround becomes a cultural critique. If one household can do what institutions won't, the institution's legitimacy starts to wobble. Opening it to "other friends" signals a network, a micro-civil society, learning as community infrastructure rather than state service. The phrase is intentionally soft - friends, not activists; home school, not underground school - but the implication is harder: education can be reorganized without permission.

Context matters: Makhmalbaf is part of Iranian cinema's long tradition of telling political truths through everyday scenes. Here the everyday is the message. When formal systems narrow, art families build parallel rooms where thinking can still breathe.