Alborz Highschool

The school was founded as an elementary school in 1873 by a group of American missionaries led by James Bassett. When Dr. Samuel Jordan arrived in Iran in 1898, he instituted change; subsequently, Alborz became a 12-year elementary and secondary school, with its share of college courses. Thereafter, the institution came to be known as the American College of Tehran. Dr. Jordan remained president of Alborz for 42 years (1899–1940). During his tenure, Alborz grew from an elementary school to a high school and college. In 1932, the school received a permanent charter from the Board of Regents of the State University of New York. In 1940 and during World War II, by the order of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Alborz was removed from American management and placed under the auspices of the Iranian Ministry of Education as part of Reza Shah's modernization reforms. The school's name was changed from "College" back to "Alborz", and it was reinstated as a high school. In 1944, Professor Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, member of University of Tehran's faculty, was appointed as the president of Alborz. From then until 1979, and continuing after the Iranian Revolution, Alborz had the most successful period of its history. Its place in the shaping of Iran's intellectual elite compares with that of Eton College in England and institutions such as Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Milton Academy in the United States