Turkey is a nation where schooling is highly centralized and serves the interests of the state. The revered founder of modern Turkey in the 1920s, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, proclaimed that education should promote modern, secular, “scientific” ideas including an ideal of national citizenship. Consequently, the educational system has not been especially open to alternative approaches.
Today Turkey is at a historical and cultural crossroads. Seeking membership in the European Union, the country is exploring what it means to go beyond twentieth century nationalism. Urban young people, in particular, are exploring sometimes radical ideas from Europe and North America. A “green” movement (ecology/sustainability) is growing, and there is a surge of interest in new ideas about education.
On November 26 & 27, 2005, more than 300 educators, university scholars, parent activists and a few government officials attended the First International Alternative Education Symposium, held on the grounds of Topkapi Palace (the citadel of the great Ottoman Empire) in Istanbul.
The conference was organized by three lively young women, all graduate students in education – Eylem Korkmaz, Selma Dundar, and Burcak G.Morhayim – who were frustrated with the slow pace of educational change and hoped to jump-start an alternative education movement in Turkey. Judging by the enthusiasm generated at the conference, they may well have succeeded.
The organizers invited several Turkish scholars as well as speakers from outside the country to share their experiences and ideas. Yaacov Hecht came from Israel, Matt Hern from Canada, Cheryl Ferreira and Jason Preater from the U.K., and Jill Wolcott and myself from the U.S. Among us, we represented diverse educational approaches, including democratic schools (Yaacov), deschooling (Matt), Montessori (Cheryl), Waldorf (Jill), and the Summerhill model (Jason).
I gave a philosophical and historical overview of alternative education. We were treated like celebrities by Eylem, Selma, Burcak and their friends, taken out for meals and given a tour of the amazing city of Istanbul.
The symposium felt like a historic event—a potential turning point for Turkish education. Many people came up to us after our talks to describe projects they hoped to start and asking for advice and contacts. A closing session involved about 40 key people in brainstorming next steps, and it appears that an ongoing committee has formed to plan future events and publications.
It is important to recognize that Turkey, although it is officially secular and has ties to Europe, is a Muslim
culture. In addition to visiting beautiful mosques and seeing exquisitely written copies of the Quran dating back to the ninth century, we met with a number of people who are seeking to cultivate a deeper sense of spirituality in education – what we in north Atlantic culture call holistic education – influenced by the teachings of Islam.
I was invited to speak at an organization called the Center for Values Education by Seyma Arslan, a young woman working on her doctoral dissertation about educating according to the Islamic image of human nature. (It’s fascinating, and I’ve been encouraging her to publish something in the U.S.) I expected a small discussion group of 20 or 30 people, but was escorted into a lecture hall where another 300 people had come to hear about holistic education!
As Yaacov pointed out in one discussion, there is an international movement for democratic education—
and a more democratic and sustainable civilization in general—that will grow stronger the more closely it builds connections across national and cultural borders. The ideals of democratic, progressive and holistic education are universal human ideals.
They will have a different flavor, and express themselves differently, from one culture to another – a Turkish Waldorf school should do things differently from one in England or Germany, and an Islamic holistic education is not identical to a Quaker education in New Jersey or a Krishnamurti-inspired education in India. Still, it is exhilarating to go deeper than our surface differences and work together to promote more human values throughout the global village.
Ron Miller is the publisher of Holistic Education Review and Paths of Learning, author of What Are Schools For?, and Free Schools, Free People. He is the former Editor of Education Revolution magazine.
Photo by sailhigde on Flickr.com. Friendship. Taken on February 7, 2009 in Antakya, Hatay.