The Current Turkish System From a Student's Perspective
By Fatma Ozkanlar, March 13th 2025
When you see any article, essay or newspaper article about education, the thinkers and writers of these are always educators, sociologists, psychologists, politicians, in short, the adults. So why aren't there young people? Is the answer to this question because these adults are the ones who will really raise the new generation? Are the adults who raise us raising us according to their traditional cultures? But is our past exactly the same as the past of adults? If our tradition is being transferred from the past to the future, why are the cultures of the past and the present different? Do these differences come from developing science or from the application of what is known rather than from its development? Is it social thought or all of them? If our elders do not raise us according to the past but rather based on innovations, what did our elders learn in the past? How to innovate?.. All of these are questions worth thinking about, but our most comprehensive question that needs to be considered is: "Are we really living life?"
For a Better Understanding, An Ordinary Student's School Day Go to class, listen, take notes, solve questions. Go to class, listen, take notes, solve questions, get a little tired. Go to class, be hungry, try to listen, try to take notes. RECESS (The period when students reach nirvana) Go to class, listen, take notes, solve questions Go to class, get sleepy, try to listen, try to take notes, struggle with questions. Go to class, have a brain crash, stop listening, can't hold a pen. Then run home. And finish the day the same way tomorrow. Is it normal that I feel like I'm writing code for a robot to do daily things while considering the simple daily routine above? Let's go back to the question "do we really live life?". We can be said to be a society that lives by sticking to certain situations. How? Let me explain. Let's write a new code.
And it has not been outdated and has been applied for generations... Grow up by falling. Learn to read and write. Get good grades in school. Get into a good university. Finish university. Find a job. If you can't find one, find a temporary job but make sure to have insurance. Get married. Grow old. Reach God's mercy. Your code's gift package: Do a little sport, travel if you have money, go to the cinema or theater once a month or year. (Note: You can use your gift package according to the suitability of your environment, money and time.)
If I am trying to explain that this is not what living is, then what is living? Living is actually making any action you do meaningful. In today's education system, where students spend 12 years, we can say that the logic is this: The aim is to know (memorize) information because most students want to know information to solve it in the exam. This situation distances the student from making sense of and applying what is known. Because the student's only goal is to get a good grade in the exam. I would like to strengthen my idea with an example I experienced as a student. Information Given in History Class: The Battle of Gallipoli or the Battles of Gallipoli are the naval and land battles fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied Powers on the Gallipoli Peninsula between 1915-1916 during World War I.
The Result for the Student: A state of unconsciousness and mockery on the land they live in. (Just like robots) (Robots are emotionless.) I mean, the student knows this information and transfers the information in the exam. (Code: know and solve.) However, they do not go to the path of understanding because the system does not require this. It is enough to memorize the information.
So How Should Education Be?
How should education be is not a simple question. At least, I cannot answer because I am just a simple student who has been raised in this system. I only act according to certain codes. I think this situation is also valid for teachers. They talk about the same things every year. So, do they never get bored? You have to ask them. As I said, I am not an adult. I am just an ordinary simple student.
