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Pioneers and Approaches to Turkish EducationPage 1 of 2
The first decades of the twentieth century witnessed quite significant discussions of various approaches concerning Turkish education. Emrullah Efendi had a leading role in these discussions. Emrullah Efendi was born in 1858 and he served in different positions: he was appointed as the member of the education council, and became director of mekteb-i sultani. After the 1908 election he entered to the National Assembly as MP of Kirklareli. He served twice as the minister of Public Education, first in January 1910 and then in December 1911 (Ergün, 1982, 8). Emrullah Efendi wrote many articles in newspapers and journals. He is the author of encyclopeadic Muhitu’l-Maarif. Emrullah Efendi is well-known for his educational approach, formulized as “the theory of Tuba Tree”. This approach of Emrullah Efendi emphasized the structuring of the educational system from top down. In fact, the political conjuncture was quite effective in Emrullah Efendi’s view. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, due to the westernization and modernization attempts, the Ottoman Empire felt it necessary to start from and give priority to the secondary and high educational institutions. The lack of qualified officials and bureaucrats was an important reason for this top down approach in education (Ergün, 2008, 8). Rather than putting emphasis on primary schools, higher educational institutions were emphasized for the sake of bringing of qualified officials. Emrullah Efendi believed that although the organization of the educational institutions is from primary to secondary and high schools, the science and knowledge is transmitted from top to bottom (Emrullah, 1914). The metaphor of Tuba tree comes from the fact that the Tuba tree is believed to be a tree in the Paradise. The distinctive characteristic of this tree is that its roots are said to be not in the soil, but in the air. That is to say, the tree is fed not from the bottom, but from the air. This metaphor, according to Emrullah Efendi, underlines the significance and the priority of higher educational institutions. It is for this reason that this approach has also brought the issue of “elite education” into agenda. During his service in the ministry, he upgraded the idadi schools to level of mekteb-i sultani and increased the number of faculties in the university (Darülfünun) in Istanbul from three to five. Therefore, Emrullah Efendi is believed to have developed the idea of modern university (Sakaoglu, 2003, 308). Emrullah Efendi argued that. The science starts from above. When I put forward this theory, I did not say that I will not build primary schools or I will not give significance to them. I will surely pay attention to them. I will start from above for the sake of these primary schools. The genealogy (three) of education is for sure like the Tuba tree. Its roots are up (Ergün, 1982, 14). By saying this, Emrullah Efendi implied that the reform and improvement of higher educational institutions is crucial for bringing up good students in primary schools. Therefore the reform of the secondary and high school was to serve to the primary schools at the end.
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