An Analysis about the Main Problems of Turkish Educational System in the Light of American Council's Report (1934)

Abstract

When you have a look at the history of education during the early years of the republic, it can be seen that many foreign educators came to Turkey especially till the late 1950s. Among these educators, the numbers of American teachers are considerably high. A council headed by an American teacher E. Walter Kemmerer and their report raises the attention. This group was invited to our country in order to do a research upon Turkish economy. This council started their research in 1933 and presented their report to the government in 1934. Besides their financial advices, they added a part into their report about Turkish education. In this study what we mostly focused on is two grades of education which had especially been defined in the report (primary and secondary education). Findings, thoughts and advices of the council have been analysed and it is tried to be compared with the current position of Turkish educational system. Document examining technique among qualitative methods has been used as the main data source of this study is the American council's report which was published in 1939. In addition to the report mentioned in the study, some critics and explanatory studies upon the history of Turkish education and reports of foreign experts have been used as a secondary source of information. At the end of the study, it has been concluded that findings of the American council were meaningful and some of those problems are still present in current Turkish educational system.