"Mehmet Ali Birand: Our education cannot compete with the EU
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Mehmet Ali Birand
My guest on CNN T�rk's Manset program on Tuesday was Education Minister H�seyin �elik.
�elik said nothing that was not already known before. He said nothing that to create a sensation. He simply briefed us on a very important project that gives us a glimpse of Turkey's future.
Let me explain. Every year, 537,000 students graduate from high schools and 250,000 graduate from universities. They are being trained to become tomorrow's leaders. Some will become journalists, some politicians and some businessmen. Their decisions will affect our lives.
However, we cannot educate them, as our education system is outdated. We fill them with useless information and teach them not to think. Moreover, the information they are taught was last revised in 1967. We are teaching them about facts and concepts that dominated during the Cold War era. Even our history stops at World War II. Recent history is never taught. "
More:Turkish Daily News
