Tryangulation

They should know that time is a barrier too

We've been in the US for a while, but I continue to read education news from Turkey, and I continue to be amazed at planning delays and the concealment of imperfections, such as I noted some time ago here and here and here.

Finally, at the very end of 2009, the Minister of Education declared that public schools in Turkey will be refitted to accommodate the approximately 85,000 students with physical disabilities that make school attendance--and life in general--a daily and nearly insurmountable barrier to equal opportunity.  Ramps, lower thresholds and wider doors are to be installed so that wheelchair-bound students can finally go to school. Additional modifications include lower chalkboards, accessible toilets and nonskid surfaces on outdoor walkways. What will they think of next?

The 85,000 that next year might be able to get through the school doors will, I hope, amaze their teachers and classmates with their normal level of intelligence. Even more, I hope in some small reduction in the embarrassment felt by physically able (yet attitude-challenged) members of society who now have to deal with people they would otherwise prefer to keep out of sight.

I congratulate the Minister for her challenge to this immensely inert institutional discrimination, but I also wonder how much the EU accession process had to do with driving this change. I still feel regret for the hundreds of thousands who might have gone to school if only these changes had taken place just ten years earlier.  

Link to news article in Turkish: Okullarda engelli öğrenci devrimi / Türkiye / Radikal İnternet

86 year old man earns university diploma

The Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman reported today about Mr Halis Beyhanoğlu, who graduated from elementary school in 1938 and just received his second university diploma in September at the age of 86. After being a civil servant for most of his life, he finally received a degree in public adminstration, so he now apparently has the choice of returning to work as the country's oldest bureaucrat, or staying in school as the oldest grad student. He says he wants to be a lecturer someday, so we wish him well (link).

This reminds me of a story a few years ago about an 84-year-old man who enrolled in first grade in Kenya as soon as the country began to provide free universal education, unashamed to sit among six-year-olds so that he might gain what had been deprived for so long. (click here for the rest of that story).

Both stories impact me for the brazenness of these gentlemen to pursue learning beyond society's limits of propriety. A couple years ago I shared on this blog the quote of a woman in her 90s who had not been so brazen: "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken up the violin at 60. I'd have been playing for almost 40 years by now."

We --that is, I-- forgo so many endeavors because we are unaware of what is within us, how much endurance we carry, and the power of the victory over society's often silly ideas. So today I remind myself to pick up once again the aspirations that were within me and rekindle them, even if it is with the tiniest of sparks. So what if I'm past 50? Just think where I'll be in 40 years!

Thank you for not smoking!

Today was the first school day in Turkey since the new ban on smoking took effect on Monday. The ban covers all enclosed public areas, with allowances for designated smoking areas for certain institutions. It used to be that, although students were never permitted to smoke, school personnel could smoke in designated areas away from contact with students.

On Monday and Tuesday we observed a national holiday, so this was the first time for everyone to get through the whole day without lighting up. It's going to be dicey for a while, since most people that I know are smokers (even though the stats say only 51% of adults), and getting through the whole day without conflagrations of any kind will take some practice.

Of course, as someone who unwillingly smokes from the unfiltered end of the cigarette, I got used to the arrangement in about a minute.

There have been plenty of anti-smoking campaigns here through the years, but they just make people feel guilty and discouraged over how hard it is to quit. In fact, the percentage of smokers in Turkey has been on the increase: it grew by 50% in the 1990s! It's no easier when those who should take health most seriously (53% of all male doctors) smoke as much as you do.

Everyone knows it's bad, and they wish their own children wouldn't take up the habit, but wishing hasn't been enough to stop a growing number of young people (14% of boys aged 7-13 at last count) from falling into the same trap.

So, to my dear friends who are not as happy about the ban, please remember that this is not a conflict in which the smokers are losers and the non-smokers are winners. Yes, it will be difficult to implement, but it will make it easier for some people to quit and for others to avoid even starting the habit. Even those who don't quit will still get through the day with fewer cigarettes. We will all feel better, and I'll be very grateful.

Sigara içmediğiniz için teşekkürler!

Background links:
The World Bank Tobacco Atlas and its profile of Turkey.
Today's Zaman: Smoke-free life begins in Turkey
CNN: Turkey introduces smoking ban

China's heroic teachers

I recently wrote about the problem of poorly built schools around the world in reflection on the tragic earthquake in China. I have just now read, and feel I must share with you, some very moving stories I have just read about the teachers in some of those Chinese schools whose love for their students led to the ultimate sacrifice. 

These stories are part of a collection of several stories compiled by Chinese blogger Bob Chen and published on Global Voices Online. Taking a break from grading papers and exams to read these will certainly put our own work, and our relationships with our students, in perspective.

Here's the link:  Global Voices Online » China:国殇; survival stories in QUAKE

Schools around the world are earthquake death traps

A lot of the news about the earthquake this week in China emphasized the tragedy of students trapped and dying in poorly built schools. Unfortunately, outrageously, perversely, school buildings around the world are potential earthquake death traps. Remember Pakistan, where 7000-plus schools killed 17,000 students?

On Thursday the New York Times published an article by Andrew Revkin on this global threat. Revkin writes:

Experts on earthquake dangers have warned for years that tens of millions of students in thousands of schools, from Asia to the Americas, face similar risks, yet programs to reinforce existing schools or require that new ones be built to extra-sturdy standards are inconsistent, slow and inadequately financed.

Revkin cited an OECD report that states "schools 'routinely collapsed in earthquakes around the world because of avoidable design or construction errors, or because existing laws and building codes were not enforced." That last bit was a polite way of saying "corruption" -- the allowance of poor design and pathetic construction in exchange for personal favors. Here in Turkey, construction contractors have a nasty habit of fleeing the country when their buildings kill people, so the system apparently works --for them.

The reports by Revkin reminded me again of the latest such tragedy we witnessed here in Turkey. Five years ago this month, an earthquake in the Southeast killed nearly 170 people. Half of those killed were public boarding school students in a single dormitory building (click here for the CNN report). More than 90% of the schools in the area were affected by that quake.

Revkin has also published a background story (click here) and links the Coalition for Global School Safety (COGSS). It's horrible to think about, I know, but is your children's school earthquake/ tornado/ disaster safe? How do you know? As the COGSS Turkey case study says,

It is better to be ten years too early than one day too late.

The photo was taken by Chen Jianli, Xinhua/Reuters, and is titled A rescuer held the hand of  a trapped student at Wudu Primary School. (image link)

Goverment says too many exams harmful; gives more exams

Dear US educators: for a hard look at the logical extreme of teaching to the test, watch the news from here.

We've been too hard on the dears...

Stating that the current exam system in Turkey is turning students into workaholics, The Minister of Education Hüseyin Çelik said this week that (roughly translated)

of course we are preparing our children for higher education, but our goal is also an education that prepares them for life, provides opportunity for play, and ensures their happiness (literally, love and kindness).

He asserted that the Ministry's Counseling Research Center is researching exam trauma to find solutions to the problems that, admittedly, the education system itself has created. He added that the Ministry intends to improve the quality of education, which means introducing new educational methods, since "wrong methods don't bring right results."

... but they can't ALL go to university, you know

I suppose the reporters at that press conference forgot to ask the Minister about the news from two weeks ago, that reported an alarming increase in the enrollment at after-school exam prep courses. Traditionally, exam anxiety becomes a marketable commodity during 7th grade, as students get prepared for the post-8th grade OKS exam that determines their options for high school. This mania accelerates during high school as students prepare for the dreaded ÖSS university entrance exam (more precisely the university elimination exam), which I've written about here, here, and here.

The notorious 8th grade exam has been abolished, but in its place are new exams given over three years, whose average will be just as weighty as the old OKS. Enrollment at weekend exam prep courses has nearly doubled as students from 4th, 5th and 6th grades are now being registered by nervous parents. Word is spreading that many schools are still teaching to the old test, and that without outside help, unprepared 4th graders might miss their chance for the right university and specialization.

The increasingly detrimental exam system here is an administrative --not educational-- solution for the university openings available for only a fraction of the number of students who want to continue their studies. The purpose of the exams may be different from the US, but from here we can see the how 12 years of teaching to the test takes its toll on curiosity, creativity, and learning skills for self-directed learning. Take heed.

Türkçe haberlerini okumak için linkleri tıklayınız;

Radikal: Çocuklar 'sınavkolik' oldu 

Radikal: Milli Eğitim ne yapsa dershanelere yarıyor

Turkey's teacher training crisis: a perfect storm

The covergence of three critical problems may create a perfect storm in the nation's schools.

Next year high schools across Turkey will teach 12th grade for the first time as a result of the reform of the old 3-year high school curriculum. This means that  the enrollment in every high school in Turkey will suddenly jump by up to 33% (in the remarkable event of no drop-outs). Even if every square inch of office space, libraries and labs is appropriated, many schools will still not have room.

Add to the mix the slow uptake by the centralized education planning, which planned for some increases in teacher training schools, but by no means by the 33% predicted by my simple arithmetic. As a result, we expect new teacher recruiting to see brutal competition this year, but this will probably not completely avert the need for teachers to take on extra hours, especially when you consider that Turkey's population is still growing.

Now, consider those new teachers coming into their first teaching job this fall, bright and fresh, settling into overcrowded schools amid overworked teachers. But what will they have to offer? Radikal reported last week on a report by former Ministry of Education official Prof. Galip Karagözoğlu, detailing the deficiencies of teacher training programs across the country.

The number of students in teacher training programs is increasing dramatically, but they are now facing a severe shortage of education professors. In some universities, programs with more than a thousand students have only a couple professors on hand, and some rely solely on assistant professors. As a result, nearly 200 students sit in classes. In a survey of 64 teacher training programs, technical equipment is rare or nonexistant. The report cited 22 schools with no physics lab, 20 with no chemistry lab, and 34 with no foreign language lab. In Mersin, there is one computer available to 659 students.

These new students, the ones with no professors and no science labs, are also part of a shift in ideology: 20% of education students are opposed to coeducation (boys and girls studying together). In a test of general knowledge, 53% did better on religion questions than on science.

Link: Radikal-çevrimiçi / Türkiye / Öğretmen nasıl öğrenir!

Photo: Satellite image of Hurricane Katrina by NOAA, Aug 28, 2005.

Messy is beautiful

April, glorious and muddy, was made for children. Or have we forgotten?

Prof. Ziya Selçuk, formerly of the Ministry of Education here, at the closing ceremony of a seminar on multiple intelligences spoke openly about myths that have guided the design of education and proposed a better way. He debunked ideas about quiet, orderly, unison lessons, where everyone sits straight and is taught the same thing at the same time. Orderly isn't always good.

Turks are immaculate, keep spotless homes, and practice fastidious personal hygiene. While I appreciate and admire that, I also remember fondly those Aprils on the Michigan farm where I grew up, digging mud puddle canals and building mud dams, wrestling on the new grass with the dogs, collecting worms and tadpoles. Having a grand old time while my brain quietly created an understanding of life.

Schools --and Turkish moms-- are in a constant battle against chaos, crooked lines, and grass stains. Learning, however, loves a mess. That's why some of my favorite television commercials here are by a laundry detergent company that celebrates mess, mud, and childhood with the motto, "getting dirty is beautiful."  Probably the first time those words have co-occurred in Turkish.

So here's one of those Omo commercials. Let's pray that YouTube stays online long enough for you to enjoy it! I've also done a rough translation of the voice over.

You can't just watch life from a window.
If you don't start out on the road, you'll never arrive.
You can't always sit on the sidelines.
If you don't get out on the field, you'll never hit a goal.
You'll never swim if you don't get wet.
You'll never rise high if you never climb.
If you never live, you'll never learn.
The stains and smudges of the children's world
are the badges of what they have learned and achieved.
Omo - getting dirty is beautiful.

Radikal'in haberi buraya, Omo'nun reklamların hakkında güzel bir yorum için buraya tıklayın.

Free eye patch with each book

In the midst of rampant copy/pasting from web sites directly into book reports, and where the sidewalks are choked by vendors of cheap, badly copied bootleg movies, games and music CDs, I guess this had to be expected.

The newspaper Radikal reports that the book translator and publishing labor unions here have released a report citing that a number of the "100 basic works" of literature recommended to students by the Ministry of Education are pirated translations, while others have been inexplicably abridged or altered to be more ideologically appropriate.

The labor unions investigated 154 books and found that 58 were plagiarized, with translations falsely attributed or not attributed at all. These included 6 of 11 editions of Fathers and Sons by Turgenyev, 6 of 14 editions of London's White Fang, 11 of 25 editions of Les Miserables (including one abridged down to just 80 pages), and 9 out of 14 editions of Crime and Punishment.

Going beyond the ethics of individual purchases of pirated publications is the problem that the Ministry of Education, by creating a reading list that is more required than recommended,  consequently passes on a huge windfall to companies that violate international conventions protecting intellectual property.

Haberin Türkçesini okumak için link üzerine tıklayınız: Radikal-çevrimiçi / Türkiye / MEB tavsiyeli korsan kitap serisi

Photo by eekim.

Maybe they wanted a school with wi-fi

News like this crosp up fairly frequently here. This time, it's a village in far eastern Turkey that for more than a year has waited for a permanent teacher for its 65 children. On a few occasions interim teachers have come but then quickly left again.

I remember cases like this when we were in rural Guatemala, another place where small remote villages had trouble holding onto teachers. Nobody there needed to be convinced of the value of education; the problem is that to be a teacher in such places means miserable pay, difficult living conditions, and little life outside school. To be such a teacher requires a clear calling and exceptional character.

I started wondering more about how many more places in the world are waiting for a teacher, and a quick search turned up this report from UNESCO (and another older report) with the fact that worldwide more than 18 million new teachers must be recruited to keep current student-teacher ratios. Keep in mind that those ratios in the least developed countries are three times the ratios in developed countries, with some countries in Africa counting 50 or even 70 students for each teacher.  To exacerbate the situation, large numbers of these teachers --as many as 50% in Uganda--  have no professional training at all.  Still, there's something to be said for having a little but using it a lot, versus having a lot and using it too little.

When I was in university I volunteered to teach literacy to adults. I remember how nervous and inadequate I felt the first time, totally unaware of how rich I was from lifelong reading, rich far beyond the small cost of teaching another. Later in Guatemala I taught adults who were literate in Spanish how to write and read in their mother tongue (and yes, in that order because if they didn't write, there was nothing to read); I imagined we were like explorers as we sat around a table looking at words that had been written for the first time.

I have felt wonder and humility at the tremendous power that we pass on when we unlock the written word. I then go for long stretches without giving it a thought, until someplace like the village of İpekkuşak draws some notice and makes me once again examine my own calling.

Haberin Türkçesi için buraya tıklayın:
Radikal-çevrimiçi / Türkiye / Kalıcı bir öğretmen bekliyorlar