We toured Aya Sofya and Sultanahmet today with a grad student (whose name I forget) who's doing his dissertation on Sultan Ahmed (so he seemed like a pretty appropriate choice to talk about the man's mosque). Lots of interesting things were learned.
What was in some ways most interesting was the grad student's opinion of Turkish history education. I'd touched on this conundrum earlier regarding the eight years of history Turkish students get in school and the emphasis apparently placed on the Conquest of Istanbul. Our guide expanded on this, describing Turkish history education as a kind of skimming that covers the high points of Turkish Nationalism throughout the ages but is less generous with its coverage of anything that doesn't shine as favorably on the state or the half-invented nation. The example he gave was his attempt to teach the first Turkish novel (the title of which I unfortunately also forget) in a class. While everyone knew the title and author (of course! I mean, it's the first Turkish novel!) they had no idea what it was about and, after reading it, didn't have the historical context or analytical training to allow any kind of deeper comprehension about the novel.
In Crescent and Star Kinzler talks about how the civilian education system is structured to create obedient citizens who believe in the state and the military education system is structured to create officers who, though they are selected for their adherence to Kemalism, have a holistic understanding of history that actually allows them to make intelligent decisions. This is largely why Turkey tends to have moronic politicians who do astonishingly obtuse things while in power and intelligent generals who are able to clean up the civilians' messes.
So God (or Ataturk?) bless the military education. Who knows what will happen if that military education starts teaching 2+2=5.
What was in some ways most interesting was the grad student's opinion of Turkish history education. I'd touched on this conundrum earlier regarding the eight years of history Turkish students get in school and the emphasis apparently placed on the Conquest of Istanbul. Our guide expanded on this, describing Turkish history education as a kind of skimming that covers the high points of Turkish Nationalism throughout the ages but is less generous with its coverage of anything that doesn't shine as favorably on the state or the half-invented nation. The example he gave was his attempt to teach the first Turkish novel (the title of which I unfortunately also forget) in a class. While everyone knew the title and author (of course! I mean, it's the first Turkish novel!) they had no idea what it was about and, after reading it, didn't have the historical context or analytical training to allow any kind of deeper comprehension about the novel.
In Crescent and Star Kinzler talks about how the civilian education system is structured to create obedient citizens who believe in the state and the military education system is structured to create officers who, though they are selected for their adherence to Kemalism, have a holistic understanding of history that actually allows them to make intelligent decisions. This is largely why Turkey tends to have moronic politicians who do astonishingly obtuse things while in power and intelligent generals who are able to clean up the civilians' messes.
So God (or Ataturk?) bless the military education. Who knows what will happen if that military education starts teaching 2+2=5.
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