Turkish Politics & Internal Affairs

[Talwar e Pakistan]

The final version of Turkey’s national school curriculum has left evolution out and added the concept of “jihad” as part of Islamic law in books, Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz said on July 18.

The new curriculum will be put into execution for first, fifth, and ninth graders starting from this year, and it will extend to other classes in the 2018-2019 academic year. Accordingly, a total of 176 class curricula have been renewed.

“Jihad is an element in our religion; it is in our religion… The duty of the Education Ministry is to teach every concept deservedly, in a correct way. It is also our job to correct things that are wrongly perceived, seen or taught,” Yılmaz announced at a press meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara.

“In this manner, in the lessons on Islamic law and basic religion sciences, there will be [the concept of] jihad. But what is this jihad? What our Prophet [Muhammad] says is that while returning from a war, we are going from a small jihad to a big jihad. What is this big jihad? It is to serve our society, to increase welfare, to ensure peace in society, to serve the society’s needs. The easiest thing is to wage war, to fight. The skill is the difficult one, which is to ensure peace and tranquility,” he said.

Speaking about the controversial decision to exclude evolution, Yılmaz said it was not included in the national curriculum “because it is above the students’ level and not directly relevant.”

Information on last year’s failed coup attempt will also be included in the curriculum. “When the subject of winning democracy is covered in social sciences classes, we will want the July 15 National Unity Day to be covered, too,” Yılmaz said.

“In Turkish language classes, when topics on the national struggle led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk [founder of modern Turkey] are being discussed, July 15 [2016 coup attempt] will also be touched on,” the minister noted.

Yılmaz said the new curriculum will also include topics on the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The chairman of a teachers’ union described the changes as a huge step in the wrong direction for Turkey’s schools and an attempt to avoid raising “generations who ask questions.”

“The new policies that ban the teaching of evolution and requiring all schools to have a prayer room, these actions destroy the principle of secularism and the scientific principles of education,” said Mehmet Balık, chairman of the Union of Education and Science Workers (Eğitim-İş).

July/18/2017

Good, Real Jihad should be thought by the State, not by extremists online.

 

[xenon54 out]

Less science more religion in education, thats the way to become top 10 economy by 2023, bravo AKP.

 

[Glass]

https://twitter.com/x/status/887635331348123648

 

[OguzSenturk]

Nobody claims that Homo Sapiens came from Monkeys People are saying that Monkey and Homo Sapien have same common ancestor.

But Homo Sapien and Butterfly, or Dolphin, or Greywolve also have common ancestors.

 

[Inspector Spacetime]

Less science more religion in education, thats the way to become top 10 economy by 2023, bravo AKP.

I had posted this in the previous page:
The source in the original post writes the following:

Speaking about the controversial decision to exclude evolution, Yılmaz said it was not included in the national curriculum “because it is above the students’ level and not directly relevant.”

This is why I hate Turkish journalism. They actively do this (whether it's pro- or anti-government) and polarize and pit people against each other. Journalists need to first and foremost be ethical and responsible, they don't even need to be unbiased but they do need to be fair. Which is absent in this article.
The writer of this article is subtle, he cherrypicks a quote from the minister and conveniently leaves out all the other stuff on the matter, which turns out to be way more important to form a proper opinion about the subject. And if the headline is to be believed, the writer of the article (maybe in extension the editor) was out to flame (yeah, like an internet troll). If I hadn't done my research I would've thought that evo theory is out of the curriculum, and maybe even got mad about it by speculating about them (being the government) not being able to tolerate the theory of evolution. But the minister had other things to say about this subject:

Here's a direct quote of minister Ismet Yilmaz during the same press conference, "At this point we are saddened to observe that the poet has been divided into two parts in the form of sides and contradictions of evolution, in a blind fight determined by the expression 'people are deafened to the ear, whichever ear is cut off.' Made the evaluation."
I put it through google translate, it's not perfect but basicly he is saying that people debating the matter either are very pro- or anti-evolution and that the people only listen to the side they are aligned with on the matter and seem to ignore the other side.

He continued to say: "In biology class, in order not to give education about nature history, we applied the theory of evolution to everyday life in biology and technology by means of stem cell therapy, antibiotics, gene technology, etc. In this point, mutation, selection and adaptation are included in the concept set of evolution theory. We have established in the philosophy of the roof philosophy that we can handle and understand philosophical aspects of the subject, the history of evolutionary biology and the history of the theory has been left to the universities which are the higher education institutions where more detailed biology education can be obtained."
Basicly what he is saying here is, because the history of biology isn't part of the curriculum, and because they don't want to just teach students to just memorize stuff, they are going to cover subjects like stem-cell, anti-biotics and gene technology etc. and through these subjects evolution theory is touched upon and how this theory is being used in technology currently being used in every day life. And because of this concepts from evolution theory like mutation, natural selection and adaptation are included. These are part of the biology classes.

I had a tough time translating the following sentence, because I'm not sure what me means here:
"Konunun felsefi boyutlarıyla ele alınıp kavranması için çatıyı felsefe dersinde kurmuş bulunmaktayız."
But from what I think he is saying is: The philosophical aspects of the subject are going to be handled in philosophy class (I ask other Turkish members here to correct me if I'm wrong here).
He continues with the final sentence saying: "the history of evolutionary biology and the history of the theory has been left to the universities which are the higher education institutions where more detailed biology education can be obtained." Google translate already did a good job translating here, so nothing to elaborate on here.

Here's my opinion and speculation: The minister said the 'philosophical aspect of evolution theory' will be covered during philosophy class. I assume the philosophy aspect is the claim of single celled organisms evolving to humans? I mean what other philosophy aspect is there about the theory of evolution. If that is the case, it wouldn't be fair to say that the theory of evolution is out of the curriculum.

P.S. I have been harsh to the writer of the article, but I am getting more and more frustrated if I see stuff like that. Because in the end it is the people that more and more start to distrust and hate each other.

 

[xenon54 out]

Nobody claims that Homo Sapiens came from Monkeys People are saying that Monkey and Homo Sapien have same common ancestor.

Why are you explaining things scientifically? It apparently overrated anyways.

 

[OguzSenturk]

Why are you explaining things scientifically?

Well, the subject of the discussion is Evolution steps of Humans, so it has to be scientifically otherwise it's a hoax.

 

[xenon54 out]

I had posted this in the previous page:
The source in the original post writes the following:

This is why I hate Turkish journalism. They actively do this (whether it's pro- or anti-government) and polarize and pit people against each other. Journalists need to first and foremost be ethical and responsible, they don't even need to be unbiased but they do need to be fair. Which is absent in this article.
The writer of this article is subtle, he cherrypicks a quote from the minister and conveniently leaves out all the other stuff on the matter, which turns out to be way more important to form a proper opinion about the subject. And if the headline is to be believed, the writer of the article (maybe in extension the editor) was out to flame (yeah, like an internet troll). If I hadn't done my research I would've thought that evo theory is out of the curriculum, and maybe even got mad about it by speculating about them (being the government) not being able to tolerate the theory of evolution. But the minister had other things to say about this subject:

Here's a direct quote of minister Ismet Yilmaz during the same press conference, "At this point we are saddened to observe that the poet has been divided into two parts in the form of sides and contradictions of evolution, in a blind fight determined by the expression 'people are deafened to the ear, whichever ear is cut off.' Made the evaluation."
I put it through google translate, it's not perfect but basicly he is saying that people debating the matter either are very pro- or anti-evolution and that the people only listen to the side they are aligned with on the matter and seem to ignore the other side.

He continued to say: "In biology class, in order not to give education about nature history, we applied the theory of evolution to everyday life in biology and technology by means of stem cell therapy, antibiotics, gene technology, etc. In this point, mutation, selection and adaptation are included in the concept set of evolution theory. We have established in the philosophy of the roof philosophy that we can handle and understand philosophical aspects of the subject, the history of evolutionary biology and the history of the theory has been left to the universities which are the higher education institutions where more detailed biology education can be obtained."
Basicly what he is saying here is, because the history of biology isn't part of the curriculum, and because they don't want to just teach students to just memorize stuff, they are going to cover subjects like stem-cell, anti-biotics and gene technology etc. and through these subjects evolution theory is touched upon and how this theory is being used in technology currently being used in every day life. And because of this concepts from evolution theory like mutation, natural selection and adaptation are included. These are part of the biology classes.

I had a tough time translating the following sentence, because I'm not sure what me means here:
"Konunun felsefi boyutlarıyla ele alınıp kavranması için çatıyı felsefe dersinde kurmuş bulunmaktayız."
But from what I think he is saying is: The philosophical aspects of the subject are going to be handled in philosophy class (I ask other Turkish members here to correct me if I'm wrong here).
He continues with the final sentence saying: "the history of evolutionary biology and the history of the theory has been left to the universities which are the higher education institutions where more detailed biology education can be obtained." Google translate already did a good job translating here, so nothing to elaborate on here.

Here's my opinion and speculation: The minister said the 'philosophical aspect of evolution theory' will be covered during philosophy class. I assume the philosophy aspect is the claim of single celled organisms evolving to humans? I mean what other philosophy aspect is there about the theory of evolution. If that is the case, it wouldn't be fair to say that the theory of evolution is out of the curriculum.

P.S. I have been harsh to the writer of the article, but I am getting more and more frustrated if I see stuff like that. Because in the end it is the people that more and more start to distrust and hate each other.

Still my point valid, there is less science and more religion in the educational system of Turkey in recent years, just looking at the ''science fairs'' of Imamhatip schools tells me enough.

Pseudo scientific theories are pretty popular amongs such ideologies anyways, just glue some cardboards together and claim to do science, its enough to impress simple minds.

Well, the subject of the discussion is Evolution steps of Humans, so it has to be scientifically otherwise it's a hoax.

The point is they wont get it.

 

[Khagan1923]

Still my point valid, there is less science and more religion in the educational system of Turkey in recent years, just looking at the ''science fairs'' of Imamhatip schools tells me enough.

Pseudo scientific theories are pretty popular amongs such ideologies anyways, just glue some cardboards together and claim to do science, its enough to impress simple minds.


The point is they wont get it.

Every single child going to a Imam Hatip will be unemployed at the end. Erdogan and his akp goons are fucking up the Turkish future while turning this countries slowly into afghanistan.

 

[xenon54 out]

Every single child going to a Imam Hatip will be unemployed at the end. Erdogan and his akp goons are fucking up the Turkish future while turning this countries slowly into afghanistan.

Those are cheap workforces in the making, dont expect a Aziz Sancar to graduate from those schools.

 

[Glass]

those Imam hatip schools look quite modern once erdogan is gone they should be modernized to modern schools where u teach for the real life.

 

[Inspector Spacetime]

Still my point valid, there is less science and more religion in the educational system of Turkey in recent years, just looking at the ''science fairs'' of Imamhatip schools tells me enough.

Pseudo scientific theories are pretty popular amongs such ideologies anyways, just glue some cardboards together and claim to do science, its enough to impress simple minds.


The point is they wont get it.

Imam Hatip isn't a concept of recent years though, these schools have been around for decades now. And in order to come to the conclusion of 'less science', you got to analyze the entire curriculum to be able to come to that conclusion.

We also got to understand that religion and science aren't mutually exclusive. Evolutionary ideas were already being discussed in the Muslim world in the 12'th century.
In this link they dive into way more detail about Islam, Quranic verses and evolution: https://www.quora.com/Islam-Are-Islam-and-the-theory-of-evolution-compatible

 

[xenon54 out]

Imam Hatip isn't a concept of recent years though, these schools have been around for decades now. And in order to come to the conclusion of 'less science', you got to analyze the entire curriculum to be able to come to that conclusion.

We also got to understand that religion and science aren't mutually exclusive. Evolutionary ideas were already being discussed in the Muslim world in the 12'th century.
In this link they dive into way more detail about Islam, Quranic verses and evolution: https://www.quora.com/Islam-Are-Islam-and-the-theory-of-evolution-compatible

The thing is AKP is turning more and more schools into imamhatips to the point that it will no longer be an option but necessary to go to those schools.

One has to explain me the logic behind having 90'000 mostly empty mosques in a country where there is more than enough capacity to give religious education but not really doing it, but instead getting religion into education in schools that are already working in over capacity?
Where is the logic here?

Have you seen how Turkey dropped in Pisa ratings in the recent years, explains very well how education is going down the drain in Turkey.

Progress of 9 years reversed in 2015.

 

[lastofthepatriots]

I actually want to avoid the discussion regarding Turkish country, but anyone that considers Darwin's evolution theory as scientific is more retarded than Islamists. lol

 

[Inspector Spacetime]

Every single child going to a Imam Hatip will be unemployed at the end. Erdogan and his akp goons are fucking up the Turkish future while turning this countries slowly into afghanistan.

Those are cheap workforces in the making, dont expect a Aziz Sancar to graduate from those schools.

those Imam hatip schools look quite modern once erdogan is gone they should be modernized to modern schools where u teach for the real life.

In my opinion, the whole Imam Hatip discussion is nothing more than (one of the many, sadly) ideological bickerings that we Turks excel at.

And Aziz Sancar himself warned students to stay away from political/ideological bickerings. So no, I don't expect an Aziz Sancar to graduate from any school that is so much into pointless bickering.

The thing is AKP is turning more and more schools into imamhatips to the point that it will no longer be an option but necessary to go to those schools.

One has to explain me the logic behind having 90'000 mostly empty mosques in a country where there is more than enough capacity to give religious education but not really doing it, but instead getting religion into education in schools that are already working in over capacity?
Where is the logic here?

Have you seen how Turkey dropped in Pisa ratings in the recent years, explains very well how education is going down the drain in Turkey.



Progress of 9 years reversed in 2015.

The lowering of Pisa ratings, I don't really know how much lower we have gotten and what the true reason behind this trend is without properly analyzing it. But if I had to guess, a major factor would be because we as a people are way too much into politics and distrust anyone that doesn't have the same opinions and views as ourselves. We just assume because someone has a different opinion, that that person simply isn't 'educated' or worse yet is a 'traitor'. There are way too many factors (media and social media being the worst of all) that program us to distrust and hate each other. This inhibits us to function optimally in school, work and as a society as a whole. We got to listen to Aziz Sancar when he warns us about pointless political bickering.

Edit:
Educating religion is actually more important than ever. We have got to shield our people against the likes of ISIS. These types of groups deliberately target those that have a low grasp of the religion and disenfranchised people: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...haria-religion-faith-syria-iraq-a7193086.html