The Story of Atatürk’s Importance of Science and Education

All the great developments in the world today and all the great steps that humanity has taken as a species, development of science and technology is happening with. If we look at it from a more realistic point of view, instead of attributing it to humanity. of all nations that have developed, prospered and joined the planners of the future. We see that there are nations that value science and technology, develop and produce it.

Of course, scientific development is a long process that progresses with different first steps in different periods throughout human history. However, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries Age of EnlightenmentIt was started to be better understood that the future of humanity is science. This understanding and its reflections in the world, brought many societies to where they are today. It was one of the steps. The Republic of Turkey was founded on these foundations thanks to a rational leader.

We needed more than victories through wars. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was aware of this

Even though we know Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with his political leader and soldier identities, we still remember his achievements. depend only on being a very good soldier and a persuasive leader. it would be a big mistake. Behind every step he takes mind, science and education Emphasizing that, Atatürk has consistently proven this with the decisions he made.

In a meeting where he met with teachers in a high school building in Kütahya, Atatürk said, ”No matter how brilliantly victories a nation achieves on the battlefields, the continuous results of those victories are only valid with an army of wisdom (to know, to understand). Without this second army, the gains of the first army are dead. If we want to lead our nation to true happiness and salvation, if we want to give our nation a solid and fruitful future, if we want the eternity of our current form of administration that saves us from death and leads us to life, we cannot deny that we have to have a great, perfect, luminous army of knowledge and understanding as soon as possible.By saying ”, he openly said that the victories achieved through wars have no meaning on their own…

Well, Atatürk, whose name comes side by side with wars, victories and revolutions in history books, for science to be the most important building block of the Republic of Turkey. what had he done? How did this rational, science-guiding side of him develop? Let’s take a closer look…

The transformation experienced in our lands during the Second Constitutional Era also affected Atatürk’s thoughts.

Mustafa Kemal, since his student years inspired by many of his teachers Thanks to them, he began to shape his thoughts. At the same time, his character who valued reading and the thousands of books he read had a profound effect on the formation of his thoughts. Afterwards the transformation that started in our land He continued to develop himself as a close follower.

rationalist, positivist in the Ottoman Empire; rational and pro-scientific thinking especially during the Second Constitutional Monarchy. During this period, many thinkers were trying to explain these currents of ideas to the enlightened public of the country, while producing ideas on how to get rid of the situation the country was in.

Ideas were reaching more and more people, especially with the magazines published, and an intellectual transformation was taking place in our lands, although it was not large enough to spread to the general public. Mustafa Kemal is following all these developments closely in this period, He read the opinions of intellectuals who grew up in these lands, and at the same time read names such as Kant, Descartes, Auguste Comte and Jean Jacques Rousseau and had them translated and published.

Many names such as Şehbenderzade Ahmet Hilmi, Kılıçzade Hakkı Bey, Tevfik Fikret, Namık Kemal and the magazines, books and poems they published, the debates they started, Atatürk’s ideas on subjects such as science, progress, evolution, civilization and struggle It was an inspiration for him.

For example, the views of Şehbenderzade Ahmet Hilmi, which Atatürk read in 1916, influenced Atatürk in many ways. Şehbenderzade Ahmet Hilmi emphasized that the transition to modern life would not happen with a slow development that would take a long time, and he considered rapid progress essential. What are the reasons that hinder our progress? hostility to new ideaslove the stillness deep mimicry explained it as superficial knowledge…

Ataturk is also Descartes’ “Reflections on Method” He requested that his book, “Kant and His Philosophy” be translated into Turkish, and had a study published in the same period.

After the establishment of the Turkish Republic, education and science became Atatürk’s top priority.

Atatürk, who often emphasizes the value he gives to teachers and education, says in one of his statements that best shows his views on this subject, “We cannot close our eyes and think that we are living alone. We cannot surround our country with a circle and live unrelated to the world… On the contrary, we will live above the level of civilization as a civilized nation that has risen and progressed. This life is only possible thanks to science. We will be from where science and science are, and we will put it in the minds of each nation.. There are no terms and conditions for science.”

Putting science and science in the minds of every individual of the nation… This sentence summarizes the most important step Atatürk took to make progress and create a country whose citizens have achieved prosperity.

The steps he took to make Turkish the language of education and science were also a supporter of his discourses.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk took many big steps to protect, teach and develop Turkish as a language of science. In addition to establishing the Turkish Language Association, he also took steps to translate scientific terms into Turkish. The Geometry book he wrote to translate the terms of geometry into Turkish, It was one of the best examples of this.

According to that ”Science would not be with translation, it would be with study, that is, with research.”. In other words, it was very important to be able to understand, produce and implement science in our own language, and it was not enough to just follow and understand the researches; He should have been the one doing the research himself. Nowadays you ‘ordinary people’ like us to follow scientific studies Think how hard it is for him to scan and understand foreign sources…

He often expressed the value he gave to universities and scientists.

With all these steps, Atatürk, scientificization of education. also attached great importance. While this was ensured by steps such as the Law of Unification of Education, this idea continued to be supported by steps such as the University Reform over the years.

With the University Reform, the word ‘university’ was used for the first time in Turkey; Universities began to take shape as progressive educational institutions based on scientific education. If before Hundreds of students who were sent to Europe and received education were given an ‘educator’. The groundwork for these steps was prepared. In addition, many Jewish scientists who fled Nazi Germany with the University Reform came to Turkey and were employed in universities.

The scientist explains the value he attaches to academics in a message he sent to them in 1923 as follows; ”…Since science is synonymous with national independence, in the teaching chairs you are occupying, your country, even you scientists, no doubt you are the heroes of the same war…”

Atatürk had also organized many scientific congresses to represent this idea. in various fields such as education, language, history, art, culture and economy. He also closely followed the developments by organizing scientific congresses and congresses.

Atatürk’s words emphasizing the value he gave to science…

• “Nations that try to walk with outdated mentalities and primitive superstitions in the face of the might and glory of civilization are doomed to perish or at least to be enslaved and humiliated.”
• “The truest guide for everything in the world, for civilization, for life, for success, is science. Seeking a guide other than science and science is heedlessness, ignorance, and deviating from the right path. It is only necessary to understand the development of science and its stages in every minute we live and to follow the progress in time. To attempt to apply the rules set by science and science a thousand, two thousand, thousands of years ago, today, after so many thousand years, is of course not to be in science and science.
• ”…The greatest truths and advancements emerge and rise through the free expression and discussion of ideas…”

We still need greater victories;

We should know that we should not give up learning and teaching, even for a moment, on this path that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk opened for real great victories. As he said and as we see every time we look back at the world; “Civilization is such a powerful fire that it destroys those who are indifferent to it. Uncivilized people and societies will always be doomed to be below the civilized…

We should understand, criticize and understand what the society and our education system’s view of science is. The price this situation pays to society We have to find out what really happened. Only then can we achieve greater victories.

Sources: Prof. Dr. Ali Riza Erdem, Prof. Dr. Nihat Baysu, Prof. Dr. Esin Kâhya, Atatürk Encyclopedia, Turkish Historical Society, Atatürk High Council of Culture, Language and History