Education and Society in Modem Turkey

Abstract

Education is a subtle and sensitive indicator of the political and ideological differences of any modem society. These differences are traceable through the development of education, its funding and control and, of course, the values incorporated into what is taught. The structure of educational opportunities which a society sustains is both a reflection and determinant of much wider patterns of social inequality and cultural diversity which exist within it. In many societies these linkages between education and social structures are not obvious. In Turkey, however, during the 1970s, they were all too clear, for the violence which erupted throughout the society bringing it close to the point of civil war was particularly acute in the education system. The social inequalities and ideological polarities of the society have always been precisely outlined in its system of education.