Day 4 - Istanbul

Day 4 - Istanbul
Weather - 85 degrees, all sun
Plans - Daruşşafaka High School, Beşiktaş High School, Turkish Cultural Foundation HQ, leisure time.

Today is an easy blog. We began the day much later (9:00am), so I was able to conjure a bit more sleep. That's not to say I don't enjoy the bustle, but it was nice, especially since we leave for Çannakale (pronounced CHAH-nah-kah-lay) tomorrow at 7:00am.


Daruşşafaka High School

But today we first went to Daruşşafaka (pronounced Dah-RUH-shah-fah-kah) High School, which was founded for orphaned boys in 1863. The vice-chairman said, "it's hard to explain this school, the only real equivalent to it is the Milton Hershey High School in Pennsylvania," and I gave out a quick "YEAH!" and made him laugh.

It's really a great place for kids, and despite the rough social and economic conditions of the kids entering the school, it is considered one of the top schools in the country. Most of the students who graduate there move onto the best colleges in Turkey and the US, and many of its graduates are seriously successful Turks and Turkish-Americans. Though there were no students there, I got a bit choked up on how much good flows from a place like Daruşşafaka.

Beşiktaş High School

After that we went to a public high school called Beşiktaş (Bay-SHEEK-tash) Anatolia High, which is a top 5 public high school in Istanbul. The English teachers we were able to speak with there were very perceptive and helpful. They discussed the education system, which is tiered learning, and students are tested in 5th grade, 8th grade, and 12th grade to move onto their next block of life. In this case, students must meet a certain benchmark of points to make it there. Afterward, their 9th grade year is a general studies year, and at the end of that year, they pretty much have to decide what type of career they'd like to establish themselves in by the beginnings of 10th grade. Yep, you read that correctly. This is because their schooling becomes specialized, so a student who wants to be an English teacher has a different curriculum from someone who wants to be an engineer. This is to prepare themselves for their "graduate exam," which is like our SAT on crack. It's stressful, teachers hate it, but it's the system. Students have so much to know for the test that being in school for 9 hours isn't enough - they have to employ a private tutor to help them so they can not just pass, but dominate the test at the conclusion of their senior year.

In addition, the teachers said that they are paid relatively low salary, between 1,000 - 1,500 Turkish Lira a month, or $600 - 750. This is also how much the average flat in Istanbul costs to rent, too. Despite this, teachers are revered in their culture by parents and students, and they say that most of their students kiss the teachers' hands on their entrance to class out of respect. And if there are any problems, there's no discipline, it's almost always handled at home. However, I'd be curious to know what the tough school districts are like to teachers, and I'd love to sit in a classroom or ten just to observe the educational process, for curiosity's sake.

If you're wondering about Mark's burpees, check them out here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UowM81LXSPg


Turkish Cultural Foundation HQ

At the TCF, we grabbed a quick lunch and listened to a bunch of presentations for about 2.5 hours. Since our brains were going non-stop, it was a restful period, almost too restful. However, all of the non-profits were excellent entities, and it was good to hear about their missions that they were tackling in Turkey. Here are the presentation groups we heard and their missions:

• Association in Support of Contemporary Living - providing education and libraries for elementaries
• KaGiDer - Women's Entrepreneurs of Turkey and women empowerment
  
• Cultural Awareness Foundation - the "Cultural Ants" program of connecting low-income students with field trips and cultural experiences
• ACEV - the Mother-Child Education Foundation, which teaches poverty-stricken parents in rural areas how to be the primary educator of their children.
• ilkyar - to improve elementary boarding schools across the country.

Tonight we're going to head out for dinner on our own. I'm hoping that my former student Semih will meet us; if not, we're on our own!


Iyi gunler (have a good day),

Jake