Yalcin Doğan: Life=180 minutes
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 29, 2006 10:56
Istanbul, Eskisehir, Zonguldak, Kocaeli, Yozgat, Adana, Manisa, Samsun, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Mersin. It's this widespread, and this frightening. In schools in these cities, over the past few months, 10 students have lost their lives, while forty-one students and teachers have been injured.
Turkey is a violent society. The violence seems to be reflected in our middle schools right now. Young people, between the ages of 12-18, with guns, knives, sticks and similar items are attacking their friends. There are some who are injured, others killed.
Tayyip Erdogan says "the media is writing about these things, exaggerating them, that's why they're happening." He seems he's is not even aware of the events.
So, why is violence growing in our schools? The headline of this column-Life=180 minutes-does not originate with me. It belongs to the Turkish Education Foundation (TED). It is a dramatic sketch of what is happening in schools. What we have is a situation where young people are filled with lack of security and trust about the future, resulting from problems with our education system.
TED calculates that 8 billion dollars a year are spent by families every year in preparation for university exams. This begins at the end of middle school years for young people, when the spectre of university entrance barriers starts to loom. From an average 1,800,000 candidates yearly, only 84 thousand will enter university. 8 billion dollars a year. The exam lasts exactly 180 minutes. Your fate is squeezed into 180 minutes. Which is where we come to "Life=180 minutes."
The result of this is a build-up of people knocking at university doors, and of course, unemployment. It is like a tunnel of horrors. And the fear that starts to build early is reflected in the knives, stones, and guns carried by middle schoolers. Because they have no faith in the future. No faith in their parents, in their schooling, in no one.
Violence is already a deeply rooted social phenomenon. You can't just explain it away with the violence shown on TV series. Violence starts in the home. The father beats the mother, the mother beats the child. The child waves knives at his or her friends. There is no tolerance or understanding. There are giant economic problems. There is general dissatisfaction.
The solution is not placing police force agents in front of schools. The solution, one of them atleast, is to reconsider and reform the education system, from the roots on upward.
Tayyip Erdogan says "the media is writing about these things, exaggerating them, that's why they're happening." He seems he's is not even aware of the events.
So, why is violence growing in our schools? The headline of this column-Life=180 minutes-does not originate with me. It belongs to the Turkish Education Foundation (TED). It is a dramatic sketch of what is happening in schools. What we have is a situation where young people are filled with lack of security and trust about the future, resulting from problems with our education system.
TED calculates that 8 billion dollars a year are spent by families every year in preparation for university exams. This begins at the end of middle school years for young people, when the spectre of university entrance barriers starts to loom. From an average 1,800,000 candidates yearly, only 84 thousand will enter university. 8 billion dollars a year. The exam lasts exactly 180 minutes. Your fate is squeezed into 180 minutes. Which is where we come to "Life=180 minutes."
The result of this is a build-up of people knocking at university doors, and of course, unemployment. It is like a tunnel of horrors. And the fear that starts to build early is reflected in the knives, stones, and guns carried by middle schoolers. Because they have no faith in the future. No faith in their parents, in their schooling, in no one.
Violence is already a deeply rooted social phenomenon. You can't just explain it away with the violence shown on TV series. Violence starts in the home. The father beats the mother, the mother beats the child. The child waves knives at his or her friends. There is no tolerance or understanding. There are giant economic problems. There is general dissatisfaction.
The solution is not placing police force agents in front of schools. The solution, one of them atleast, is to reconsider and reform the education system, from the roots on upward.