Chartwell Director Presents at Turkish Education Association Forum

Originally Published:
January 28, 2008

Source:
Chartwell Publications

Turkish Education Association
80th Anniversary
International Education Forum
January 28, 2008


 Prepared Remarks

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Friends.
     It is a gracious honor and pleasure to be here on this lovely campus to help celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Turkish Education Association and to take part in this important dialogue about the many challenges we all face in our work to improve and empower education systems in the 21st century.
     I extend special gratitude to His Excellency President Koksal Toptan for his welcome and support for the ideals of education for all.
     I also thank the honorable Selcuk Pehlivanoðlu , President of the Turkish Education Association, and the honorable Dr. Huseyin Celik, Minister of National Education, for their commitment to learning and advancement.
     The valuable comments we have just heard have enriched our thinking already this morning. And I look forward to hearing the many other insights and ideas from the other distinguished speakers and panelists throughout the conference. Clearly, we have much to learn from our exchange and I appreciate this opportunity to be a part of it.
     As events of the day remind us, the global education landscape is fundamentally changing, exerting new pressures on us to reexamine old approaches and assumptions to find a new way forward in this 21st century. This is a dilemma Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk could well appreciate when he created the Turkish Educational Association some 80 years ago. He, too, stood at a crossroads. And many of the education issues we wrestle with today – quality, access, delivery—were just as paramount in his thoughts in 1933, as Turkey celebrated its first decade as a Republic. In a rousing speech, Atatürk projected his vision for a successful and sustainable future for his beloved homeland when he said: “We shall raise our country to the level of the most prosperous and civilized nations of the world.”
     It was a bold goal. But Atatürk understood then what we all know now: Education lifts all people and all societies. It is as fundamental a human right as breathing. And it is the first duty of government to educate all of its people. In today’s world, any measure of a rigorous education must include the firm understanding that the future of all of us – and the future of our children—is intertwined with the complex challenges of the global community as a whole. The latest UNESCO Global Monitoring Report for 2008 drives home the point and reminds us that economies grow and civil societies flourish when citizens are skilled and knowledgeable -- full participants in society who can help shape not only the here and now but also the future for generations to come.
     The Chairman and Co-Founder of my firm is Dr. Rod Paige, a former United States Secretary of Education -- head of the U.S. education ministry, if you will. I am reminded of his comment summing up our common challenge: “No nation, whatever its size, can sustain greatness unless it educates all, not just some, of its citizens. Students must be challenged by high standards. Teachers must be provided with proper resources. Parents must be empowered with information and choices.”
     Dr. Paige’s point then is just as true today. This is a challenge we all share. In the United States, with more than 300 million citizens, the struggle to fine-tune and improve our system of education is an ongoing process. We may, for example, know how to teach reading and math and other subjects based upon decades of exhaustive research. But it means nothing unless we also know how to deliver that knowledge quickly, efficiently and effectively to all of our children.
     It’s not easy. Not for us. Not for anybody. But quality education is a commitment, a promise. In America, our number one domestic priority – both in focus and in funding—is a set of ambitious education reforms called No Child Left Behind.
     These reforms in many ways mirror those of the United Nations international goals of Education for All, both in sweep and scope. No Child Left Behind raised the bar for academic achievement in our public schools all across America – particularly in reading, math and science. Specifically, our school reforms insist on improved teacher quality, on all students learning at grade level in reading and math by the year 2014, and on extra help for students who need it to improve academic performance. And to make sure that schools are teaching and students are learning, we measure results.
     Through regular testing to ensure children are learning, holding schools accountable for results, and intervening at an earlier age, U.S. schools are seeing positive spikes in achievement scores across the board. This has led some to observe that No Child Left Behind is more than a reform, it’s a movement – and one that I was honored to help lead and implement.
     The process has taught us much. And the research is still telling us more. But one of the most fundamental lessons we learned in undertaking these reforms is the critical importance of political will in transforming public policy. Educational excellence flourishes where there is leadership willing to raise the standards and willing to challenge every citizen to achieve his or her greatest potential.
     The legacy of Atatürk’s vision can be seen in Turkey’s current contribution to the global economy, and in the high literacy of the people. The intellectual strength and talent of the Turkish nation is evidenced in its ambitious agenda for the future that harnesses the power of public-private partnerships to achieve its education objectives.
     When Education for All initiative was in its infancy, Turkey was already at the table developing – often, against difficult odds—policy frameworks and programs to improve education delivery, quality and access to help ensure a brighter future for every girl and boy in Turkey.
     Much work remains to achieve the EFA goals. But clearly, progress has been made here, most notably:

  • improved curriculum and free textbooks
  • increased enrollments of girls and boys
  • expanded compulsory education from 5 to 8 years
  • expanded facilities with nearly 127,000 new classrooms
  • expanded teacher corps with 70,000 new educators

 

Empowering girls and women is a key EFA objective and Turkey is to be applauded for working to remove barriers and expand access through various programs.
     Second only in importance to political will is resources. So it is a tribute to the Turkish government’s commitment that the lion’s share of government funding is dedicated to education. With this demonstrated commitment to bringing education to the forefront of the nation’s domestic strategy, the potential for greater student achievement is very real. And there are many new tools to help.
     We are witnesses to a new era of change, an era when the exploration of the mind is not stifled by the artificial limits of geography, or status, or gender. The goals of Education for All abandon the ancient model and respond to the modern needs of the knowledge economy. Turkey has moved to reduce the gender gap in education and expand access to girls, a critical step towards universal learning.
     As the imperative for universal access to education is increasingly recognized around the world, so too is the importance of understanding new ways in which education is delivered.
     We have entered a new age that is driven by technology and information and the specialized skills needed to maximize both. In this rapidly-changing environment, creativity and innovation are a prerequisite for education reform. The job of modern education is to harness new disciplines to build upon a strong foundation in classical learning.
     Students today must be taught how to be well-informed consumers of education. They must be taught new uses of information to create new syntheses to solve new problems and challenges as they emerge. As knowledge workers with highly developed skill-sets, they must be prepared to thrive in a competitive and ever-changing environment of continuous learning and growth. This is how we can create the education model that spurs innovation.
     As workers in the global economy continuously upgrade their skills to meet new professional challenges, the private sector and advanced technologies enable displaced workers to quickly learn new skill sets and rejoin the workforce.
     Innovations such as online and distance learning programs enable wider access to advanced degrees for professionals. Lifelong learning has emerged as a new driver of human capital growth in the 21st century, and I look forward to the panel discussion later.
     In the United States, we made the transition from an agrarian, to an industrial, to a digital society. And we have had to adjust our educational delivery system along the way. Change is never easy and some resisted new approaches. But it’s hard to argue with research that tells you plain and simple: In a knowledge-driven world, the more you learn, the more you earn.
     Earnings data in the U.S. back this up. A University of Ottawa study showed a modest one percent rise in a nation’s literacy scores yielded a two-and-a-half percent increase in labor productivity and a 1.5 percent increase in GDP per person.
     And a report from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics called Financing Education—Investments and Returns, takes it a step further, linking education attainment to economic growth. School attendance increases earning power and access to the labor market – and this has proved especially true for women. The study found that in the countries where skills improved the fastest between generations, productivity also improved much faster than average.
     Many are taking note and acting. A recent projection by the OECD shows the number of students worldwide enrolled in higher education more than tripling between 1990 and 2025 – from 45 million to 150 million.
     Turkey is to be commended for working to increase access to its Universities. In addition to reforming the entrance exams to promote wider access, the Ministry of National Education and the Higher Education Council are working to develop new assessment mechanisms and to give these institutions greater levels of autonomy.
     Something the private sector has learned well is the importance of critically examining operations from time to time, asking the tough questions—all with an eye for improved outcomes and efficiencies that allow ambitious agendas to be successful.
     In the United States, our education system is responsible for educating 55 million children. Funded by $550 billion, this translates into $10,000 per child. Our public education system is confronted by many challenges. Without a centralized federal education system, our 50 states are autonomous, and many schools are under union control. This makes education reform very difficult and a sensitive topic.
     However, there are many positive things taking place in our system as well. We are seeing substantial improvements in testing and research, and are also experiencing increased accountability.
     School choice, vouchers and charter schools give parents more autonomy and control over how their children are being educated. These types of improvements have increased competition in the education marketplace, and have helped our education system realize change and success.
     Our higher education system serves another 20 million students and adult learners. With $400 billion in funding, this translates into $20,000 in spending per student. The American higher education system, half of which is public and the other half private, is recognized as the best in the world. Innovations in technology, online and virtual learning continue to improve the quality of education while also providing increased access. However, we too must continue to strive to spend more efficiently, concentrating not only on increasing inputs but also on spending them wisely.
     In closing, one of Ataturk’s contemporaries was an American named Thomas Edison. Edison may be most remembered as the man who gave us all the long-lasting light bulb. But Edison was an innovator who never stopped asking the tough questions, who never stopped challenging the status quo to find a new and better way of doing things. And in the process, he revolutionized modern life—in ways large and small—that still resonate today.
     As we contemplate the many challenges and complexities of education reform, I am reminded of Edison’s many achievements and one particular observation he made in hindsight. He said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
     Clearly, that is not the case with all of you. We are here today because we believe in the power of education to lift all people and all societies. We are here because we know that successful education reform is the key that unlocks vast frontiers of possibility. For every citizen. And we will not give up.
     The 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, said that the leading objective of government is “to elevate the condition of men – to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.”
     One of my favorite philosophers added that, “This passage is an eloquent statement of principles upon which the nation was founded and which Lincoln was defending in our darkest hour. It also describes the spirit that must elevate our nation and the world today as we face the challenge of ensuring that we maximize the chance for every child to rise and succeed in the race of life.”
     Thank you, all, for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences with you on this very important topic.

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