Utopian education models in Turkish literature

While creating utopias, everything in the existing order is separated and examined as in a laboratory environment. In this way, utopian writers see the failing aspects much more clearly. Authors wear the armor of fiction and make their criticisms in utopian fiction more courageously than in critical writings. The utopian writer creates a new order to eliminate the problems he sees and to reach the ideal. The new order created by these writers, who always lead the society, is very important in terms of guiding the society. In this study, what kind of education is dreamed of in utopias is examined through seven utopian works in Turkish literature. While selecting these works, their reference to education was taken into consideration. Some of the selected authors also have educational backgrounds. For this reason, education is the focal point in some utopian works. In some cases, education is an auxiliary element to achieve the desired order. In the light of the works examined, it has been seen that utopian works provide important information about the period in which they were written. The social, political and ideological structure of the period took place in utopian works. Regarding education, the authors reflected both the educational philosophies of their period and their own educational philosophies in the work. The parallels of education and utopia intersect at the point of idealizing society. For this reason, utopias eliminate existing negativities through education in order to bring society to the ideal. Utopias see education not only as a repair mechanism, but also as a power mechanism that will keep the newly established order alive and ensure the sustainability of the ideal order. In this context, it has been seen that structures such as state, society and politics, which are the mainstays of utopia, are in close relationship with education. In this study, document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. Ahmet Ağaoğlu's "Serbest İnsanlar Ülkesin'de (1930)", İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu's "Rüyamdaki Okullar (1936)", Memduh Şevket Esendal's "Yurda Dönüş (1940)" Peyami Safa's "Yalnızız (1951)", Şevket Süreyya Aydemir 's "Toprak Uyanırsa: Ekmeksizköy Öğretmeninin Hatıraları (1963)", Gülten Dayıoğlu's " Işın Çağı Çocukları (1984)", Buket Uzuner's " Balık İzlerinin Sesi (1992)". These works have been examined under seven main headings. These headings were determined as family education in utopian works, religious education, technological knowledge, education-society relationship, education-state relationship, education-policy relationship, and criticism of the current education system. Keywords: Utopia, Education, Criticism