The developments of Turkish education system in the second constitutional era and Ethem Nejat Bey

Second Constitutional Era is one of the most important stages of Ottoman modernization progress. This progress is a bridge that unites the westernization evolution starts with Tanzimat Fermanı and ends with Republic of Turkey. From this aspect, unless the Second Constitutional Era understood perfectly, Republic progress and today's Turkey is not understood entirely, too.One of the most important modernization means is education with common and systematic corporations. Classical Ottoman education system started to be critisized by intellectuals and military and civil bureaucrat after the defeats against europe in the late 17th century. Reformations usually about military education and technic points started to be used civil and common education area with the middle of the 19th century, the time Tanzimat Fermanı started. Especially Tanzimat intellectuals realized that falling down of the government arised from the educational problems.This realization could not reflect practically because of Ottoman Government's hard progress both internal and external politics. Major oppositions against existing authority considered Abdulhamit the Second as the main obstacle in education like in the other areas. With the second proclaim of the constitutional era by Abdulhamit the Second, a wide independence atmosphere occurred, transformations about politics and economy were happened. Yet, it was not considered as these transformations were enough for survival of the government. Henceforth, Ottoman intellectuals' main purpose was surviving the government. That purpose could only be achieved by education.The Second Constitutional Era is the most substantial period in terms of suggestions about education. Educators foremost Emrullah Efendi, and Satı Bey, Tevfik Fikret, Ziya Gökalp, Kazım Nami, Selim Sırrı, İsmail Mahir Efendi, Halide Edip and Ethem Nejat Bey launched out arguments about education. Political authority attempted as education organization and bureucracy, too.In the first part of the thesis, hence the education system before the second constitutional era, it is emphasized how the way this construction took and developments were seen. Newly opened schools, important educators, managers and ideas are analysed systematically.In the second part of the thesis, one of the most important educators of that era, Ethem Nejat Bey, his life, his beliefs and appliances about Ottomanism, Pan-Islam and Turkism and his situation in revolutionary left that he had participated in1918 in Constitutional Era, his vision about economy, and the ideas and modernities about education he displayed is investigated. Ethem Nejat Bey always went about with modernity, activity and improvement and he expressed opinions and suggestions about points like agricultural and commercial education, scouting, physical education, public education, village teacher training college, teacher education. It is obvious that Ethem Nejat Bey was an important educator because most of his ideas about education were applied in the Second Constitutional Era and Republican Government period.In this respect, this thesis is both a term paper and biography of one of intellectuals of this term: Ethem Nejat Bey.