Cover not available
Part of
Tradition, Tension and Translation in Turkey
Edited by Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar, Saliha Paker and John Milton
[Benjamins Translation Library 118] 2015
► pp. 181–198

John Dewey’s 1924 report on Turkish education

Progressive education translated out of existence

John Dewey visited Turkey in 1924, the year after the Republic was founded, and prepared a report emphasizing the importance of moving the Turkish education system toward “progressive education”. The report was translated into Turkish, but the translations neither used the term “progressive education” consistently nor were the reforms Dewey suggested referred to with this label. This paper focuses on the discrepancy between the English and Turkish versions of the term “progressive education” as a philosophy of education, and the socio-political implications Dewey’s report created in education then and at present in Turkey.
Keywords: John Dewey, policies and leadership in Turkish education, politics of translation, progressive education, translated works on Turkish education
Published online: 10 July 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.118.09alp
References (34)
Ahmad, Feroz. 2008. “Politics and Political Parties in Republican Turkey.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey, Volume 4, Turkey in the Modern World, edited by Reşat Kasaba, 226–265. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Akyüz, Yahya. 2004. Türk Eğitim Tarihi M.Ö. 1000-M.S. 2004 [History of Turkish Education: 
BC 1000–AD 2004]. Ankara: PegemA Yayıncılık, 9. Baskı.Google Scholar
Alper, Fahrettin. 1947. “Sayın İhsan Sungu’nun Aziz Hâtıraları” [Precious Memories of Mr. İhsan Sungu]. İlk Öğretim. 25 (227): 2947.Google Scholar
Bal, Hüseyin. 1991. John Dewey’in Eğitim Felsefesi [John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education]. Istanbul: Kor.Google Scholar
Balaban, Mustafa Rahmi. Filozoflarla Birer Saat: Muhtasar Felsefe Tarihi. Istanbul: Gayret Kitabevi, 1947.Google Scholar
Binbaşıoğlu, Cavit 2005. Türk Eğitim Düşünce Tarihi [History of Turkish Educational Thought]. Ankara: Anı.Google Scholar
. 1999. Cumhuriyet Dönemi Eğitim Bilimleri Tarihi [History of Educational Sciences in the Republican Era]. Ankara: Öğretmen H.H. Tekışık Eğitim Araştırma-Geliştirme Merkezi.Google Scholar
Boydston, Jo A., ed. 1988. Essays on Politics and Society 1923–1924: The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899–1924. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Carl. 1983. “Introduction.” In John Dewey. The Middle Works 1899–1924, edited by Jo Anne Boydston, ix–xxvi. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 1916. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
. 1924a. “The New Angora.” In Essays on Politics and Society 1923–1924: The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899–1924. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. (1988)Google Scholar
. 1924b. “Foreign Schools in Turkey.” In Essays on Politics and Society 1923–1924: The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899–1924. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. (1988)Google Scholar
. 1924c. “Secularizing a Theocracy: Young Turkey and the Caliphate.” In Essays on Politics and Society 1923–1924: The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899–1924. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. (1988)Google Scholar
. 1925. “Türk Maarifi Hakkında Rapor” [A Report on Turkish Education]. Maarif Vekaleti Mecmuası 1&2. [No translator’s name given.]Google Scholar
. 1930. Mektep ve Cemiyet [Turkish translation of School and Society]. Translated by B. Avni. Istanbul: Devlet Matbaası.Google Scholar
. 1938. Yarının Mektepleri [Turkish translation of Schools of Tomorrow]. Translated by Prof. S. Celal Antel. Istanbul: Kanaat Kitabevi.Google Scholar
. 1939. “Türk Maarifi Hakkında Rapor” [A Report on Turkish Education, published by Ministry of Education at State Publishing House]. Maarif Vekaleti. [No translator’s name given.]Google Scholar
. 1955. Liberté et culture. Translated by Pierre Messiaen. Paris: Aubier.Google Scholar
. 1962. Özgürlük ve Kültür [Freedom and Culture]. Translated by Vedat Günyol. Istanbul: Çan Yayınları.Google Scholar
. 1966. Tecrübe ve Eğitim [Experience and Education]. Translated by Fatma Varış and Fatma Başaran. Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Yayınları.Google Scholar
. 1987. Özgürlük ve Kültür [Freedom and Culture, 1939]. Translated by Vedat Günyol. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi.Google Scholar
. 1996. Demokrasi ve Eğitim [Democracy and Education]. Translated by Prof. Tahsin Yılmaz. Izmir: Ege Üniversitesi.Google Scholar
. 2005. Demokrasi ve Egitim. Translated by Tufan Göbekçin. Ankara: Yeryüzü Yayınevi.Google Scholar
Ergün, Mustafa. 1990. “Türk Eğitiminin Batılaşmasını Belirleyen Dinamikler” [The Dynamics Defining the Westernization of Turkish Education]. Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi, 17: 453–457.Google Scholar
Kayaoğlu, Taceddin. 1998. Türkiye’de Tercüme Müesseseleri. Istanbul: Kitabevi.Google Scholar
Malmkjaer, Kirsten. 2005. Linguistics and the Language of Translation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Öztürk, Cemil. 2007. Atatürk Devrinde Öğretmen Yetiştirme Politikası. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları.Google Scholar
Saito, Naoko. 2003. “Education for Global Understanding; Learning from Dewey’s Visit to Japan.” Teachers College Record 109 (9): 1758–1773. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sakaoğlu, Necdet. 1999. “Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Merkez Örgütü.” In 75 Yılda Eğitim, edited by Fatma Gök. Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları.Google Scholar
Small, Albion W. 1897. “Some Demands of Sociology upon Pedagogy,” American Journal of Sociology, 2: 839–851. [URL], Accessed December 1, 2014. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tahir Gürçağlar, Şehnaz.2008. The Politics and Poetics of Translation in Turkey, 1923–1960. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Varış, Fatma, and Ülker Akkutay. 1996. Milli Eğitimde Yabancı Uzman Raporları [Reports on Turkish National Education by Foreign Experts]. Ankara: Avni Akyol Ümit Kültür ve Eğitim Vakfı Yayınları.Google Scholar
Wirth, Arthur G. 1967. “Deweyan Tradition Revisited: Any Relevance for Our Time?” Teachers College Record 69 (3): 263–269.Google Scholar
Wolf-Gazo, Ernest. 1996. “John Dewey in Turkey: An Educational Mission.” Journal of American Studies of Turkey 3: 15–42.Google Scholar