The course of the study is to expose the narratives of primary school students of 1980s’ Turkey about their teachers. Children constitute a great part of societies. It is therefore, what they reminisce about their teachers during their primary education as part of their educational experiences becomes considerably significant not only for their past education, but also for child history and history of education in general. Since it is almost impossible to reach to the educational experiences of children in the written documents, it is significant to uncover and reconstruct their experiences with their own words and relate their similarities and differences along with the place where they got their primary school education.

The students who are the products of the prevailing social and cultural values of the milieu in which they are, reproduce these social and cultural values (?nal, 2008). They also actively involve in the construction of their own social lives, the lives of those around them and the societies in which they live (Wall, 2012, p. 90).  Therefore, it is hardly possible to consider and comprehend their narratives regardless of considering their environment. Because the identities, personalities and behaviours of children reverberate their environment (West, E and Petrick, 1992, p. 42).

The researhers are partially able to reach the narratives of primary school students about their teachers in diaries, autobiographies, child literatures, periodicals. (Öztan: 2013, p. 4) For instance, Menali’s Bir Ba?ka Dinazorun An?lar? (Memories of Another Dinosaur) and Öymen’s Bir Dönem Bir Çocuk: (A Period A Child) are the books where they describe both their childhood and school experiences (Menali, 2005, Öymen, 2002). Whereas; most of these diaries, autobiographies belong to the children being in upper income family groups and their number is so limited.

In Turkey, the academic studies on educational experiences comprising children’s original words have emerged via oral history methodology lately. Çameli’s “Ça?da? E?itime Geçi?in Tüm A?amalar?n?n Tan??? Hüseyin Hüsnü Ciritli’nin Ya?am Anlat?s?: ‘Cumhuriyet Nas?l Bir Adam ki?’: The Life Narrative of Hüseyin Hüsnü Ciritli, the Witness of All Satges of the Transition to Contemporary Education: What Sort of A Person Was Republic? (Çameli, 2005), Tan’s “Cumhuriyet’te Çocuktular: They Were Children in the Republic” (Tan et al, 2007) are some of these studies which introduce general details of educational experiences of primary school students at different periods of Turkish Republic.

In these studies some of the students who got their primary school education at different periods of Turkish Republic remember their teachers as in the following narratives.  Ciritli who was a primary school student during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic describes his teacher as “In the mosque, the teacher was sitting on the mattress. At Güne?li Mektep (Sunshine School) he stood up and walked through the desks” (Çameli, 2005, p. 92). ?smet Varol puts his memories about his teacher as “For us teacher means they were our mother and father. He/She was such a person we revered” (Tan et al., 2007, p. 76). Fahri Karadeniz recalls his teacher as “Particularly there was a teacher who incredibly dealt with us. I felt her intimacy like a mother” (Sa?lam, 2014, p. 101).

Despite these general studies which picture primary school students’ educational experiences, there are no unique studies that stand from the point of students and rely on their own words. These are the words that reflect how they remember the details about their teachers, such as, whether their teachers discriminated them in terms of gender and income level and recommended them anything for their future educations (Tan et al., 2007, p. 10). In this respect, reconstructing the 1980s’ primary school students’  educational experiences about teachers considering the place (center-periphery) where they completed their primary school education is prominent.

The method of the study is oral history which basiclly writes the history of those who are being excluded from the prevailing way of historical understanding and associates their history with grand historical events and developments. Children who have an active and vital role in the formation of lives of their own, those taking place around them and their society are one of the social groups whose history and educational experiences have been ignored. For this reason, oral history methodology allows the voices of those that have been partially or totally ignored, marginalizsed or silenced within particular contexts to be heard (Haynes, 2006; Wall, 2012, p. 90).

Oral history is also a sort of alternative way of providing sources to collect data for both historical, sociological and educational studies (Danac?o?lu, 2001, p. 131). What it does is to discover the individual experience which is an emptiness in dominant classical historical approach (Tan et al., 2007). Alessandro Portelli puts oral history into words as “oral history tells us less about events than their meaning”  (Portelli, 1998, p. 69). It has sought to cast the light of history on people who have occupied the lower rungs of various status hierarchies thus the phrase ‘history from the bottom up’ (Chan, 1994, p. 597).

To put it in Öztürkmen’s words “listening to oral narratives of national holidays also enabled us to dig deeper than the official programs published in written sources. Although, the oral history approach provides the researcher with as much information as appears in the written sources. It is not just a method that simply brings us details not available in the written sources, the scope and promise of the field of oral history is much broader than that” (Öztürkmen, 2001, p. 53). Oral history is more than merely a supplement to other extant documents; it stands as an attempt at first interpretations of a series of events (Cuttler III, 1971, p. 185). As Cuttler puts into words (Cuttler III, 1971, p. 186) “oral history can serve to fill information gaps in the written record and it can help the historian to understand the atmosphere or milieu of the period under his scrutiny. It can illustrate in vivid terms what it was like to live during the times in question.”

As Öztürk claims (Öztürk, 2010, p. 14) “while on the one hand oral history is a way to reach various information that is not available in the written sources, it also has the potential to reach the information that is away from the authority of written sources.” The oral evidence from ordinary people is an essential part of understanding total history. It is a method of gathering material, a contribution to the general process of making sense of past (Caunce, 1994, p. 2, 11). McAdoo also (McAdoo, 1980, p. 420) puts in “the oral history method would benefit those of us in the educational community by providing rich data. It also provides insight often impossible to obtain with standardized instruments only, and gives us a check on the validity of the test data obtained.”

Moreover, for a democratic society oral history actualizes the share of knowledge through the power of reciprocal dialogues as Paulo Freire puts into words (McLaren, 2001, 2003). Oral history methodology which establishes a  tie  among  various  disciplinaries also contributes to the development of a democratic histiography and understanding via splicing various parts of socities into historiographical process. With its critical and transformative function, it contributes to socialization of history through paying attention to the life styles of individuals and groups and their socialization patterns in historical studies (Thompson, 1998). Paul Thompson, as one of the pioneers of oral history, believes “oral history is an intersection between the sociologits, antropologists, historians or the ones who study literature and culture and the others (education etc.,). I have seen how certain disciplines have transformed with new research methods. Here appears the power of oral history” (Thompson, 2006, p. 23).

Besides, according to Grele “oral history is a way of developing historical consciousness (Grele, 1991). It fosters historical consciousness and social awareness (Thomson, 1998, p. 595). Oral histories can be used to discover unfolding consciousness, to document the varieties of ideology, the criterion of meaning, and the more subjective aspects of historical expereince (Grele, 1987, p. 570).

Study group

The universe of the research group is the primary school students of 1980s. The students to be interviewed with were chosen among those who went to primary schools in different regions of Turkey and belonged to different social and economic status.

Research ?nstrument

The data collected for this study were deriven from the structured interviews (Ekiz, 2013, p. 63) that were carried out with the primary schools students of 1980s via a recording device. For this study, totally 32 interviews including 15 women and 15 men were carried out. Two of them were for testing. The interviews were recorded by a recording device and then decoded via keeping their original form and the text reflecting their memories about their teachers was reconstituted.

The three basic open-ended questions that were expected to be responded by the interviewees were that; 1) Do you remember any primary school teachers of you and if you do why? 2) Do you think your teachers discriminated the students in terms of their gender, social and economic conditions? 3) What kind of recommendations did your teachers do for your future education and what sort of jobs did they recommend you for your future education?

Procedure

In this study, at the first stage, the author tired to reach the primary school students of 1980s. To fulfill this, the author reached the people he ought to have interviews with through either the people he knows or the ones he already had interviews with by the process called snow ball method in oral history methodology. Before each interview, an oral history document that gives us general informa-tion such as where he/she went to primary school, what his/her parents’ educational and economic level was was filled. Just after the interview had been performed, an oral history interview story (memo) which reveals how the interview was actualized was written (Tan et al., 2007) .

Data analysis

Descriptive analysis was used so as to analyze the interviews (Büyüköztürk et al., 2013). Thus, the author could put what they were able to call up about their teachers into a context and establish a relation between their remembrances and the reasons that led to their recollections under the light of where they got their primary school education as a variable. Getting their education in the center (cities) and periphery (villages) can vary their narratives. The naratives are evaluated and their cause-efect relations are discussed thoroughly and hence, whether there are any similarities and differences among the narratives depending on studying in cities and villages. (Y?ld?r?m and ?im?ek, 2005; Balc?, 2004). The validity and reliability of interviews was proved both by getting the approval of the interviwees after decoding the interviews and the help of an academician about the framework provided previously in order to use the narratives in the text.

To Form a Framework for a Descriptive Analyze: Here a framework was provided along with the dimentions of the conceptual framework of the study. Thus, it was determined to under which theme the data is to be used. 

Data Reduction: An this stage, the data formed according to general framework of the previous stage were examined and organized and thus, the narratives which display the similarities and differences were classified accordingly.

Description of Findings: At this stage, the description of the organized data were directly quoted to the related place in the text in their original form by taking account the center-periphery variable.

The findings part includes the reasons why the students remember their teachers regarding where they got their primary school education 1980s’ Turkey and it is categorized into three parts depending on the contents of the reasons. The first one comprises the reasons like being disciplined, warm-hearted, nervous, taking care of them in general as the answers of why they remember their primary school teachers. The second part is about their teachers’ discriminations in terms of their gender, social and economic conditions. The last part is about their teachers’ recommendations about their future jobs and education.

As Students of 1980s, Remembering Their Teachers: Being Disciplined, War-Hearted, Nervous, Taking Care of Them, Being Realtives or in the Region, Loving Money and Being Beautiful…

When the students of the period were asked whether they remembered their teachers or not, all of those who were interviewed with recalled their teachers regardless of the place where they got their primary school education. However, the reason/s why they remembered them vary due to being so nervous and disciplined, being their teachers for five years, their affectionate behaviours, being friendly, soft and warm-hearted, nervous to them, taking care of them, their teaching method and their beauties etc.

The number of those who believe that their teachers were disciplined, and warm-hearted and did their best for their students is quite high. But, they do not complain about disciplinary attitude; they evaluate it positively and find it as a normal process in education. Turan Bölükçe, Özkan Özgür, Ercan Özçelik, Nil Nazl?, Aykut Mert Ku?, and Kadriye Yorulmaz and Y?ld?z Keçeci were students in the cities and indicate how their teachers were partially disciplined, warm-herated and donated their lives to their students.

Turan Bölükçe depicts his teacher as; “I can recall my primary school teacher, Mürvet Aldemir. I remember her as a good teacher. She was a bit disciplined but warm-hearted. She did care about her students much.” Ercan Özçelik describes his teacher as “Nursel Çoban was already my classroom teacher. She was both a tough and warm-hearted person. She was dealing with people. Her feedbacks were better since she knew the families. She was able to speak to each family and warm-hearted.” Nil Nazl? puts it as “I had three different teachers. I remember one of them since she was such a benignant person. Her name was Y?ld?z Keçeci.”

A few students of the period recall their teachers due to being nervous which influenced them negatively. To illustrete, Kadriye Yorulmaz who went to primary school in a city complains about her teacher’s nervous behaviours. “I had a teacher for the first three years, Ayten Buharl?o?lu. I did not like her much owing to being so nervous and aggressive and she was treating us harsly. I was unable to adapt to my school. Then a teacher called Nefise Kadir came at the third grade. She was so good. Later she left us and this influenced me badly as she was so good to us. I was tied to her. After that I could not become successful. I failed one year.”

Musa B?kmaz, Ayhan Sa?, Musa Erdo?an and Aykut Ay were students in the villages and believe that their teachers donated their lives to them. They also claim that their teachers were the only windows for them to see and comprehend the outer world. Aykut Ay who finished primary school in a village remembers his teachers as the person who shaped his future education and does not complain about his discipline.

“From the second grade to the end of the school there was another teacher. I can remember him much better. He was a very much disciplined teacher. When we could not answer his questions, we got beaten but he was the person who affected my future. It was impossible for us to know the testing technique. We each spent time solving questions with him. He helped us in this respect. At the end of school I took the Gratis Boarding State Exam. Hadn’t he known it, I would not have been able to take it. Before the exam, an exam enterance form had been sent to school, however, in our village the son of the reeve also wanted to take the exam. We had difficulty in getting the form. Then  we  went  to  another village school and found another form there. Thus, we both were able to take the exam. After I had won that exam, I could continue my education. For that reason I can say that my teacher had a great impact on me.”

It is known that in the small towns and villages the students have closer relations with their students as the teachers come from the same regions and they have considerable influence on the children’s lives so that they easily remember their teachers (Tan et al., 2007, p. 75). Murat Gül, Özkan Özgür and Özmen Ok are some of them. Özmen Ok puts it as “There was my teacher’s orange orchard near ours. We used to irrigate there together in the summers. There was an interesting teacher-student relation between us since we would work together with him incidentally in the summers. I remember him.”

Berk Nur Nil and Ay?e Zor Duran call up their teachers on account of their teaching method. Ay?e Zor Duran who used to be a student in a metropolitan city was one of the students affected by her teacher’s teaching method and recalls her teacher and puts it as “I had three teachers at primary school. I remember all of them. However, I best remember my teacher at fourth grade as though her teaching method had been a bit different from the others. What I remember is that the lesson was more exciting with her. What did she do differently from the others? She wanted us to be participatory during the lesson. That’s why I can remmeber her more clearly. Birsen teacher, the other teachers were Nevi teacher and Ayhan teacher.” 

We confront with the students who recall their teachers because of their teachers’ affectionate to Money, discriminating their students resulted from their parents’ political views no matter where they got their primary school education. For instance, Gönül Özçelik recalls her teacher it is because she loved money a lot. “Our teacher was like a person who loved money much. I was drawing nice pictures. She wanted me to go her home since her daughter was going to attend to a drawing contest. She had me draw a picture for her daughter and got it sent for the contest. Her name was Sema Botur. I never forget her.” There are also few students narrating that their teachers’ beauties were influential on them to remember them. Vildan Asur and Gül Ak Karata? remember their teachers owing to their beauties. Vildan Asur: “I remem-ber Mualla Tan?r. She was such a beautiful woman. She was our idol. We always wanted to be like her.”

Discriminating the Students Due to Their Academic Success, Social, Economic Conditions, Gender, Political Views And Being Their Parents

Fourteen of the students interviewed recollect that their teachers did segregate them. As it is observed from the previous studies, the teachers discriminate their students on account of multifarious factors, such as academic success, their social, economic, political positions and simply being their parents. The discriminations can be observed from the narratives of those who were primary school students both in the cities and towns or village, yet their contents change to some extent due to the place where they got their primary school education. For example, the social and economic positions of the parents in the cities become more decissive in terms of discrimination rather than those of in the villages.

To begin with, some reminiscences illustrate how the students were segregated because of their academic achievments at school regardless of the place where they got primary school education. They even appreciate this discrimination. Dilek Öztürk, Gül Ak Karata?, Ay?e Zor Duran, ?eyda Ayhan emphasize how successful students were favoured by their teachers. Dilek Öztürk reconstructs how her teacher discriminated her.  “They as a family were dealing with me since I was the most successful student in the classroom. Therefore, I was always privileged and she was thinking that I was very clever. I think my present self-confidence has been resulted from her great contribution.” Gül Ak Karata? calls it up “I remember this at fourth and fifth grade better. Our teacher loved the successful students more.”

Furthermore, in addition to the discrimination resulted from the students’ success, we also come across the narratives displaying the teachers’ discriminations because of their social, economic positions and parents’ political views. The social and economic position of the parents in the cities become more decissive in terms of this discrimination. Gamze Çelik, Turan Bölükçe, Murat Gül and Nil Nzal?’s narratives display this sort of discriminations. Gamze Özçelik who was a primary school students in the city center puts it “Yes, the teacher was definitely doing discrimination. She particularly was loving money much. She enjoyed those wearing nicely and giving her presents. She was paying more special attention to these children. Namely, you could notice it as a child that she was loving them. I sometimes had down on my teacher because of that. Even one day I forced my parents to buy a rose for her persistently. I felt I had to do something. So, she could love me too. She was especially loving money.” Murat Gül connotes his teachers’ discrimination regarding the social status of students’ parents as well.  “There was a discrimination among the income level groups. Expressly, the children of civil servants were more favoured during our time.”

Despite the fact that there are not many narratives reflecting discrimination because of gender, it is also possible to confront with some examples. Ercan Özçelik puts it  “My teacher Nursel Çoban was not doing such discrimination. she was a bit more treating harsly to the boys as the boys were more naughty. There was such a discrimination. We as children did not feel that there was a discrimination led by poverty or richness.” Ay?e Zor Duran denotes that  “I always thought that obviously, the students belonging to upper income groups were behaved differently. Also the girls were behaved more rigorously. I think this was about the gender axis.” 

Aykut Mert Ku? who studied in a village at first then in a city center blames his teacher as she discriminated them owing to the students’ parents’ political views. “We had a teacher called Cahide. Since political views were so popular at that time she was reflecting her political views and a very tough lady. I had never been afraid of anyone else as I was afraid of her. In the village life there were no any discriminations due to the income level and gender. Yet, what I recall is that she was presenting approaches according to the political views. I know that.”

Additionally, there are also some students who indicate that at school, the teachers’ children were favoured by their classroom teachers. Their primary school teachers were their parents thus their teachers could discriminate them. Musa B?kmaz and Özmen Ok’s narratives are good examples to describe this case.  Özmen Ok:

I was a teacher’s son, a teacher from that school. I can remember that for example, I did not memorize the 23th April poem and so my own teacher was angry with me. I told my father that my teacher rebuked me since I had not memorized the poem. My father was the teacher who organizing the ceremony. After my teacher had scolded me I went to the school garden where the ceremony was going to take place and memorized the poem until it was my time to be called.  He called me to recite the poem. I recited quite well and my teacher was surprised. I think that was a discrimination for example. It could not happen to another child. It is because you are defective. No any other child would have been called had he not memorized it on time. (Özmen Ok).

Unlike all these narratives revealing the teachers’ discrimination based on certain reasons, half of the students of the period state that their teachers did not discriminate them due to their economic conditions and gender. Particularly, those who had their primary education in the villages believe that their families’ eceonomic conditions were almost at the same level; therefore, it was impossible to be discriminated. Özkan Özgür, Aykut Ay, Mahir Özyurt narrate that they did not face with such a discrimination. Özkan Özgür puts it “There was not such a discrimination on account of the income groups. Since everybody inhabited the village. Approximately, their income levels were the same. There was not such a discrimination by the teachers at that time. Today the conditions are different. Nevertheless, at that time everybody’s lives’ standards were the same.”

Among those who completed their primary school education in the cities, there are also narratives indicating that there did not appear any sort of discriminations. Berk Nur Nil, Kenan Co?kun and Vildan Asur explicate if there there were any discriminations. Berk Nur Nil remarks that he did not witness any discrimination at school. “No, I do not have such a discrimination in my memories. Nazire teacher was a quite good lady. She was not doing any discriminations like this is a poor or rich child. Nothing like that remained in my mind.”

Teachers recommendations about professions and their future education

When they were asked about their teachers’ recommendations for their future jobs and education, nearly all students of the period claim that their teachers suggested they study harder and read more books for their future education regardless of the place where they got their primary school education. This observation can be confronted with when the previously studies belonging to 1970s were taken into consideration (Sa?lam, 2014, p. 119). Only a few students who got their primary school education in the cities reveal their teachers’ recommen-dations about the professions.

The primary school students of the 1980’s Turkey, mostly those studying in the villages, remember their teachers suggestions about studying harder and reading books rather than mentioning and recommending certan professions. Musa B?kmaz, Ayhan Sa?, Aykut Mert Ku?, Aykut Ay, Gülcan Boy, Musa Erdo?an, Ercan Özçelik and Özmen Ok’s narratives reveal that their treachers put emphasize on reading books, studying harder for their lessons. Özmen Ok whose parents were teachers puts it into words as “They were not warning us about the professions at that time. My parents were insisting on reading more books.” Musa B?kmaz replies that “Her guidance was about reading. That is, continuing our next education stage but, she did not recommend any professions. What she was saying was to continue our education, study university. ‘No more can be acquired by staying here, continue studying.’ Ercan Özçelik who completed his primary school education in the city also depicts it as “It was more on repeating what was being thought at school. ‘We must study more and do our homeworks.’ She was telling us to listen to her carefully during the lesson.”

Additionally, among some of the narratives, we come across their teachers’ suggestions about preparation for Anatolian High Schools’ Exam to win for a better secondary and high schools so that they could win a good university and get better jobs in the future. Ay?e Zor Duran, Murat Gül, Dilek Öztürk, Seyhan Dörtyol, Vildan Asur and Berk Nur Nil who were students in the cities and Aykut Ay who was a student in a village partially report their teachers’ recommendations about jobs. Three of them mention their teachers’contributions to win the Anatolian High School which used to gather successful students.

Seyhan Dörtyol decribes how their teacher helped them study for the exam. “I remember Meliha Han?m at the third grade. I remember her as she dealt with me a lot. She was living in the same district but we did not have a neighborly relation obviously.  Additionally, I remember Y?ld?z teacher who prepared us for the Anatolian High School, Y?ld?z Göktekin. She was telling us the impor-tance of Anatolian High School at every turn. They were suggesting the popular jobs of that time, such as beeing engineer, doctor etc.,” Berk Nur Nil’s reminiscence also gives some clues about their teachers recommendations about jobs. “What did she say mostly? The jobs which bring money like being doctor, lawyer, engineer. They were saying such things. The jobs which let you earn a lot of money should be your targets, save your lives, get the jobs by which you can meet your needs, like doctor, lawyer, engineer, popular jobs of that time. Especially, being doctor and engineer was very popular at that time.”

Apart from the jobs, we encounter with the teachers’ emphasis on some subjects to study harder, especially maths, science in Turan Bölükçe and Murat Gül’s narratives.  Murat Gül describes it as; “At our time, our teacher was mentioning that the students ought to have learnt maths, science and Turkish well.” This represents that the teachers cared more about positive sciences rather than the social ones as it would let them have well-paid jobs in the future.

The number of those who state that their teachers did not orient them both about jobs and their future education is quite high. About tewenty four students claim that they were not recommended any jobs and anything special about their future education. Kaya Ordulu, Özer Tunç, Gül Ak Karata?, Gamze Özçelik, Mahir Özyurt, Nil Nazl? and Kaya Ordulu’ narratives support this statement. Gamze Özçelik reveals that “No, they did not recommend any jobs; like you are good at this or that and we should orient you to this field. Neither did they warn me nor my family. Nothing like that happened. They did not tell to my friends as well. It did not happen at primary school.”

All these narratives as part of this study and the ones performed in the previous studies reveal that there has been a contiuity in terms of the similarities and differences of children’s educational experiences about their teachers. The reasons why they remember their teachers, whether their teachers discriminated them and gave them any recommendations about their future education   are  common.  Highlighting  the  narratives  of primary school students about their teachers hepls us see that all the students interviewed with could recollect their teachers due to their teachers’ disciplinary, affectionate behaviours, being friendly, taking care of them, and also being so nervous. The studies actualized before display familar reasons that are decisive in remembering their teachers as well. 

To illustrate, if the teachers are very disciplined and have strict rules, they are easily remembered. In Cumhuriyet’te Çocuktular, Saadet Ba?c? as one of the primary school students during the early years of Republic describes her teacher as “Korkut teacher, he was extremely formal. I repent God! Our teacher was just after God!”. ?smail Talay: “as if he had been ?smet ?nönü, he was Atatürk. At that time there was no Atatürk, he was Kemal Pasha. As though he had been Kemal Pasha” (Tan et al., 2007, p.75-76). Also the students of 1970s also take our attention to the teachers’ disciplinary behaviors. Mahmut Ersan puts it as “During our primary school education there was a strict school director. I remember him well” (Sa?lam,  2014, 106).

The teachers’ affectionate behaviors result in taking place in the memories of their students. This has been observed from the narratives belonging to previous studies as well. For example, ?smet Varol who was a primary school student in the early years of Republic evaluates his teacher as if she had been his parents. “She was our mother.” Haluk Tatara?as? puts it “Not like a teacher but they were like our mothers and fathers” (Tan et al., 2007, p. 76). Moreover, Kadriye Kodaman as one of the students who got her primary school education in 1970s calls up her teacher as “His name was Hakk?. He did not get angry with his students easily. He approached to his students with love.” The teachers aprroach to their students Ne?e Asi: Naz?m Gökbayrak, I never forget his name. I did love my teacher a lot. He was like a father. Our teacher was great” (Sa?lam, 2014, p. 102, 105). 

Next, half of the students claim that their teachers did not discriminate them owing to their economic levels and gender. It is clear that the families in the villages seem to be at the same economic level and this has reduced the discrimination of students in terms of their social and economic porsitions. The narratives of the primary school students in 1970s present the same tendency. Particularly, Ayla I??k who completed her primary school education in a village in 1970s believes that there was no segregation among the students because of the economic conditions. “I did not feel such a discrimination. We were all from the same region. Since everybody’s economic level was almost the same there was no such a discrimination” (Sa?lam, 2014, p. 108).

However,  there have appeared a sort of segregation on account of their academic achievement, their family relationship with the teachers and their social and economic positions. The students in the cities face with more discriminations resulted from their parents’social and economic status. Similar discrimination has been seen in the previously performed studies about primary school students. To illustrate, Ahmet Bozok who was a primary school student in 1970s puts it “Yes, definitely they discriminated. Namely, They let the succsessful students sit at the frontier desks.” Furthermore, Naciye Dertli as a 1970s’ period primary school student and comleted her primary school education in a city remember her teachers discrimination resulted from their social, economic and political position. “I think he was doing a discrimination. He was behaving according to children’s parents’ professions and political views” (Sa?lam, 2014, p. 109).

Lastly, their teachers did not suggest them about the professions except for few examples. They were mostly told to read boks and study harder. It is clear that teachers did not need to recommend and orient the children about the jobs and their future education. Only a few narratives of those who were in the cities recall what their teachers told them about certain jobs, such as being doctor, engineer or teacher. The same case has been observed in the previously performed studies. To illustrate, Yasin Aksu, a primary school student of 1970s, puts it “He did not suggest any professions. We were more advised to read books. The successful students were given books as gift by our teacher.” However, those who were in the cities were mostly reminded to study hard and win Anatolian High Schools as it can be seen in a few narratives of 1980s. Also, some of them were suggested to be doctors, engineers in the future. Suphi Kahraman, a primary school student in 1970s, describes how they were advised about jobs as “At that time, there were talks about being doctor, engineer, lawyer etc” (Sa?lam, 2014, p. 120).

Moreover, in the villages students did not hear much about jobs except for being recommended to study for their courses.  Additionally, as another conclusion that would be deriven from the students’ narratives it seems that in the rural areas the students have closer relations with their teachers as they either live there or are relatives of them. Besides, in the rural areas they find their teachers as the only person who enlightens them (Tan et al., 2007).

As a result, the more studies are performed on the educational experiences of children, the more sensible conclusions will be deriven from them. Therefore, while executing new regulations on primary school education, these conclusions are to be benefited. Additionally, it is believed that this study will contribute To the sociology of education and history of children and that of education. The study renders that the students’ reflections shaped with their narratives about their teachers are crucial so as to see how they become influential in the formation of memories  of   the  children  when  they  were at primary school. More studies are to be materialized to dig students’ memories with oral history methodology so that we can behold how necessary the relation between the students and teachers as two prominent parts of educational system while being reconstructed in the memories of children during process of teaching and leraning.

The author has not declared any conflict of interest.