Raising a child has been regarded as significant for centuries and long, effective rules have been generated to shape the behaviors of children. 

The underlying reason for good and bad behaviors of adults is the education they took when they were kids. It has been put forward that the future of a person or society not receiving good quality of education will conclude in an undesired way (Montagu, 2000:5, Öncül, trans.). When education is considered in a broader term, values education is always a precious study to work on. As the aim of education is to cause positive changes in behavior, gaining local and international values can be regarded as a part of education. Gaining values is related with the changes of behavior in pupils. In educational practices, it is observed that the terms of ethics, character, behavior and moral are also  used  in  place  of ‘values education’.

Many definitions and explanations have been made about values education. The ones about education among those definitions and explanations are listed below (As the understanding of ‘value’ could have nuances, both definitions of Turkish and English are presented):

‘Value’ as a Turkish word (‘de?er’) is defined in the dictionary of Turkish Language Institution (TLI) as:

1. The measure used to define the importance of something, the equivalence of something, dignity.

2. High and beneficial quality

3. A person with good quality (Turkish dictionary, 2004: 483).

 

In this study, document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, has been used to illustrate how the ‘values education’ is handled in the Second Constitutional Period. For this illustration, a sample lesson published in one of the most prominent journals by one of the most effective educators in Turkish history is taken and analyzed. This way, the illustration is  more comprehensive and includes many aspects of education in the period. An article taken from the Journal of Primary Education published by Sat? Bey in the Second Constitutional Period is analyzed. The article presents a sample lesson for values education, which was named “Social Consciousness Lesson (Malumat-? Medeniyye Dersi)” with the subject of “People always need each other”. Document analysis involves the analysis of written material about the notion or notions to be investigated. In this kind of study, researcher can obtain the data he needs without observation or interview (Y?ld?r?m and ?im?ek, 2006). In this study, the data are the sample lesson presented in the Journal of Primary Education. Accordingly with the technique of document analysis, the data (the sample lesson) is analyzed and discussed.

The document is analyzed in terms of teaching methodology and values education. The results are presented below. 

From the Journal of Primary education in the Second Constitutional Period, a  Sample Social Consciousness lesson is analyzed in this study. The details of the sample lesson and the text are presented as:

Sample Lesson – People Always Need Each Other (Social Consciousness Lesson – Malumat? Medeniye Dersi)

Values Education Subject: Help, the fact that human beings always need each other 

Name of the Text: People always need each other (Social Consciousness Lesson)

Teaching Method and Technique: Raising curiosity by the method of question-answer and make them think on the value 

Values Education Handled: Helping people, the need of help every time in life

 

Year: 1

Number: 3

Page: 105-111

Prepared By: Sat? Bey 

 

Sample Lesson Text

The winter has come; from now on forest will be formed in the mornings now and then. When it is frozen, it is hard to walk. Even sometimes, people slip and fall, don’t they kid? What would you do if you saw a child slipped and fell?

Student: Sir, I would go near him/her and lift him/her.

Teacher: Well done, what have you done by lifting him/her up?

Student: I have helped him/her, sir.

Teacher: I wonder would one of the passer-by help you if you slipped and fell. 

Student: They would, sir.

Teacher: So, people …

Student: Help each other.

Teacher: I wonder if you have received any help from someone this morning.

Student: Sir, if I slip and fall, someone will lift me up.

Teacher: I am not asking when they will help you, my child. I am asking whether you have received any help from someone this morning. Have you received or not? Please tell me. 4

Student: Sir, I have received help from my mother.

Teacher: Ok. What kind of help was it?

Student: My mother clothed me, gave me food and prepared my lunch box.

Teacher: From whom else have you received help?

Student: From my father, sir. He gave me money.

Teacher: Whom else?

(Every pupil says one by one. Some mention their sister, some aunt, some brother.)

Teacher: Who are them to you: your sister, your brother, your aunt?

Student: They are our relatives, our family.

Teacher: So you have received a help from your relatives this morning. I wonder if you have received help from someone who is not your relative. 

A child: Sir, a doctor came to our house. My sister was sick, and he took care of her. 

Teacher: So, the doctor has helped your sister. Has he also helped you?

Student: No sir, he helped my sister.

Teacher: Think about it: Wouldn’t you feel sorry if your sister got worse, God forbid! 

Student: How wouldn’t I sir? She was sick lately and I cried.

Teacher: When your sister is well?

Student: I would be happy, sir.

Teacher: So, the doctor helps both you and your sister by

taking care of your sister. He saves you from despair and makes you happy, doesn’t he?

Student: Yes, sir.

Teacher: Have you receive help from anyone else?

Students: ...

Teacher: Then, let me ask you something. 4! You told me that your mother gave you food this morning, what did she give to you?

Student: She gave me bread and milk, sir.

Teacher: Had your mother made the bread herself?

Student: No, sir. The bread maker had brought the flour.

A child abruptly: I got it, sir. We received help from the bread maker.

Teacher: Well done, my child. But think more: did the bread maker make the bread himself?

Student: No, sir. We received help from the baker.

Teacher: Ok. From what did the baker make the bread?

Student: From flour, sir.

Teacher: Ok, who made the flour 5?

Student: The miller made sir. He helped us, too. 

Teacher: From what did the miller make the flour?

Student: From wheat, sir.

Teacher: Did he grow the wheat himself 2?

Student: No, sir. The farmer grew. He plowed the farm, planted the wheat, harvested and blended.

Teacher: So you have received help from the farmer for your bread. Have we received any help from someone else? Who took the wheat to the mill and the flour to the bakery? 

Student: Carriers, porters…We received help from them, too.

Teacher: Do you see, children? While eating just some bread we are receiving help from so many people. Now please count the helpers. 

Student: Porter, baker, miller, farmer, porter, carrier…

Teacher: Ok. Do you think nobody else helped for the bread?

Student: Sir, I drank milk. The milkman… 

Teacher: It is true, my child, but let’s leave the mild aside. Let’ finish the helpers for the bread. Has anyone else but the ones we listed helped for the bread, let’s think. With what did the farmer plow the farm? 

Student: With plough, sir.

Teacher: Did he make the plough himself?

A child: The ironsmith, sir. I got it, the ironsmith helped.

Student: Well done, my child, the ironsmith made the plough. So, he also helped us. From what is the plough is made? 

Student: From iron, sir.

Teacher: From where is the iron mined?

Student: From underground.

Teacher: Does the ironsmith himself mine the iron?

Student: No, sir. The laborers mine it. The sink mines shaft. There is the picture. Our teacher told us the previous day.

Teacher: So all the laborers helped for our bread, didn’t they? 

Student: Sir, the iron is not found from the mine shaft as itself, it is found with soil. Many laborers work to separate iron from the soil. So, they helped us, too.

Teacher: Yes, my child. They also helped us. But the helpers have not finished with them. How did the iron go to factories and then stores?

Student: By ship, train, and car. 

Teacher: Who started the train, the ship; who made them? If you think about them, it will not be possible to list the helpers even just for bread. Did they pay much effort you think? 

Student: Sir, the bakers paid so much effort in front of the fire!

Teacher: And the farmer gets tired, he sweats under the Sun!

Student: And the ironsmith and the laborer working in the mine; they get all tired and pay so much effort. And the miners work in the dark, sir. 

Teacher: So, my children, we find the bread thanks to these people and their efforts. Our other food is similar, isn’t it? 

Student: They are all similar, sir.

Teacher: Think! The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we sleep in, I mean everything we use were handled by many people. We have received and are receiving help from uncountable men. What would we do without them? Could we make them on our own? I mean could our mothers make the bread themselves? Couldn’t your fathers sew your clothes? 

Student: No, sir, they don’t know. 

Teacher: Then they would learn. The baker was not born as a baker! He learns a way to bake the bread. Wouldn’t it be possible if we learnt it made our own bread, sew out clothes, I mean did everything on our own? 

Student: How could that have happened sir!

Teacher: Why not? Don’t the people in villages do everything on their own? Have you ever seen a village? 

Student: Yes, I have, sir. The village of Mekri .

Teacher: Is that a village? Village is only its name.

Student: Sir, I have seen. We used to go to a village on the mount of Tekfur with my dad. 

Teacher: Wow! Were there any tailors or so there?

Student: No, sir. There is an oven in every house. They make their own bread, sew their own clothes.

Teacher: Women in villages bake bread and sew clothes. Additionally they rove, sew socks, knit clothes, milk cows, make butter, thresh, and feed chicken.

Student: How much they work!  

Teacher: With this, can we say that they do everything on their own?

Student: Yes, sir, they do everything on their own.

Teacher: Do they make the plough to plow? 

Student: No, sir. They buy it.

Teacher: Can’t they make it on their own?  

Student: They can, if they learn ironworking. 

Another student: Sir, even if they make the plough from iron themselves, they cannot mine the iron! 

Teacher: why not?

Student: They need to sink a shaft. They need big and deep shafts. How could a man do it on his own? 

Teacher: Well done, my child. One person can never mine on his/her own. A farmer can never make the iron of the plough. Aren’t needle, nail, and pickax and shovel like plough? 

Student: Sir, people in villages buy them, they cannot make them on their own!

Teacher: What could they do without them, then? 

Student: They could do nothing, sir.

Teacher: So, even the people in villages need each other to live. Is there any person who can live without any help, then? 

Student: There is none. Everyone needs each other.

Teacher: If a man wants to do everything on his own and receive no help from anyone, it will not be possible. Even if he learns the basic things to do, he cannot handle all. Because neither his power nor life span will be enough for it. Do you agree?

Student: Yes, sir. There is so much to do even just for bread. How can a man handle them all?

Teacher: Well done, my child. Ha, I have just remembered a story. Let me tell it you before I go.

A ship was caught by the storm in the middle of the seas and hit the rocks by shaking and shaking; it was wrecked. The crew in it sank and died. Only one of them (His name was Robinson) could hold a rock and survived. But, the rock he held on was on a desert island. There was no village or human being on it! Robinson got hungry and cold, but he could not find any house to walk into or person to give him food! And he did whatever he could by climbing a tree, found some wild fruit and ate it. When it was night, he wanted to sleep in a tree hole. But he heard all the wild animals’ voices all night. He was frightened by falling into their hand. He could not sleep. What’s more, he was trembling by the cold all night. He spent a few days like this. But he came into such a condition that he said: “Oh my God, I wish I had sunk like my friends and died. Then I wouldn’t be suffering like this now.” Then he came to himself and said “Maybe, something I could use is left over there.” Skipping from one rock to another, he went to the big rock they hit and took the sail, pickax, adze and knife. He saw wheat sacks, too and took them on the rock. He started to feed himself by wheat, dig holes, prepared traps, and started to eat the animals fell on the trap by cutting them with the knife. Moreover, he thought the wheat would finish and decided to grow wheat. He dug the soil with the tree parts he found and the pickax and planted wheat. Finally, he made a tent with the sail of the ship, then he removed the wood of the ship to the land. He made a cottage for himself and lived on that desert island for year on himself. He saw ships for a couple of times passing and called for help by his body language. But  the  ships  did  not  see  him.  He  became happy when he saw a ship, but he cried when he understood that it was not coming to the island. Finally one day, he saw a ship passing close for God’s sake. He climbed high immediately and started to call the ship. The people on the ship saw him and came near the island to see what was going on. So, they saved Robinson. 

Children: He suffered a lot, but for God’s sake they saved him.

Teacher: Look! Robinson could live for years thanks to his wisdom. But it was not Ok although he didn’t receive any help from anyone. 

A child abruptly: But sir, he took the pickax, knife and sail. What would he do if he didn’t find them?

Teacher: Well done, my child. So even when Robinson was living alone on the desert island, he was receiving help. It is always like this. Mankind can never live somewhere without receiving help from other people. People always need each other. If we are receiving help from many people, what should we do? 

Student: We should also help other people.

Teacher: As we benefit from other people’s work and efforts, live thanks to them; then we should do things other people can benefit from. 

Warning: While this lesson is being discussed, it should be mentioned that people like us are called “helpless (hemnu)” and words like help, contribution and some necessary vocabulary. It should be discussed how other items such as a shirt or a house (other than bread) are made with the help of people. The process of making a shirt or house should be found starting from its basic form, the needle, the string and the buttons to the sewing machine, cloth patch, the needle factory, their wood and iron; and starting from the shirt’s blank and transforming works, the rock, wood, lime, sand, tile to zinc, nail, their factories, forests, mine forests, tool for rock and sand. All the process of making a shirt or sand should be learned and analyzed.

This vocabulary and explanation serves both the learning of help and the need for help, strengthen this notion in their minds, and the process of making items (Sat? Bey, 1908). 

Analysis

In this sample lesson human beings’ inability to live alone and their need of each other is handled as for values education. In the general framework of the lesson, the fact that people cannot live alone is concluded. Helping is explained with the “I would lift him/her up” answer of the question “What would you do if you saw someone slipped and fell?”

The fact that people need each other is explained to the pupils with the remarks: “I wonder would one of the passer-by help you if you slipped and fell” and  “I  wonder if you have received any help from someone this morning”.

 The teacher directs the lesson with questions from daily life, in general. This way, he makes the students think and creates curiosity.

The fact that children’s mothers gave bread to them is regarded as help and the process from the bread to flour, to the miller, carriers of wheat, plough used to harvest, iron to make the plough, laborers who mine the iron is explained with question-answer method. Shortly, it is described that bread cannot be on our tables without someone receiving help from another. In the ‘warning’ part, it is requested from teachers to teach the idea of need for help by giving similar examples.

It is aimed that the teacher starts with different examples with the method of question-answer and the students reach the idea that it is impossible to live without any help from people. For instance, it is understood that students started to think that they cannot live without any help from one of the answers of students: “There is so much to do even just for bread. How can a man handle them all?”

In the final part of the lesson, it is told the students that it is impossible to live without people’s aid on a desert island by telling the story of Robinson. 

Additionally, there is a note part for the teachers at the end of the lesson. It is called ‘warning’ in the journal and the vocabulary, method and strategy a teacher will use while teaching is explained (Bey, 1908). 

The sample lesson published in the Journal of Primary Education by Sat? Bey is analyzed and it could be concluded that values education is regarded as a solution and an important essence for the society. In the first place, it should be noted that Ottoman Empire gave much importance to values education so as to ensure its continuity and create a sense of social integration among community in the last period of its reign. Thus, Kurt (2013) indicates that during the period between 1839 and 1918, values education can be observed in school syllabuses, textbooks and sample lessons with the aim of preventing empire’s collapse. In that period, the opinion that the collapse of the Empire would only be prevented by education was widely accepted (Akyüz, 2014).  Moreover, Kurt (2013) stresses that in values education classes of that period, methods such as direct teaching, question and answer, case study and various positive and negative reinforces were used.  The sample lesson analyzed within the scope of this study also reflects  Bey’s perception of education. In his widely known book, ‘Fenni Terbiye’, Bey treated education within following three sections: physical education, mental education and moral education (Aksoy, 2008). The final part of that book signals the importance and place given to  values  education in the Second Constitutional Period of the Ottoman Empire.

It could be concluded from the sample lesson presented values education held a major place in the Second Constitutional Period of Ottoman Empire. The main idea of the lesson is transmitted to all students with question-answer technique. The syllabus of values education is prepared elaborately in accordance with the needs of the Empire, a textbook is prepared and the teachers were educated especially for the values education lessons. Moreover, when the sample lesson is analyzed with the glasses of an educator, it would be noticed that the students are put in the center of the lesson. The teacher did not give a speech about the topic ‘help’. Instead, the background information of the students is elicited and the teacher directed students accordingly with their background information, and this practice fits the basics of constructivism. Also, it should be noted that the examples are all driven from the daily lives of the students, which is a fundamental element of constructivism. Lastly, the directions for the teachers presented in the journal show that teacher education is also regarded as important. Key figures and explanations are presented to the teachers so that the lesson flow would be unproblematic and the message of the lesson is transmitted to every student in the classroom.

It is concluded form Sat? Bey’s Journal of Primary Education and the sample lesson published in it values education held a major place in the Second Constitutional Period and the method of the lesson is compatible with constructivism used popularly in today’s world of education.

The author has not declared any conflict of interests.