Lancasterian Educational System in Line of EnglandAmerica-Ottoman Empire

Year 2008, Volume: 6 Issue: 16, 29 - 67, 01.12.2008

Ayşe Aksu

Abstract

Lancasterian educational method was used to provide a good training widespreadly
for poor children in England and North America. In the early 19th century the
system was discovered by Dr. Andrew Bell, who Scottish clergyman, while he was in
charge of an orphanage of untouchable children in colonial Madras, India. He has named
this system “mutual instruction”, and introduced in his An Experiment in Education.
Joseph Lancaster, one of the young teachers of Borough School in London, has developed
Bell System, and named “monitorial system”, but it was called Lancasterian
Method commonly. His Improvements in Education as It Respect the Industrious Classes
of the Community described this method in detail, including his efforts to encourage
and train his best students to become schoolmasters. Lancastrian system, in which more
advanced students taught less advanced ones, enabling a small number of adult masters
to educate large numbers of students at low cost in basic and often advanced skills. The
aim was to provide qualified employees to the field of industry in virtue of necessaty.
Lancasterian schools, has been applied to Ottoman Empire by American missionaries.
But they used this school system to teach reading fastly for body that they would
be Evangelizated. When William Goodell’s missionary task has been transplanted from
Beirut to Istanbul on the part of American Board, he has begun exercised it in Greek
schools, in 1831. His cause of appointment was being a missionary for Armenians,
and he decided to open Lancasterian schools for them. But they were inadequate for
such schools. The Greek community, however, has been made acquaintanced with this
system, and it has came into used some regions where lived Greeks, since early 19th
century. Thus it was easy to find apparatus, schoolbooks and reading cards prepared in
Greek. Mr. Goodell has established total four Lancasterian school in Büyükdere, Ortaköy,
Yeniköy and Beyoğlu in 1831. Yet, Greek clergymen has opposed to missionaries
for reason to be grafted to student in these schools. American missionaries, in that case,
has canalised to open Lancasterian schools for Armenians.
As stated above, the Armenians has not familiar to this method. So, the first step was
to preparing books that identified Lancasterian system, and apparatus and reading cards
in Armenian. At this stage their assistants were Senekerim Der Minasyan ve Hohannes
Der Sahakyan, who native Protestant, and teachers in a Armenian school. The first, has
became headmaster a Lancaster school in Pera; the later in Bursa. The Armenians has
appropriated this sytem any more in comparison with Greeks; so that, when the Armenian
clergymen inaugurated excommunicating and anathemas in 1836s, they has’nt
back down / abandoned from Protestantism and their schools.
Already at this turbulent era Greeks has complainted missionaries to Sublime Porte
on the school system. But this appeal has conduced the Ottoman officials toward made
acquainted with Lancasterian system. Mekteb-i Harbiye (Turkish Military Academy),
and its Sıbyan Bölükleri (Sıbyan companies) just then has been established. Ahmed
Fevzi Paşa who responsible for founding Sıbyan Bölükleri, and Binbaşı Azmi Bey has
gone to American Lancasterian school at Arnavutköy. They have decided to use this system
in Ottoman military schools, and offered cooparation with American missionaries.
Azmi Bey was so interested in this method that he has gone to England to investigate in
site by the aid of missionaries in 1835. Besides him, Mehmed Namık Paşa, in charge of
Selimiye Kışlası, and Serasker Mehmed Hüsrev Paşa has efforted to adapt it to military
schools too.
A Greek teacher, and an Armenian teacher Kyrios Paniyotes has been tasked with
adaptation the system into Turkish. They also have prepared schoolbooks, reading cards
etc. in Turkish. In this way, according to reports of missionaries, seven Lancasterian
schools established in Mekteb-i Harbiye. The number of military Muslim students, who
were avarage age 12-20 were 700 in October 1833, 2000 in March 1834. American
missionaries visited occasionally these school himself, and found them very successful.
This system that have been praised both Ottoman authorities and military officials,
abolished to use after Selim Satı Paşa’s appointment to reform in Mekteb-i Harbiye
in 1836.
As a result, it is a common fact that the modernization at the Ottoman military schools
played a pioneer role in the modernization process of Ottomon educational institutions.
Lancasterian education method derived from the West was exerted effectively at the
initial phase of Mekteb-i Harbiye which is established by using Western educational
methods. In our local sources, even in Mir’at-ı Mekteb-i Harbiyye that source text about
this matter and Ottoman records, there may be found rudimentary knowledge about the
Lancasterian system without citing its name and mentioning the contribution of American
missionary. Yet, this subject matter is set forth in all of its aspects in the missionary
reports in Missionary Herald. The purpose of this article is to display, on the basis of
missionary reports, both the place of Lancasterian system at the Ottoman military foundations
and the corporation of the Ottoman officials with the American missionaries
especially at the stage of introducing this system. In this article, missionary reports will
be handled as a main texts and local sources will be placed as footnotes. Thanks to all of
this above mentioned, in this article we endeavour to bring out evidently the reflection
of this subject in the foreign literature about this system

Keywords

Lancasterian system, American Board, William Goodell, Protestant missionary, Greek schools, Armenian schools, Ottoman military schools, Mekteb-i Harbiye, Ottoman westernization

İngiltere - Amerika - Osmanlı Hattında Lancaster Öğretim Sistemi

Abstract

Osmanlı eğitiminin modernleşmesi bağlamında askeri eğitim kurumlarındaki yeniliklerin öncü rol oynadığı bilinen bir gerçektir. Batılı eğitim usüllerinden yararlanılarak kurulan Mekteb-i Harbiye'nin başlangıç aşamasında da yine Batılılardan alınan Lancaster öğretim sistemi kullanılmıştır. Yerli kaynaklarımızda ve Osmanlı arşiv belgelerinde bu sistem hakkında isim verilmeksizin ve Amerikalı misyonerlerin katkısına değinilmeksizin çok yüzeysel bilgilere rastlanmaktadır. Oysa konu, The Missionary Herald'larda yer alan misyoner raporlarında detaylı bir biçimde anlatılmıştır. Bu makalenin amacı, söz konusu raporlardan hareketle Lancaster sisteminin Osmanlı askeriyesindeki yerini ve uygulanma aşamasında Osmanlıların Amerikalı misyonerlerle işbirliğini ortaya koymaktır. Makalede metot olarak öncelikle yerli kaynaklarda konuya dair mevcut bilgiler gözden geçirelecek, ardından misyoner raporları ana metinler olarak işlenecektir. Yerli kaynaklardan alınan bilgiler ise dipnotta verilecektir. Bu sayede konunun yabancı kaynaklara nasıl yansıdığı yalın olarak günyüzüne çıkarılmaya çalışılacaktır.

Keywords

Lancaster sistemi, American Board, William Goodell, Protestan misyonerliği, Rum okulları, Ermeni okulları, Askeri okullar, Mekteb-i Harbiye, Batılılaşma

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