Monday, June 21, 2010

Ottoman Empire - An Educational Primer


• Ottoman Empire begins 1299, ends with the emergence of Kemal Ataturk which brings its

remnants into a secularized democracy

• Ottomans used ideological legitimacy, derived from Islam, to maintain a longstanding

apparatus of power through tax payments and military service

• State-organized education had the primary purpose of educating personnel for this

apparatus of power

• The educational system was neither strongly centralized nor monolithic: given the number

of disparate provinces, considerable variation and divergent educational systems existed

• Generally speaking Sibyan schools (primary level) had a moral/religious focus and were

staffed by imams and Madrasahs ( secondary level) had a combination of religious and

scientific instruction

• Graduates from the Madrasahs became civil servants, imams and teachers, although another

source of state servants came from Enderun schools, which inculated non-Muslim children

in Islam

• Rural populations could not benefit from these schools and so a religious educational

network existed there: dervish lodges, religious orders and dergah (sufi brotherhood)

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