Texas teachers examine Turkish education system

A delegation of school managers and teachers from Texas have come to Turkey to examine the Turkish education system as part of efforts to make Turkish an elective course at state-run schools in the United States.

Three state-run schools in Texas, which is a pilot region, are already offering Turkish as an elective course to their students.

The Texas school managers and teachers came to Turkey as part of an initiative of the Raindrop Foundation.

In the Texas delegation, there are 18 individuals including Texas representative Mark Strama, Austin Superintendent Meria Carstarphen, Austin Executive Director of Curriculum Suzanne Burke and Ramona Trevino, chief academic officer for the Austin Independent School District.

The members of the delegation had meetings with İstanbul Deputy Governor Feyzullah Özcan and İstanbul Deputy Provincial Education Director Şerafettin Turan in which they watched a presentation about he Turkish education system and foreign language education.

Texas educators presented cowboy hats and student mascots to their Turkish counterparts as gifts. Turkish officials presented coffee sets to the members of the Texas delegation as gifts.

The delegation later paid visits to İstanbul High School, which is one of the oldest schools in İstanbul and to Beşiktaş Ufuk College.

Raindrop Foundation President Mehmet Okumuş said the first support for their project to make Turkish an elective course at state-run schools in the United States came from Austin.

“Currently, three state-run schools in Texas have begun to offer Turkish as an elective course. This trip of the Texas delegation is important so that our project can be applied all throughout the US,” he said.

Turkish is seen as an important language by the US, particularly with regard to the issue of national security. The Raindrop Foundation gives Turkish courses to US nationals in regions neighboring Texas: Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Arkansas. The Raindrop Foundation also organizes the Turkish Language and Culture Olympiad every year to encourage students to learn Turkish.