Can you talk about yourself please?
I came from the United States of America, I work for Meritas. Meritas consists of schools that work in cooperation with parents throughout the world. There are 11 schools that belong to Meritas in 4 different countries. These are in Switzerland, Mexico, China and the USA. I represent 5 boarding schools in the USA and one in Geneva, Switzerland. My job is to organise and supervise boarding school programs.

Working at a school operating throughout the world should require you to travel constantly. Do you always spend your time outside?
Actually, I do not travel too much; I spend my half time at the office and the rest of my time travelling. My office is in Florida and I am there when I am not travelling.

Do you think that young people make use of the opportunities to study abroad?
If they didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing my job right now. I studied in Russia when I was young; I went there when I was in high school. It was really fun for me, because when you go to a new country, when you get to know it and when you learned a new language you can expand your horizon. And I want to encourage the young to go to different places of the world.

This is a very useful experience for them, isn’t it?
It is, because it is always very useful that you know that you have more options. It is a great advantage especially for the young to discover new ideas, new opportunities and to choose the path they will follow.

Can you talk about yourself please?
I work for Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. The place where I work is 2 hours far from New York City and Boston. The school I work was established in 1794, it has a long history. It serves as elementary school and high school for the young. I hope my school will serve Turkish students and prepare them for the American universities.

What kind of opportunities does studying abroad provide for the children?
This provides numerous opportunities for both students and us. We do not have only American students, we also have students from more than 20 countries and these are good opportunities for them as well. We have students coming from Romania, China, Jamaica, Brazil, Venezuela, Germany, France and many other countries.

But these students generally prefer the USA for study, don’t they?
America is still at the top of the list of countries that students choose for studying. However, in our schools the students do not only learn about the American culture, but as I said before, our school accommodates a wide range of cultures from China to Jamaica. Therefore students do not only know America.

What do you think about the educational system of Turkey?
Actually I do not know much about education system in Turkey. However, if I should evaluate the schools we went today, they were great schools and they resemble to our schools in terms of cultural diversity.

Students expand their global perspectives when they have the opportunity to study abroad, what do you think about that?
I totally agree, they don’t only learn a new language, they also know a new culture. They have a better understanding of the world. They can create their own ideas by observing the differences without being affected by any external influences, and this is only possible by knowing too many people from different countries, not only the American culture.

Do you have any Turkish students?
Yes, I used to have. I am very happy to be here, in Turkey; I really admire Turkish youth. I had a student from Gaziantep for example; he studied at high school and university in the USA, now he is married and living in Istanbul. Tonight they invited me for dinner. This honoured me so much.
What do you think about ISE?
I think they act like real professionals while holding this conference. They reflect their professionalism in the best way by inviting us and giving us the opportunity to communicate with the students.

Can you talk about yourself please?
Hi, I live in a small town 35 minutes away from New York City with train. I work at the Masters Schools. The school that I work is in the same region where I live; that is to say, our campuses are 35 minutes away from New York City. My job at the school is to communicate with the parents of the students who want to receive education at our schools. Students visit our school, talk to me, meet our teachers; we get to know them and also they know us.

What about parents, what do they think about their children’s having education abroad?  
In the USA, parents are highly concerned about their children’s making use of abroad education opportunities. They support their children about receiving abroad and travelling a lot. Actually, it is very common in the USA. The students usually go to abroad for at least a semester; they have an idea and create opportunities for studying abroad.

What are the advantages of studying abroad for students?
The most important advantage is that they can perceive that the world is bigger that they thought. They notice that the world is both small and also big. This experience is like a mirror for them. They see different cultures, different people, different foods and different ideas and this helps them to see their own ideas and thoughts. They can combine all these together and create bigger ideas. Thus, the greater world becomes smaller. Moreover, it is also an amusing experience. They learn a different language and they progress in terms of international relations, this is an experience which will be useful for their future career.

What do you think about young’s having education abroad?
This experience for very useful for not only American students but also for students coming from other countries. We have students from 33 different countries, and this is the highest number in the USA. We have many students from many countries ranging from Afghanistan to China, from India to Northern Europe. In other words we accommodate too many different cultures in one place.

What are your observations about students from different cultures?
One of best aspects of combining too many different cultures together is obtaining a different world view from everybody. For example, having Turkish students in our school (which I’d really like to) enables our students to learn about Turkey and Turkish culture. We need this, to know other cultures. When 15-16 year old children go abroad for education, this turns out to be a challenging experience for them. They penetrate into a completely different culture, they learn about completely different people, habits and ideas. Adapting to all these changes can be hard for them, but they learn to struggle.

What are the advantages of all these for the children?
They learn about the world at a very young age, they learn to adapt to different cultures; this is very good for them. Moreover, they start their university education in a better prepared manner, they have a certain background.

Can you talk about yourself please?
I am the general director of Turkish Education Association. We have 23 schools in Turkey. Actually, I have been an education volunteer for 31 years.

Can you talk about your foreign projects?
As you know, foreign languages are privileged at our schools. We have many projects that we have been conducting for many years such as student exchange project, summer school and projects with embassies as I mentioned today in my speech. We have always been an institution that is open for such projects. We teach languages, and we want our students and teachers to know the countries whose languages are taught at our schools. For that reason, we want to make exchange programs with some American high schools of our choice by the help of this organisation that brought us together today. Students will come to our schools and also our students will go to these schools. These schools are so elite that they send students to the best American universities. Since we have an education at very high standards, we can only exchange students with these schools. Besides, they also visited our school and they stated they really admired it. This honoured me on behalf of my country.

What are advantages of Turkish students having education abroad for our country?
Turkey is a country that has to take its place in the globalizing world and this only possible with well educated, well equipped people. And I also think that schools like ours should send their students abroad to represent their country.

Can you talk about yourself please?
Hi, I work for Pomfret School in Connecticut. My school is 3 hours away from New York City and 1 hour away from Boston. We have 350 students at the age of 14-18. Every year about 100 students graduate from our school and most of them start their university education in American universities. We also have 55 foreign students from 14 different countries. Unfortunately we don’t have Turkish students but we used to. We have students from Korea, China, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela.

How does your school support students about choosing universities?    
As I said before, our school has 350 students, in other words, it is a small school and this is very useful for us in terms of knowing more about our students. Since we are closely acquainted with them, we can make better advises for university. The process of entering into a university in the USA is quite different that here. In America, university consultants make some phone calls to students about the universities that they might enter, unfortunately there is no such thing in here.

Many different cultures are combined at your school. What do you think about that?
I can tell you one of my observations: Students coming from Asian countries like Vietnam, China and Korea prefer America for their university education. They continue their high school education focusing on university. However, students coming from European countries such as Spain, Germany and French come for a year in order to learn a language and know a different culture and then they go back to their countries.

Can you talk about yourself please?
I work for Fulbright; I was Assistant Secretary General until last year. My new position is academic coordinator; I coordinate programs for going to America.

What kind of opportunities does going abroad before university, for high school education offer for the young?
I have been a career expert for a long time and I noticed that going abroad offers a different dimension for the students, and this makes them very successful in terms of career. They can change direction to where they want and their perspectives are broadened. The most important of all they can exist on their own, they learn this abroad. Because parents offer everything to their children in Turkey, for that reason children have difficulties when they are on their own and they have to learn how to survive alone when they go abroad. This is highly beneficial for them. The perspectives of students who have abroad experience and who don’t are different in Turkey.

Do you think that the reason why Turkish students do not have abroad education is because of the ‘my child should not be away from me” type of thinking in the Turkish family structure?  
That’s right, but I see too many changes in Turkey. For example, I think that exchange programs like Erasmus are very beneficial. As I said, the situation in Turkey is changing, now parents have learnt being separated from their children. I believe that this will go further in Turkey. In this matter we only lack foreign languages, unfortunately w ego backwards in terms of foreign languages. However we need to understand that there are certain common languages that are spoken throughout the world, we should teach these languages to our children so that they can go abroad and receive a different education there.

Can you talk about yourself please?
I’m coming from Massachusetts. I work for Northfield Mount Herman boarding school. I also had my education at that school and now my child is educated there. Briefly, I love the education of this school. Here we talk with Turkish educators about exchange programs. We would really like to send our students to Turkey and also have some Turkish students at our school. We already have 2 Turkish students and they are highly successful and this is very honouring. Our aim, as educators, is to provide everything for our students so that they have a better understanding of the world. Within this context, our goal is to raise them as young people who have sufficient background information.

What sort of experience is this for your Turkish students?
They brought a different culture and perspective to our school. Since our classes consist of about 13 students, students can communicate with each other easily. They talk about different cultures and they know each other better. While American students are learning about the Turkish culture, Turkish students discover the American culture. This is also a very useful experience for me too, as educators we learn too much from them.

What do you think about Turkish students’ going abroad for high school education?
High school life is socially harder than university for students, but it is easier to adapt to university, especially if you want to study abroad. You will be completely adapted to foreign language and this is a great advantage. In addition to that, you would have determined your social status and therefore you would have the chance to plan your university life more easily. As a result of all these, you will be person at the age of 22-23 who has a job and who can stand on their own legs. This is very hard in Turkey. This is very hard because of the possible social problems after studying abroad only for university. We started to direct our athletes who have the opportunity to spend at least 2 years of their high school education abroad and later continue their university life easily. We will see the developments in the next years.

As İbrahim Kutkuay Basketball Academy, what do you do about high school education abroad?
We work in cooperation with prominent high schools of Turkey. Our organisation is based on the idea that the young are students first, later athletes. We have completely focused on that. By using basketball as a means, we have a plan to organise the lives of the children; their lessons, social lives and their endeavour during the adolescence within the triangle of sports, school and family. And we conduct our education program accordingly. This is for the first time in Turkey, but too many people need that.

You are the only state school that attends TAEM, what would you like to say about this?
I do not know what other English teachers at state schools, but I have always been in favour of innovations. I wonder what kind of education systems or methods are used in America, Europe or throughout the world. For that reason, I try to apply these innovations as far as I can in accordance with the curriculum of National Education.

What do you think about today’s organisation?
I have been to the USA before and I had the chance to compare Turkish and American education systems. However, the school I went to was a state school and I compared accordingly. Today, all the schools in TAEM are private schools. There are a lot of differences between state schools and private schools in the USA as in Turkey. When we look at private schools in Turkey, we see that they have a more intense program focusing on university exams. Less time is granted for social or sport activities, and unfortunately parents demand this. The situation is quite different in the private schools in the USA. They have activities that both enable global and critical thinking among students and involve them in social activities as well. Such type of education system is very good. They have a highly expanded perspective.

What should be done to improve the education system in Turkey, what do you think about that?

National Education is constantly making changes, but unfortunately these changes are always within the same circle. This circle should be broken. For example, private teaching institutions must be closed down. Students should have these lessons only at schools. If a pilot test or a test should be done, it must be prepared by the Ministry of National Education and conducted at schools.