MEHMET AKSEL
If I turn the television on after I wake up in the morning, I usually scroll through the channels and look for a program to fit my mood and that I can overhear while I shave or shower.
My selections are so diverse and irrelevant that you would be astounded. Sometimes it is a news program, sometimes an automobile or an antiques show on Discovery or a game of pool on Euro Sport, and sometimes a documentary on National Geographic or a show/concert on Mezzo.
I usually avoid ‘the news’ and I’m sure you can guess why.
The other morning, at 8am, I (as the person who avoids the news) was surfing through the channels and stopped on Haber Türk once I read the caption.
The topic was the National Education Council, which was about to commence in Ankara, and the guest was Selçuk Pehlivanoğlu, the President of the Turkish Education Association (TED).
Of course, once the word education made it into Mehmet’s orbit, I immediately put the remote down.
I usually expect the worst when it comes to education, and think ‘what nonsense will we get to hear this time’, but in contrast to my expectation, the gentleman’s speech began with a tone that I respected, and progressed and ended in a framework that I agreed with, almost completely.
There was to be an opening speech on the first day of this Turkish National Education Council meeting; a working group on the day before and a communiqué of the outcome of the working group on the following day (who knows how), and this was why he was invited to the television program.
Let me summarize the main topics…
– He pointed out what lies at the heart of a country’s issues related to the economy, unemployment and similar problems is ‘education’ and of course ‘qualified education’, and he was very right.
– He said something along the lines of; it is better to save a generation than to save an election, which was very nice.
– He talked about the importance and necessity of equal opportunities in education. And I don’t think this issue could have been better delineated.
– He talked about vocational education and the changing definition of vocational education every day. In fact, I would have loved to talk with him to further discuss this issue. You wouldn’t believe the range of my ideas on this topic, which I would love to share.
– He addressed the problem of qualification and prestige of educators. Again, this, in my opinion is a critical issue that I would want to chat about for hours. I agree that educators should be at a much better level both in terms of equipment, perception and finances… We could chat about what we do and what could be done collaboratively.
Anyway…
The conversation revolving around these issues in addition to mentions of various statistics, numbers, comparisons and the pointless courses/exams ended with two main ideas that stuck with me.
The first is the need for ‘qualified education’, and the second is the need for ‘competent educators’.
I watched the whole program with interest.
There are other issues, and that’s fine, I could sit and discuss these for hours on end with pleasure, but when it comes to vocational education, that is my subject matter, and there are a couple of things I want to write about straight away. If you’ll excuse me…
Here goes…
There are two conditions for a business to succeed:
– Either the business has a visionary, perfectionist owner and/or structure (and that is relatively rare),
– Or there are standards, rules and regulations set for pursuing that business, and there are serious institutions that uncompromisingly monitor this industry.
It might sound funny but I wanted to give a simple example from taxis and taxi driving.
The man is so meticulous, so engrossed in what he does that his car is spotless, and he himself is also clean as a whistle; he has his navigation system in front of him, even though he is already very well-versed in the city he lives in, and furthermore he even provides drinking water, handkerchiefs, masks, etc. for his customers. In short, he is a ‘sweet crazy’ driver.
Or there such rules and regulations set in place and these are so ruthlessly implemented that the industry, cleaning, road knowledge and even more are determined by these regulations and transferred through compulsory education. Defy if you dare.
Seek and you shall not find in our country…
Anyway…
Where was I? Despite exceptions neither of these works in Turkey, the second one especially is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Occasionally, we come across the former category; we see examples of success and brands of love, but when it comes to the latter, the tendency to comply and compliance checks of regulations is close to ‘zero’ in our country (0)
I said occasionally for the former…
Our fellow countrymen usually tend to opt for imitation for initiatives in this first category, due to their lack of vision and solid content, and end up producing copies that are bound to fail.
I’ve come across numerous examples, and I’m sure you have done so, too.
In the latter category, we follow neither any rules nor any regulations.
In our country, rules are made to be bent, and the regulations are to be circumvented.
Is the first one something to be ashamed of?
Of course not.
If an idea inspires you and if you are going to focus on ‘what more can be done’ with what this idea awakens in you (and not just by copying) to develop and grow that business, fine.
In fact, that was how I set up MSA.
I had been really impressed with the Culinary Arts Center (Mutfak Sanatları Merkezi) established by master Tuğrul Şavkay and master Osman Serim in 2002. Having thought that the Center could be expanded and developed extensively, I had offered to collaborate, but they had responded with, “We don’t want to do it anymore, but you are more than welcome to do it.” And with that response (sort of green light), I had established MSA.
Here’s another example for you.
It was 2009; the period when third generation coffee makers had boomed.
It was also when we had become quite experienced in our professional training courses such as cookery and bakery, and we wanted to introduce new subjects in culinary education and different programs for our students.
With a typical MSA approach, we immediately formed a think tank, followed by a SWOT analysis and then convinced the person whose name is the first one to be uttered when it comes to coffee in Turkey, to join our team.
Then together with him, we researched and studied nearly every good barista training program in the world. Each of them had useful elements, but for some reason, none of them made sense for us as a whole. So in the end, we decided to adopt the good aspects of these programs and incorporated new world realities, the realities of Turkey and the (always overlooked) finance of this business and to ultimately create a unique never-before-seen professional barista training program.
I wish you could have seen the happiness on the faces of the members of that group, when the program came out.
There was only one thing left to do, and for that we established such a classroom with such an equipment pool that world class brands would be in awe.
Was there any copying? Of course.
Was there any development? Big time.
Pure copying is accepting something as correct or successful as is (such acquiescence is not in my soul), and I think that even the most beautiful idea or system can be challenged. And they should be challenged. Because neither needs nor knowledge or foresight remain constant; they should not. These change and evolve according to the needs of the day. The important thing is that you use it for good and have enthusiasm.
I talked about the first one at length; now, let me talk a little bit about the second category. The category that one encounters in almost every industry in developed countries…
What was it?
Rules and regulations.
In Turkey?
Impossible.
