Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Psychology Department Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Sinan Canan participated as a speaker in the program organized by the Kocaeli Provincial Directorate of National Education's Kocaeli Education Platform within the scope of "Education Talks." In the program, which attracted great interest from participants, Canan made evaluations under the title 'Brain and Learning for Educators.'
“Education Doesn't End Throughout Our Lives”
Prof. Dr. Sinan Canan, mentioning that meeting with educators excites him greatly, said: “The area that always excites me the most, that I focus on, and that I most desire is to come together with educators. Because if I tell something to someone, I don't know whether that person will use it in their life or not, but when I talk about the brain and behavior to an educator, thinking that dozens, perhaps hundreds of young people have the potential to benefit from it, it becomes a very exciting topic for me. When we come to the question of why education is so important, if you look at the biological realm, there is no other living creature that spends almost half of its life educating itself for the skills necessary to sustain its life. Only we are like this. Education does not end throughout our lives.”
The Main Reason: Artificial Civilization!
Prof. Dr. Canan stated that every segment of society complains about education and that this is based on some reasons: “We have had an education problem for approximately 150 years. And it's a system designed after the industrial revolution to train people who are experts in certain fields and contribute to production, structured upon a mechanism. As of 2020, we are still applying education with the same logic, but we are also trying to make modifications. Whoever speaks up, whether they receive, provide, or are a parent, everyone who looks after their work is complaining about education. There are problems according to everyone. Minds are utterly confused. The main reason for this is that the issue I try to explain as 'human factory settings' is not well known. It's a problem stemming from our long-term, generational necessity to live in an artificial civilization, separate from nature and our true essence, to the point of forgetting what a human being actually is.” he expressed.
“We Started to Mistake What Modern Life Offers Us for Life Itself”
Canan said, “There are almost no settlements left in villages. Up to seventy percent of society lives in what we call metropolitan cities. We hardly have any place left to touch the soil or plants. When we think of living creatures in nature, not much comes to mind besides cats, dogs, and lions and monkeys in documentaries. The plants we grow in pots have become our biggest connection with nature. Beyond this, we started to mistake what modern life offers us for life itself, and we have turned into a creature tumbling head over heels.”
“Courage is the Number One Quality Education Should Provide Today”
Prof. Dr. Sinan Canan emphasized that people lack the courage for new actions, and they apply whatever they see around them: “In our country, when people get money, they buy a house because we consider a house to be security. We need to create security for the future. Currently, people only think this way. This is what we call the 'slavery of comfort.' They ask, 'Why don't patents emerge from our country? Why no innovation?' It's because of the Turkish comfort, it doesn't emerge. It doesn't emerge because of 'I was born here, this is how it is, I saw it this way from my parents.' The way out of this is courage. This courage is the number one quality education should provide today. It is the most important trait that should be instilled in a person.” he stated.