Answering the question "Why should I go to university?" in the minds of young people during the preference period, Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Kaynak, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, said, “Actually, if you ask 'Why should we go to university?', we should go to break the mold.”
Stating that artificial intelligence is a tool, not a goal, Prof. Dr. Kaynak said, “Everyone must know how to use artificial intelligence. Instead of being afraid of technology, it is important to use it correctly, productively, and without destroying. The only thing you should be afraid of is falling behind.”
Prof. Dr. Deniz Ülke Kaynak, Dean of Üsküdar University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, answered the question "Why should I go to university?" in the minds of young people during the university preference period.
Why should we go to university?
“Actually, if you ask 'Why should we go to university?', we should go to break the mold,” said Prof. Dr. Kaynak, adding, “Because the information and thoughts that shape our views on life are imposed from somewhere above. They constantly break the patterns of our mental world and fill it with something else. In my opinion, the most important feature of university education is that you gain the opportunity not to let others shape your mind so much, as you can acquire very different thought systems at the same time.”
A university should be a place with vision, philosophy, and open to critical thinking
Emphasizing that acquiring information is something else, Prof. Dr. Kaynak continued:
“You can get information from Google, ChatGPT, from everywhere. On the contrary, being able to select information from among the rest has become much more important. Because there is also dirty information, and false information. To be able to process this information with a critical perspective, to extract meaning from all the data I have obtained, and to transform it into a product requires education. Uneducated information may not benefit you at all. But if you learn how to use information through an educational process, this is the most important stage of transitioning from self-taught to formally educated. First, you will choose the information. Because a lot of toxic information is also being released. A lot of information is released just to poison your mind, make you think wrong things, make you pessimistic, and dumb you down. How will you make yourself different, privileged, and productive from within that information? And how will you add meaning to this life? The issue is whether you add meaning to the time you spend on Earth. That's why getting that education, getting it from different perspectives, and being able to blend it is very important. It's not very easy to acquire this outside of a university.
As long as it has a proper university vision, a philosophy. Let it be a place open to critical thinking. Our Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan always says the same thing: ‘This place is like the United Nations. There must be people from every school of thought.’ This seems to me to be the only place where the academic staff can criticize the owner of the university. Our academics can say whatever they want. We extend this area of freedom to our students as well.”
Bad world syndrome and stolen hopes
Prof. Dr. Kaynak stated that there is a "bad world syndrome," saying, “In the 20th century, with two world wars, the Cold War, ethnic conflicts, and terror, 150-200 million people lost their lives due to political reasons. People experienced hunger, misery, and depressions. Human life expectancy was an average of 50-70 years. But people were not as pessimistic as they are today. We tell today's youth that you will live for 120 years, and you will live healthily. We will solve the biggest diseases. Thanks to artificial intelligence, you will have the opportunity to work less and develop yourselves. But young people are so pessimistic, so unhappy and hopeless. Why? Because we are constantly fed the information that ‘this world is bad.’ Social media brought something like this into our lives. But the world is not like that. We also need to learn how to look. Perhaps we are living in the most hopeful era. At university, one needs to learn hope, overcome despair, add meaning to life, find good things amidst evil, and resist. Of course, university will also provide a profession. But students should know this: There are also skills and competencies as important as a profession. I have reached this age, and I am still taking artificial intelligence courses, trying to get coding education. Because the world is going somewhere else. Without knowing this, I don't think international relations can be understood anymore.”
Don't be afraid of artificial intelligence, be afraid of falling behind!
Stating that artificial intelligence is a tool, not a goal, Prof. Dr. Kaynak said, “It is a tool that will facilitate many professions and can contribute a lot to you depending on how you use it. This semester, I told my students, ‘You will prepare your final assignment using ChatGPT.’ This is not a cheating system. Everyone must know how to use artificial intelligence. Those who don't know how to use it will be dumber, but those who do know how to use it will go to space. Instead of being afraid of technology, it is important to use it correctly, productively, and without destroying. The only thing you should be afraid of is falling behind. Be afraid of being afraid. I tell young people, ‘Dive right in, you are the early movers of this system.’ Because you were born into what we are trying to learn. Our age group should be afraid. Why are young people afraid? Their mission is to create a better world. I trust young people, and I am bothered by our age group constantly criticizing them. I think we have some jealousy.”
Vision of Üsküdar University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Prof. Dr. Kaynak stated that they are an interdisciplinary faculty that works by combining all departments, saying, “We have departments of Psychology, Political Science and International Relations, Sociology, History, Philosophy, Translation and Interpreting, and Management Information Systems, which we opened this year. We work hand in hand with our Faculty of Engineering, with the understanding that neither social science alone nor engineering alone is sufficient. We have a very vibrant faculty with high student satisfaction and a pleasant environment. Professors and students are close. We also have a lot of fun. We say hello to summer, hello to winter, we do it all. Because joy is the center of life. Joy is the source of productivity. Grumpiness, pessimism, anger – nothing good comes from these. Joy, vitality, energy, solidarity; all of these are directed towards hope.”
Positive psychology and mental resilience
“Positive psychology is our brand value,” said Prof. Dr. Kaynak, adding, “Looking at the world positively, giving it positive meaning. Because there is a very intense negative bombardment. According to a Brookings Institute report, the money spent globally on mental health problems is 5 trillion dollars, and this figure is estimated to rise to 16 trillion dollars by 2030. Clearly, there is a bombardment. There is a great depression, a great epidemic of hopelessness. Creating a resilient society against this is also important. As a university, we do not want our students to be unhappy and hopeless. I think this pessimism-pumping is an intelligence activity. When people lose hope, they turn their pursuit of happiness towards pills, drugs, and nonsensical connections. To be able to resist this, it is important to understand and interpret it.”
Message to prospective students
Addressing prospective students, Prof. Dr. Kaynak concluded his words as follows:
“You have come to a very important stage of your life choices. Undoubtedly, every choice is a renunciation. You can also make wrong choices; you have the alternative of giving up and starting over at any stage of your life. But if you think carefully and make a university choice that suits your career, talents, and character, you will save time. I wish you all successful, healthy choices. Have a beautiful life. First and foremost, be human... But by human, I am not talking about demanding, pleasure-seeking, overly eager, greedy people. I am talking about people who can add positive meaning to life, who can pursue true humanity. Those kinds of people first. People who can act humanely, like true humans...”