Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, participated as a speaker in the program organized by the Muradiye Alumni Association. In the broadcast held via Zoom, Tarhan made evaluations under the title "New Truths in Education and 21st Century Skills"; "A generation with high academic achievement but low life success is coming. Being smart and hardworking is important for academic success, but life success is not possible without moral success." he said.
"A generation with high academic achievement but low life success is coming…"
Tarhan, emphasizing the need for strong family ties for a child to grow up healthy and talking about the importance of positive psychology; “Where family ties are weak, secure attachment does not form, and healthy children do not grow up. There is something that has become a global mindset. A generation with high academic achievement but low life success is coming. The world has produced some solutions for this. For example, Harvard University started positive psychology courses in 2015, Yale University in 2018, and Bristol University officially introduced positive psychology as a solution to suicide in 2019. As Üsküdar Üniversitesi, we introduced this course in 2013.” he said.
3 gifts of Covid-19 to us…
Tarhan also made evaluations regarding the question: Is Covid-19 a threat or an opportunity? “Our freedom decreased, but our ability to delay gratification improved; our physical comfort decreased, but we had more time to develop ourselves and strengthen family ties. All of these show us that we need to create a new philosophy of life. We felt our psychological well-being, our freedom, our physical comfort, our social relationships, and that death was near. These were affected. Covid-19 gave us 3 gifts: free time, psychological resilience and endurance training, and the opportunity to remember the human values we had abandoned… Therefore, globally, we have serious potential to emerge from Covid-19 with gains.” he said.
“The Covid-19 pandemic will make the 21st century an age of wisdom”
Tarhan, emphasizing the importance of moral success; “The education system has been severely affected by Covid-19. Distance learning is possible, but distance education is not. Children, especially those in developmental age, are in front of televisions. If they spend this period with tablets, skills such as word production and emotional development of our brain remain deficient. Children become socially isolated. For example, there are 'genius' children we call hackers, but they cannot sit and chat with someone; everyone laughs, but they cannot laugh or understand. Currently, a situation similar to what we call high-functioning autism in education has started to proliferate. When we talk about new truths in education, educators, mothers, and fathers say, ‘If a student is smart and hardworking, success will follow.’ Being smart and hardworking is important for academic success, but life success is not possible without moral success. The child must be hardworking and a good person. Therefore, a third parameter emerges here: being smart, hardworking, and a good person. If you are smart, hardworking, and a good person, then life success occurs. What I mean by moral success is being a good person, and this happens through wisdom and values education. The Covid-19 pandemic will make the 21st century an age of wisdom in society. The science of this age of wisdom was born with positive psychology.” he stated.
“An era of combining responsibility and innovation in education”
Tarhan, emphasizing that educators should be role models for students and expressing the importance of a life philosophy; “In 21st-century educational skills, educators should be role models for students. First, they must educate themselves and have a philosophy of life. Our education system needs to teach this to educators. It is an era of combining responsibility and innovation in education.” he said.