One of the central phenomena of modernization is rapidly increasing national integration not only in the economic and political areas, but in the cultural sphere as well. One of the chief effects of cultural modernization is the refocusing of the horizons of large numbers of people so that they become psychological and intellectual participants in the life of the nation as a whole, as well as economic and political actors. ¹ Among the major avenues for nationalization of a society's culture are the education system, communications, and the arts. Integration occurs as a result of deliberate efforts by national leaders toward this end and as a general byproduct of the spread of literacy, the growth of mass media, and the momentum of development in general.

A nation's education system may function in several related but also separable ways as an impetus to modernization. It fosters the acquisition of needed skills, including literacy, skill in mathematics, general academic knowledge, and vocational training. It acculturates students by encouraging concepts such as critical thinking, innovation, initiative, and scientific reasoning. It widens intellectual and social horizons and thus helps focus attention away from parochial concerns and toward identification with the state as the embodiment of national pride and progress. The Turkish Republic's education system has been used to serve all these modernizing functions.

The education system which the Turkish Republic inherited was extremely inadequate in both quantity and quality. In 1923 there were officially 4,894 secular elementary schools and 10,238 teachers serving some 342,000 pupils in a total population ( 1927 census) of about 13 million. In actuality, there were probably considerably fewer ( Başgöz and Wilson, 1968:39 and Appendix, and DIE #683). Literacy was 17.6 percent for males and 4.8 percent for females (Ibid.). Almost all the schools were in urban areas, and

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