Transcription
Yes, this is it, but you know me from the books I've written, many of you. You probably know me from the programs I've done on YouTube lately. Today, I will talk about the concept of learning to learn. Because, as an academic, I think I can contribute in this field. Also, because we live in a changing era, I think a historian's vision is important for you. Because what you think history is is not that. For those who follow me more or less, it's not a science where decisions are made about who is a traitor in wars. It is actually the science of change. It is the science of change in societies and people. This changing, very changing, perhaps humanity's history has changed rapidly in this era. How can we improve ourselves? Think about it. Is there anyone here who bakes bread at home? A bread maker at home? My father makes yogurt at home. We are in such a crazy era. He bakes bread at home, makes yogurt, but his own education is very simple. He gives it to others. It's more important than yogurt, actually, the intellectual process. People are turning to self-help books to ease their conscience. Maybe I'll write one someday. Let me tell you, self-help books are an oxymoron, meaning two contradictory things placed side by side. Don't read them, because self-help is for everyone. Everyone is a unique, special person. They have their own DNA. They have their own socio-economic background. They have their own, their own, I don't know, economic status, country, culture. And a book can only tell you general things. Self-help, meaning a book that sells 100,000 copies, unfortunately, doesn't help 100,000 people achieve their personal growth. This comes easy to us. It's easy. It's the same with horoscopes, isn't it? Is there anyone here who believes in horoscopes in 2020? Raise your hands. I heard from a social scientist, but it's ridiculous. Look, there's no magic. There's no magic even in tribes. These things came out of nowhere. If we look at shamans and so on, anthropologists say there's no magic. There's no magic, friends. My mother sometimes sends me to the market. I look at the chaos, the number three. Maybe something will come from that side. These are the lies that the neo-liberal discourse of this modern world has fed you. And you think you can improve yourself by looking at a horoscope. It's impossible. Why would I try to improve myself? You also have a 95% chance of not finding anything useful. There's no logic. Where are we developing ourselves? Where else are we developing? Not from university, right? Actually, university gives us education. Can this education meet our needs? Look, during university years, there's something from the American Department of Labor. Actually, in America today, 69% of school-aged children, high school-aged children, go to university. But when you look at what universities offer, you see a rate of about 25%. In a place like America, a university degree, being a university graduate, is desired. But we go to university for the sake of it. Let me also talk about why universities emerged. They emerged in the 19th century to create engineers, officers, and doctors. And today, there are so many professions. Every day, new professions emerge. Even in America, the education you receive at university is not enough. You need to be taught at university. I learned this at Bilkent, where I studied, or George Long. Among my classmates today, there's an architect, I graduated as a civil engineer. Think about it, there's an architect here. There's a fashion designer. She's exhibiting at Fashion Week. I don't know her. There's a poet. One became a producer. One became an agency owner. I became a historian. Look, I'm doing something else. Everyone is developing themselves. So the university teacher doesn't teach this. Because the university is focused on one thing. In 1913, between 10,000 and 7 to 13, meaning one in a thousand people went to school. Today, it's 70% in America. This means that general education for the entire society has transformed. But research conducted with 19th-century methods shows this. Research conducted in America also reveals that they look at students who have completed the second grade. 45% of them, especially, have not developed at all. In America, the rates here are slightly higher. After four years, it's 36.6%. If you come to our school, something passes immediately. Don't worry. One in three people came for nothing. Also, American schools don't have attendance sheets like ours. Everyone has achieved a certain average. This means that if you have a university degree, it's not that useful. As a university graduate, I regret to say this. The paradigm of the university must change. It will change, but you see that it won't be enough with just the university. Of course, the situation in Turkey is even worse. Look, here are the university numbers. You'll see them right behind me. There were 73 when I started. It became 77. When I went to America in 2006, they opened 90 universities while I was away, like Fenerbahçe reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Of course, the educational conditions and infrastructure won't be as you expect. Look at these. The total number of books in their libraries. Private schools pay money. Look at the number of books. It will reach 100,000. There are 10 universities where the number of books exceeds 100,000. We're not talking about which books, just the number. There are 10 universities with over 100,000 books. Bilkent University is always first in this field, by a wide margin. It's 65,000, but it's still a wide margin. There are 19,000 books in Harput. Sometimes there are manuscripts. Sabahattin Ali's "Madonna in a Fur Coat," 8.30. Yapı Kredi. Let's buy it. Oh, of the fourth, 12 million Cambly, 8 million, millions. We couldn't finish 500,000 books in the library. We were reading with my friend here, reading and reading, and couldn't finish. Bodrum Printing House hasn't even arrived in Turkey yet. Look at something even worse. You see below, Lokman Hekim University, 1231. Antalya Kepez. You pay money here. 500. I'm guaranteed to work there. I'm telling you. 500 books. Zeynep Mehmet Türkan, my daughter's book. There are 500 books, including coloring books. She's only eight years old. What is this book? In that sense, if the university has such a big problem, it won't do you any good. You don't know why you're going. You go because you're stuck. You don't know why you're going to university. Many people just come and go. The class is over, let's go. Therefore, you can do this yourself. We live in a very changing era, and you can now improve yourself online. But the internet is a wonderful thing, if you know how to use it. In the past, there were card catalogs. You'd open them. I'm a historian, of course. You'd go there. The books weren't electronic. You'd find a book, go get it. It would take 10-15 minutes. There were library cards. Click, click, click. Now they sell these. They sell them. But now you can access millions of books in PDF format. The books my daughter buys in Turkey, paying for them, are $300. Color theory, I don't know, architecture, a lot of things. We were making a program to learn history. There's a book, 180. You enter here, 50%, 40% PDF. It's a lot. You have to find it somewhere. Or you have a friend, a photocopy option, and so on. And this is frankly piracy. But no. Why? No academic gets paid for what they write. That's a separate sector. I'll explain it another time. But you stay here. I'll explain it after the exit. And there's Roket. It connects to all the libraries in the world. If there's a work in any library in the world, like Boğaziçi or Bilkent, it comes through Fidan. They bring it to you within 1-2 weeks. The university pays for these services. There are 15,000, 75 scientific fields, 12 million articles. If you're not an expert, there's a fake. There's something like this. Historians have something like this. We've had big fights with THY Airlines. I have two friends, Fatih and Gültekin. Both are historians. They went to London. In London, they get articles that are open to everyone. Then they put them in two boxes. They bring them back after two months, fighting and arguing. THY fights. I also have Store, years ago. These are newly released. They brought 35 kilos of them. Now, with this mobile phone, I can have 50 books, 20,000 articles. You can use them like this. In the past, there were big dictionaries. And the smell of books, it's very nice. It smells awful, musty. Your nose would run. I got asthma. And now there's Wordpress. Look, it says Catalan. It translates from English to German, English to Dutch. You can learn from here. You can learn the written language there too. Even Netflix. I can hear your voice. I can speak French. I even saw a French person. If you want to learn a language, use it in a foreign language. Why did you learn it? You'll learn to ask people at the bar. English is enough. No problem. Look, I use it like this now. If I use French, it gives me dubbing. Oh, how nice. In the past, I used to go here every summer. But I had the money, so I went to courses. In the evening, I learned Amber. No need anymore. Everything is here. You guys are so bad. Except for the ones I'm approaching. You'll watch those series in French, dubbed. You can watch them in Italian, Catalan. It's possible to watch. So what do we watch? Men, put a smile on your face. Look at the screen. There's something more interesting. It might have this too, but I'm a humanities person, so I couldn't figure it out completely. Maybe it doesn't. Generally, Google, YouTube, Facebook, social media, search engines, Wikipedia. Wikipedia is used for homework. Twitter is for arguing, saying something. Other than that, there are plenty of pornographic sites. Games. There's nothing to do in this world. Look at the average of Netflix. What I wrote, all of them, 9 minutes. These are 14 minutes. So we're not using it correctly. We need to learn to use it. I'll give 5-6 tips for this. I'll finish there. I don't have much time because I'm speaking fast. First, first, there's no yes or no. As they told me, "Is it like this or like that?" If it's like that, then I don't need you. I do a Q&A. I come out in seconds. Five people pay for tickets and come. Then they ask me, "What about this Tugay, what about that?" Go ask Google. Analysis is important. What's important is the gray area. If a man like me can like history, then historians will have accepted us. Secondly, nothing will develop you if it doesn't challenge you. You should always pay attention to being challenged. Like those who do CrossFit, right? You increase the weight. Something will come out of your muscles. It will pop. That's why we always do it. Because of things we don't like, not 5 times, but a little bit. It sold a lot. Sometimes, especially older groups, they say it was too difficult. But young people didn't say that. I wanted the level to be a bit higher because I wanted to pull the reader up. Because only then can you develop. No one was born reading this. No one was born understanding this. No one understands this today. Damla doesn't understand it by reading. It didn't happen like that. Therefore, you will learn by doing these things. Because we will become knowledgeable. How will we become knowledgeable? Knowledge is something to be acquired. In old-fashioned ways, knowledge was perceived as something to be acquired. Limited knowledge. Özgür Tedirgin told me, "Brother, it doesn't diminish you." He said, "What's the point of 10543 books in the field of history?" Yes, through that exam. I can sell it to my friend Yıldırım today. This is wrong. This is the culture of an agrarian society. You can't learn anything useful like this. You can't improve yourself. As Socrates said, "If I know one thing, it's that I know nothing." When knowledge is perceived as something to be discovered, it brings you to analysis, to criticism. Then you learn more. Think of it like Columbus. He went to America. At first, there was a huge continent. He wasn't aware of it. Today, we go. Therefore, if you understand that knowledge is like this, and it's not an object to be proud of, to show off, but rather something with which you must establish a humble relationship, you will learn more comfortably. Another lie is the easy way. We want the easy way. For example, seriously, I've been talking for 7-8 years, working hard. Don't let them think that at first. But everyone wants something like this. Everyone wants to be a ballet dancer. Look how beautiful they are. But no one wants to have feet like that. Actually, that's the whole problem. Everyone wants to know, no one wants to learn. To know is to build. Who wants to be a ballet dancer? Who wants to have feet like that? This is also in academia. For example, I never stop. I'm always doing something. But now I lock myself in my room. My friends are here. Slimming teas, right? They're good. Slimming teas have a very simple logic. First, it cleanses your intestines. You lose 750 grams. So, friends, don't pay for these things. Just like you can't lose weight easily, just like not everything is solved with tripe soup. It's nice, isn't it? Oh, we're so good with tripe soup. No, brother. You don't need to be a doctor to understand this. It doesn't work like that. Honestly, I don't want to be anything. You'll learn it there. It's that important. There's no such thing, friends. You can't learn a language with a mouse. There's a saying: "No pain, no gain." Everything doesn't come directly to your hand. You can imitate this. How? You can make your nose, mouth, everywhere look like it. You can appear cultured. When you look at Turkey, you see many people who know the names of more philosophers than anyone in the world. Our average intelligence is low. Therefore, we should not use knowledge to show off or to be arrogant. Instead, by working hard, we should improve ourselves. Not to show others, but to become better individuals, better mothers, better fathers, better employees, better children, better professionals, better human beings. Another lie is "You can do it too." No, friends, you can't do it too. Believing is half the battle. Unfortunately, believing is not half the battle. Believing is a prerequisite for success. Because if you've already succeeded, you've taken your destiny into your own hands. But destiny is not one of these things. There's nothing you can do. Why did I do this? You can't succeed without believing. Every woman is beautiful. Every woman is beautiful. Ugly women become beautiful. These are things like that. I'll make a lot of money tomorrow because I'll earn more with you. That's how you look at it. You'll make money. That's the definition of success. Success is doing what others can't do. To do what others can't do, you need to free yourself from these lies. Choose a job according to your talent. So, I'll give three things. If you want to learn something, how much do you know? Where are you coming from? Are you coming from history, sociology, literature? Two, how much do you need to learn? Are you going to give a presentation? Write a book? Or give advice to someone? Or for your own pleasure? You need to know this. And three, how much time do you have? A child comes to me. A 50-year-old man wants to study Roman history. He doesn't have time. I learned it, I forgot it. A producer. A 50-year-old man wants to study Roman history. He only knows Latin. There's no need. If you don't deal with things that are unnecessary, you won't get anywhere. My last advice, and this is very important. Tarhon said we are in the age of stupidity. Karadibek said something else. People try to look smart, and they make others stupid. The question I hear most in life is, you know? The first question is, "When did you stop?" The second question is, "You don't know this either?" The man is comfortable. The biggest ignorance, the biggest problem is ignorance. I'll ask him. I'll ask him. And generally, everyone who doesn't ask questions acts like they know everything. The most asked question is, "You don't know this either?" They don't want to look stupid. And this curiosity makes them stupid. Because they don't ask, they don't improve themselves. And never forget, those who don't ask, don't learn. Don't be afraid to ask. Don't hesitate to work hard. And you can think. Thank you very much. I couldn't find a third thing, but I'll do everything I can. Thank you very much. Don't worry. Subscribe.