The domination of the English language is not going to decrease; it’s going to keep growing. In order to understand the world correctly and not struggle with the spirit of the time, learning English has never been so important.

A recent report addressed Turkey’s challenge with the English language. We claim that we are teaching our children about 1000 hours of English, but 90 percent end up not being able to speak English. Such a country Turkey is. English First (EF) teaches English in 60 countries and ranks them on the basis of 750,000 test results. Turkey ranks 41^st. We perform badly also on the TOEFL, the most widely used English proficiency test in the world. Turkey’s TOEFL score is on a par with that of Sudan, a country that does not use Latin letters. Even though it is the 17^th largest economy of the world, Turkey still does not speak English. Although Turkey has made the biggest leap in its ranking among the 60 countries in the EF’s list, the abolition of English preparatory classes in the elementary and secondary schools has decreased the proficiency level of English, as is evident from our current university students. Turkey’s average TOEFL score is in decline. Turkey is engaged in extremely political debates such as education in the mother tongue; yet it is mute when it comes to English education, which will determine how rich our children will be, and thus the near future of the country. Turkey talks big and pretends to give order to the world. When you look at the scoreboard, however, Turkey still does not speak English, which is a must of the Internet age. Period.

Twenty-one out of the 40 countries that outperform Turkey on the EF’s list are emerging countries. By the way, I consider Poland a developed country. Still, the picture is clear. The EF categorizes countries in five groups: very high proficiency, high proficiency, moderate proficiency, low proficiency, and very low proficiency. With the recent efforts, Turkey has moved up from very low to low proficiency. Yet, it still does not speak English.

Why is speaking English important? It is the leading global language, whether you like it or not. It’s the language of business, academics, innovation, and global integration. If Turkey is going to be an active part of global affairs, its children are going to have to be proficient in English. Apart from that, they have to feel comfortable when they are surrounded by differences. They have to be able to do business and carry out their lives speaking English. They have to learn that there is not just one reality in the world, but a bundle of them.

The other day I predicted that in fifteen years, half of the professions we know today will have disappeared and the other half will be practiced differently. In this setting, we have to commit ourselves to two priorities: the first is to improve the adaptation capacity of our students; not to teach them what we believe is right today. Change will be fast in the age ahead. Young people should be prepared for that. The world will be a different place when they grow up and enter the working place. They cannot adapt themselves to the changing conditions if they have raised in rigid and uniformist systems. I think the smartest step to take is to close down the Higher Education Board, and the Board of Education and Discipline. Turkey should get rid of the tools of martial law, which are the remains of yesterday’s regimes of tutelage. This institutional structure is detrimental to Turkey. The second priority is to teach children.  Globalization will not retreat, but will continue to progress. The hegemony of English as a global language will not weaken, but expand. Never before has reading the world correctly and avoiding fighting the reality  of the time been more important.

The biggest embarrassment for me was to see Russia ten places above Turkey, in 31^st place. In a recent visit to Moscow, I went to Stary Arbat Street. I was trying to buy some pastry at a Tatar booth. Seeing that I was trying to speak English, the man working there did everything to avoid making eye contact with me. Finally, a Russian man eating there stood up and came toward me. “How do you live in Moscow without speaking Russian?” he asked, and he paid for my pastry. It is quite bad if Turkey ranks 41^st while Russia ranks 31^st. Just mark my words.

Studies show that countries that are more proficiency in English are richer. Turkey has to start speaking English immediately.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 15.11.2013