The topic that I chose for this paper is that of Fethullah Gülen as an educator. I must confess at the outset that I have arrived at the topic of my talk backwards. Rather than having studied the writings of Fethullah Gülen on education and pedagogy and then tried to see, in what might be called a deductive approach, how he has put these principles into practice, I have instead come to know first the educational institutions conducted by participants of the movement led by Mr. Gulen. This has led me in turn to study his writings to discover the rationale that lies behind the tremendous educational venture that has ensued from the educational vision of Fethullah Gülen and his colleagues. At the outset, it is necessary to be precise about the relationship of Mr. Gülen to the schools that are often loosely called “Gulen schools,” or “schools of the Gülen movement.” Mr. Gülen describes himself primarily as an educator and is generally referred to by members of his movement as Hodja Efendi, a title of respect given to religious teachers in Turkey.[1] However, he is careful to distinguish between education and teaching. “Most human beings can be teachers,” he states, “but the number of educators is severely limited.”

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