Enderun School (Turkish: Enderun, Ottoman Turkish: اندرون مکتب, Enderûn) which meant "inner most" was a free-boarding school for the Christian Millet of the Ottoman Empire, which recruited students via Devshirme (Ottoman Turkish:Devşirme) - an enculturation system of the Christian youngsters for learning the characteristics of the Islamic society and the unique culture of the Ottoman palace.[1] Enderun was fairly successful in creating the multicultural bureaucracy, which is reflected in multicultural Ottoman statesmen. Enderun School functioned for academic and military purposes, as well. [2] Ideally the graduates were permanently devoted to government service and had no interest in forming relations with lower social groups.[3] The Enderun School was not merely a building or a school but a system of education that became the pioneer educational institution in gifted education and was the first of its kind. The Enderun system was also significant as an early model of multiculturalism because students from different ethnic backgrounds were brought together and learned to live together under a common ideal. The multicultural environment of Enderun had a positive influence on the peace and harmony created in Ottoman States until the decline of the Empire[4]. Enderun’s gifted education program is defined as the world’s first institutionalized education for the gifted [5][6][7]
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The growth of Ottoman Empire and the expansion of its civilization over three continents, starting from 1299, are attributed to the rule of committed and effective sultans. However, the able statesmen helped the Empire prolong its existence more than four centuries after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The selection and education of statesmen became critical to the Empire in the 15th century because Ottoman state affairs had evolved from those of a small nation into that of an empire covering more than 2,000,000 square miles. This expansion rapidly diversified the empire creating a highly multicultural nation with the assimilation of new cultures that blended into Ottoman life. A vital component of Mehmet II's goal to revive the Roman Empire was to establish a special school to select the most able youngsters within the Empire and to educate them to become the members of the ruling class. Thus, Mehmet II improved the existing palace school founded by his father, Murat II (1421–1451), and established the Enderun Academy (Enderun) within his private residence at Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. Enderun School was an institution that contributed to the rise of The Ottoman Empire, and a factor in the staying power of the Empire, which survived for more than four centuries after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453[8].
The Enderun system consisted of three preparatory schools located outside of the palace in addition to the one within the palace walls itself. According to Miller [9], there were 1,000-2,000 students in three Enderun Colleges, and about 300 students in the top school in the Palace. The curriculum was divided into five main divisions.
The successful graduates were assigned according to their abilities into two mainstream positions: governmental or science [13], and those who failed to advance were assigned to military. One of the most distinctive properties of the school was its merit system consisting of carefully graded rewards and corresponding punishments [14]. Ipsirli described the main objective of the school as not only to educate but to help students discover their abilities. At the end of the Enderun school system, the graduates were able to speak, read and write at least 3 languages, able to understand the latest developments in science, have at least a craft or art, and excel in army command as well as in close combat skills. The school system never aimed to educate its students to become only a scientist, an artist or a soldier; but aimed at versatility which turned out to be the education of the perfect human who has good knowledge of everything so that they could become leaders of the Empire.
Topkapi Palace’s third court consisted of the Imperial Treasury, the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle, and the buildings of the Palace School. Thus, the school is located next to the most valuable possessions of the Ottoman Sultans—the treasury and the legacy of the Prophet of Islam[15]. There were seven halls or grades within the Palace School and within each hall there were 12 teachers responsible for the students’ mental and academic development. Students wore special uniforms designated by their achievement level [16] and Miller indicated that additional buildings included the library, mosque, music conservatories, dormitories, and baths [17].