Another one of the criticisms by Muslims today is that the Ottomans did not embrace a more ‘modernized’ public education system or otherwise kept the subjects uneducated. This is a large departure from the truth especially when one keeps in mind that it was only by 1870 that the United States provided free *elementary* education in the states, and in Scotland public education became mandatory in 1872, similar efforts were only taken in England by 1888.

On the other hand an elementary and secondary education in Ottoman times was already available, free, and mandatory for both sexes by 1846. Of course, Ottoman subjects also were privy to the mass amounts of works in the public libraries and the madrassa education in a traditional style even prior to that time.

The schools taught subjects such as literature, mathematics, art, and Islam. The Sultan himself visited these schools, and a small account of this is available below (from a non-Muslim):

If Abdul Medjid loves literature, he wishes to have his taste for it shared by his subjects, whom he is always endeavoring to rescue from their ignorance. It is from his reign that the reorganization of public instruction must be dated.

In 1846 an imperial decree ordered the formation of a council, to which were intrusted all questions of public instruction, and the task of erecting a building to serve as a new university. The state of the muktebs, or primary schools, is satisfactory enough at the present day. Elementary instruction in Turkey is gratuitous and obligatory.

The law ordains that each Mussulman, as soon as his sons or daughters have reached their sixth year, shall have their names inscribed in the books of one of the public schools, unless he proves his intention of educating them at home, and shows that he possesses the means of doing so. At Constantinople there are now existing 396 muktebs, or free schools, frequented by 22,700 children of both sexes. After four or five years passed in the mukteb, the child who wishes to continue his studies further enters a secondary school, where instruction on all points is also gratuitous. There are now six of these schools at Constantinople, containing 870 pupils. The superior instruction has been divided into several branches: the school of the mosque of Ahmed and that of Suleiman, for the young men who are intended to fill public appoint- merits; the college of Valide-Sultana, founded with the same view; the normal school, for the education of the professors; the imperial school of medicine; the military school, the naval school, and the agricultural school of San Ste- fano. Abdul Medjid, who has studied the writings of the political economists, has understood that agriculture must be the principal source of the riches of the empire. Indeed Turkey, distanced by other nations in trade and commerce, should be, above all, an agricultural country, and a producer of raw materials. It was this conviction which led to the establishment of San Stefano, where sixty-six young men, half natives and half foreigners, are instructed.
…
Abdul Medjid himself superintends these different schools, and visits in person at the frequent examinations by which the progress of the pupils is tested. In a vast hall, decorated with military trophies, and provided with scientific instruments of every kind, a hundred young men, of from fifteen to twenty years of age, modestly await the Sultan, whom they love as much as they revere. No noise takes place among them—no conversation—no laughter ; all eyes are turned toward the throne, which stands in the middle of the room, and which is as yet empty. At length Abdul Medjid appears and sits lown—near him the sheiks, the ulemahs, the Ministers, and the principal pachas. Each pupil advances in turn toward the throne, and replies to the questions which are put to him by one of the professors, one of the ministers, or by the Sultan himself. The questions refer to mathematics, literature, and art. When Abdul Medjid puts a question, he does so with the greatest kindness. If the pupil replies correctly, a soft smile lights up the Sultan’s face; if he makes a mistake, the Sultan corrects him with indulgence and without making him the least reproach. When the examination is finished, the rewards are given to those pupils who have chiefly distinguished themselves. The young Turks are very intelligent and very docile; without vanity; exceedingly conscientious, and bent upon doing their duty. They are grave, but polite in their demeanor, and never quarrel or dispute. There are numerous libraries at Constantinople ; the number of volumes which they contain roay be estimated at 80,000, reckoning both MSS. and printed books. The literature of Arabia, Persia, and Turkey is represented in them; and the collection includes philosophical and theological works, poetry, history, books of science, and an immense number of those treatises on conduct and manners, to which the Turks attach almost as much importance as the Chinese themselves. The printing-press does its work at Constantinople, but as yet but slowly. The periodical press has produced a sufficiently large number of journals, printed sometimes in French, sometimes in Turkish or Greek.

-The Czar and the Sultan: Or, Nicholas and Abdul Medjid: Their Private Lives By Adrian Gilson, François, Published 1855 Harper & Brothers