Learn Turkish: Kuralları dayatmaktan ziyade öğrenciye özerklik verir misiniz? - Would you give autonomy to the student rather than imposing rules?

The word ziyade means 'more' or 'rather.' When you want to say 'rather than doing X,' you put the verb in its dictionary infinitive form (-mAk), add the ablative case (-tAn or -tEn, meaning 'from'), and follow it with ziyade. Here, dayatmak (to impose) becomes dayatmaktan ziyade (rather than imposing).

Why is kuralları in the accusative case here instead of just being the plain plural kurallar?

Even though it is attached to an infinitive verb (dayatmak) acting as a noun, verbs in Turkish still take objects in their usual cases. Because we are talking about specific rules being imposed, kural takes the plural -lar and the definite accusative -ı, making it kuralları dayatmak (to impose the rules).

Could I use yerine (instead of) to mean the same thing?

Yes, but the grammar before it would change. Yerine simply follows the bare infinitive, making it dayatmak yerine. Ziyade, on the other hand, strictly requires the ablative case on the preceding word, which is why we must say dayatmaktan ziyade.

Why is the aorist tense used in verir misiniz (would you give) instead of the future tense?