Show y NATIONS to knowledge cry which progressive party in turkey placards highways governments seek to enhance own prestige by schools by WILLIAM T ELLIS I 1 beirut it a visitor in this city has sufficient curlo curiosity sitY to inquire tho the meaning of the arabic inscriptions which lie ho sees flees em blazed upon tho the walls he will be told that they are I 1 a motto 0 of tho the progressive pr 0 gres sIvo party part y I 1 to knowledge and juryman seek know knowledge ledgel ignorance la Is shame that points straight to tho the underlying problem of awakened tu turkey akey however farcical the present constitutional tut ional government may now appear it must ultimately rest upon the education of the people not at the sublime porte forte and in the inner offices of tho the administration but in the schools of tho the empire the destiny of turkey Is to bo be worked out A constitutional government Is simply impossible without popular education the prevailing idea of education in old turkey was waa the memorizing of the koran in faur tones tho the koran la Is in arabic and so BO even where memorized utterly unintelligible to most moat of those who study it these mosque schools were little else than hot beds of bigotry and hatred of christians they effected no change in the economic conditions dit ions nor did they broaden the intellectual tel horizon of their students traditions concerning the prophet were of at little help to tho the peasant in raising a living franr the ill treated soil of hla his land one of the hopeful signs elens of the new day clay Is that everybody seems to realize that education must have the right of way religious schools the rule when tho the constitutional era waa proclaimed there was at once a great flocking of children to existing schools especially to those kept by foreigners there has been some reaction in this respect as the Aloo moslems lems and greeks und and armenians Armen ians have by means of threats and other pressure compelled tho the parents to send children to their ow own n schools however inferior these may be the latter have been forced to improve their si standing anding perceptibly e ven even at tho the cost of taking christian teachers from the foreign schools One office of the educational institutions maintained by foreigners in turkey to la to stimulate ettive schools while the young turk leaders have designed a scheme of non schools yet practically the religious schools are the prevailing ones the tha people here have such varying religious beliefs gud and rell religious igloos ideas hold uch buch a supreme place in their thought that nobody Is satisfied with non re lillous schools the th result Is that the tha youth of turkey Is largely being edu ca schools which put the church above tho the state the la Is divided into great national groupings which are also religious classifications educationally the result Is chaos the government Is trying to tc find itself in ia this matter and to adapt itself to the educational conditions of tho the now order diplomacy and education in the great game tor for the possession of now new turkey tho the school Is freely used by foreign governments franco france has heartily supported and championed the jesuit colleges and primary schools tor for they teach abo french language and french history and Inc in culata tho the french frenceh view point the they aye are visible reminder ot of french nationality and naturally enhance the prestige of that government which has strongly supported the rights of these schools with diplomatic representatives these rench french F schools maintained by tho the jesuits are ajro enormously successful germany has baa tried but with poorer success to give tho the german langu language ago the right of way in turkey but the german tongue does not succeed in corresponding ratio with too the other german triumphs here so along the bagdad rall railway the germans are obliged to use ikee the french language groat great britain has belatedly come to realize tho the advantages of the educational agency in promoting her prestige in an english high school tor for boys boya has been opened with a fine staff of teachers tea cheis out from england tho the education given la Is in the tha english lang language ge and and along english lines the teachers vow avow that they are promoting the tha british type of education as a matter of imperial policy on this buls basis they aro are supported by the british press and british and they look forward to a grant giant from tho the british govern acht just as nn an appropriation would ha for the maintenance of a consulate where america leads it Is only of recent years that tha american government seems to have hava awakened to what may be called the of the tha amerlan schoola in ia ahe he levant broadly speaking america has been kept from eing doing a negligible factor la in the abo turk sh empire by bl tho the schools maintained ere bere by the foreign missionary socie los ot of the baitel states these are ara admittedly the for furi most n tho the land As A result of nt all the to bo be found in turkey america km erica ts Is the most moat poplar pc lilar three i four emigrants ts seek the shores t the entire 1 ase ailse bif t the english i t ht A speaking people haa ban been profoundly benefited by these abeso institutions established with no thought of statecraft in all parts of the levant one may find english speaking graduates of these schools to whom american history and american Amer icari ideals have been mado made familiar there la Is doubtless warrant for the statement that tho the american schools in the tha levant have lone done more to honor the american narna name and flag in these parts than all the embassies at constantinople some remarkable results it la Is a curious and anomalous situation that tho the greatest educational institutions in tho the ottoman empire should fly the flag ot of another nation this la Is unquestionably the case it Is a source of immense pride to traveling americans that the syrian protestant college colleda at beirut and robert college of constantinople and the american college for girls in constantinople ti are the educational mountain peaks in turkey none of la Is strictly speaking missionary but all are ara entirely american being supported by american money and conducted by american teachers the tha potency of all this Is difficult to mako make clear to persons who do not understand der stand oriental conditions the finest buildings the largest institution and the most celebrated in all beirut Is the tha syrian protestant college which has a magnificent site on the mediterranean with the purple lebanon mountains in tho the distance this ahli la Is school for foi boys boya of the presbyterian mission said to be the finest college campus nud and prospect in all the world there are from to students yearly of 0 many colors and races and the graduates may be found ia pla ea ot dally aly nuni numerous erous are they in tho the brit ish service in the sudan tho the co cosmopolitanism of this college and robert college Is shown by the way its students scatter over the tha entire world this great american college was born within the missionary circle and its lt teachers have been drawn hither by tho the missionary impulse yet it receives no aid from any missionary so jety but Is managed directly by a board of gentlemen in now york 11 recently the issue as aa to religion was waa raised by the Alos moslems lems who objected to attendance upon chapel services there was no little discussion but the tha end was at no time in doubt because the american public whatever its religious belief would not care to support an institution that simply alac ply mado made islam more potent tho the present condition la Is that the students are obliged to attend chapel dally daily robert college on the to which many have assigned a large part ot tho the credit for the new order of things in turkey has some students it laid the corner atone tone of a new dormitory recently and instead of a lot ol of speeches the occasion was col i AT ar lu A lp citizens of old philadelphia an and d american missionary by a baseball gania game between tutors and a nine from the crew of the scorpion so high la is the reputation ot of robert college that cabinet ministers and other leading turks send pend their sons sona to it it has got out ot of the acuto acute financial difficulties which beset most moat of these altruistic educational institutions in the levant through the receipt ot of tho the kennedy bequest ot of nearly two million dollars american women lr in new turkey thanks to gifts from ala rocket ol ler and sap sage funds the american col lego for or girls in ri rl Is enabled to move inove to more commodious com mouloud quarters on a hill overlooking the not far from robert college the site la Is a beautiful one and tho the will ba ot of a great aduca 11 1 institution 7 temporarily a part ot of trie na col college legi 14 housed bloused in an old palace on tho the Ms M s thonia the head ot of thea institution la Is mrss patrick ft a t Nc neater ator who haz hae elected to give her 1 alto turkey sho she has a staff gf c upwards of a dozen doma american women teachers the grad bates who from many nations na alons frequently go BO into teaching work the college Is an influential center of the now new educational movement and avlos lem teachers are on close cloeo terms ol of friendliness and cooperation with the american faculty it Is no small mat ter that tha in institution turkish greek armenian bulgarian syrian Ko suit and girls ot of othet nationalities are learning america Amerl cac t ideals of life the international col lege lega for boys the american school to foi girls at smyrna and other notable institutions more afore than twenty five ot of these american schools are ara maintained by missions in different part of the empire their teachers aro are american and an exceptionally large percentage of their pupils become in turn teachers of 0 local chooks or engage in religious work there are many parts of turkey that are honeycombed with the influence of these mission schools the printing press lever A study of the forces responsible tor for the wonderful awakening of turkey loads leads investigators into many interesting fields here I 1 have run across the tha significant fact act that within four years the presbyterian Alls mission slon press at beirut has issued at a nominal price a large laige stock of dAu dAubl bignes gnes llis history tory of tha reformation this was done originally to get rid of a surplus ot of books the demand for this work which has in it the seeds deeds of both political and religious revolution grow grew amazingly and still continues ite comparatively small email of educated in turkey has baa been it does not seem an impossible task to touch the tha majority ot of them with some such influential book as this similarly the tha newspapers nud and looka books issued from this historic press do da spite the censors vigilance has been scattering the tha seeds ot of new thought wad widely ely over tho the empire here more truly than in any other part ot of the world ot of which I 1 have knowledge the printing press has been a lever ot of to overturn the old order the primary output hasteen has been the bible I 1 in n ar arabic a b ia T the he entire arabic speak ing world has been supplied with bibles from this press more mora than a million and a halt bait copies of the tha bible in ia whole or in part having been issued up to date even the georgian churches have accepted accept edthe the translation of the bible into arabic which has hag come from this press tho the russian schools within the ottoman empire havo bave taken their book supply from the mission press and the russian government Is at present thle the largest bin gle eo customer ot of the press modern maps have been a Talu ablo able output for in the skillful war with islam which christianity la Is waging modern geography modem history and tho the physical sciences aro are powerful weapons against the teaching of the prophet the entire moslem world has no printing outfit to match this one A hotter better style etyla ot of arable arabic Is 13 used than in tho the mohammedan books by the scholarly works that have come coma out a spirit ot of higher criticism has been created within the circle of 0 islam and this is a inore insidious tos too to the latter than tho the frontal attacks of christianity ti tl the Alis glission sion press indices ilg own type and wien ea each th letter four To wellings and fried differ affer ent en forms making ono one hundred P 1 all alj it Is not a small m matter a t V r to run a prin ing establishment in arabic nevertheless th eless oless thi missionaries count it ivell ell worth while fet fat this institution la ift cut cui ting away the foundations ot of the olf old order As turkey goes to know knowledge leAge it goes goes tn t a new lite ur in reality copyright by joaeph 11 bowles |