The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-09-09

Popular Education in Turkey.
Those who attach any significance to the
stale catchwurds about the barbarism OF
Turkey, will do well to ponder the progress
effected there in the direction of popular in
struction. The simple truth is that while
Russia in this respect is the most backward
Of European countries, there exists in the
Ottoman States system of common schools
framed on the models supplied by the most
enlightened nations, and crcditably carried
out.
Tho scheme of graduated education.
which in it, fundamental feature has
been faithfully executed, dates back as far
a. lrid although not one in hundred Of
those who take for granted the bcnighted
condition of the Turks has apparently
heard of 1t. Since that epoch amendments
have been frequently made, and especially
IN recent years. Before describing, how
ever. the new system. both as 1t is found on
the statute book and in practical operation.
1t may be well to glance at the old methods
which. a. regards the higher grades Of in
struct4un, al" not yet entirely superseded.
IL Was the conQucror oi Constautinoplc.
MOHAHIMrD H., who undertook to confer
upon all his subjects the rudimcnis Of intel
lcctual training. At the time, although uni
vcrsltcs we're rife enough in Christian
Europe, such thing as multitude OF pri-
mary schools supported ty the State was
utterly unknown. III providing these APP
pliancos for general instruction, the Otto
man Sultan was applying more thoroughly,
and on widor scale than had hitherto been
attempted. the example set by the Arabic
! s..TN 4
is fact 10 which due weight is hardly given
by those who, with Mr.. FREEMAN regard
the Ottoman rule as an unspcakable falling
of from that of the Bagdad caliphate, or
even OF the Scljulian Turks. BE that as it
may, the system which MoHAMMED founded,
and which lasted for about four centuries.
comprised two gradcs-mektbs and me-
dresses. The former We're elementary schools,
corresponding in rude way to our modern
primary institutions, and the point TO be
noted is that they were established in every
town and almost every village throughout
the empire The tuition furnished en-
hraced reading and writing, some knowledge
Of arithmetic and geography, and the study
IF the Koran.
The higher educational seminaries were
called medresscs. These still exist, and, be-
ing attached To the mosques and under the
management OF the WeDid or ecclesiastical
and Judicial hierarchy, may fairly enough bc
said to have their counterparts in our own
UNCONVENTIONAL colleges. The course pur-
sued in these academies includes syntax,
rhetoric, philology, logic, metaphysics, al
COBRA, geometry, astronomy, and the com
mcntaries ON Moslem law. The graduates
md f,tff,ils known - saff,to La.
educated orthodoxy and intellectual public
opinion Of the empire They furnish the
school teachers of the country, and the most
capabie and industrious become members Of
the Mmd. For the latter body Is reserved
most Of the higher positions in the magis-
tracy and civil administration.
Passing to the new system, we find the
provisions for rudimentary instruction car
ried out with efficiency and securing far
greater diffusion Of education than is to be
found In Spain and Portugal, or than OBJ
taincd in central and southern Italy prior to
1888. Oi these elementary institutions there
are two grades. viz, the solnameh, or pri-
mary schools, and the rukdUeh, which may
be likened to our grammar schools. In both
the tuition Is gratuitous, and the influence
OF German models Is shown in this addi-
tional respect, that for the children Of
Mohamnedan7 attendance in the sdinameh
Ii compulsory. The prescribed age is from
ak to ten years for girls and from six To
eleven for boys. Thus much at least of in
tellectual training and requirement must be
gained by every Moslem subject, and is
open to every rayah As regards tho num-
Der OF these primary establishments
the legal requirement is one for each
quarter in city and ono in every
village At present there are in Constanti-
nOple no less than 40 of these schools, viz,
$50 Mohammedan and 100 apportloncd among
the several Christian sects and the Jews.
70 appreciate the tolerant spirit hero
eYinced, we must try to conceive of Catholic
schools maintained by Government aid in
Denmark, or of Protestant schools in Portu-
gal The sdtHdmfh have not been multiplied
through the interior in the same ratio as at
the capital; nevertheless $1,000 were in oper-
alton twelve years ago, and the additions
since that period are known to have been
considerable As guide to the significance
OF these figures, it is worth while TO note
that the number Of primary schools in en-
lightened Prussia does not exceed $4,000.
Of the rutdDeh, or grammar schools, there
should be, according TO law, one for each
five hundred houses, but they are only be-
ginning to he established. In 1857 there
were hut thirty-nlne, while in 1874 he aggre-
gate had increased to about four hundred
with an average attendance Of fifty pupils
each Tho course covers four years, and
the scope OF study embraces grammar
M la