The Somerset reporter., 1898-03-10
AN EGYPTIAN ETON.
SCHOOLS IN WHICH THE RICH BOYS
OF CAIRO ARE EDUCATED.

SCHOOLS IN WHICH THE RICH BOYS
OF CAIRO ARE EDUCATED.
Difficulties That English Teachers Have to
Contend with-Pupiis Are Boys In Name
Only. For the Egyptians Have No Gen.
uine Youth.
the sunny playground was row of big,
fac boys-though none of them came
within six inches of the slim, young,
befezzed English head master-hanging
on to "a rope made fast round tree. The
trained instructor from Aldershot-he
not so young or slim as he has been,
but with muscles all india rubber and
steel-was teaching them the tug of
war. His white toothed. black faced
khaki clad Sudanese assistants were
helping him.
was in the Egyptian 9ton. 1t was
one of three schools originally founded
for training teachers capable of giving
instruction in English or French But
now it contains primary and secondary
schools and a training college for the
teachers, so that was in fair way to
see at its best a summary of the whole
system of public instruction in Egypt.
1t is only i'll its infancy as yet
First we went into the primary
school. There were not many pupils be-
cause the fees here are high-as much
as $50 and $50 year for day boys
and nobody much comes to the primary
part except those who have failed else
where and whose fathers think the high
fee guarantee of high examining.
The primary course i'll Egypt takes four
years; in the first only Arabic subjects
are taught; after that, English or
French is introduced and gradually ex-
tended till in the two last years it takes
10 hours out of the weekly 33. All the
instruction in languages Is given in the
language itself, but by natives. Only
one-English or French-is taught, but
that is taught thoroughly.
In the lowest class there were just
four boys-absurd little owls with the
gravity of old men, dressed in fez and
overcoat They were getting drawing
lesson from an elderly Arab with "a
shawl round his head. When went in,
they all stood up and saluted, In the
highest class they were having an Eng
lish lesson from a young native in
large butterfly tie. Their English was
thick and sloppy SO, if it came to that,
was the masters. Still you could under
stand it. In this class mustaches were
already budding, and it seemed strange
to hear young men reading infantile
stuff about the sparrow.
The great difficulty in schools like
this arises from the fact that Mussul
man is never boy. As soon as he
leaves the harem and is no longer baby
boy will do well in his classes up to IA,
10, l6, and then suddenly the cafes and
hasheesh and lights O. love claim him,
and from bright eyed urchin he be-
comes sallow, fashy, sodden, stupid,
dissipated man about town. In one pri-
mary school two boys, l6 and IA, have
Just been married-not betrothed, you
know. but really married, and living
with their wives. The native master
saw nothing extraordinary in married
sixth standard boy. Under the former
system boy took his primary certifi-
cate which qualities for lower govern
ment posts, at Ia or so, then spent sig
years getting his secondary certificate,
and then perhaps went on to the train
ing college or the schools of medicine or
of law. Consequently he might easily
be the father of a very fair sized family
years before he started to earn a piastre.
Lately, by shortening the secondary
course from five years to three, real
effort has been made to get boys out of
hand and into the world before 20 or so.
When we got on to the top form of the
secondary school, there was no appreci-
able difference in the sort of boy-all
befezzed, all overcoated, most mustach-
ed, all grave, as if school were a matter
of life and death.
There is no difficulty in point Of dis
oipline with the Egyptian sohoolboy.
The French masters have some trouble
sometimes, was told. but in the very,
very rare cases where an English master
finds his classes too much for him he
must go. 1t will not do to bring up the
young in the idea that they may set at
naught the authority of an Englishman.
And what, when all is said and done,
of the Egyptian schoolboy? Does he do
any good in return for the patient in
telligent, honest care his English mas
tiers bestow on him? Well, he is learn
ing to play football, and that'will be
good for him, only when boy says to
his master, after playing the Egyptian
Sandhurst, 'The ground was too undu-
lating; it recalled to me Hannibal's
passage Of the Alps" why, then, you
perceive that even football will not neo-
essarily turn precocious man into
boy again. He is astonishingly indus
trious. The difficulty is not to make
him work, but to prevent him from
overworking. Eight hours home work
after five and half in school is by no
means an unknown performance Some
of his work in English literature which
| saw compares quite we'll with that of
university extension students at home,
but, like theirs, it reads very textbooky.
He has an astonishing gift for Ian
guages, and he can appreciate play of
Shakespeare with ghosts or witches in
it and good allowance of ford meta
phor, no worse-perhaps better-than
an English schoolboy.
But at the end of it all he is parrot
like in his unintelligence, incorrigibie