Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-03-24
AN EGYPTIAN ETON.
SCHOOLS IN WHICH THE RICH BOYS
OF CAIRO ARE EDUCATED.


They were training for the sports In
the sunny playground was row of big,
fat boys-though none of them came
within six inches of the slim, young,
befezzed English head MASTER hanging
on to rope made fast round tree. The
trained instructor from Aldershot--he
not SO young or slim as be 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.
I was in the Egyptian Elton. It 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 training college for the
teachers, SO that was in fair way to
see at its best summary of the whole
system of public instructions in Egypt
It is only in 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 SIS 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 a guarantee of high examining.
The primary course in Egypt takes four
years; in the first, only Arabic subjects
are taught; after that, English or
French is introduced and gradually ex-
j tended till in the two last years it takes
IS hours out of the weekly 33. All the
instruction in languages is given in the
language itself, but by natives. Only
one-English or Fronch-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
he jumps at bound to being a man. A
boy will do well in his classes up to IA.
Is, 16, and then suddenly the cafes and
hasheesh and lights o. love claim him,
and from bright eyed urchin he be-
comes sallow, f1ashy, sodden, stupid,
dissipated man about town. In one pri-
mary school two boys, Is and ID, 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 ID or SO, then spent six
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 very fair sized family
years before he started to earn piastre.
Lately, by shortening the secondary
course from five years to three, a 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 mustaeh-
ed, all grave, as if school were a matter
of life and death.
There is no difficulty in point Of dis
cipline with the Egyptian schoolboy.
The French masters have some trouble
sometimes, I 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. 1.-THE ground was too undu-
lating; it recalled to me Hannibals
passage Of the Alps, J" why, then, you
perceive that even football will not nec-
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 a half in school is by no
means an unknown performance. Some
of his work in English literature which
saw compares quite well 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 schoolhoy.
But at the end of it all he is parrot
| like in his unintelligence, incorrigible
in his inaccuracy, hopelessly fatuous in
his dishonesty. He understands ordi-
nary English, if you ask him questions.
uncommonly well, but he will reel you
off page of textbook, understanding
the meaning of each word, but without
an idea of the connected sense of it.
Will they ever make boy of him?
If skill and trying can do it, they will.
and if he can be made boy he can be
made man. But it is work against the
collar, and it will not be done today or
tomorrow. --G. W. Stevens in London
Mail.
CURTAIN RAlSERS.
John Blair will act next season with
Julia Marlowe. He recently made pro-