Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-03

under their care iii ther- mona steries and
temples with upward of 25o,00O pupils. who
lie on their stomachs .oTsthe floor as they
of wheel. with their heads turned to-
ward the teacher, who Sits in the center
There also few government schools
but the inability ITO ssecure competent
teachers who knowfthe Burmese language
prevents their extension.
And the government takes very con-
sentative view of the edt ationaI question
It considers 1t wiser 10 encoura ge the
monastery schools and limit education of
the peasant class TO eithe elementary
branches than to maintain forced system
which is apt to make the young country
people restless and take them from the
farms into the cities v
Higher educaton;is left entirely to the
missionaries. Burma has no state colleges
academies or high schools, but the facili-
ties for liberal educa ton are abundant
High schools and academies can be found
In every part of every province, numbering
5000 and 5000 students, most of whom are
qualifying themselves for positions under
the government and In commercial and in
dustrial enterprises. The greatest weak
ness of the educational system in Burma
Is the lack of schools for girls which I
am told cannot be supplied because there
are no teachers.
Everyone who has had anything to do
with education tells me that the people are
eager to learn The children are very
bright. They have keen perceptions reten-
tive memories, sense of humor and amia-
bic, generous dispositions, and thew are
gifted with cunning natural instincts like
an animal, but their reasoning powers are
defective. They hate manual labor. how
ever. 1t Is often the case that the LATEST
are the most anxious to learn On one OF
the boats on the Irrawaddy river the other
day I found several men with primers
from which they were studying English
curing the idle voltage and upon asking
questions learned that they were trying to
qualify themselves to do business with for
eigners.
The Missionary Schools.
The missionary schools have done a vast
amount of good Everywhere you go in
Burma you will find their graduates, who
talk English and know a little something
OF modern affairs. AS rule they are not
FAMILIAR with geography and cannot dis
unguish between Americans and English
men. The man who showed us about the
palace at Mandalay took us into the for
mer grand audience chamber OF King The
paw, which. he told US. was an American
church, but when I came to question him
discovered that he classified all Protes
tant churches as American, and was not
familiar with the rather important fact
ina GRE Great Britain and the United States
SION is due to the fact that nearly all the
missionary work in Burma has been done
a Dy our countrymen, and nearly all the for
" 10
the government is English
sioMiy out surely the great fabric Of
buddhism, which has stood in Burma for
a,uov years, Is breaking down and crumbling
away. IL cannot stand the test of educa.
tlon. 1t cannot endure the light of moder,
inquiry; 1t does not conform to the de-
mands OF modern civilization; it does not
n 1d;,S ~ me wants and needs of progressive
minus ana as the common people are edu-
catea ana extend their knowledge and ex-
perience its influence must disappear
w netner It's believers will adopt Chris
tanity when they abandon the faith of their
ancestors Is doubtful. The failure of the
foreign population to exempify the ideals
taught by Christianity. and to observe its
n p,imiipies; . always puzzles the heather
an obstacle to his understanding, although
ne IS accustomed to similar controversies
IN MS own religion. No one is so keen as a
preaching and practice; Sand he usually
comments upon it with cynical amusement.
Which impairs, If TT does not DESTROY. his
Ia IN our preteHsions and sincerity. 1t
Is comparatively easy tofteach him that his
gods are impotent, and that the evil spirits
which inhabit The atmosphere cannot affect
MS AFFAIRS or change his destiny but the
controversy over the ba ptfsm by sprinkling
or immersion and other differences i'm the
interpretation of the Bible are too compli-
Gated for. him to 1grasb, and he finds it
easier to drift into indifference and ma
Converts From Buddhism.
Christian fnissiohs RESI- geE ma inr,~yconyerts
from Buddhism, however, and occasionally
the Buddhists get one from them Peter.
our guide. told 7us Of two Americans who
had turned Buddhist and were living in a
monastery near .Rangoon. He said he had
taken several Of their fellow eonntrymen to
see them, and would guide US there If we
wanted TO go, but upon investigation the
American "punjees' turned out to be an
Australian Irishman who disappeared few
months ago, and Allan McGregor, a bril-
liant young man of Scotch Presbyterian an
cestors, who was educated to be an cleo
trlcai engineer and analytical chemist. He
came out to Burma to accept a position
under one of the oil companies, and, having
a taste for theology, took up the study of
buddhism. He became enthusiastic over
the beauty of Its sentiments and decided to
devote his life and talents to the reform of
the church and the restoration of the re-
tgton TO the original principles as taught
by Buddha. He shaved his head, put on a
yellow robe, lives in monastery on the 1
road to the big pagodas. and has under
taken his mission by the publicat ton Of
magazine which