Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02
Historical
Studies.

=. that all restrictions are re-
otuoleS. moved 1t is possible to Of
fer the students wider range OF read
ing and discussion, and we have en-
deavorcd to give the Turkish and Ar
menian girls such breadth OF kno"i-
edge of their own national history as
they have never been able to ENJOY oe-
,, fore.
1.-THE opportunities for people of the
lower classes to send their children to
school are SO meagcr ana competent
teachers in Turkey are so rev that oui
students realize the tremendous oppor-
tunity offered the graduates of the Amer
lean College who are Ottoman SUBJECTS
to assist in the education of the people.
We have been greatly handicapped In re-
ceiying Turkish students because tney
have received no elementary educatlon
i'm their own schools and in their own
language.
at is impossible for those who have
not lived i'm Turkey to realize what the
changes mean and what freedom means
During the preceding year. Tor eSample
we were advised not to have the simple
constitution of an association of our girls
nut into print, az II would be unsafe TOE
Them if by accident a printed copy shouia
he discovered But that is all changed
now, and we are practically as tree as
the schools of any European country.
y
"The whole country, suddenly aWakeo
to the Importance OF education. is filled
with a desire to study. and
National young men and women OF all
classes are eagerly demand
OeSlIe. ing a share in the benefits
that education gives The most serious
part of the situation, and lamentabie
fact, is that there are so few Turkish
teachers ready or competent 10 1mpart
instruction, and already a plan is on
foot TO send groups to Europe to be
trained Several night schools have been
started in the city, where, III the ab-
sence Of other instructors, leaders or the
Young Turk party have themselves I'M
dertaken the teaching
THE Mohammedan women are no Tess
eager than the men, and they naturally
turn for help to this college, which, TOT
so many wears has been the only irstitu-
ton for the higher education OF women
in all countries in the east. We are ready
and able to give them the education they
SO eagerly desire, but our quarters are
SO crowded that it is impossible to &C
cept more than small number of the
many applications for admission that we
receive. In spite of the knowledge of
the present overcrowded state of the col
lege many Turkish women are so anx-
ious that their daughters shall share IN
the new life that is opening to the Wom-
NOA.e
ing to Scutari to beg us to take In their
daughters And when they get the in
evitable answer that there is no room
the girls frequently burst into tears,
while their mothers have dimculty In
concealing their disappointment.
when we get into the new buildings
which we are hurrying up on the other
side of the Bosphorus one Of
Normal the first steps will be the
~, establishment of a normal
ocAooA' school. Even now, in the
limited space at our disposal, we have
the nucleus of normal school IN five
Turkish young women sent to us by the
government to be trained for teachers
of Mohammcdan children. Think of train
ing teachers for MOhammedan schools In
Christian college and you will have
a slight suggestion of the extraordinary
changes that have taken place in Tur-
key.
Il am often asked" continued DR.. Pat
rick, what is the use of educating women
for the harem. But you must know that
the character of the harem has entirely
changed under the new regime. and the
women of the harem are now at liberty
to learn, and to read, and to work, and
side world: to participate in the move
ments of the day, and to even influence
them With this liberty and this con-
tinual increase of opportunities it is even
more important that the women of the
harem should be educated than any
others.
1T is true that the Turkish woman is
still more restricted than those of the
European countries and the United States,
but the day of her complete secluson has
passed forever: the barriers that con-
fined her from contact with the outside
world have been removed. She is no
longer ignorant: she no longer is kept
from knowledge of what is going on
around her and she will have no lack OF
influence in the development Of Turkey in
future years