The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-10-27

T |''',,',,l lz]SS&{P&EfR
(xel NATIONS
ITO knowledge" Cry Which Progress
slve Party In Turkey PIacards High
ways-Governments Seek to En-
nance Own Prestige by Schools.
BY WILLIAM r. ELLIS.

Beirut.-If visitor in this city has
sufficient curiosity to inquire the
meaning of the Arabic inscriptions
which he sees emblazed upon the
walls. he will be told that they are
motto of the Progressive Party
ITO knowledge" and "Juryman, seek
knowledge! Ignorance is shame"
That points straight to the underly-
ing problem of awakened Turkey.
However. farcical the present const1-
tutional government may now appear,
it must ultimately rest upon the edu-
cation of the people. Not at the Sub
lime Porte and in the inner Offices OF
the administration, but in the schools
of the Empire, the destiny Of Turkey
Is to be worked out. A constitutional
government is simply impossible with
out popular education.
The prevailing idea of education In
old Turkey was the memor1Zing OF the
Koran in fc ur tones. The Koran Is In
Arabic and so even where memorized,
utterly unintelligible to most of those
who study it. These mosque schools
were little else than hot-beds of bigO-
try and hatred of Christians. They ef-
fected no change in the economic con-
ditions, nor did they broaden the in
tellectual horizon of their students.
Traditions concerning the Prophet
were of little help to the peasant in
raising a living from the ill-treated
soil of his land One of the hopeful
signs of the new day is that everybody
seems to realize that education must
have the right of way.
Religious Schools the Rule.
When the constitutional era was
proclaimed there was at once great
fiocking of children to existing schools,
especially to those kept by foreigners.
There has been some reaction In this
respect, as the Moslems and Greeks
and Armenians have, by means OF
threats and other pressure, compelled
the parents to senG children to their
own schools however inferior these
may be. The latter have been forced
to improve their standing cerceptibly.
even at the cost of taking Christian
teachers from the foreign schools.
One Office of the educational institu-
t1Cns maintained by foreigners in Tur-
key is to stimulate the native schools
&c emulation.
While the Young Turk leaders have
designed a scheme of non-religious
schools, yet practically the religious
schools are the prevailing ones. The
people here have such varying relig-
ious beliefs, and religious ideas hold
such supreme place in their thought.
that nobody is satisfied with nOn-re-
ligious schools. The result Is that the
youth of Turkey Is largely being edu-
Gated In schools which put the church
above the state. The empire is d.
vided into great national groupings
which are also religious classifications.
Internationally the result Is chaos.
The government is trying to find itself
in this matter and to adapt itself to
the educational conditions of the new
ORDER
Diplomacy and Education.
In the great game for the possession
of New Turkey. the school is freely
used by foreign governments. France
has heartily supported and championed
the Jesuit colleges and primary schools
for they teach the French language
and French history and inculate the