New Britain herald., 1923-07-02
SCHOOL DAYS SEEN
 . AROUND THE WORLD
Comparison Of Schools of Various , Nation Show Marked Differences

Washington, D. C., July D.
 School children all over the north
 ern half of the world are putting away their school books for the sum-
 mer months. Little Johnny China
 mans primer which is stored away
 for his younger brothers use looks to
 little Mexican Manuel like parallel tracks of his fathers best fighting cooks. Little Moorish Rahab. how
 ever, has the advantage of all of them" says bulletin from the Ma tional Geographic society. for all he
 has to do to efface his textbook from his conscience is to drag his brown
 foot across the desert sand.
 Little Johnny, who looks like a
 small edition of his august papa in reaching nearly to his feet makes a great deal of noise in pursuit of his education. Only boys are allowed in his school because girls must stay at home to help their mothers keep the house, and the teacher has the idea that boy cannot be doing his duty by his books if he is not yelling out his lesson at the top of'his' lungs.
 Johnny Chinaman's Pen is Brush
 50 when Johnny has yelled to his satisfaction he marches up to teach er hands her his book, turns his back on her and tells the whole class everything he knows about his lesson. His 'rithmetic he learns by using a frame set with balls much like that used in the modern Amermican kin T IA.fn Ia ,,tl and he draws his hundreds of charac- ters with a small brush dipped in ink, which he makes himself by rubbing a cake of India ink in water until he gets the fluid of the right color,
 ."Though Japanese Yoski-san goes to we'll organized schools like ours in America, he has his difficulties. He must learn 47 letters in the Japanese alphabet instead of 26 in the English language. He also takes off his shoes before he enters the schoolhouse, and when the teacher comes in he must bow his head nearly down to the ground and draw in his breath. This is his way of saying good morning. and the teacher bows in response to the greeting
 Then Yoski-san sits on the floor and uses his knees as a writing desk. When 1t is time for writing lessons he makes his letters with a little brush very much like that of little Johnny Chinaman, and he writes them from the top to the bottom of the page instead of across the paper as we do. The first page of Yoski- sans book is at the back and he reads toward the front. Desert Sand is Schoolroom Floor in
 Arabia
 Tn Arabia and northern Africa the | little boys sit crosslegged on the sand | around a turbaned teacher who | pounds the earth with long stick to i make the pupils keep time as they re- cite in unison their verses from the Korean. The Korean, the religious | hook that is their Bible, is the only | textbook used, and they learn it bit | by bit and recite it together in rhyth- mic sing song, swaying their bodies in | accompaniment. Often the teacher is l l. lind, but his unfaiing ear enables | him to tell just which boy is not keep ing up with the others and to give him the benefit of stout rod
 "All the rest of the knowledge the iesert boys get they must learn at home. Their fathers must teach hem to fly kites, ride their ponies and ,hoot straight.
 Korean schools are much like hose of China and Japan. The boys it cross-legged on mats on the floor, ay their lessons out loud. and learn he sayings from great men.
 Twelve-Hour School Day in India
 Persian boys learn the Koran, too s about 9s per cent of the people, are 'Iohammedans, but modern schools ire increasing. Often one sees a class fitting on the floor of the porch of ome old building hundreds of years i'd droning lessons. About 95 per ent of the Persian women are illit- rate; it is only within recent years hat they have been allowed to attend ehools at all. Formerly they were married off at 10 or 12 years Of age.
 "The mothers of the children of ndia certainly do not have to worry with their children after they have ecome of school age, for classes be- in at six o'clock in the morning. At Inc o'clock there is an hour for reakfast and at o'clock on hour pr dinner Then the pupils go back Q school until evening. Very often hey have no desks or pencils or aper. The teachers write the letters l the sand on the floor and each boy opies the letters on the sand before i'm. There are some larger and bet er schools in India, particularly in where boys are being train