The Sidney herald., 1956-09-13

Dear Friends:
They were playing Il Love Par
is in the Springtime" and as
listened / could hardly believe
that / was in a foreign country
10000 miles from home. The
band was excellent. Their music
was mostly American and so were
the instruments. There were
drums, a trumpet player, a clari-
net, bass fiddle, violin, and an
accordion.
These thoughts ran through my
mind last night as / sat in an out
door restaurant, near the guest
house where l stay. The crowd
was dressed just as Americans
would dress and they looked like
the people / see at home every
day. I would never have thought
there could be so much similarity
if l hadn't seen it.
The restaurant is part of the
social facilities that the sugar
beet factory makes available to
its workers. 1t is located on the
factory grounds along with a
football field, tennis courts, a
nice park, and the guest house
where we are living, for the two
weeks we will be here.
This factory and the people who
work here give n a good view
of the modern side of Turkey.
1t is also an example of the in
fluence that the United States
has had in shaping this modern
side. At least one-half of the
trained technicians l have met,
who work for the factory, speak
English with fluency.
Yesterday afternoon we visited
one of Turkeys forty primary
teachers colleges. These colleges
are probably some of the most
important institutions Turkey has
because only 36% of her people
can read and write. Each year
l2OO-13O0 graduates leave these
schools to go to n of $4,000
farm villages. Nine years ago only
5000 of these villages had a pri-
mary school - today there are
only 1900 that don't
AS we drove into the campus
we saw a huge picture on the
hillside of the man whs Is cred
tied with changing Turkey from
a land of primitive and entirely
backward people into the pro-
gressive nation she is becoming.
His name is Renal Attaturk. The
Turks give him almost complete
responsibility for changing Tur-
key from rule by dictatorial sui
tans into a democracy ruled oy
the people.
Every office in Turkey almost
without exception has a picture
of Attaturk on the wall. He IS
the inspiration and symbol Of
those things for which Turkey is
working. The Turkish government
pays all the expenses of the stu
dents who are studying to be tea
cheers in exchange for a promise
to teach for a specified number
of years. When they graduate, the
national government VIII also
pay the 14O Lira $500 per month
which they will receive for their
services. These wages might seem
small to us yet each year there
are far more applicants for en-
TO the colleges than can
be accepted - because these
young people realize that educa-
ton is the first requirement for
a progressive country.
In each village we visit, one of
the first places we are shown
is the school house. They are
proud of these schools and very
often have constructed them with
their own parse funds and la
Dor rather than wait for the gov
eminent.
Seventy-five percent of the
students in the teachers colleges
come from the villages, all of
them boys.
There are also schools for girls
but almost all colleges separate
the boys from the girls.
In order to enter the college,
student must be twelve years of
age and be a graduate of five
years of primary school. He stays
Tor six years and is then ready to
be a primary teacher - provided
ne can pass the teachers exam
The school system is arranged
4 little different than in the U. S.
After the five years of primary
school, there are three years of
middle school, and three years
high school, a total of eleven
years. After graduation from high
they are prepared to en-
er the University to study fur
her. Very few village children
70 beyond primary school unless
hey become teachers. Middle
schools and high schools are
ound only in the larger towns
md are out of reach for all but
he wealthy farmers or city dwell /;
ers. ,
Our visit to the college was one 7
# the most interesting things we
done so far. We met a few ]
more of these good people and
earned a little more about a
,ountry / am fast becoming very 4
ond of. {
Best wishes to all of you. |
Sincerely yours, .
Bill Lassey-Montana IFYE. :