Atatürk, Kemal, 1881-1938; Turkey -- Description and travel; Turkey -- Politics and government -- 1918-1960
The girls recited patriotic poems for my benefit which sounded very
beautiful to the foreign ear. It is, I suppose, the sequence of even and
uneven syllables which produce this musical effect. They were taught,
apparently, in all subjects to stand up and answer questions in a short
speech: surely an admirable training, likely to ensure their knowing how
to use the language in writing and speaking with far more correctness,
elegance, and effect than most of our young people ever attempt.
I peeped into the dormitories, which, like the class-rooms, seemed in
excellent order. Coffee and tea were laid out for us in the
recreation-room; and before we left the head-girl expressed their
pleasure and thanks in what was—evidently—a neat and charming little
speech.
I felt, however, that, like the headmistress of Broussa College, my
hostess no doubt regretted that there were now neither Greeks nor
Armenians at the school. There had been no more difficulty in the
class-rooms than elsewhere through life, as to maintaining perfect
harmony between Moslem and Christian. I was told that, though the latter
were generally supposed to be the cleverer, Turkish girls were, in a
way, more keen and quick to learn. They had, at any rate, a quite
friendly desire not to be beaten, and now they miss the valuable
competition.
In olden days, though women even attained to fame in politics and
literature, the general standard for education was elementary, and no
public provision for it had been made.
Primary schools were started about sixty years ago; secondary and
professional schools soon followed. There are now girls’ schools
wherever one for boys has been established; in most towns also a Lycée
for Girls, and Normal Colleges in many counties of Asia Minor. There is
a Training College at Constantinople, from which the senior students
also attend lectures at the Women’s University, which shares
laboratories and lectures—in science and medicine—with the University
for men. I suspect, sometimes, Mustapha Kemal Pasha may introduce
co-education throughout!
* * * * *
So much interesting literature has been produced by the Nationalist
movement, that one must hope Professor E. G. Browne may, one day, pursue
his splendid defence of Turkey by giving us extensive extracts from
these writers in English. The greatest of all our living scholars in
Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, he has devoted his whole life to the
fascinating subject; and Prince Samad Khan has told me that he lectures
in Persian without the trace of an accent.
Graciously writing a Preface to my “Englishwoman in a Turkish Harem,” he
said that as “a friend and admirer of the Turks, as well as a student of
their language and literature, it is always a satisfaction to me to find
a fresh opportunity of testifying to my belief in the virtues of this
much-maligned and ill-used race.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account