How often, when witnessing the perseverance and energy displayed in promoting education among the Greeks and Bulgarians, have I heartily wished that some more of the funds given by our philanthropists for the purposes of conversion could find their way into the educational channel, and help to stimulate its progress!
Conversing on this subject with an intelligent American missionary, settled amongst the Bulgarians, I was told that the missionaries found it hard to work upon the ignorant and prejudiced, who distrust them and do not listen willingly to their teaching. The schoolmasters, the most enlightened among the people, alone comprehend and appreciate their object. He said, “Could we help these people to help themselves through their own schools by contributing to their support, our work would prosper far better. Education, destroying prejudice and superstition, would pave the way to a simpler form of worship; and those who really wish to benefit ignorant humanity in a sensible and effective manner ought to direct their efforts towards the propagation of education, which would finally lead to the end they have in view.”
I also visited another Greek school at Salonika, which was under the direction of a Greek gentleman educated in Germany, who has designed a new educational system which, having had a fair trial, will eventually be adopted in all the educational establishments of the Greeks. The origin of this institution does not date further back than two years, and of all the schools I have visited here and elsewhere, this certainly struck me as being the best and the most perfect of its kind. The children were divided into classes, each of which was examined by the master, the result of which greatly surprised myself and some friends who were present. The director, who justly took great pride in his work, assured us that all these boys under his care (whose ages did not exceed eleven) in consequence of the quickness, facility, and ability with which they received his instructions, had learnt in one year what he had been unable to teach in double that space of time to children in Germany. He added that he was constantly called upon to answer a shower of questions and remarks made by the pupils upon the theme of the lesson, which, having explained, he allows them time and liberty to discuss the difficult points, until they had quite mastered them. On their first entrance they appear listless and uninterested, but as the love of knowledge is developed and grows upon them, they often, when school time is up, beg permission to remain an hour longer in class.
The youngest were first examined in reading. They read fluently from Homer, and translated into modern Greek from chance pages left for us to choose. While the director was dwelling on some meteorological subject, one little mite of six lifted up its finger and said, “I noticed that the sky was very cloudy yesterday, and yet it did not rain, may I explain why?” Permission was at once given, and he enlightened us on the subject. All the questions put to the senior boys in mathematics and natural science were responded to with great promptitude and with a clear knowledge of what they referred to. The dog was the subject chosen for the lesson on zoology. The answers to the questions put on the variety of the species, and the different characteristics that distinguished them, were given with an exactness that showed how well the subject had been explained and understood. Scenes from Greek mythology, orally taught, had been learnt by heart, and were well retained by the pupils, who are said to display great interest in the classic selections, which they act in an admirable manner; the piece chosen for recital in our presence was a selection from the Iphigenia in Tauris of Euripides.
In answer to our inquiries on the conduct and natural disposition of his pupils, the master said both were good, although not free from faults, which he however felt confident would in time be eradicated by proper care and attention. When they first come they are apt to be untruthful: a vice I suppose they acquire, together with other bad habits, in the streets, where they are unfortunately allowed to associate with children who have received no education. Very much pleased with all I had seen and heard in this establishment, I begged the director to let me have one of the class-books containing the routine of teaching. He replied that he had no special work on the subject to abide by, and that the routine of the lessons, left to his own judgment, had been combined by him partly from the system he had studied in Germany, and partly from ideas suggested to him by reading the philosophical works of Herbert Spencer, for which he appeared to have a great admiration.
Few subjects, I think, are more worthy of attention than the march of progress among nations which, perhaps from causes beyond their own control, have long remained stationary. I asked a Greek gentleman, a short time since, what was the difference between the present and the last generation; what were the distinguishing characteristics of each, and what the advantages of the actual over the two preceding it. He replied that the first was ignorant and despotic; fortune, rather than merit, establishing the personal influence of the individual. When this influence was due to official favoritism, it was seldom honestly acquired, and rarely beneficial to others. The fortunes, too, if made in the country, would not stand very close inspection, for the system of money-making in Turkey is of so elastic a nature that it has to be pulled many ways, drawn and quartered, before the honest capitalist can call the money his own. The ladies of the past generation, though good and matronly, had received no education, and consequently could not afford to their children the moral support that the children of the present day are beginning to enjoy. The mothers taught their daughters to be pious and honest, and instructed them in household management and needlework, giving them at the same time a very limited supply of elementary teaching; any further education, up to a recent date, was considered a superfluous accomplishment for girls. The fathers had begun to pay more attention to the education of their sons, but this education was of a peculiar character; some of these boys, when even sent to foreign colleges to complete their studies, on returning home, were allowed neither the liberty of action nor the freedom of thought that they were entitled to by their superior education.
When these studies opened no particular career to them, the youths were generally called upon to follow the father’s trade or profession in a monotonous routine often distasteful to the more spirited young men, who could not break through the restraint without rebelling against the paternal authority. This check often led to disobedience and desertion. The independent youth would seek elsewhere a calling more adapted to his taste; many of these young men, starting with no resources but their brains, have been known to realize great fortunes. The rest of them, married to wives generally chosen for them by their parents, continue to live docilely under the paternal roof, showing every mark of deference to their father’s will,—the absolute law of the house.
All that is now changed; the present generation is far more active and free-thinking. Those who have had the advantages of education are no longer the dreaded despots of their homes, but the companions of their wives and the friends of their children, who, thanks to the privileges they enjoy in this respect, find their way to a free exchange of ideas and feelings with their parents. Many openings are now afforded to youths, who are consulted on the subject, and are free to follow the career they may choose. Should this be commercial, they are no longer, as formerly, the employés of their fathers, but partners with them, sharing the responsibilities and the profits of the business.
Good principles and morality are said to have made great progress among the rising generation, which in all respects is considered by careful observers to be far superior to, and promising to wipe away some of the faults of, their ancestors in modern times. Dishonesty is one of the evils generally attributed to the Greek character. Considering the long experience I have had of this country, the close contact into which I have been brought with all degrees of the Greek community, I cannot in justice admit this to be the rule. In my dealings with tradespeople, I have never found them worse than their neighbors belonging to other nationalities, nor can I say that I have often detected dishonesty in Greek servants, whilst to their devotion and good services I owe much of the comfort of a well-served house.
The nation of the Greeks is earnestly taken up with remodelling itself through the salutary means of education; it has made great progress, and cannot fail to fit itself for the prominent part it has to play in the destinies of South-eastern Europe.