Page 13 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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The Basrah School for Boys

Mr. Theodore Essebaggers

HEN a certain young sheikh was asked to put more exprcv
sion into that part of the story telling about the great reward
WDick Whittington had received for the sale of his cat, ht
replied, .“Why should I? I did not receive the money 1” He
little realized how truly he reflected the attitude of his fellow countrymen ■
when he thus spoke. That spirit of unwillingness to exert oneself with*/
out visible remuneration strikes deep at the roots of our efforts to gg
results from the boys we have in school, and also explains Iraq's lo*
rate of progress. The Arab refuses to learn co-operation because he sea

“SCHOOL OF HIGH HOPE," BASRAH

no immediate return. He strives little for moral integrity for he does^ '
know its value. He lives from day to day with no thought of the futurt,
This attitude necessarily enters into the difficulties confronting the arf.
ministration of the school. These difficulties constitute problems Ur -j
more difficult to solve than the ordinary problems of educational work*
home. A boy spends six hours a day at school but those six hours 4
not constitute a problem. The eighteen hours he is not at school co*
stitute the problem. When he leaves the school grounds he drops katfc
into a home environment above which his six hours at school arc moti*
tain peaks. We cannot keep in touch with him when he leaves the schorf ;
ground. So our task consists in reducing the time at home by increase ;
the time at school. Thus we strive to make the playground a center is.
which the boys love to come—a "hang-out” where they naturally p,* i
tate Sports, literary societies, a library, a gramaphone, and an alwjjvJ
open boarding school prove the attractions which meet a hearty respoi*|
from most of the boys.