SEES RENAISSANCE IN NEAR EAST EDUCATION

"An educational Renaissance is sweeping the Near East," declared President Dodge of the American University of Beirut, at the Union last night.

"The Near East peoples now sense the value of education in training men who can build a prosperous and united Turkey," was Mr. Dodge's observation. "Consequently they are sending their children, of varied birth and training, to the universities. The ensuing polyglot of creeds and races means a real educational problem for us, but the results are marked and real."

Despite the prejudices of Harvard and Princeton men in charge, coeducation is established at Beirut. The lecturer showed the importance of this by the instance of the Moslem girl who removed her veil--for the first time in public--in chapel, and of the Jewish girl who sat at table with men of all faiths.

"The school does not proselytize in religion, but by its influence leads away from the formalism of the older generation. I once saw an old Moslem, when the muezzin sounded, try to pray to the east while riding on a tramear. The curves kept him jumping. But that mechanical, ostentatious religion is being left behind by the educated."