EDUCATION AS A SOURCE OF GOOD WILL
BY BAYARD DODGE
BEFORE the dawn of history, when men lived as herds of animals, human life was dependent upon selfish loyalties to tribal leaders, who were able to offer protection. Blood relationship with the tribal deity, and with the fighting men of the group, was the only guarantee of safety from hostile attack.
Everybody outside of the tribe was a likely enemy, so that the greatest social sin was intrigue with strangers or worship of foreign gods. Although centuries of social evolution have lifted men out of this primitive state, there still survives the old instinct to guard against foreign influences and the great war has been followed by an epidemic of nationalism.
Through the long march of history, education has been used as the handmaid of nearly every national and emotional movement. Ancient Sparta and Persia trained their youth for military service by a system of state schools. The mystery religions used graded series of initiations as means of producing loyalty in their neophytes. Schools have been the source of the strength of the Christian Church. Catholic orders have been leaders in educational work and Protestant missions have followed their example. The success of the Prussian system was the classic example of how a state could mould its population by means of education.
“The boy is father of the man,” so that the child schooled to love a certain cause and to mistrust other influences is sure to have an artificial point of view.
The word “university” implies something broader than the use of education to nurture a specific influence or propaganda. It suggests an effort to set forth the ideas of the world as a whole, so that a student may seek the truth through broad horizons and be free to choose for himself. It is this conception that underlies the work of the American University of Beirut. An effort is made to prevent all forms of propaganda, except for a consistent pressure to promote good will and friendship.
During the past year there have been representatives of fourteen nationalities and twelve major religious sects on the teaching and administrative force of the University. No real distinction is made between men of different nationalities salary, academic standing, or administrative responsibility. Such matters are determined for personal reasons.
In nearly every department there is an oriental working with an occidental, and the senior man takes precedence over the other. The Acting Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and the Principal of the big preparatory school are both Lebanese; the man in charge of the Freshman Class is a Palestinian; the Director of the School of Pharmacy and the Superintendent of Grounds and Buildings are both Greeks; the Director of the Institute of Music is a Russian Jew; the Superintendent of the Hospital is from Nova Scotia; the Curator of the Archaeological Museum is a Dane, the head accountant is a Pole, and there are also numerous French and Americans in administrative positions.
During the year 1930-1931 there have been 812 students in the University proper, 33 in the Institute of Music, and 697 the elementary and secondary classes of the Preparatory School. These students represented twenty-two important religious sects and thirty-nine countries. They have come from places as far apart as India and the Argentine; Russia and Zanzibar.
When they enter the campus of the University, they share the same dormitories and class rooms; they eat their meals together
Bayard Dodge, President American University of Beirut, Syria.
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and
play on the same teams; they
take part in student societies and meet
together to discuss problems of religion. The
sons of ruling amirs, shaykhs
and páshás live on equality with
orphans from refugee
camps, the sons of peasants, and children
of the artisan class. During their college
years the students belong to a miniature
world, which transcends differences of color,
caste, sect, and nationality.
When men and women are so broad minded that they cast away all bigotry and learn to understand each other, they face a very serious danger. They lose that warmth of emotionalism, which accompanies propaganda and movements of a narrow type. A man bereft of warmth has nothing to spur him on to make sacrifices, to resist temptations, and to endure hardships. In the ancient Roman and Byzantine periods, people became so eclectic, that they sank into materialism and effeminacy. No wonder that first the Christians and then the Muslims, on fire with the consciousness of God-given truth, gained control over the lukewarm people around them and proclaimed their creeds from the thrones of kings.
At the American University of Beirut an experiment is going on, to keep alive spiritual warmth in the midst of an atmosphere, which is both eclectic and scientific. As religion apart from organization lacks social force, students are encouraged to attend the feasts and services of their own sects off campus. Sectarian meetings are not held on the campus itself.
There is a student brotherhood, which encourages social service, religious discussion, and devotional meetings for teachers and students of all sects alike. The motto is: “The realm in which we share is vastly larger than the realm in which we differ.” There are also chapel services, which students attend in large numbers, although they are free to go to alternative meetings, dissociated from religious content. The chapel hymn book has been prepared to avoid hymns that give offense; the prayers are worded so as to include persons of all sects, and the addresses are free from attacks of a sectarian nature.
Political discussion and party politics are also ruled off the campus. The attempt is made to base spiritual warmth and national loyalty on faith in a common God and service to a brotherhood of mankind, rather than upon sectarian and partisan platforms. This attempt is made definite by interesting students in particular projects for social service, by encouraging them to worship the one God in unison, and by causing them to feel that worship in its truest sense is not by rite or by ceremony, but rather by pure, upright living and usefulness to the community.
As the University at the foot of Lebanon has given an interpretation of the gospel of Jesus and the teachings of the prophets which is similar to that proclaimed by the great Bahá’í leaders at the foot of Carmel, there has naturally been a bond of sympathy between the colony at Haifa and the American University of Beirut.
During the past year there have been three Bahá’ís on the staff of the University and twenty-six enrolled as students. The following is a list of the Bahá’ís, who have graduated and become a great credit to their Alma Mater:
Ḥusayn Afnán—in charge of ‘Iráq Legation, London.
Dr. Ḥabíb Mu’ayyad—Kirmánsháh, Persia.
Dr. Qásim Ghaní—Mashhad, Persia.
‘Azízulláh Bahádur—Lawyer in Shiráz, Persia.
Shoghi Effendi Rabbání—Haifa.
‘Abdu’l-Ḥusayn Dihqán—Electric Company, Shiráz, Persia.
‘Ali-Muhammad Dihqán—Electric Company, Shiráz, Persia.
Kamal Báqiroff—Grand Hotel, Ṭihrán, Persia.
‘Alí Yazdí—California.
Mírzá Badí‘ Bushrú’i—Governor of Nazareth District.
Dr. Afláṭún Mírzá—Baghdád, ‘Iráq.
‘Abbás ‘Iqbál—American University of Beirut.
Tawfíq Yazdí—Governor of Nablus District, Palestine.
Dr. ‘Abdu’l-‘Alí Músá—Kirmánsháh, Persia.
Ruḥí Afnán—Haifa.
Suhayl Afnán—Haifa.
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‘Alí Ruḥí—Teacher at Salt, Trans-Jordan.
‘Alí Parvíz—Teacher at Jerusalem.
Dr. Fayḍí Afnán—Baṣrih, ‘Iráq.
Isḥáq Iqbál—American University of Beirut.
Zayn Núri’d-Din Zayn—American University of Beirut.
Ḥasán Afnán—'Iráq Petroleum Co., Karuk.
‘Abdu’l-Ḥusayn Iṣfáhání — Teacher in Egypt. (Deceased.)
Dr. Dhabiḥu’llah Qurbán—Shiráz, Persia.
Dr. Manúchihr Faraḥmand — Hamadán, Persia.
Ḥasán Bályúzi—Studying for M.A. degree.
Miss Qudsíyyih Ashraf—Nurse and midwife, Ṭihrán, Persia.
Miss Kayhán Qurbán—Nurse and midwife, Ábádih, Persia.
This list does not include many Bahá’ís, who have spent a number of years at the University, but have failed to graduate. Some of these former students are filling positions almost as useful as those which are being filled by the graduates.
When Shoghi Effendi was a student he took an active part in the social and religious life of the University, as well as in the intellectual work. Ever since his graduation he has formed a very delightful link between the Bahá’í movement and the work at Beirut, as he has taken a personal interest in many students and responded freely, when his advice has been called for.
Shoghi Effendi has also helped to select candidates to receive the scholarships, which have generously been given by a Bahá’í lady in America. One scholarship has been permanently endowed and other grants have been given to a Bahá’í girl and a number of men.
The Bahá’ís have been distinguished at Beirut for at least three qualities. In the first place, they have acquired from their parents an enviable refinement and courtesy. As far as I can tell, all of them have been easy to get along with, good natured with their friends, and polite to their teachers. Their reputation for good manners and breeding is well established.
In the second place, the Bahá’í students have been marked by clean living and honesty. The older men have had a good influence on the younger ones, so that it is a tradition that they avoid bad habits. Every Sunday afternoon they meet together for devotional and social purposes at the house of Adíb Ḥusayn Effendi ‘Iqbál. The older students are able to keep in touch with what the younger ones are doing and their influence is worth as much as a whole faculty of teachers.
In the third place, the Bahá’ís intuitively understand internationalism. They mix with all sorts of companions without prejudice and help to develop a spirit of fraternity on the campus. They carry this same neutrality into active life and it is largely because of their freedom from partisanship that several Bahá’ís have been entrusted with great responsibility in Palestine.
The whole world is suffering from traces of savagery and mediaevalism, which persist from age to age. Debts for past wars, fear of wars at the present time, and preparation for future wars devour the taxes we pay. National ambitions form economic barriers, which discourage trade and increase poverty. Religious fanaticism and class differences make for trouble in even the most contented communities. Men and women seem unable to learn that they will profit equally, if they give up selfish prejudices and mutually trust each other.
Centuries ago shepherds, who were watching their flocks in the fields of Bethlehem, heard heavenly voices singing of “Good will to all mankind.” Today this same song is being chorused from Carmel and Beirut. May the whole world catch the spirit of the music, that harmony may take the place of discord and enmity be turned to peace.
