EDUCATION IN PALESTINE
SIR,-I have read the letter of the Rev. H. A. Smith-Masters, lately Senior R.A.F. Chaplain in the Levant, with much interest. Like him, I also visited Ben Shemen School, near Lydda, and came away deeply impressed with Dr. Lehmann and his fine work in trying to build a better understanding between Arab and Jew. He told me only a few weeks ago that the Commission did not visit his school. If they had visited it, they would haNe been forced to add a footnote to their other- wise accurate comment on " the fiery nationalism so marked in Jewish schools." Also, if they had visited the Christian schools in Haifa and Jerusalem, they would have found Jews, Arabs and other nationals learn- ing peacefully together. If, again, they had visited the British Institute in Haifa, they would have found young Jews and Arabs engaged in studies and recreation in an atmosphere of complete friendliness. But the broad fact iemains that in both Jewish t-nd Arab schools, as the Peel Report emphasised, nationalist propaganda is lamentably evident. A heavy weight of responsibility rests on successive Colonial Secretaries for not attending to this and other grave omissions in the field of educa- tion. Now that two Commissions have drawn attention to the facts, it is :o be hoped that action will follow. Nor is it enough to condemn. In some of the Jewish settlement schools, in spite of " the fiery nationalism," there is experimental work going on which in my opinion is unequalled in the world. The time is over-ripe for an exchange of the best experience between British and Palestinian educationists.—
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