#19: College affairs (1908)
During the twelve years ending in 1908 with the proclamation
of the Constitution, 893 students entered the College, about
75 new students every year; the average attendance ranged
around 250; about three-fourths were usually boarders, and
fully half the twenty-eight provinces of the whole Turkish
Empire as well as several foreign countries were habitually
represented in the student body. The graduates in these 12
classes numbered 149.
On the whole our students were a very eager and responsive
company of young men with whom to work. True, their earlier
studies and culture had been limited, but that made them
the more keen to use present opportunities. True, the
material plant was of the cheapest style of construction,
but we never heard students complain because the dormitories
never had any fire, and sometimes students woke in the
morning with snow spread over their bed covering. True,
the table board was plain, but it was wholesome, nourishing,
and tasty; and I think that criticism was less common than
was common in American boarding schools. True, the Library
had only a few thousand volumes, but students hardly ever
read them all and so began to call for more. True, the
discipline was rather rigid, somewhat Puritanic, but parents
fully approved, and there were always fresh applicants for
any available places. When the leading commercial firm of
our region wanted all our graduates, Anatolia men felt at
a premium in the country.
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By this time the College had acquired sufficient momentum
and resources to do more thorough work than it had been
possible in the early years. Our work never was perfect
but I think it never was shoddy. The achievements of
graduates in American universities and after graduation
there were a creditable, even honorable, testimonial.
They were most of them "workmen needing not to be ashamed".
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