How delighted I am whenever I see a new book published for children, or a party held especially for them, or whenever I see anything that touches the affairs of our little ones and the question of their upbringing and training — and that is only because the child among us receives no attention worth mentioning; in people's eyes he is something quite ordinary, deserving of no great attention or care. And how I grieve when I see our children, the men of the future, deprived of every care except the care of food and clothing — and that only if this care is even adequate and in keeping with the requirements of the child's health and upbringing. How many parties, lectures, plays, excursions, and outings are organized constantly and continuously to educate grown-ups, to amuse them and divert them — as if society were made up of grown-ups alone, and as if children were neglected objects whose time for exploitation had not yet come. This points to the commercial mentality that reigns over our society.

What many among us have not yet grasped is that the child is a human creature like ourselves, still in the first stages of his growth; and if we grown-ups need what will amuse us and nourish our bodies, minds, and senses, the child feels the very same — indeed he is in greater need than we are of whatever nourishes him and helps him grow in body, mind, and spirit.

I do not blame parents for falling short in performing their duties toward their children, because most of them do not know what the child needs for his growth to be full and complete; but I hold

that our Ministry of Education is responsible for the chaos and confusion in which the condition of our children flounders. Specialization in the rearing and teaching of children is scarcely to be found among us, and all attention is directed toward the secondary schools and higher education, while the upbringing of children is left to schoolmasters and schoolmistresses who, if they are not utterly unfit for education, are for the most part completely ignorant of the ways of handling a child and the methods of guiding him.

The child among us is in the direst need of specialists to look after his affairs, just as he needs respect, esteem, and sacrifice. I am pleased to point out that this deficiency in the upbringing of our children has begun to find some attention in certain educational and guidance institutions: thus Radio Lebanon

has set aside in its programs a quarter of an hour each week for children. It is a step, no doubt; but fifteen minutes a week is a very short span compared with what our children need of such programs, to which they listen with eagerness and longing, and compared also with what the broadcasting stations of the various countries devote to children in their programs. I recall, by way of example, that the broadcasting stations in America devote half an hour of their programs every day to children. Nor has this short period which the broadcasting station has set aside for children been without effect; on the contrary, it has brought joy into the hearts of our children, who have come to await the hour of their broadcast with the greatest impatience. I myself had occasion to touch the children's intense eagerness for their radio program when the broadcasting station asked me to take part in preparing this program and presenting it to the children over the air. In one of the sessions I organized for them a contest suited to their ages and delightful to them, which I called "Observing the Weather in the Month of February." I asked them to record