Dr. Constantine Zurayk, Vice-President of the American University of Beirut, previously occupied a number of high posts, the most important of which were President of the Syrian University in Damascus and Chargé d'Affaires of the Syrian Legation in Washington.

Beyond this, we are entitled to call Dr. Constantine Zurayk the foremost leader of Arab youth, who regard him with profound respect and esteem... It pleases us that he answers here a series of questions on the

problems of our rising youth.

Q — There is confusion in the minds of the popular circles about the meaning of "the Arab cause," and people differ in understanding it, and even in practicing it. Would you define your own conception of this cause, as one of its advocates?

A — The Arab cause has two conceptions: one is narrow and confined to the political side of Arab life alone; the second is broad and takes in Arab life in its various aspects.

In the first conception, the Arab cause is the cause of the liberation of the Arab peoples from colonialism, domination, or the influence of foreigners. Yet this liberation from outside rule is not enough by itself, if it is not accompanied by an inner liberation from feu-dalism, clannishness, and sectarian fanaticism, and if a national society is not created, furnished with economic and social factors that support it and set it upon a sound foundation. The Arab cause in the broad, true sense is the cause of the liberation of the Arab peoples, inwardly and outwardly, permitting them to build a flourishing, progressive society and to establish a secular state that assures justice and equality, and opens to the capacities of individuals and groups the field of growth and fruition.

Q — National orientation in Lebanon is meager and scattered in its tendencies, unlike what it is in the sister Arab countries. What do you propose to fill this gap?

A — National orientation in Lebanon will remain weak so long as the thinking that dominates many of its rulers and leaders is not the building of a state but the service of a sect, a clan, or a party. The basic condition for strengthening national orientation is that there spread among all the belief and the faith that the state, whose building is to be hoped for, is broader, more important, and worthier of service than any institution or organization, and that national loyalty stands above every other loyalty. There is no doubt that the school plays a great part in fostering this loyalty, and the most important element in the school is the teacher. The state can serve the cause of orientation by rearing good teachers who believe in the cause of their homeland and are able to instill true loyalty in the souls of the rising generation.

The government has so far followed the policy of attempting to unify the people by unifying the curricula; but curricula alone do not achieve the desired end, especially when they are looked upon, as they are looked upon now, as a body of information to be dictated and memorized. The soul of the pupil, his inclinations and his leanings, do not concern those in charge of our government and private schools so much as the information the pupil absorbs. And so long as we

look upon instruction as dictation, and not as teaching in the true sense, nor as education, our