Part 228

_J. R. Parsons, Jr., Prussian Schools through American eyes, chapter 1, sections 15-17._

"Throughout Prussia there is now one school-room and one teacher to 446 inhabitants and 78.8 children actually attending school. This shows that there are far too few teachers. But the government and the cities have recently devoted considerable sums to the establishment of new places for teachers, so that, in the year 1881, there were 10,000 more teachers working in the public schools than in 1873. The salaries of the teachers were also raised. The average payment in the country is 954 marks, in the cities 1,430 marks. … The expense of maintaining the Prussian national schools amounts annually to about 102,000,000 of marks, 43,000,000 of which are paid by the cities. One hundred and ten colleges for the training of teachers are now engaged in the education of male and female instructors, with an attendance of 9,892 pupils; that is, there is one pupil to every 2,758 inhabitants. In the case of the female teachers only, a considerable degree of assistance is rendered by private institutions. … The intermediary schools established in 1872, and recently converted into the higher citizen schools, form a transition from the national schools to the higher schools. These teach religion, German, French, English, history and geography, arithmetic and mathematics, natural history and physics, writing, drawing, singing, and gymnastics. The course embraces six years without Latin, with the privilege of one year's service in the army instead of three. Complementary to the national school is the finishing school. There are a large number in Prussia, namely, 1,261 with 68,766 pupils: 617 with 10,395 in the country, and 644 with 58,371 in the cities. Of these 644,342 are obligatory by local statutes, 302 are optional. Since the law of 1878 special care has been devoted to the compulsory education of orphaned children. … The preparatory instruction of female teachers leaves much to be desired."

_F. Kirchner, Contemporary Educational Thought in Prussia (Educational Review, May, 1891)._

"About 25 per cent. of all the teachers in public middle schools are women, hence … women hold positions in these schools more frequently than in the lower, the purely elementary, schools of the kingdom. The greatest ratio of women teachers in Prussia is found in private middle schools, where 2,422 of 3,126 (or nearly 80 percent.) are women. … In all the public schools of Prussia (elementary, middle, and secondary) only 10,600 women teachers were employed [1887], or 14¼ per cent. of all the teachers in the kingdom. … Before the public schools of the kingdom had the care and close supervision on the part of the state which they have now, many more private schools were in existence than at present. During the last 25 years the private schools have not increased in numbers, but perceptibly decreased."

_United States Commissioner of Education, Report, 1889-90, pages 287-289._

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EDUCATION: Russia.

"After serfdom had been abolished, the Emperor Alexander II. saw that the indispensable consequence of this great reform must be a thorough reorganization of public instruction. In 1861 a committee was appointed to draw up the plan of a law. In 1862 M. Taneef submitted to the Emperor a 'General plan for the organization of popular education,' which contained some very excellent points. The result was the General Regulations of 1864, which are still in force. … The difficulties which a complete reorganization of popular education meets in Russia are enormous. They are principally caused by the manner in which the inhabitants live, scattered over a large extent of country, and by their extreme poverty. … The density of population is so small that there are only 13.6 inhabitants to one square kilometer (2.6 square kilometers to 1 square mile), instead of 69 as in France. Under these circumstances only the children from the center hamlet and those living-nearest to it could attend school regularly, especially during the winter-months. The remainder of the inhabitants would pay their dues without having any benefit, which would necessarily foster discontent. As Prince Gagarin says, 'It has, therefore, not been possible to make education in Russia compulsory, as in Germany, nor even to enforce the establishment of a school in each community.' It is doubtless impossible at present to introduce into Russia the educational systems of the western countries."

_E. de Laveleye, Progress of Education in Russia (United States Bureau of Education, Circulars of Information, 1875, number 3), pages 31-32._

EDUCATION: Scotland.

"The existing system of education in Scotland is an outcome of causes deeply involved in the political and religious history of the country. … This system was preceded by a complicated variety of educational agencies, of which the chief were parish schools, founded upon a statute of 1646, which was revived and made operative in 1696. Parish and burgh schools, supported by local funds and by tuition fees, made up the public provision for education. In addition there were schools partly maintained by parliamentary grants, mission and sessional schools maintained by the Established Church and the Free Church, and other parochial and private schools. Parish and burgh schools carried instruction to the level of the universities, which were easily accessible to all classes. The date of the passage of the 'Scotch Education Act' (1872) was opportune for the organization of these various agencies into a system maintained by the combined action of the Government and local authorities. In framing the Scotch act care was taken, as in framing the English act two years before, to guard the rights of the Government with respect to funds appropriated from the public treasury. At the same time equal care was shown for the preservation of the Scotch ideal. This was a broad and comprehensive ideal, embracing the different grades of scholastic work. … This ideal differentiates the Scotch act from the English act passed two years before. The latter related to elementary schools exclusively; the former has a wider scope, providing the foundations of a system of graded schools correlated to the universities which lie beyond its province. With respect to the interests of the Government, the two acts are substantially the same. … For the general direction of the system a Scotch educational department was created, composed, like the English department, of lords of the privy council, and having the same president. … The act ordered every parent to secure the instruction of his children between the ages of 5 and 13, or until a certificate of exemption should be secured. Parents failing in this obligation are subject to prosecution and penalty by fine or imprisonment. The compulsory provision extends to blind children. Parochial or burghal authorities were authorized to pay the tuition fees of those children whose parents could not meet the expenditure, a provision rendered unnecessary by the recent remission of all fees. The Scotch act, by a sweeping clause, made compulsory attendance universal; the English act left the matter of compulsion to local managers. A subsequent act (1878) fixed the standard of exemption in Scotland at the fifth [grade, or year of study], which pupils should pass at 11 years of age. In 1883, the upper limit of compulsory attendance in Scotland was raised to 14 years. … The universities of Scotland have been more intimately related to the life of the common people than those of any other country. In this respect, even more if possible than in their constitution, they present a marked contrast to the English universities. To their democratic spirit may be traced many of the characteristics which differentiate the Scotch people and policies from those of England. To their widespread influence, to the ambitions which they awakened, and the opportunities which they brought within the reach of the whole body of Scottish youth is due, in large measure, the independent and honorable part that Scotland has played in the history of the United Kingdom. This popular character of the universities has been fostered by the curriculum of the common schools, by the easy passage from the schools to the higher institutions; by the inexpensive mode of student life in the university towns, and by the great number of scholarship funds available for the poor. These conditions, however, have not been without their disadvantages. Of these, the chief are the low entrance standards and the consequent forcing of preparatory instruction upon the university professors. … As a result of long-continued efforts a Scotch universities act was passed in 1889. This act provided for the reorganization of the four universities; for the elevation of their standards; the enrichment of their curricula, and the increase of their resources. … The Scotch universities have taken part in the popular movements of the last decade. They maintain local examinations for secondary schools and students. St. Andrews has been particularly active in promoting the higher education of women, having instituted the special degree of L. L. A. (lady literate in arts). Edinburgh also grants a certificate in arts to women. Aberdeen has recently appointed a lecturer on education, following thus the precedent set by Edinburgh and St. Andrews. The four universities are united in a scheme of university extension."

_United States Commissioner of Education, Report, 1889-90, volume 1, pages 188-207._

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EDUCATION: Sweden.

"Sweden has two ancient and famous universities—Upsala and Lund. That of Lund is in the south part of the kingdom, and when founded was on Danish territory. The income from its estates is about 176,000 rix-dollars ($46,315) per annum. It also receives yearly aid from the state. In 1867 it had 75 professors and tutors, and 400 students. Upsala is the larger university, located at the old town of that name—the ancient capital of Sweden—an hour and a half by rail north of Stockholm. It has 100 professors and tutors, and 1,449 students, an increase of 131 over the year 1869. … This university had its beginning as an institution of learning as far back as 1250. In 1438 it had one academic professorship, and was dedicated as an university in 1477. Its principal endowment was by Gustavus Adolphus in 1624, when he donated to it all of the estate in lands that he possessed, amounting in all to 300 farms."

_C. C. Andrews, Report on the Educational System of Sweden (United States Bureau of Education, Circulars of Information, July, 1871)._

EDUCATION: Switzerland.

"The influence of the Reformation, and, in the following age, of the Jesuit reaction, gave to Switzerland, as to Germany, its original and fundamental means and agencies of national education, and impressed also upon the population a habit of dutiful regard for schools and learning. It was not, however, till forty years ago that the modern education of Switzerland was organized. 'The great development of public education in Switzerland,' to quote Mr. Kay, 'dates from 1832, after the overthrow of the old oligarchical forms of cantonal government and the establishment of the present democratic forms.' Zürich, Lausanne, and Geneva take the lead in Switzerland as centres of educational influence. The canton in which the work of educational reform began was Zürich. … The instrument of the reform, rather the revolution, was Scherr, a trained school-teacher from Würtemberg, a teacher, in particular, of deaf mutes to speak articulately. This man initiated in Zürich the new scheme and work of education, and founded the first Training College. He was looked upon by the oligarchs, partly feudalists, and partly manufacturers, as a dangerous revolutionist, and was exiled from Zürich. But now a monument to his memory adorns the city. The work which he began could not be suppressed or arrested. Zürich has ever since taken the lead in education among the cantons of Switzerland. Derived originally from Germany, the system is substantially identical with that of Germany. … The principles and methods are substantially alike throughout. There are, first, the communal schools—these of course in largest number—one to every village, even for every small hamlet, provided and maintained, wholly or chiefly, by the commune; there are burgher schools in towns, including elementary, real, and superior schools, supported by the towns; there are cantonal schools—gymnasia and industrial or technical schools—supported by the State, that is, by the canton. There is often a Cantonal University. There is of course a Cantonal Training School or College, and there are institutes of various kinds. The Cantonal Universities, however, are on a small and economical scale; as yet there is no Federal University. School life in Switzerland is very long, from six to fourteen or fifteen, and for all who are to follow a profession, from fifteen to twenty-two."

_J. H. Rigg, National Education, chapter 4._

EDUCATION: Modern: Asiatic Countries. China.