Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

often the case in small communities. In order to attain this end a petition has been drawn up demanding the introduction of a common six-class lower school for all kinds of schools, thus directly opposing the resolutions arrived at last December by the school reform conference. (Allg. D. Lztg.)

During the summer of 1889 the gymnasia (classical high schools) in the Prussian province of Silesia had 51 per cent Protestants, 34 per cent Catholics, 0.2 per cent other Christians, and 14.8 per cent Israelite pupils. The realgymnasia (modern high schools) had 64.4 per cent Protestant, 22.7 per cent Catholic, 0.2 per cent other Christians, and 12.7 per cent Israelite pupils. In the citizens' schools (middle schools without Latin) the number of Protestants was 71 per cent, that of the Catholics 13.6 per cent, that of other Christians 0.7 per cent, and that of Israelites 14.7 per cent. Or, taking all these high schools together, the number of Protestants was 56.5 per cent, that of the Catholics 22.8 per cent, that of other Christians 0.2 per cent, and that of Israelites 14.5 per cent. (Allg. D. Lztg.) In Germany parents are obliged to determine early whether their sons are to pursue higher studies or whether they are to limit their education to the elementary branches, for the high school has its own "feeder” (elementary classes), and rarely takes its pupils from the public elementary school. Moreover, the parents must determine before the boys have reached their eleventh year whether they are to pursue a course which will land them at the gate of the university or of a polytechnical or other professional school. Once fairly started in their career, there is no return possible, except at the sacrifice of some years which they must waste in order to "adjust themselves" to the different conditions, should they or their parents determine upon a change. This inflexibility is the reason why in Germany so many "miss their natural calling." It is the effect of conditions arising from the differentiation in society. An aristocracy of birth, education, or wealth seems a necessity es long as a monarchical form of government is maintained. A monarch must needs have a pedestal, which is found in an ascending scale of society. Hence there is in Europe no such exponent of modern civilization as our common school, which is the most powerful leveler of social inequalities yet devised. While it lifts the lower strata of society, it also drags downward those standing on an elevation; and it is quite immaterial whether this elevation be a money bag, or a pedestal of culture, or a genealogical tree. (Z. R. K. in the Teacher.) Dr. Viereck, of Berlin, maintains that the educated proletariat is due to the excessive privileges granted to the gymnasiums. He says, "The conclusion is irresistible that the root of the evil is to be found in our scholastic system, which treats the secondary school merely as a step in preparation for the university. The development of political and commercial conditions has had an unmistakable influence in greatly increasing the number of students preparing for a professional career. The force of competition has brought about a more efficient mental training among men of business; for those possessing it are able to succeed where those without it fail. All these influences have worked together to send more students than ever before to the secondary schools. And here lies the difficulty. The students, as a rule, do not select the kind of secondary schools best suited to their wants, but the gymnasium, because of the marked privileges conferred by law upon its graduates. As a result every profession is overcrowded, and thousands of highly educated young men are unable to earn a decent living.

It has finally been decided that the graduates of the Oberrealschulen of Prussia are to be admitted to the university study of mathematics, natural science, architecture, engineering, mining, and forestry, with the prospect of obtaining posts as teachers. Moreover, they are qualified as candidates for posts in the telegraph and postal service and naval architecture and machinery. Realgymnasia receive the same privileges. The final certificate from the Bürgerschulen will qualify for admission into all civil-service posts, instead of only for the lower legal posts. The right to the one-year military service will be so arranged that for the pupils of the nine-year as well as for the seven-year institutions the privilege is discontinued of obtaining the right through mere promotion into the Obersecunda without examination. In the future an examination conducted by a commissioner of the government will be held at the end of a six years' course, and the certificate for the one year's service will depend on this examination. (Lond. Ed. Times).

SECULAR SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Germany.-Sunday schools (nonreligious) are found all over Germany (notably in Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and Würtemburg), Austria, and Switzerland. Their purpose is either (1) to give pupils who have left the elementary school an ad

vanced grade of elementary instruction; also, in certain cases, to mend that which was neglected by absence from day schools, in cases of sickness, or otherwise; or (2) to offer technical instruction ad hoc, that is, for special purposes, such as preparation for trades, agricultural, horticultural, and commercial pursuits, domestic economy (for girls). The character of these schools varies in accordance with the varying industrial and economic conditions of the towns. While in the Erzgebirge, in Saxony, straw-weaving and metal work are taught, in Switzerland it is clockmaking and designing, while in Dresden and Leipsic, again, schools of languages for hotel waiters, and in Berlin commercial Sunday schools are established.

Both kinds of schools are called "fortbildungs-schulen" (continuation schools), really postgraduate courses of the "volks-schule." They are partly evening schools, partly Sunday schools. The statistical sources at hand fail to show how many of these schools are open on Sunday. Bits of information, however, may be welcome.

Prussia.-The Handwerker-schule in Berlin had 16 Sunday classes in 1884. The industrial art schools (schools of design) in Rhenish Prussia and other provinces are all open on Sunday from 8 a. m. till noon, as I know from personal inspection. Gewerbe-museums (museums of industrial art). Also fine art museums are open on Sunday.

Saxony.—This is the only country from which exact, though meager, data are at hand, to wit: Trade schools open on Sunday, 13 out of 65. Those not open on Sunday for regular instruction have occasional lectures on Sunday. Technical continuation schools open on Sunday, 22 out of 28. Agricultural schools ditto, 2 out of 9. Commercial schools ditto, 1 out of 32. Many private Sunday schools not accounted for. While these may not be considered formidable numbers, it must be understood that the elementary continuation schools (postgraduate courses) are not enumerated because they belong to the regular day-school system and have the same teachers who teach in day schools.

Austria (Cisleithania) had in 1889 122,968 pupils and 8,678 teachers in technical, trade, professional, and other special schools, but the official reports fail to state which are open on Sunday. As a matter of fact I know that many utilize the Sunday morning either for regular instruction or for lectures.

Würtemberg.—The 173 continuation schools in Württemberg had in 1890 12,271 pupils in arithmetic, 8,459 pupils in language and composition, 2,935 pupils in bookkeeping, 2,921 pupils in calligraphy, 10,705 pupils in freehand drawing, 4,531 pupils in geometrical drawing, 6,346 pupils in technical drawing; namely, 1,627 woodwork, 857 metal work, 3,410 various trades, 326 industrial art, 126 lettering. A great number of these are apprentices and study on Sunday. The city of Stuttgart alone has a Sunday technical school, with 27 teachers and 334 pupils (1890).

Hungary.-(Transleithania) had in 1889 62,220 pupils and 2,419 teachers in similar schools. Same remark regarding Sunday.

Switzerland.-Here the continuation schools and courses are attended by 34,817 pupils, partly regular Army recruits. Time not stated, but it is will known in Europe that Switzerland is famous for its secular Sunday schools, being a poor country.

Since most of the technical and elementary continuation schools (both evening and Sunday schools) are supported by societies, trades unions, and only rarely subsidized by the state, centralized official statements as to their attendance and course of study are wanting. (L. R. K.)

23.-SPECIAL SCHOOLS.

Switzerland.-The Royal University at Geneva is to open a school for practical training of travelers, giving instruction in geography, geology, botany, geodesy, and other subjects required to fit them to make scientific observations and intelligently form collections of natural objects in distant lands. Similar work was undertaken some years ago by the Royal Geographical Society of London and the Berlin Geographical Society, and arrangements are also provided in Paris for giving such instruction.

Germany.-A number of the professors in the technical universities in Prussia have published a counter declaration to the one issued on December 1, 1890, that the course of study in a gymnasium or classical high school was not a fitting preparation for the studies of a technical university. The supporters of the counter declaration are of the opinion that the Realschulen do not fit the pupils any better than the gymnasia for the technical schools, and that when certain

defects are removed both kinds of schools will be on a level. Among the supporters of this declaration are Profs. Müller, Jürgens, Damert, and Lüders, in Aachen; Jacobsthal, Dobbert, Schäfer, Hauck, and Wintergarten, in Berlin; Hase, Köhler, Stier, and Backhausen, in Hanover.

Industrial Schools in Europe.-In almost all of the manufacturing towns of Europe during the last half century schools have been opened for apprentices in the industrial arts. In Russia there are no less than 1,200 of these schools with 20,000 pupils. Among justly celebrated preparatory schools are found the Ambats school at Amsterdam, the technical school of Birmingham, Heriot's Hospital of Edinburg, and the St. Luc schools of Belgium. All agree that industrial education can only be really given in a workshop where teachers will be able to instruct pupils by means of practical demonstration and by sketches of design. At Birmingham and Edinburg pupils are admitted to technical schools, which are considered merely as a sort of primary industrial school, where very fine chemical and physical laboratories are at their disposal and in which they acquire a certain practice in preparation for industrial work. The general result is that at the end of their studies the pupils are engaged by industrial superintendents as future apprentices.

In Ireland there is another kind of preparatory schools, to which are admitted only children who have lost both parents, and who are destined for domestic or rural professions. They here receive primary instruction, some knowledge of science and of art, and a sufficiently complete manual training. These institutions combine the two characters of schools and asylums. Beside the primary schools there is a superior kind called industrial and technical. These exist for the object of giving to apprentices and workmen some knowledge of science and art, which will increase the financial value of their work. This is the complete theory and practice of the industrial workshop. Belgium has founded 36 industrial schools, in which are given every evening and on Sundays the elements of a scientific and artistic knowledge corresponding to the profession of those who frequent them. The number attending exceeds 25,000.

In both England and Belgium the number of pupils in proportion to the population is about the same; that is, 4.2 for each 1,000. But instruction in the United Kingdom is better than anywhere else; it has a more scientific and practical character on account of the well-equipped laboratories and workshops, which are placed at the disposition of the pupils. In Holland there are 32 industrial schools and 25 professional schools, attended by about 7,000 pupils. The proportion of these is about 2 to every 1,000; but Holland, so cut up by canals, and with the sea continually breaking bounds, is rather a maritime than a manufacturing nation, so that there is nothing surprising in this proportion as compared with that of Belgium. Switzerland has no less than 87 schools, giving to apprentices and workmen professional instruction. The pupils number 8,000. There are others said to be highly developed, where drawing is a branch of instruction. Thus, in one of the poorest cantons, that of Appenzell, institutions of that class are met in every community, and the attendance is as obligatory as the snows will permit. The industrial population of the cantons is 200,000 persons in a total of 2,846,000 inhabitants, and this balances that of Belgium, where metallurgic and other manufactures are carried to a high point of development.

In Denmark, a country of 2,096,467 inhabitants, there are 77 schools for professional instruction of workmen with more than 6,000 pupils. The technical school of Copenhagen alone numbers no less than 2,000. In Sweden there are 28 industrial schools; that of Stockholm has 800 pupils, more than one-half per cent of the population of the town. Italy, which in 1885 had 136 industrial and art schools, with 16,274 pupils, has since then made great progress; but she is suffering, as England sometimes suffers, from an excess of manufactured articles, and these must be disposed of at any price in order to avoid a ruinous embarrassment. The school at Hamburg, under the direction of Marius Vachon, is the best institution in Germany, both on account of the principles which inspired its creation and the methods of instruction. In entering there, if the pupil is neither an apprentice nor workman he must choose a trade; these two classes of pupils constitute the principal number of the school population.

A law of the Hamburg senate imposes on all industrial superintendents the duty of sending their apprentices to this school for six hours every week. They are thus enabled to attend during three, four, or even five years, according to their disposition and abilities. The first part of the first year is exclusively devoted to the study of the primary elements of drawing. All drawings must be made from nature. After that comes instruction from professional designs. As

[ocr errors]

soon as the pupil can sketch he is given as models the objects which belong to his trade. In succeeding years professional drawing goes hand in hand with artistic instruction. Each pupil receives instruction, personal, varied, and rapid according to his temperament and tastes. The discipline is very severe, so that a pupil becomes accustomed to conduct himself as a serious man and to consider work as a social duty. The Hamburg school has served as a model to the schools of design in various parts of Europe. (English Educational Press.) The Prussian Government has recently, more than in former years, bestowed much attention upon the promotion of so-called continuation schools (post-graduate courses of the elementary schools), as well as trade and technical schools. This is plainly seen from the increase in the sums annually appropriated for these institutions. In the state budget of 1885-83 the sum of $142,266 was designated to support these institutions, which in the nature of the case are directly benefiting the working. In 1890-91 the appropriation rose to $431,716, and in 1891-92 to $445,274. The Government makes the announcement that it is not satisfied with the system of industrial schools as it now exists, but wishes to see it extended over most of the various trades and occupations found at industrial centers. Especially the continuation courses will find encouragement. Through these the Government can reach a much greater number of pupils than through special technical schools. Naturally the latter will be able to offer a higher grade of technical education, and in due time there will, side by side with elementary or people's schools, spring up at convenient centers a system of elementary technical or trade schools, that will feed the secondary technical schools. The Government intends to establish new elementary architectural schools, devoted to the building trades-one in Königsberg; one in Silesia, and one in Brandenburg. The city of Cottbus is negotiating with the royal government to have one of these institutions located within its precincts. The bureau of technical instruction in the department of public works is of the opinion that to open schools for the training of foremen, and technical schools for the promotion of shipbuilding in Danzig, Stettin, Berlin, Hannover, and Altona, will prove of incalculable benefit to the nation. The Rhenish-Westphalian mining school it is contempleted to remove from Bochum to Duisburg, with branches and "feeders" in the coal districts on the Ruhr-River. Gleiwitz, in Silesia, another mining district also, is to have a new mining school. The existing weaving school of Crefeld and Berlin are to be enlarged, and new schools, with courses for the training of foremen and experts for the cloth and buckskin manufactory, are in process of erection in Sommerfeld, Forst, and Finterwalde, and other centers of the cloth industry. Malhausen, in Thurengia, and Bleichrode, near Nordhausen, are each to have an elementary weaving school. The negotiations with the city of Bunzlau, with a view toward the establishment of a ceramic technical school, have been reopened. For the training of engineers and machinists on ocean steamers schools are to be opened in Stettin and BreIn Schmalkalden a school for the preparation of foremen in the so-called variety ironworks is to be established. This institution will have extensive shops for a great number of apprentices.

men.

Schools of design and industrial art the Government intends to establish in all cities of 33,000 or more inhabitants. Where one is in existence others are to be added. Prussia has, according to the last census, 49 of such cities. Of these the following have each a flourishing school of design and industrial art: Aixla-Chapelle, Cassel, Dusseldorf, Halle, Magdeburg, Hannover, Frankfort, and Berlin. Berlin needs another without delay. But Danzig, Elbing, Bromberg, and Posen have made no claim for such schools. They lean rather toward agricultural and forestry schools. The plans so far determined upon contain 18 new schools within the next six years; others are to be extended. Institutions which have been called into existence by the enterprise of the local authorities are well subsidized by the state and enlarged to meet the growing demands of the times. The state authorities direct in every case where a subsidy is granted that the teachers' salaries be increased and new talent be drawn into the schools. Whenever the funds allow, these technical schools are made state institutions. The entire state subsidies for the establishment of new and extension of existing technical and trade schools are estimated at 1,078,000 marks ($269,500); this sum is not included in the annual current expenses mentioned in the beginning of this article.

The administration of continuation schools (post-graduate course of elementary schools), so far as they are technical or trade schools, will be turned over to the minister of agriculture, since most of these schools are situated in rural districts, and it is the intention to enlist the interest of agricultural people in these schools.

The recently submitted bill regulating trades (especially (120) is thought to be the best incentive to trade schools, and it would seem that the state, by promoting such schools, is obeying tendencies which may drive it further and further toward socialism as advocated by Marx. As soon as the bill becomes a law, the annual appropriations for technical schools will need to be increased to meet the requirements of the law. From all this it is plain that Prussia if following the illustrious example of the Kingdom of Saxony in preparing a great number of thinking artisans, foremen, designers, masterworkmen, and inventors, in order not to fall behind in the race with other nations, notably with France, in industrial and wealth producing pursuits. (Engl. Educ. Press.)

24.-SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS.

Germany.-The number of students in the polytechnicums of the German Empire, in the winter term of 1890-91, was 3,567 as against 3,372 in the previous year; the number of nonmatriculated students, 1,273 as against 1,106; and the number of casual attendants at single courses of lectures, 522 as against 343; on the whole, then, 5,362 as against 4,821 attendants at lectures. Of these Aachen numbers, 197; Berlin, 1,640; Brunswick, 273; Darmstadt, 316; Dresden, 480; Hanover, 580; Karlsruhe, 585; Munich, 882; Stuttgart, 486.

Hessia.-The Hessian Government has laid a bill before the Landtag for the erection of magnificen tnew building, for the polytechnicum in Darmstadt. The cost amounts to $3,912,500. The town has offered to pay $3,000,000, and the Government will supply the rest. The Grand Duke has consented to the appropriation of a part of the palace grounds for the erection of the new buildings.

France. The French minister of public instruction has issued a circular in accordance with which young men and women who are preparing for the profession of teachers, and for diplomas generally, are to go through a solid course of "sound French literature of the nineteenth century stamp." "This means," says a Paris correspondent, "that they are to give up the old classical authors from Montaigne to Chateaubriand, and to devote their attention in preference to Thiers, Michelet, Victor Hugo, and Alfred de Musset."

Saxony. The theological faculty of the University of Leipzig, Germany, have, by desire of the minister of education, posted a notice on the university notice board, calling on the students of theology to attend lectures on pedagogy more regularly than they have hitherto done, and also not to neglect the practical side of their training. "A more thorough study of pedagogy and satisfactory practical training is more necessary to theologians now than it ever was.”

Germany.-Latest statistics concerning German universities:

[blocks in formation]

The foregoing table shows the ratio of students from the different German States for every 100,000 inhabitants. In other words, it tells that of every 100,000 inhabitants Germany has 571.10 in the universities, or 5.71 students of every 1,000 inhabitants, or 0.571 per cent. That of these, 0.116 per cent study theology, 0.143 per cent study law, 0.177 per cent study medicine, and 0.135 per cent study philosophy. The numbers are given for the winter semester, 1889-90. (Statist. Archiv.)

Algiers.-The Academy of Algiers had, in 1888, 223 students. In 1888 there were 1,547 pupils at the lycées of Algiers and Constantine; 8 communal colleges with 1,254 pupils; in 1889, 958 (113 private, mostly clerical) primary schools,

« AnteriorContinuar »