February 8, 19 12] 



NATURE 



499 



the education committee in response to a series of ques- 

 tions framed by the convener, Mrs. Ogilvie Gordon. 

 Among the writers are such well-known experts as Mme. 

 Pauline Kergomard, Government inspectress in France ; 

 Miss Florence Keys, of Bryn Mawr College, in the United 

 States ; Miss Ellen Terserus in Sweden ; Miss L. Sandholt 

 in Denmark ; Miss Augusta Rosenberg in Hungary ; Dr. 

 E. Graf in Switzerland; Dr. I. Grassi in Italy; Frau 

 Marianne Hainisch in Austria. 



The lines of the inquiry have been adhered to by all 

 the contributors, and this has secured a directness and 

 simplicity in the method of treatment that will specially 

 commend the pamphlet to the non-professional reader. It 

 also facilitates a comparison of the different stages of 

 advancement reached by one country and another, in any 

 particular department of education. 



We find, for example, that primary education is obliga- 

 tory in all these countries, with the exception of Russia, 

 Finland, and some parts of Canada. In Russia, elementary 

 education is not compulsory. The number of schools is at 

 present restricted, and can by no means accommodate all 

 the children. In European Russia, 43 per cent, of the 

 men and 21 per cent, of the women can read and write. 

 The numbers attending the elementary schools are 3,882,883 

 boys and 1,517,260 girls. The towns are much better pro- 

 vided with schools than the rural districts. Primary educa- 

 tion is free. The schools are chiefly under the control of 

 the local government bodies, but there are several thousand 

 church schools. The pupils of the primary schools are 

 taught reading and writing, arithmetic, and religion. 

 In Finland, the question of compulsory education is the 

 question of the moment. However, most people can read, 

 as there is a law (1686) which enacts that all Lutherans 

 who desire to marry must be able to read. The Canadian 

 report says : — " There is a movement in Montreal to secure 

 a compulsory school law there. In Nova Scotia each 

 municipality decides for itself whether attendance of 

 children at schools shall be compulsory or not. ... In 

 poor, thinly settled districts, where the inhabitants make 

 their living by fishing, lumbering, &c., there is still much 

 illiteracy, and very little interest is taken in securing educa- 

 tional advantages for children." 



Religious instruction in accordance with the established 

 church of the country is compulsory in the primary schools 

 of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, 

 Russia, P'inland, and Greece. In Belgium and Switzer- 

 land, if the parents wish, the children are allowed to absent 

 themselves from religious teaching. In Norway " religious 

 instruction is compulsory except for dissenters' children." 

 In the Netherlands the " public elementary schools do not 

 undertake religious instruction, but, by arrangement, 

 instruction may be given in the schools by all denomina- 

 tions." In the United States " no specific religious instruc- 

 tion of any kind is admitted in the public schools, 

 'Icmentary or secondary." 



When we compare the period during which attendance at 

 the primary schools is obligatory, we find that it is longest 

 in Great Britain, where, normally regarded, the school age 

 is from five to fourteen years. Next come Austria, 

 Hungary, Switzerland, Germany (except Bavaria and 

 V\ iirtembcrg, where the age is six to thirteen), with eight 

 \<ars' attendance, from six to fourteen, certain exemp- 

 tions being permitted, especially in rural areas. On the 

 other hand, these are the four countries where all boys 

 are compelled to attend continuation classes after leaving 

 ihi> primary school, up to fifteen years of age in Switzer- 

 land and Hungary, and sixteen years in Munich and a 

 nniber of industrial centres in Germany and Austria. In 



ance, attendance is compulsory from six to thirteen years 

 t age ; in Norway and Denmark, from seven to fourteen 



irs ; in Belgium and the Netherlands, from six to twelve 



ars. 



In Sweden, the usual period of attendance is from seven 

 fourteen years of age, but exemptions at twelve years 



' freely allowed among the poorer children for wage- 



1 ning purposes, delicacy of health, or entry on skilled 

 ades. Ff they remain until fourteen or fifteen years of 

 age, the boys and girls are given more advanced and 

 six'cialised work, much in the same way as in the supple- 

 mentary schools or classes in Scotland. 



The public elementary schools of Sweden are described 

 as co-educational, but it has to be remembered that in the 



larger public schools the boys and girls are taught 

 separately in several of the branches, after ten years of 

 age. For example, cardboard sloyd and elementary needle- 

 work are taught as a three years' course to mixed classes 

 of boys and girls between seven and ten years of age. 

 Afterwards the boys and girls are taken separately ; both 

 continue cardboard sloyd until about eleven and a half 

 years of age, but the girls are also taught from ten years 

 onvyard more advanced needlework and household subjects, 

 while the boys in these years pass through stages of wood- 

 carpentry and metalwork. 



1 he system of trade schools and day continuation classes 

 is only beginning in Sweden. There are " compensation " 

 evening schools, compulsory for the children of twelve or 

 thirteen years of age, who are exempted from the primary 

 schools, and there are voluntary evening schools for older 

 pupils. Almost every Swedish town supplies a good busi- 

 ness training in the evening schools. 



One striking inequality in Sweden is that the State 

 provides for boys a complete secondary- or high-school 

 education at public schools which are practically free, 

 whereas girls have to depend upon private enterprise, and 

 pay fees accordingly. Also in Denmark " all the secondary 

 schools for girls alone are private schools, but recently in 

 Copenhagen a few secondary classes for girls have been 

 established in the public schools (municipal or State 

 grammar schools)." 



Frau Steinmann writes of the provision of secondary 

 schools for girls in Germany : — " The higher schools for 

 girls are those towards which the women of our country 

 are chiefly directing their attention at present. Until lately 

 they were ' higher ' schools mostly in the sense that they 

 were attended by the higher classes, the instruction being 

 no other than in a ' middle school.' Recently they have 

 been much improved, an advancement due to the influence 

 of women's associations; but still (with the exception of 

 .Saxony) they are not preparatory for any public examina- 

 tion, and cannot be regarded as on the same level as the 

 higher schools for boys. . . . The majority of these 

 schools, probably 75 per cent., are private schools; only a 

 small proportion are public schools. 



The note of progress in girls' education is clearly sounded 

 by Mme. Kergomard for France : — " Secondary education 

 for girls is proving a remarkable success in our country. 

 Scarcely begun, it can already count its institutions in 

 almost all the chief towns in the ' departments ' (there 

 called lyceunis), and in almost all the chief places in the 

 ' districts ' (there called colleges and secondary courses). 

 These courses, which were started with a view to the 

 general culture and higher education of girls, are being 

 naturally and irresistibly directed towards the diplomas, 

 and no longer towards diplomas of a limited kind, known 

 as 'women's diplomas,' which are looked down upon in 

 the universities, but towards the full licentiate and fellow- 

 ship degrees as for men. 



" The study of dead languages has gradually been 

 organised in the secondary schools ; we declare that we no 

 longer wish for ' equivalents,' any more than we are will- 

 ing to accept an inferior place in the university. . . . The 

 universities are open to women, thanks to the system of 

 recognising some branches of study in lieu of the men's 

 programme; but we wish to discard all 'equivalents,' as 

 thev deprive us of the right to teach in these universities." 



.Among other European countries, Switzerland has 

 already gone a long way in adapting the higher education 

 of girls to the needs of the universities, and assimilating, 

 with certain reservations, the gymnasial courses for girls 

 to the courses in boys' gymnasia. Servia has lately been 

 making very rapid strides in her educational system, and 

 every advancement is shared alike by boys and girls : — 

 " Most girls whose parents can afford it, and especially 

 in recent years, attend the girls' gymnasia, which are 

 founded on exactly the same system as those for boys. 

 The cost of education in the gymnasium for boys is ao 

 francs in the lower das.ses and 40 francs in the higher 

 classes ; for girls the cost is 25 francs per annum in the 

 lower and 45 francs in the higher classes. 



" Commercial academies have lately been opened for 

 boys and girls ; some are co-<'ducationai, others are special 

 schools for boys or for girls. Pupils arc only admitted to 

 these academies after having passed through four classes 

 of a gvmnasium and obtained the corresponding certificate. 



NO. 2206, VOL. 88] 



