APPENDIX E 319 



shortly be the case in the communal secondary schools. 

 Physics and physiology are taught in the town free schools, 

 but only exceptionally in those in the country districts. 



Teachers are allowed great latitude as regards the 

 exact methods of imparting knowledge, a point upon 

 which no general rules are laid down. The Danish 

 teacher does not favour any particular stereotyped method 

 of imparting information ; he trusts to his own indi- 

 viduality and that of his pupil. The weak point of such 

 a system is its lack of uniformity ; also the teaching is apt 

 to become too sketchy and conversational, not leaving 

 enough to the effort of the pupil's mind. 



Children do not now have the advantage of as much 

 home-training and instruction as was formerly the case 

 either in the towns or in the country districts, although, 

 speaking generally, more interest is now taken in school 

 work in the rural districts. 



Corporal punishment is rarer than it used to be, and 

 on the whole the relations between teacher and pupil are 

 more cordial than were common in former days. 



In several of the large communes prizes are given to 

 those children, on their leaving school, who have made 

 the most attendances and been the best behaved. In the 

 country districts there are examinations in spring and 

 autumn, but in most of the towns such examinations are 

 only held once a year. 



The communes furnish books, &c, to be used in the 

 schools, but poor children are also supplied with these for 

 home use. In the larger towns the schools are well sup- 

 plied with all necessaries, but in many of the communes 

 much parsimony is shown in this respect. In Copen- 

 hagen, Frederiksberg, and several other cities, the com- 

 munes furnish libraries both for the teachers and for the 

 scholars, but in the rural parts of Denmark there are few 

 of these. They will, however, certainly increase in the 

 future, as the Government has voted a subsidy for the 

 support of such libraries. 



