EDUCATION. 471 



Education. 



In education the same contrast presents itself as in her industrial life. The 

 high schools were already organized, and scientific teaching fully developed in all 

 the Universities, while primary instruction was still almost entirely neglected. As 

 long as 20,000,000 of the people were in a state of thraldom mental culture 

 was necessarily regarded as dangerous. But few primary schools existed, and 

 those of Little Russia and of the Ukranian communities in Great Hussia were closed 

 in the present century. Ever since 1830 the Government was taking steps to prevent 

 even the free children of the " lower orders " from entering the middle schools 

 reserved for the nobles. But the emancipation of the serfs was accompanied by 

 a general movement in favour of popular education. Under private action Sunday 

 schools were opened at first in Kiev, and they had alread}' 20,000 pupils 

 in the empire when they were closed by a Government decree in 1862. Since 

 then private citizens have rarely been able to promote the cause of national instruc- 

 tion. Normal training schools have long been wanting, notwithstanding the 

 petitions of the Zemstvos, on w^hom the State wished to impose ttachers trained in the 

 ecclesiastical seminaries. But since the Franco-German war a few normal schools 

 have been founded under pressure of public opinion.* In her general educational 

 system Russia is thus still behind even such countries as Japan and Egypt. 



In 1876 there were only 24,456 primary schools in European Russia, and 

 1.019,488 children, including 177,900 girls, in attendance — a proportion of little 

 over 1 to 80 of the population. Yet rudimentary instruction is obligatory for all 

 soldiers in the regimental schools, so that the War Department may be said to do 

 more for education than the Minister of Public Instruction. 



The secondary establishments — gymnasia, " real " schools, military gymnasia, 

 ecclesiastical seminaries, and boarding schools — were attended in 1877 by 88,400 

 students, besides 41,630 following the courses of the special ministerial institutes. 

 Since the end of the last century the academies for girls of noble birth have given 

 courses analogous to those of the gymnasia, and in 1876 there were 320 middle 

 schools for girls of all classes, with 55,620 pupils. Since 1861 women began also 

 to attend the University and medical courses, but in 18G3 they were excluded 

 from the former, and for some years past they have frequented foreign Universities, 

 especially those of Zurich, Berne, and Geneva. 



The eight Russian Universities, modelled on those of Germany, have a com- 

 paratively much smaller attendance.f Entrance is rendered very difficult by 

 excessively hard examinations, while many of the students are periodically 

 expelled in consequence of their tendency to become imbued with the new ideas. 

 But such is the love of learning that, in spite of all coercive measures, candidates 

 continue to present themselves in ever-increasing numbers. This real devotion to 



* Normal schools in 1877 : — For towns, 7 ; for villages, 61 ; pupils, 4,596, of whom 727 were girls. 



t Russian Universities (1878) : — Students, 6,250 ; history, philology, letters, 721 ; physics and mathe- 

 matics, 1,365 ; law, 1,641 ; medicine, 2,865 ; free auditors, 449 ; professors, 635 ; yearly budget, 2,529,470 

 roubles 



