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1920.] Land Settlement in Denmark. 1063 



seasons the older children, therefore, are free to assist in farm 

 work. 



In general, the course is primarily designed to inculcate in 

 the minds of the pupils a love for rural life and their native 

 land. 



After leaving the free elementary schools, a few of the 

 children enter the middle schools, which are found in the 

 larger towns. The majority remain on the land. Evening 

 continuation schools are available for further study, but it is 

 not till pupils reach the age of 18 years that admittance is 

 given, as a rule, to any of the other schools referred to. Danish 

 thinkers contend that the years of adolescence should be 

 devoted to physical development and to gaining experience of 

 hfe rather than to class-room routine. Almost every rural 

 community has its local gymnasium where instruction in 

 physical exercises is given, and its assembly hall where the 

 people meet for self -improvement. . 



The Folk High Schools, so called because their aim is " high," 

 are attended by pupils of both sexes from 18 to 25 and upwards. 

 They are not as a rule co- educational — they are attended by 

 men for five months in winter and by women for three months 

 in summer. The chief subjects are history, literature, sociology, 

 song practice, and gymnastics, but a certain ainount of time is 

 also devoted to natural science, mathematics, physics, geo- 

 graphy, accounting, hygiene and sanitation, and to sewing and 

 embroidery for women. The work is mainly based on lectures, 

 and the success of the school consequently depends largely on 

 the ability of the teacher to hold and inspire his pupils. 



It is very difficult for the uninitiated to gauge the value of 

 the high school teaching, but that it has exerted considerable 

 influence in the intellectual advancement of the Danish nation 

 can scarcely be doubted. It is claimed to have contributed 

 to the making of a broad-minded, moral citizenship, to have 

 fostered a deep-seated love of the soil and native land, to have 

 freed the people from class domination and shown them how 

 to utilise their political power, and to have laid a broad, cultural 

 foundation for the successful tackling of the diverse problems 

 of Hfe. 



About 50 per cent, of the students attending the agricullural 

 schools have first passed through a high school ; in some 

 agricultural schools this is insisted on as a necessary preliminary. 

 Most of the leaders in social and political life have graduated 

 at the high school. 



