Education. 



2-31 



"The aims of the Danish people, for which, these schools are working, 

 can be classified under these heads :— First and foremost, to foster the love of 

 country and national feeling. . . The second aim is to educate the people that 

 they make full use of their free constitution ; and the third, to prepare the 

 young to better fit them for the fight of existence, which is daily becoming 

 more acute. To attain these objects the first essential appears to be to develop 

 the personal character and to make the young man and woman true and 

 honest Danes. To do this, they rely more on lectures, giving instructive and 

 interesting examples of the history, and teaching the best literature of the 

 nation than anything else. Concurrently, instruction in discipline is given, 

 followed by instruction in the services, on which are based the economic success 

 of agriculture. 



"In many cases there is attached to the High School a course of technical 

 agriculture, or an Agricultural College, but these latter are not nearly so numerous 

 as the Popular High Schools. . . .The object in placing an Agricultural School in close 

 proximity to a High School, renders it possible for a teacher to give instruction 

 in both schools, and also it creates to some extent a desire on the part of 

 the pupil in the Popular High School to return the following year to the Agri- 

 cultural College. . . . 



" The result of this patriotic and practical system of education unquestion- 

 ably justifies the high compliment paid to the Danish peasant by the Norwegian 

 poet, Bjoinson, who describes them as ' the best enlightened peasantry in the 

 world,' and it is particularly worthy of notice, and perhaps the inevitable product 

 of the system itself, that the different classes of the Danish people co-operate for 

 educational purposes in a manner almost unknown, and certainly never equalled in 

 any other country. . . .The highest in the land are proud to associate with the 

 humblest artizan and farm labourer in the consciousness that the outcome of' such 

 association will be to strengthen the intellectual energies of the nation and elevate 

 the wealth producer's conception of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. . . . 



" A committee. . . .have issued thousands of pamphlets on popular and 

 scientific subjects, which are sold to the peasant population at an average price of one 

 penny each, and which have been of immense importance in the spread of general 

 information among the working and agricultural classes in the country. 



" A committee has been formed at Copenhagen whose members accompany 

 rural excursions to the public buildings and museums in the city, and give the 

 fullest instruction on all objects of interest free of charge. Owing to the existence 

 of this committee hundreds of rural excursions are organized every year to visit the 

 museum, picture galleries and antiquarian collections, and with the happiest results. 



" A free theatre was brought into existence in 1891, in order that the rural 

 population might be afforded the opportunity of witnessing the best plays of Danish 

 and Norwegian authors at intervals, and on such occasions as to harmonise Avith 

 the various country excursions organized for educational purposes to visit the 

 towns. Moreover, a series of concerts are held throughout the year, to which 

 work-people and peasants are admitted at a nominal charge, and thus every 

 element instrumental in the creation of a vigorous and happy national life is brought 

 into frequent contact with even the humblest stratum of society. . . . 



"The same ideas with regard to education prevail throughout the Agri- 

 cultural Colleges, nationcd character and history being more important than 

 anything else, concurrently with the development of which, courses in agri- 

 cultural instruction are given. The courses of instruction consist of National History 

 and Literature (which in all cases stands out foremost), Physics, Chemistry, Natural 

 History, Anatomy, Physiology, with practical demonstrations- . . . 



