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Proceedings of the Pioyal Society 
I will now mention the way in which the compulsion is carried 
out. Compulsory school attendance may be of two kinds—either 
(1) the parent may he obliged to show that the child is taught 
somewhere; or (2) the child may be compelled to attend a parti¬ 
cular school for which it is registered. The second is, of course, 
the harsher and more bureaucratic method, and it is distinctively 
called Schulzwang , or school compulsion ; while the first and milder 
obligation is Schulyflichtichkeit , or school duty. The second method, 
while leaving less liberty to the parent, is more efficient from the 
point of view of the State; and as such it was adopted in Prussia 
in 1857, and is now the law of the kingdom. The police-office of 
each place makes out a list of children as they arrive at school age 
—that is, five years old. It registers each child for the school 
nearest its dwelling-place, and sends the list to the school board, 
which now becomes responsible for the child not only joining the 
school, but also regularly attending for the next eight years—that 
is, up to the time of its confirmation. The master keeps a register 
of attendances, and in some places it is the custom, after the first 
school hour, to send round a messenger to inquire after missing 
children and the reason of their absence. Each case of absence is 
marked by the master as “ excused ” or “ unexcused.” When un¬ 
excused absences occur, it becomes the duty of the clergyman, as 
chairman of the school board, or of some deputed member of the 
hoard, to use moral suasion with the parent or guardian, with the 
view of obtaining greater regularity. If these means fail, the 
name of the parent or guardian is sent to the police-office, and he 
is mulcted with a small fine for each unexcused absence, and, in 
case of non-payment, is sent to gaol. Mr Mark Pattison (from 
whose admirable report on the primary schools of Germany most 
of my details for this part of the subject are taken) mentions that 
in Berlin, in the year 1856, there were 1780 convictions for irre¬ 
gular attendance, being rather more than three per cent, on the 
whole number of children on the rolls of the schools. This was 
thought a very large proportion, and was attributed to the growth 
of pauperism, and consequent demoralisation in a large city. I 
am sorry that I have not more recent statistics to offer, hut the 
system remains the same, and I think that we can see its general 
working. 
