SECONDARY EDUCATION In proceeding to sketch the French system of higher primary and secondary schools, it may be observed that European systems of higher education have generally been framed upon the view that secondary education is a training complete in itself from the preparatory stage to the university, with aims and ideals of general culture which differentiate it radically and at the very outset from education of the elementary type. On the other hand, in the United States, the view has prevailed that the secondary school must be complementary to the elementary school, in which even the elite must receive their preparatory or elementary training. At any rate, down to the reform of 1902, which will presently be ex plained, the French system could be regarded as a typical and even extreme example of the European theory, little consistent as this might seem to be with the broader principles of democracy. A further breach has been made in the theory by an augmentation in the number of scholarships since the World War, and by an experiment to amalgamate in country districts small secondary day and higher finishing schools.
A wider extension has been given to higher primary instruction by the establishment of cours com plementaire s in certain schools, at centres at which it would be impossible to organize separate higher primary schools. A similar solution of the continuation school problem has recently commended itself to the consultative committee of the Board of Education for England.
Admission to the higher primary schools in France is only ac corded to those who have obtained the elementary school leaving certificate, certi f cat d'etudes primaires. A feature of importance for continuation work in rural districts is the provision made for boarding scholars in attendance at these schools. The boarding arrangements are generally, as in the case of the secondary schools, left to the head teacher, but in some instances municipal hostels 'In this and other cases later statistics are not available owing to the economic crisis which has considerably reduced the staff in French government departments.
have been provided. No fees may be charged for higher primary instruction, and scholarships (bourses) are provided to a certain extent in the form either of boarding scholarships or maintenance allowances to compensate the parent for the loss of the child's labour. The number of scholars in the public higher primary schools for the year 1903-04 was 34,084, and in cours complemen taires 21,777, making a total of 55,861. In addition, there were 8,8o1 scholars in receipt of higher primary instruction in private schools. In 1923-24 there were in these schools 39,309 boys and girls.
With a view to supplying teachers for the upper classes of the secondary schools, the state maintains the ecole normale superie ure, a college in which instruction, board, and lodging are given free to a number of scholars selected by competition from the best secondary school boys, though residence in the institution is no longer compulsory. The ecole normale has now become prac tically the college of pedagogy of the university of Paris. Its stu dents are entered as students of the university, and study for their qualifying examination as teachers in secondary schools (agrega tion) under university professors, partly at the Sorbonne, partly at the ecole normale, while their professional preparation is entrusted solely to the latter institution. Before the World War the profession was the best qualified academically in Europe. With, however, the fall of the franc the recruitment was seriously threatened. This danger has been removed by the stabilization and the large rise in salaries.
The question of restoring some of the religious teaching orders was discussed by the Poincare cabinet in November, 1928.
As regards higher education and the creation of regional uni versities in 18g6, see UNIVERSITIES.
Latin Schools.—Stress is rightly laid by all educational writers upon Luther's famous letter to the German municipalities in urging upon them the duty of providing schools and upon parents the duty of sending their children to school. An attempt to carry this into effect was made by the Electoral government of Saxony which issued in 1528 an ordinance, drawn up by Melanchthon, providing for the establishment in every town and village of Latin schools, for the Protestant Reformers were solidly in favour of classical education. It is, therefore, all the more remarkable that the Ordinance issued by the Elector of Wurttemberg represented the first systematic attempt to provide both elemen tary and higher education, directing the establishment of ele mentary schools throughout the country and of Latin schools (or Particularschulen) in every considerable centre of population. These promising beginnings were, however, brought to nought in the troublous times of the Thirty Years' War, and by the desola tion and national decadence which that calamity brought in its train. The permanent and positive value of Luther's pronounce ment of 1524 lies not so much in its direct effects as in the hal lowed associations which it established for Protestant Germany between the national religion and the educational duties of the individual and the state. Thus, doubtless, was created that healthy public opinion which rendered the principle of compulsory school attendance easy of acceptance in Prussia at a much earlier date than in England. State interference in education was almost co incident with the rise of the Prussian state. In 1717 Frederick William I. ordered all children to attend school where schools existed. This was followed in 1736 by edicts for the establish ment of schools in certain provinces and by a royal grant of 50,000 thalers for that purpose in the following year. In 1763 the Landschulreglement of Frederick the Great laid down the broad lines upon which the Prussian state has since proceeded, asserting the principle of compulsory school attendance.
Though the period which succeeded the peace of 1815 was one of political reaction, the work of administrative organization was carried on by defining the duties of the Provinzial-Schul-Kollegium and the Regierung. In 1834 an important development was given to secondary education by making it necessary for candidates for the learned professions as well as for the civil service, and for university studies, to pass the leaving examination of the gym nasia. Thus through the leaving examination the state held the key to the liberal careers, and was thereby able to impose its own standard upon all secondary schools.
Administrative Machinery.—In connection with the Kul turkampf, or struggle between the state and the Roman Catholic church, the Schulau f sichtsgesetz of 1872 reasserted the absolute right of the state alone to the supervision of the schools. Never theless the Prussian system remained both for Catholics and Protestants essentially denominational. All schools, whether ele mentary or secondary, were Evangelical, Catholic, Jewish or mixed. In the elementary sphere, in particular, recourse was only had to the mixed school (Simultanschule or paritatische Schule), where the creeds were so intermingled that a confessional school was impracticable. In all cases the teachers were appointed with reference to religious faith; religious instruction was given in school hours and inspected by the clergy. Under the ministerium in Berlin stood the Provinzial-Schul-Kollegium, the chairman of which was the Ober-Prasident of the province, composed of four or five Rate or councillors, generally selected from the directors of Gymnasien. This body was concerned mainly with higher education.
Each province was divided for purposes of general adminis tration into two Regierungen or governments, and in each gov ernment there was a section consisting of three or four Schulrcte, which controlled the elementary schools. This council was usually recruited from the ranks of directors of training colleges and from the inspectorate. The Regierung was divided into Kreise or districts, and in each district an administrative officer, called the Landrat, represented the Government. The Landrat was con cerned with the provision and repair of elementary school build ings ; as regards internal organization, the elementary schools were under the Kreisschulinspektor.
In the Protestant districts the inspectors used often to be Evangelical clergymen but later inspectors with pedagogical quali fications and the status of full government officials were appointed. For every school there was a local inspector (Ortsschulinspektor), usually the clergyman of the parish, who discharged the duties of local manager and correspondent.
The offic'al classification or grading according to the type of curriculum of secondary schools in Prussia (and throughout Ger many) was very precise. The following were the officially recog nized types of the pre-war period. I. Classical schools : (a) Gym nasium, with nine years' course ; (b) Progymnasium, with six years' course. II. Modern schools : (a) with Latin (semi-classical) —(i) Realgymnasium (nine years' course), (ii) Realprogym nasium (six years' course) ; (b) without Latin (non-classical) (i) Oberrealschule (nine years' course), (ii) Realschule (six years' course).
This system of educational administration still remained in force, with some modifications, in 1927. The differentiation be tween the types was the result of a natural educational develop ment corresponding with the economic changes which trans formed Prussia from an agricultural to an industrial state. The classical schools long retained their social prestige and a definite educational advantage in that their pupils were alone admissible to the universities. Since the foundation of the Empire (1871) the history of secondary education has been largely concerned with a struggle for a wider recognition of the work of the newer schools. The movement received a considerable impetus by the action of the emperor who summoned a School Conference in 189o, at which he criticised the Gymnasien as lacking a national basis. "It is our duty to educate young men to become young Germans and not young Greeks or Romans." New time-tables were framed in which the hours devoted to Latin were consider ably reduced and no pupil could obtain a leaving certificate with out a satisfactory mark in the mother tongue. The results satis fied neither party and the reform lasted only a single school generation. In 1900, after a second conference, equality of privi leges was granted to three types of schools, subject to certain reservations—The theological faculties continued to admit only students from classical schools, the pupils of the Oberrealschule were excluded by their lack of Latin from the medical faculties, but in so far as Latin was required for other studies, such as law or history, it could be acquired at the University itself.
Although the official programmes were binding on the schools, their rigidity was not absolute; experiments were possible, but they were carefully supervised. It was thus that the modifications of the classical school programme known as the Frankfurter sys tem came into being, after a similar experiment had been tried at Altona. The chief innovation—and here the two schemes agreed —was the postponement of the beginning of Latin to Untertertia and the introduction of French as the first foreign language. This enabled parents to defer their decision as to the form of their son's education until he was about 12 years of age.
A further instance of the willingness of the authorities to sanc tion reasonable changes was seen in the permission accorded to certain schools to vary the course of study in the top classes, as a preparation for the freedom of choice of the university.
Girls' Schools.—In Prussia, as elsewhere, the higher education of girls lagged far behind that of boys and received little atten tion from the State or municipality, except so far as the services of women teachers were needed in the elementary schools. Thus it came about that in Prussia secondary schools for girls were dealt with administratively as part of the elementary school system. After the establishment of the Empire a conference of directors and teachers of these schools was held at Weimar and put forth a reasoned plea for better organization and improved status. The advocates of reform, however, were not at unity in their aims; some wished to lay stress on ethical, literary and aesthetic training, others on intellectual development, and claimed an equal share in all the culture of the age. But even in the schools the women fought an unequal battle, for all the heads and a large part of the staff were men usually academically trained. The women con tinually demanded a larger share of the work, and this was se cured by the establishment of a new higher examination for women teachers. University study though not prescribed was in fact essential and yet the women had not the right of access to the university in Prussia. They were allowed to take the Abitu rientenexamen, for which private institutions prepared them, but their admission to the university rested with the professor.
Economic necessity and the growing strength of the women's movement at last brought the desired change. New programmes were issued in 1908, organizing the girls' schools in two degrees:— the Lyceum, a ten-class institution for girls from 6 to 16 ; and an Oberlyceum of three classes, of varying types, one of which might be a training department for teachers, another for home life. But apart from these normal courses, opportunity was given to girls to follow from their 12th or i3th year courses similar to those of the higher schools for boys. The form generally preferred was that of the Realgymnasium. At the same time a ministerial decree opened the Prussian universities to women on the same terms as men.
Elementary Srhools.—In no sphere of public activity did the revolution of 1918 cause more far reaching changes in Germany than in that of education. The ultimate aims which these innova tions envisaged have been clearly stated in the Weimar Constitu tion, and have led to a single system of national education. (See Leo Wittmayer, Die Weimarer Reichsver f assung, 1922.) It was recognized that this goal could only be reached by gradual steps and the responsibility for educational administration was left with the federated states. The State ministries, however, have to observe the principles enunciated in the Constitution and to con form to the Federal laws enacted to secure the realization of the Republic's ideals.
The elementary school, which under the old regime was a class school, has become a national institution, serving all and used by all. It has no rivals and private elementary schools are forbidden in those early years for which the common school exists. The Einlieitsschule, which the popular parties had demanded before the World War, has become an accomplished fact, as far as the first four years of the course are concerned. As a concession, reluc tantly granted, specially gifted children may be allowed to com plete the course in three years. A further regulation of the school service was promised in the Constitution, but has not proved easy of accomplishment, and the bill of the Federal Government, brought before the Reichstag in 1928, met with considerable opposition on account of its wide concessions to denominational principles. In the main, the schools have remained "confessional" and the Simultanschulen or schools of mingled creeds have not so greatly increased in number.
When the Grundschule (basic school) has been passed the child may be transferred to a secondary school, which is organized to lead on to the university, or he may go to the Mittelschule, if he wishes to enter commerce or industry about the age of 16, or he may remain at the elementary school, if he must enter on employ ment at the earliest possible age. The bulk of the children accept the third alternative, but the number of pupils in all the higher types of general education have largely increased since 1918. Par ticularly is this true of the Mittelschule, an intermediate type simi lar in purpose and curriculum to the Central Schools of London. With the ending of compulsory military service there has ceased the unnatural thrust towards the higher school not for the sake of learning but to win the coveted social privilege of one year's mili tary service. In point of fact the Realschule, which bore the greater part of this burden, has in some states practically ceased to exist and the greater part of its former clientele now frequent the Mittelschule.
New Types of Secondary Schools.—This does not imply any underestimation of the value of higher education nor of the na tional gain to be won by the transference of suitable pupils to the higher schools. The pre-war provision was inadequate but the in terests of poor but gifted boys have since been well served. Two new types of schools cater for their particular needs. There is first the Deutsche Oberschule, in which, in harmony with the sentiment of the Weimar Constitution, the emphasis is laid on the training of a national spirit, and German history, literature and art are all studied from this national standpoint, though foreign languages are not excluded. These schools have replaced, to a large extent, the old institutions which prepared ex-elementary school pupils for admission to the Training colleges for teachers of primary schools.
The other new type is the Aufbauschule ("built-on" or supple mentary school). As regards its place in the educational scheme it resembles the High School of the United States in that it only receives pupils who have completed the primary school course. In Saxony and Prussia pupils may leave the elementary school after the seventh class, that is at the age of 13 and attempt to achieve in six years what the ordinary secondary school pupils accomplish in nine. There has recently been opened in Berlin an evening gymnasium for adults, who propose in time to sit for the ordinary leaving examination of a classical secondary school, pos sibly with a view to a further study at a university.
The old types of the nine year schools have been maintained and it is probable that the pressure of modern studies will decrease the numbers of the Gymnasien. In the internal arrangement of the curriculum the schools have a larger measure of freedom to adapt the course to the qualities of their pupils, provided that the central subjects which give the colour to the school's curriculum are maintained at the prescribed level. The old ideal of allgemeine Bildung, or general culture, demanding equal service in many branches has been definitely abandoned, not without misgiving on the part of many teachers.
Within the schools too there is new life; in the elementary school the pupil is no longer a passive listener : but is a productive worker, for the principle of the Arbeitsschule has found wide acceptance. In the secondary schools more and more attention is given to physical development and many town schools have their country stations to which the pupils are taken in turn. The old one-sided emphasis on intellectual training has disappeared.
The basis of Italy's modern educational system was the Act of 1859. By the Act of 1908 religious instruction was made optional. It has been widely held that the aesthetic and physical side of education was unduly sacrificed to intellectual training. In 1922 Giovanni Gentile became Minister of Education, and by a series of decrees he transformed the educational system. More manual work, singing, drawing, and games were introduced. Efforts were made to brighten the atmosphere in the primary schools by flowers, pictures, more comfortable seats, and open-air lessons. In the secondary schools each teacher was required to teach more than one subject ; a combination of mathematics and physics, for instance, was expected to lead to a more philosophical and less technical treatment. Compulsory religious instruction was restored "in the form established by Catholic tradition," and exemption was granted only where parents undertook to impart it themselves.
Gentile tried to enforce attendance by warnings and fines. But a number of small schools in thinly populated districts were transferred to private hands, and others were closed. The private schools receive a State subsidy. Compulsion is nominally from six to 14, but Henri Goy, an ardent admirer of Gentile's work, declared that in practice the majority of schools are only organized for the four lower classes. The minister decreed a drastic revision of text books, and established a board of censors. There was also a change in the method of transfer from class to class. Whereas formerly pupils were examined by their class-masters to enable them to pass out of a lower class, they are now examined by State examiners to enable them to pass into a higher class or school. The partially elected local education authorities were replaced by regional inspectors and councils, appointed by the Government.
Secondary education, according to Henri Goy, aims at recruit ing a limited elite and separating directors from workers. The number of secondary schools and places, therefore, is strictly limited. Special schools are provided for girls of the wealthier classes. There are also "complementary schools," providing a three-year course after the primary school, and the number of these is not restricted, as is that of secondary schools proper.
A State examination is required for admission to the pro fessions, independent of the university doctorate. The universi ties are closed to primary teachers, but there are training colleges whose university status is recognized. Gentile retired in 1924, but his decrees remained in force.
In the early years of the present century a demand arose for the training of teachers of domestic economy, and for instruction in rural pursuits among peasant women, who in Italy care for silk-worms and fowls, while the men work in the fields. In 19o2 an agricultural school with a domestic economy course was opened at Niguardia. Others followed, and in 1911 an infant welfare school was founded in Rome. These institutions were private, but received Government subsidies. Domestic economy is now a compulsory subject in primary schools. (See also MONTESSORI SCHOOLS.) (M. M. G.) Education in Russia is markedly less advanced than in Western Europe. Historical, geographical and economic factors have all helped to retard it. Two centuries of Tatar domination effectually checked intellectual progress and isolated Russia from the western world. Peter the Great made the first effort to organize education, but considered it merely as preparatory to a career in the public service, and this opinion dominated Russian thought until the latter part of the 19th century. Education of a scattered agri cultural population is always difficult. In Russia, 9o% of the population is agricultural, distances are great, communications are poor, and during the spring floods often cease to exist. Sum mer is brief and hot and demands exhausting and intensive work, so that the economic value even of a child's work is great, while the general poverty and poor cultural conditions make the long, severe winter a time of great hardship. Here, again, the child's help is valuable for the home industries by which the peasant supplements his income. An added difficulty has been the long serfdom of the agricultural labourer (until i861). Local Zemstvos (founded 1864) and town councils strove to raise educational standards, but were hampered by poverty, by the fact that the village priest was often the only possible teacher and by the neglect of education on the part of the Imperial Government, which considered the higher grades essentially a class privilege. In 1914 the number of children attending school was 53% of those of school age.
War, foreign intervention and famine (1914-21) destroyed schools far and wide, and some 350,000 children from the dev astated and famine stricken areas became homeless vagrants. The new Soviet government was thus faced with great difficulties in its efforts to improve education. Its budget was much less than that of 1913 and it was able to allow only 68% of the pre war grant to education in 1925, the remaining funds being assigned by local budgets or raised from private funds or school fees. School fees for city children were introduced in 1922-23, though rural children paid no fee, and city schools provided not less than 25% of free places (for children of the soldiers of the Red Army, of the unemployed, the crippled, etc.). The results of the financial stringency are difficulties in providing equipment and school buildings and the inadequate payment of the teachers. A large proportion of the education grant has to be set aside to maintain homes for destitute children, which, even so, cannot provide for all the child victims of the tragic 1914-21 years. Education is administered by the People's Commissariat for Education (Narkompros), which controls and administers all forms of education, including universities, museums, art centres and schools of music. This centralized government superimposed by a highly westernized and industrialized group upon a scattered and primitive agricultural population living in different regional conditions is a remarkable educational experiment. Outstanding features of the system are its encouragement of teaching in the vernacular, both for adults and children, among the national minorities, its introduction of politics even to the youngest children, its emphasis on the material side of life, its refusal to recognize spiritual values. These latter aspects are a reaction to the difficult material conditions of life for a very large per centage of the population. None the less, according to official reports, considerable progress in the liquidation of illiteracy has been made and a keen enthusiasm for better educational facili ties aroused. Kindergartens, children's hearths and playgrounds are provided for a small but increasing percentage of children from three to seven years of age. First grade schools provide for the children of seven to I 1 years, though many children of peasants leave school at Io years to help their parents. In 1925, first grade schools were attended by 59.5% of the children at this age. Second grade schools provide for a general education up to 15 years, and vocational education from 15 to 17 years. In addition there are workers' faculties for children working in factories, some providing part-time day instruction and some providing evening instruction. The number of universities and higher polytechnics has markedly increased, and industrial under takings must contribute to their support. Schools, clubs, cottage reading rooms and travelling libraries are provided for adults, and art, music and dramatic clubs are popular everywhere. Russian scientific work, notably Pavlov's neurological work and Glinka's soil survey, is of a very high standard, and the re searches of the Russian Geographical Society have led to the publication of a remarkable series of regional monographs.
(R. M. F.) The educational system of Austria in the 19th century was adapted to the training of obedient subjects of a nearly absolute monarchy, and an efficient and docile bureaucracy. After the World War and the collapse of 1918, Austria was transformed at one stroke into a small, impoverished, democratic republic, with some two-thirds of her school population in Vienna. Her first education minister, Otto Glockel, set himself the task of training responsible citizens, men and women capable of judgment and initiative. He was himself a teacher, and he based his reforms on three principles : (I) In the lower forms subject matter was not to be sharply divided, but all treated as part of a unit—the child's own experience. (2) The child's familiar world was, therefore, the point of departure : the geography and natural history of its home, local folk-songs and dances, traditions and history. (3) Education was to be creative activity rather than passive recep tivity.
Glockel made plans for transforming the pre-war educational system, based on social distinctions, into the so-called Einheits scliule, in which the State primary school would he common to all classes, and access to higher education would depend on the child's aptitudes, rather than on his parents' income. He sub mitted his new primary scheme to the teachers, and in 1920 it was adopted experimentally. In that year Glockel resigned, and subsequent Governments were hostile to many of his ideas. But he had taken every step in consultation with the teachers, and they showed remarkable initiative in working out his primary school reforms; in 1926 these were finally established for the first five years of school life.
Glockel realized that his secondary school reforms must be built upon the foundation of a reformed primary system. He contented himself, therefore, with sketching a general plan for the Einheitsschule, and transforming six former officers' training schools into experimental secondary boarding schools for children of exceptional ability, who were admitted free. Four of these are for boys and two for girls. The Secondary School Act of 1927 does not carry out Glockel's scheme, but it provides facilities which approximate to the Einheitsschule.
Spain's compulsory education act was passed in 1909, but it was not enforced, and, moreover, the age of compulsory atten dance was left blank. In 1910 59.35% of the population were illiterate, and in the years following rural schools were continually being closed for lack of funds.
Of recent years single-class primary schools have been giving way to better-equipped six-class schools, and there is a move ment for the introduction of modern methods : activity in place of passive receptivity, school libraries, beauty in buildings and decorations. Particularly in Barcelona there has been a strong forward movement. A commission which reported to the city council in 1908 advocated far reaching reforms, which the coun cil accepted, but the proposal to make religious instruction option al was ruled out as illegal. Barcelona, however, has established open-air schools and holiday colonies for delicate, under-fed children ; an apprentices' school and continuation school for and a domestic economy school with evening and Sunday classes. During the last five years (19'29) 5,00o new schools have been built and the Government proposes to continue at the same rate till the supply is adequate. There are now 33,00o public primary schools ; church schools number 17,000. Illiteracy has fallen, according to the latest official returns, to 4o per cent, and in Castile it is only 15 per cent.
In 1926 a series of decrees reorganized secondary education in all districts under the same authorities as the universities. Ad mission to the secondary school is by examination ; after three years a second examination admits to a further three-years' course, leading to matriculation. One-quarter of the total places must be free. Religious instruction is compulsory, unless the parents expressly appeal. There is a State monopoly of school books, and these must be in Castilian Spanish : a severe blow to Barcelona, where the Catalan dialect is in general use, though Castilian is taught. (M. M. G.) A legally regulated system of education was introduced in Por tugal by the marquis of Pombal in 1772 ; a school was to be estab lished in each locality; but the marquis's fall from power pre vented the completion of his work. Under the law of 188i, which devolved authority on the localities, schools sprang up all over the country, but the Central Government resumed control in 189o. School attendance became free and compulsory from six to 12 years. After the proclamation of the republic in Oct. 1910 great educational developments were planned. By the decree of March 29, 1911, primary education became secular and com pulsory. Each parish was to have at least one boys' and one girls' school, the cost to be shared between the State and the town councils. The disturbed state of the country, however, largely prevented the realization of these educational aspirations, and, according to the 192o census, illiterates still numbered 1,838,419 men and 2,438,922 women out of a total population of 5,621,977 (excluding the islands and colonies), though efforts are made to enforce school attendance rigorously. In the year 1918-19 there were 7,007 primary schools with 170,415 pupils, and 32 secondary schools. There are also nursery schools (q.v.) for children be tween three and six years. Bursaries are granted for the two years' course at the teachers' training colleges. Portugal has three universities at Lisbon, Coimbra and Oporto, a technical school at Lisbon, and a higher school of agriculture, besides colleges of music and art at Lisbon and Oporto. (X.; C. BR.) It was not till 1914 that primary education became compulsory in Belgium. By the act of 1914 free primary education from six to 14 was made universal. Between the ages of 12 and 14 half time was allowed. The communes may "adopt" and make grants to private schools which reach a required standard and which exempt pupils from religious instruction at their parents' wish. But 20 parents in any commune may demand the establishment of a public primary school. Schools recognized as qualified for adoption receive a State grant. The size of classes in primary schools is restricted to 5o. There are special regulations for bilingual areas (Flemish and French) .
An interesting feature in Belgian education is the treatment of the religious question. The law of 1842 obliged the communes to provide primary instruction, which was to be free in the case of poor children. Subject to a conscience clause, religious instruc tion was obligatory. The law of 1879 removed religious instruc tion from the curriculum, and provided for facilities to the clergy to give such instruction outside school hours. This law evoked a storm of opposition, and within eighteen months the Catholics founded private primary schools with 455,00o scholars. The law of 1884 gave liberty to the communes to provide for religious and moral instruction, subject to a conscience clause, and the law of 1895 made it obligatory. Under the present law, passed in 1914, it is still obligatory, subject to a conscience clause. It is controlled by the clergy, and all recognized denominations have equal rights in the public schools.
The outstanding feature of education in Holland is the strength of the private primary schools. The law of 1878 allowed com munes to make grants to private schools on condition of their becoming neutral in the matter of religion. The law of 1889 allowed private denominational schools to receive Government grants, but forbade further grants to such schools by the corn munes. Of late years there has been acute strife concerning the demand of religious bodies to maintain denominational schools wholly supported by the State, ending in the Act of 1920 which con ceded the demand. The result, according to P. A. Diels, was to duplicate schools by denomination, with a frequent loss of effi ciency, and to add to the expense incurred by the State. An out cry for economy followed, and teachers' salaries were lowered, while the size of classes, reduced under the Act of 192o, was again increased.
The 1920 act, further, created the Unitary School, and estab lished parents' committees. Compulsory education is from the ages of seven to 13 ; the age was lowered to six in 192 r, but raised again to seven for reasons of economy in 1924. The Government has now introduced a bill restoring the age of six. Child labour is illegal before the age of 14, so that there is a gap of one year in many cases between leaving school and starting employment. Pupils pass from the primary to the higher schools at 12. Admis sion to secondary schools is by certificate of capacity from the head of the primary school.
Switzerland's education is based on a democratic system of local authorities. The central authority is the canton. The Federal Constitution states that primary instruction must be compulsory and gratuitous; that the public schools must be open to all without prejudice to freedom of faith and conscience, and religious in struction be optional; forbids the employment of child labour before the completion of the 14th year; and rules that all recruits for the Federal army (in which service is compulsory on a militia basis) shall be examined in their loth year. The Federal authority also controls the entrance examinations for certain professional studies.
The commune is the unit for primary education, covering the years from six to 14. In the primary schools classes are still large; 7o is not uncommon, and nowhere is the maximum below 5o. Several communes in combination form a district authority for the support of higher primary schools (Sekundarschulen). The secondary schools are maintained by the cantonal authority. Religious instruction in the Swiss communal schools generally fol lows the faith of the majority; in a few cantons separate schools are provided for minorities if sufficiently numerous.
Attendance at continuation schools is compulsory for appren tices in most cantons ; the cantonal authorities frequently dele gate compulsory powers to the communes in the case of other children. It is usual to allow two years to elapse between leaving the primary school and entering the continuation school.
The three Scandinavian countries are closely akin educationally. All three can boast that State education has banished illiteracy. All three, with Denmark in the vanguard, have developed popular adult education in the form of residential people's high schools. The prevalence of co-education, in Scandinavia as elsewhere, is a measure of economy adopted by peoples resolved to secure educa tional efficiency in spite of limited means.
The modern State educational organization is that of the Unitary school. Education is compulsory from the ages of seven to 14. Admission to the secondary school is secured by examina tion. Primary education in State schools is free. In the higher "examining" schools, fees are graded according to the parents' income. Denmark's woman minister of education, Nina Bang, has introduced two new bills : (1) dealing with the training of teachers; (2) limiting the power of the clergy on the local school committees and establishing joint committees of teachers and parents.
Denmark's great contribution to education, her people's high schools, were inspired by Bishop Grundtvig (1783-1872). The early years of the 19th century were a time of national humiliation and spiritual stagnation for the country. The people's high schools, as Grundtvig conceived them, were to give no vocational instruc tion, to prepare for no examinations; they were to deepen the moral and spiritual life of the students, and to open to them the treasures of national history and tradition, of poetry and thought, and to show them history as the slow fulfilment of a Divine pur pose. They were to depend on the living force of the teacher's words rather than on book learning. In 1844 a successful begin ning was made with such a school at Rodding by Prof. Flor. Seven years later Kristen Kold established a school at Funen on simpler and more popular lines. He is described in the English Board of Education Special Reports as "a sort of rustic blend of Soc rates and Pestalozzi." The people's high schools receive State subsidies and are inspected by the State, but no attempt is made to dictate curricula or interfere with their freedom. They are open to both sexes between the ages of 18 and 25; the men as a rule attend in winter, the women in summer. Since Grundtvig's time there has been a departure from the rule of excluding voca tional instruction, and much of the success of Danish agricultural co-operation is attributed to the high educational standard of the farming community, thanks to the people's high schools.
The new scheme sanctioned by parliament in 1927 provides for six years' compulsory attendance at the common primary school ; and a four-years' secondary course followed by three years at the gymnasium, which leads to the university. The number of subjects studied is to be reduced and more team work on special research is to be encouraged.
Like Austria, the new Czechoslovak republic had to transform an absolutist, bureaucratic educational system into one adapted to train a democracy ; like Poland, it had weld provinces with widely different customs and cultural traditions. Besides Czechs, the republic includes German-speaking Bohemia, with a `high cultural tradition, and Slovakia, which was more backward and more illiterate, as under the Magyar regime most Slovak-speaking schools had been suppressed.
School attendance is compulsory from the age of six; for Slovakia compulsion was at first imposed for six years only, for the rest of the republic for eight years; in 1928 the eight years' compulsion was legally extended to Slovakia. In the larger towns the primary course is divided into five years at the primary school proper and three at the higher grade school. Children are ad mitted by examination at the age of ten to the several types of secondary school, with a seven or eight years' course. The law provides for the establishment of compulsory continuation schools for pupils 14 to 16.
Provision has been made for a gradual reduction in the size of primary school classes ; in 1933 a maximum of 6o is contemplated. Religious instruction is obligatory, subject to a conscience clause, and is controlled by the various churches. Private schools are recognized by the State, and in Slovakia there are a large number of denominational primary schools. Educationalists aim at trans ferring these to the State, since a locality is often less well served by two inferior denominational schools than it would be by con centrating all resources on a single efficient public school. Diffi culties arose in Slovakia from the fact that many of the teachers were previously Hungarians who did not speak Slovak. All teachers are now required to learn Slovak, but there has been a shortage, only partially made good by Czech-speaking teachers. In Prague the Czech university dates from 1348 and the Ger man (added to it in the 18th century) was separated in 1882. The republic founded the universities of Czech Masaryk at Brno (Briinn) and the Slovak Comenius at Bratislava. (M. M. G.) When Poland became an independent State in 1918 she had to weld three provinces, with the widely differing administrative systems of three empires: Congress Poland (Russian), Posen (Prussian) and Galicia (Austrian). In Congress Poland educa tion was rudimentary, and even in 1919-20 there was 5o% absen teeism among children of school age. Galicia was accustomed to far greater local autonomy. Posen had enjoyed efficient German administration and showed only 2% absenteeism before the World War; the fact that the rate had increased in 1919-20 was prob ably due to the effort at abrupt Polonization.
An act of 192o brought all education under the control of the minister in Warsaw. The communes were responsible for school buildings and the State for teachers' salaries. Education was made compulsory from seven to 14, but the law was not in full operation in 1928. A public school may provide teaching in a language other than Polish where there is a sufficient number of children with a different mother tongue.
All public secondary schools are required by the Constitution to be free. Admission is open to all who pass a qualifying examination at the end of the sixth year at the primary school. Private schools which conform to Government requirements are given equal recog nition with Government schools. Many inefficient schools have been compelled to close.
The new State found universities already established at Cracow, Warsaw and Lwow (Lemberg) ; it has founded new ones at Poznan and Vilna and a Catholic university has been founded at Lublin. (M. M. G.)