This board is usually composed of representatives (1) of the patrons, if any, of the school; (2) of the parochial clergy; (3) of the municipal body; (4) of the householders. It has a stated meeting once a quarter; it. meets whenever it is summoned by the chair• man. It manages the revenue and expenditure of the school, in respect of which it is responsible to the landrath; it is the trustee of the school-buildings and property. It is its duty to see that the regular school-hours are kept; that no unauthorized holidays are given; to it application must be made for dispensations for periods exceeding a week. Its members should be present at all examinations and other public solemnities of the school. In the large towns there are school-delegacies appointed by the magistrat, whose powers are more extensive, and are in practice the greater, because in the large towns the pastors pay little attention to the schools. The school-delegacies have control over the higher as well as the primary schools which their constituents maintain; two paid mem bers—school-delegates—who must be members of the magistrat, exercise the greater part of their authority. Under the delegacy. for every school there is a school-board, consist ingif the clergyman and two lay members, whom the delegacy appoints. The delega•y itseif is accountable to the magistrat, and both are subordinate to the provincial council.
Every commune is hound to find school-room and teachers for all the children of school age belonging to it. The amount of the teacher's stipend is in every case fixed by the departmental government: there is no legal minimum; the salaries are usually very low. Some parishes possess endowments; but in f.7eneral, the cost of maintaining the schools is defrayed by means of (1) school-fees; (2) a local rate; (3) a grant. from the national treasury. As children are only expected to pay what they can, and as the state grants aid only after the strictest proof of the Mr:rip:icily of the commune, the weiobt of the burden falls upon the local rate. The maintenance of the schools ranks with the first charges upon the local purse. The teacher is appointed by the departmental councilor; in a few towns, however, a certain power of choice is allowed to the municipal authorities—they may select one from a number of candidates presented to them by the g.o•ernment.
School-attendance is by law compnlso•y for eight years; the school age beginning at the complet ton 10e. fifth year most parts of Prussia, children,_ though allowed.
are not compe114,04ttend. the completion. thdr sixth Year. The sdhool-period closes with confirmation. A register of all children of school age is made up—usually at the police office; every child is registered for a particular school; there, whatever his rank, he must attend, unless a dispensation be got for hint from the landrath. Wheu a dispensation is applied for, the parents must state the motives of tire application, and the prevision to he made for the child's education. All persons officiady connected with schools are exit:Altai to use their influence to secure regular attendance; but failing moral suasion, there are other means of enforcing it. The school-master keeps a list of absences, excused and inexcused. When a child's attendance is irregular, the board of managers admonishes its parent. If admonition—which in general is repeatedly resorted to—has no effect, a statement is sent to the police office: the parent is tined a small stun for each day of the child's absence since the last admonition; and the line can be levied by execution, enforced by imprisonment, or taken out in parish labor. It seems that very few children escape registration; but the regularity of the attendance—in general it is very regular—varies considerably in different districts; the execution of the law being strict or otherwise according to the temper of the people, their circumstances, and the vigilance of the school-authorities. There are no statistics by which the success of the
law can be exactly tested. In some of the larger towns the demand for child-labor and the growth of pauperism are adding to the difficulty of enforcing it. Prussia has a fac tory-law requiring that every child employed in a factory shall attend school for three hours a day, and this law is strictly enforced.
Teachers of every class, public and private, have to pass two examinations. Certifi cates are of three degrees of merit—they may be marked " very well qualified," "well qualified," or "sufficiently qualified." The heads of examination are the German language, the art of school-keeping, geography of Prussia, arithmetic and geometry, knowledge of nataral objects, writing, drawing, singing, and the theory of music, organ." After the first examination the candidate is eligible as an assistant or provisional master; he must serve in this capacity for three years before taking the second; he must pass the second within five years. The second examination is in the same subjects; but now most weight is given to the art of school-keeping. Of the sub jects taught in primary schools the principal is religion; the others are reading, writing, arithmetic, singing, and the elements of drawing. Incidentally, the teacher may com municate information about natural phenomena; about geography, beginning with that of the locality, and the history of Prussia. The teaching was much more ambitious before 1854; before 1854, also, the normal schools, now limited to a meager programme, were universities on a small scale, aiming at the mental training of their students, rather than at fitting them to teach elementary schools. The change is often aseribed,poth in Prussia and out of it, to political motives, havingbeen made by a party unfriendly to popular education; but eminent educationists defend and approve it. The schools, they say, are now attempting as much as can be thoroughly done in the time allotted for primary education, and are doing it thoroughly; while the showy teaching of former times, with its endeavor to develop the faculties, and to communicate neglected the indispensable elementary instruction, and, as regarded the greater number of the scholars, was in no respect successful. Vie normal school training, it is said, now fits the teacher for his duties and his position in life; formerly it rather unfitted him for them, while fitting him perhaps for something better. It is, however, admittedly a defect in the Prussian system that it offers to the humbler classes no opportunity of carrying their education beyond the point at which the elementary schools leave it. In some of the towns there are improvement institutes, where young persons are taught in the evenings or on Sundays; but they attempt little, are badly organized, and are neglected by the school administrations. It should be stated that the town schools often teach somewhat more than is taught in country places—more geography, history, and natural knowledge—but this, though permitted, is not encourged by the authorities. Grammar is entirely excluded from primary instruction. The only part of the teach which is less than excellent is the writing: it has been stated that upwards of 5eper cent of the recruits are unable to write—the art, never perfectly mastered, being lost, it must be supposed, through want of practice.