EVENING ;SCHOOLS. Schools found in England, the United States, and the leading Con tinental countries of Europe. whose principal ob ject is to provide either elementary or special in struction for those who are unable to attend day schools on account of the necessity of earning a livelihood. They supply three classes of wants: (1) Primary instruction, for the illiterate, ju venile or adult ; (2) vocational training, com mercial or industrial; (3) the desire for some higher, liberal culture on the part of the masses generally, and especially of those who have en joyed few or no opportunities for advanced in struction in the ordinary schools. The evening school, from being a place for mere primary instruction, is rapidly becoming more and more either a vocational or a higher-culture school. Such schools are the mechanical institutes and workingmen's colleges in England. the Prussian Fortbildungsschulen, the various classes of courses for adults, the evening work in the apprentice schools in France, and the evening high schools and such institutions as Cooper Union in the United States.
In Germany the evening schools may be said to spring from the old Sunday-schools, which in 1 760 began to give, in addition to religious in struction, some training in primary work. Late in the eighteenth century cities took up the task of supplementing the somewl.at meagre education that some of the poorer children had received, Berlin being the first to found a free school for manual workers. In 1344 the Prussian Cultus minister issued a circular calling attention to the need of such schools, but, although this was im mediately followed by considerable activity in the matter, it soon languished. Eventually, how ever, their numher increased, and their position became more definite. They extended the t hue of instruction to from four to eight hours a week, occupying evenings usually. With the rapid development of industrial and commercial life, and the elaboration of the school system, they turned more and more to giving instruction in technical and eommercial !natters. Their curric ulum, originally confined to German and arith metic. came to include elementary geometry and
drawing. then history, geography, and natural science, with bookkeeping, correspondowe, etc. Ticpc Fort bildungssrhulen or continuation schools attempt to fit the course of study to the occupa tions .A the school locality. Those in the cities are classified as industrial, while those in the country emphasize subjects of study relating to agriculture. They are often connected with schools for special trades or occupations, and in fact such schools are classified under continuation schools frequently. Many of them do not carry on their work in the evening. In Prussia, if we include the trade and commercial schools, there are over 3000 continuation schools at present, and in the rest of Germany about four times that number.
Although schools for the education of adults had existed in France as early as 1709, the no tion of having evening schools for this purpose seems to have been introduced from England in 1820, when such an institution was established in Paris. After 1803 the movement was extended, and in 1867 there were 35,000 such classes in France. A decline in number followed, but re cently they have again been on the increase, numbering, in 1397-93, 30,184. The classes for women are separate from those for men. The work is (1) for illiterates. or (2) a review of primary work, or (3) preparation for special vo cations. To gain this last end these have a variety of kinds of instruction. In 1876 the Comit6 d'encouragement des Etudes rommerciales began the establishment of commercial evening schools, while the SoeiW Polyteehnique and the Society Philotechnique. founded in 1830 and 1848 respect ively. are now offering evening instniction in commercial branches, industrial and constructive arts, and mathematics. in addition there is a. considerable movement in the direction of Univer sity Extension courses, which are held in the even ing. In general it may be said that the French evening schools do not attend quite so much to liberal and ethical training as do the German continuation schools, but emphasize more specific industrial and commercial work.