CHAPTER XX. EDUCATION IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. Elementary education in London-Agricultural education in France-Trade and industrial schools in Switzerland-American colleges in Asia Minor-Education in the Argentine Republic-Remarks on the tables-Comparative statistics of education in foreign countries (Table 111)-Ratio of school enrolment to total population, etc., in foreign countries (Table 112). REPORT UPON ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN LONDON FOR THE YEAR ENDING LADY-DAY (MARCH 25, 1887). The following information is derived from the report of Rev. Joseph R. Diggle, chairman of the school board for London, and from the reports of the several committees of the board: The reports, mentioned as the sources of information, do not give further particulars relative to voluntary schools. From the report of the committee of council on education for the year ending August 31, 1886, it appears that the entire teaching staff for state-aided elementary schools in London was 11,392. The remaining particulars here given must be understood as relating solely to the 397 board schools. In addition to the 6,437 adult teachers enumerated above, the board employed 1,204 salaried pupil-teachers and 425 probationers without salary. The total expenditure amounted to $4, 903,845, of which $3,740,877 were for teachers' salaries. The average expenditure per child was $15.33, of which $9 was chargeable to rates, and $1.70 to fees, leaving $1.63 per child to be met from Government grants. a of the elementary school class, which includes six-sevenths of the population. The results of the inspectors' examinations show that the teaching of elementary subjects has reached the bighest point yet attained. The percentages of passes were as follows: arithmetic, 87.3; writing, 90.6; reading, 95.7. With respect to other subjects, Chairman Diggle says: "There is a space of time daily set apart for the purpose of teaching the children, through Bible lessons, the essential principles upon which right conduct depends. In every school the children are taught to sing, and to sing by note. By means of extension exercises and drill, not only is the physical well-being of the children promoted, but those habits of discipline and obedience are formed, some of the results of which were observed last June in the admirable bearing and conduct of the children at the jubilee fête in Hyde Park. Throughout the boys' departments the boys are taught drawing, whilst needlework is similarly taught in the girls' departments. All the children take English_as a class subject, which means that a certain amount of repetition is learnt, and a simple knowledge of English grammar is acquired. "Practically, all the boys are taught geography, whilst it is taught to about only 10 per cent. of the girls. On the other hand, more than 9,000, or about 11 per cent., of the girls acquired some knowledge of practical cookery. History, which as a class subject is still undefined in the education code, and of which the systematized course is left wholly to the discretion of Her Majesty's inspector and the school teacher, is, I regret to notice, only taught systematically to 3,400 boys and 600 girls. This shows a slight increase in the number of girls as compared with the previous year, but a decrease of 1,000 in the number of boys. Of the children eligible to be examined in specific subjects, exclusive of cookery, about 40 per cent. of the boys and 20 per cent. of the girls were presented and passed. The principal subjects in which the boys were presented were algebra (3,327 passes) and animal physiology (4,764 passes). These subjects account for 8,000 out of 11,000 passes. There were only 413 passes in French, of which 257 were from one division. "The girls were almost wholly presented for examination in domestic economy, which subject accounts for 4,300 out of 4,200 passes." We He observes, farther, that "The great danger which apparently threatens the steady progress of elementary education is the pressure which is constantly being exerted to render obligatory additional subjects of instruction, without reference to the varying circumstances of the children or the settled conditions of elementary school life. are in danger of destroying the efficiency of elementary education by attempting to teach a little of many things instead of teaching what it is practicable to teach thoroughly and well. Of the children in the London board schools, 96 per cent. leave school before the age of 13 years. Whilst the child attends school he is taught for about 5 hours daily for five days in the week. In the case of a large proportion of the children, their home circumstances either altogether preclude, or render extremely difficult, the preparation of home lessons in aid of the ordinary school work. When they are absent from the influence of the school, they are surrendered to the education of the street. It is quite impossible to carry out an ambitions educational programmo under such conditions as these. But what it is possible to do, is to teach the elementary subjects thoroughly and intelligently, and in such a manner as to instil into the minds of the children the desire for knowledge and a sense of enjoyment in its pursuit." In 1885 the board began an experiment in manual training for boys in one of the schools. The boys are selected from the seventh standard and instructed in carpentry two afternoons in each week. Through the liberality of the city guilds, a sum of $4,875 has been provided for the purpose of extending the experiment. In consideration of the fact that 96 per cent. of the children leave school before they are 13 years of age, the chairman urges the importance of a more efficient system of evening or continuation schools by which their instruction may be continued long enough to insure lasting results. Elementary education is conducted, as has been noted, in board and voluntary schools. The latter are established mainly by the several religious denominations. The following account of the largest and, in many respects, the most remarkable of the voluntary schools is from official sources: JEWS' FREE SCHOOL, BELL LANE, SPITALFIELDS, LONDON. The Jews' free school, when founded in 1817, was constructed as a Lancasterian school for 600 boys and 300 girls. The staff for teaching, as in all similar institutions, consisted of a principal teacher and monitors. These latter, besides giving instruction to the mass of pupils, received special teaching for their own benefit. The results produced by this system were neither good nor satisfactory. Up till 1840 the school continued to be conducted in this way. In that year Mr. Moses Angel was appointed head-master. He soon discovered the weak points of the monitorial method and urged upon the managers the necessity of modifying it. At first his representations produced no effect; but when the late Sir Anthony de Rothschild became president of the institution, Mr. Angel found in him an enlightened and liberal-minded supporter. As a consequence, in 1848 the school premises were modified so as to adapt them to what was deemed a better system of education, and since then, at various periods, the development of the building has been steady and progressive. It should be mentioned that much of the means necessary to pay the large cost entailed by successive structural alterations and additions was provided by Sir A. de Rothschild and his coadjutor, Mr. Alfred Davis, for many years treasurer of the school. This latter gentleman gave to the school £30,000 during his life, and at his death endowed it with a further sum of £30,000. In 1855, on a plan suggested by Mr. Moses Angel, the head-master, six class rooms were built for boys, and what had been previously the master's house was converted into class rooms for girls. Meanwhile the numbers of pupils of both sexes continued to increase. In 1865 the committee of management, urged by Mr. Angel, bought a large quantity of land and erected on it two immense stacks of class rooms for boys and girls. The school was thus rendered capable of accommodating 1,800 boys and 1,000 girls. Nor was the change in the teaching staff less than that in the building. In 1853 the school was placed under Government inspection, and forthwith the monitors disappeared. Their places were supplied partly by pupil-teachers and partly by adult teachers, and in order to insure a proper supply of these officers Mr. Angel inaugurated a system of training which made the school a normal college as well as a primary school. Under this system all male and female teachers, on attaining the proper age, were expected to submit themselves to the examination for certificates required by the education code; and in addition all male teachers who showed aptitude were educated for degrees at the University of London. Great success attended this new departure. Above two hundred certificated teachers and a large number of graduates (including two M. A.'s, one LL. B., thirty B. A.'s) have been pupils of the school, and the supply is still going on. It having become evident, in 1883, that the buildings were no longer adapted to the demands, new plans were formed, and in March, 1884, the old buildings were demolished, and on their site a magnificent set of class-rooms, surrounding a great central hall, was erected at a cost of £25,000. By this means the school was rendered capable of accommodating 2,250 boys and 1,250 girls, and in a very short time those numbers of children were entered on the school registers. And indeed such is the popularity of the school, because of its splendid success under inspection, and such are its special attractions for the poor foreign Jewish immigrants into England (victims of persecution and oppression in Russia and Germany), who find in it sympathy and religious consolation and enlightenment, that, notwithstanding the fact that the London school board is providing schools with Jewish teachers for the large numbers of Jews located in the east end of London, hundreds of applicants for admission have to be sent away from want of space and impossibility to provide more teaching power than at present exists. The actual condition of the school as regards staff and accommodation is as follows: Boys' department.-One head-inaster; one vice-master; thirty certificated assistants; six assistants who are past-pupil-teachers; twenty-one pupil-teachers and probationers; forty-five class-rooms and the central hall; a library and private rooms for the masters and the principal teachers. Girls' department.-One head-mistress; twenty certificated assistants; eight assistants who are past-pupil-teachers; ten pupil-teachers; three teachers of needle-work; a large staff of domestics for teaching cooking, house-work, washing, ironing, and mangling under the direction of the head-mistress; twenty-eight class-rooms; a complete and spacious domestic department, including a dining hall; an extensive laundry and its necessary accompaniments; vestiaries and store-rooms. Other details.-Annual expenditure of public money about £11,000, of which £3,300 is earned as grant by the examination under inspection. [In addition to this amount a very large sum is provided by private benevolence of Lord Rothschild and his family. By this means every child is clothed once annually, and receives two pairs of boots; summer excursions are provided, medical and other aid is rendered available, where required, for teachers and pupils; and indeed there is no reasonable want felt that is not liberally provided for.] The property of the school realizes an income of about £3,000. The annual deficit is supplied by public contributions. Every officer (male and female) on the teaching staff, except the gempstresses, has been trained in this school by Mr. Angel, The benefits of the school are conferred on the children gratis. There is a nominal charge of id per week, but it is not enforced, and no child is sent home for failure of payment. All teaching, books, university fees, etc., for teachers under training are provided without cost to the teachers. The ladies of the Rothschild family, with other ladies, regularly attend to supervise the girls' department by examination of children and by consultation with the head-mistress. The board of management meets once a month for general direction, but there is an executive committee, consisting of the honorary officers, which meets whenever required. Moreover the president is willing to receive the head-master in conference whenever the latter desires to see him. Besides providing for its own wants in the supply of teachers, the free school has sent trained men and women to fulfil scholastic or synagogical appointments in various parts of England, in the British colonies, and to the United States. The Rev. Dr. Raphael Benjamin, M. A., of Cincinnati, Mr. Raphael Dalosta Lewin (of New York); the Rev. Abraham Harris, formerly of Charleston; Mr. Josiah Cohen, barrister at law (originally a teacher), Pittsburg, Pa., are among old pupils of the school. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN FRANCE. [The following circular, addressed to the prefects by the French minister of agriculture, gives in a brief form a complete view of the public provision for agricultural education in France.] MONSIEUR LE PRÉFET: The importance, every day greater, which agriculture is taking in the economic position of nations has attracted to it much attention from the various Governments. In France a capital of more than a hundred millions is employed, and the least improvement in working and the smallest invention in machinery bring about an augmentation of production, which means for the country an immediate increase of some hundreds of millions in wealth. Parliament and the public authorities have neglected nothing to second private initiative; shows, subventions to agricultural associations, publications, etc.; everything has been done to keep French agriculture in the position it has always held. Agricultural education, the surest and most powerful means of giving to improvement a new impulse, is being developed in some countries to a high degree, and in France has been the subject of special studies, which has given it a most complete organization. As you know, at the head of our agricultural education, reëstablished in 1876 by the Republic, is the National Agricultural Institute, which corresponds to higher teaching in a university, and which provides the most learned professors and chemists. There are the three national agricultural schools of Grignon, Montpellier, and Grandjouan. The schools have been much improved, and are fully equal at present to the demands made upon them. Then come the practical schools of agriculture founded in 1873, of which the law of July 30, 1875, confirmed the existence. Open to the sons of the numerous class, the working and laborious cultivators of the soil, they receive children from the primary schools, and maintain them at a lower rate than the smaller colleges, and when they are strong enough and their intellectual instruction sufficiently developed, they return to their homes in order to assist in the work of cultivation. These schools satisfy in that respect the desiderata of those who protest against intellectual overpressure, for a portion of the day is devoted to manual and a portion to intellectual labor. At the present moment these schools number nineteen, and each day we are asked to establish new ones. The time is approaching in the near future when each department will have to possess at least one of these useful institutions; but before founding one it will be necessary to examine carefully the needs and resources of the department, so as to provide in the school for the study and teaching of certain questions relating to culture and the agricultural industry, such as dairying, cheese production, viticulture, horticulture, arboriculture, irrigation, etc. But the children who enter these institutions direct from primary schools must have had a certain amount of preparation. In that view it will be necessary, in agricultural centres, to direct the courses of higher primary schools especially towards agriculture. Thus we must organize in the lower primary schools a course of instruction in the first ideas and the principal applications of science in reference to agricultural instruction, over which the teachers must carefully keep watch, for it is the basis of all the others. I must call your attention more particularly to one point. For the higher primary schools, and especially in the lower, we never find among candidates a sufficient |