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in accordance with the ideas of Madame Pel- | (half-a-crown) a day for travelling expenses let de la Lozère, that ladies should be in- when on his circuit; and one franc for every duced to form communal committees for the school visited. Altogether from 3200 to superintendence of female and infant schools, 3500 fr. (L. 130 to L.140) per annum. similar to those of the other sex for boys; but the plan has entirely failed.

We come now to consider the amount of instruction afforded to boys in the primary schools. It comprehends reading, writing, a little arithmetic, and geography. Though it was M. Guizot's wish that moral and religious instruction should be the most promi. nent part of the education given in these schools, we were sorry to learn, from a zealous agent of that minister in the south of France, that "l'instruction morale et religieuse y est nulle." A curé may have six, and a Protestant pasteur as many as eight, communes in his parish, so that some cannot, and others will not, instruct the children in these subjects; while such is the incompetence of the masters to supply the deficiency, that it has been forbidden them to attempt to explain the selections from the Bible which the children read, but which there can be little hope that they understand.

It was the intention of government that the mutual or monitorial system of instruction should be employed in these primary schools, but the irregularity of attendance has in many cases prevented this, by rendering it impossible to form a competent body of monitors. They are consequently taught simultaneously in classes. There appears also to exist some jealousy on the part of the Catholics to this system, which is never adopted in the schools under the direction of the Frères de la Doctrine Chrétienne.

*

For the purpose of affording a more enlarged course of instruction to artizans, manufacturers, and master-workmen, it was originally intended that, in all communes containing above 6000 inhabitants, there should be a public secondary school, intermediate between the elementary ones and the Royal Colleges, of which there are twentyfour in France. These have, however, never come into operation, the necessity of them having been in some measure obviated by the opening of a short course, called a cours spécial, in the royal colleges, a course of study which lasts only three, instead of eight years, the time required to pass through the regular college education. This course of secondary instruction comprises modern languages, history, and geography, grammar, and composition, book-keeping, drawing, chemistry applied to the arts, elementary geometry and mensuration, and the elements of natural history.

Such are the beginnings which have been made in France towards a general system of national education for the whole people. That it presents considerable deficiencies, will be allowed by all who have formed a due estimate of the magnitude of the object which it is proposed to effect, particularly in the abscence of moral and religious instruction,in the impossibility hitherto experienced in establishing the mutual or monitorial method of teaching,-and in the total want, in many places, of public education for females and For the purpose of obtaining a unity of infants. Neither can we consider any syssystem in these schools, and to superintend tem perfect which does not embrace the edu the conduct of the communal committees and cation of the ear and voice, and the cultiva. of the masters, the minister of public instruc- tion of the taste, by affording instruction in tion appoints eighty inspectors, making about singing. Sufficient acquaintance with music, one for each of the eighty-six departments. to be able to sing together correctly in chorus, These inspectors are immediatelysubordinate may be acquired by at least three-fourths of to the préfetof the department in all that regards a given number of individuals during the pe finance, and to one of the twenty-four rectors riod of their ordinary schooling, as is proved of academies for what regards education. in Germany and Switzerland. A faculty is Their duty is to visit each school in their thus acquired which conduces essentially to department at least once a-year, and to ex- the morality of places where it is generally amine the children and every thing connect- exercised, by affording an innocent, tasteful, ed with its concerns, pointing out in writing and economical amusement on Sundays and to the communal committee any defects which holidays, which replaces the less improving require to be remedied, of which document indulgences of the beer-shop. At the same a copy is retained by the inspector to be re-time, by furnishing the children's memory ferred to on the next yearly visit. They with moral and patriotic songs, many exalted have the power to assemble the conseil mu nicipal, to receive complaints of the master, and to report him to the comité d'arrondissement, by whom he may be dismissed. An inspec or has a fixed salary of 2000 fr. (L.80) a year; and, in addition, three fr.

* It is proposed in the budget of this year to increase the funds allowed for inspection from 240,000 to 430,000 fr. so as to enable the inspectors to employ the services of sub-inspectors, their duties being found too arduous to be performed without assistance.

feelings may be inspired into them, which dry didactic teaching might have failed to produce. That singing forms a delightful part of the religious exercises of all Christians, should also surely cause the cultivation of this talent to occupy a more conspicuous place in the education, not only of the lower, but of all classes, than it now does in England. How mortified have we often felt on entering the English chapel after leaving a church in Switzerland, where the children assembled to be catechized had, with no other music than their own voices, under the leading of a clerk, offered a melodious tribute of praise to their Creator! In our own congregation a dull organ was going through the notes of a psalm, all the congregation standing in solemn silence, not a single voice answering to the invitation, "Let us sing to the praise and the glory of God."

But, to return to the French schools, the indifference in seconding the views of go. vernment, which has made the introduction of general education in France difficult and imperfect, seems to be traceable to that baneful system of centralization which prevails in that country, and which, by taking all independent authority out of the hands of individuals or corporations, and vesting the direction of all local interests in the agents of government, has tended to deprive her citizens of the habit of concerning themselves about their local affairs. It constantly obliges them to expect from government, and not from their own energies, the supply of every want; so that where the zealous concurrence of the public is required for the success of any measure, little aid from this quarter is to be expected; and, indeed, an actual spirit of resistance is often excited by the attempt to force on the people benefits of which they have not learned, by discussion among themselves, to feel the necessity. It is to be hoped, therefore, that, whenever we adopt a plan of general education, it may be one which shall call into operation that willingness to discharge a public duty, that strong public spirit, which a long habit of in dependently directing our own local affairs has widely spread over our country. We must combine the advantages of a general surveillance, and a central directing power, with a freedom of local action, so that the administration of the means of education may be left as much as possible in the direc tion of the population for whose benefit they are intended.

Another direction in which the German system of popular education has extended it. self is Italy, where the Austrian government has the credit of having introduced it into Lombardy fourteen years ago.

The population of this country amounted in 1835 to 2,455,539, comprised in 2233 comuni, forming nine provinces. The general introduction of elementary schools in Lombardy commenced in 1822. Two objects are proposed in their establishment: the first being to afford to the humblest class, both agricultural and manufucturing, instruction adapted to their condition; and the second, to furnish the youth of the middle classes with an education which shall fit them for pursuing commerce, agriculture, or the useful arts.

For the first object are designed the lesser elementary schools (called scuole minori,) in which are received separately children of each sex between the ages of six and twelve.* The instruction which they here receive com. prises religion, reading, writing, arithmetic, the first rudiments of grammar; and for the girls, needle work and knitting. They are divided into two classes, and the course of instruction is complete in three years at most.

For the children of those above the lowest classes there are higher schools, (called scuole maggiori,) some of which are divided into three classes, and some into four. The first are for both sexes, the latter only for boys.

In the two first classes of all these schools the instruction is the same as that in the lesser schools; in the third class is taught caligraphy, composition, the higher parts of arithmetic applied practically to the necessities of life; and in the female schools, fine needle-work and embroidery. In the boy's schools, which have four classes, the preceding branches of instruction are followed by a course which lasts two years, in which are taught the elements of geometry, natural history, and mechanics, and the drawing of ornaments, machines, maps, and architec. ture; the manner of teaching being both theoretical and practical. Some of these institutions are at the expense of the central government-some are provided for by the different communes. The higher schools of three classes for boys, as well as the lesser elementary schools for both sexes, are entirely at the expense of the comuni; whereas the four-class schools, and those of three classes for girls, are provided by the govern ment. One of each of these last kinds is established in the principal town of each of

families are compelled to send their children to By art lxiii. of the law of 1822, all fathers of these schools, (unless they are educated elsewhere,) under pain of a fine for every month's neglect.-Annali di Statistica, vol. xxxix. p. 80, + Every commune containing above fifty chiltwelve, is bound to maintain an elementary dren of both sexes between the ages of six and

school.

the nine provinces, as well as one for girls in Crema and Casalmaggiore.

a fair provision. Another important feature in the education afforded in Lombardy Here we may observe three points in is, that it recognizes the great deficiency of which the Austrian system of popular edu- any system of which religious instruction cation is superior to that as yet established forms no part. The grand evil of the sysin France: first, girls have equal advanta- tem is, that the instruction imparted is liges with boys as far as elementary educa-mited and moulded to suit the views of the tion is necessary for them, and the comuni government, and any independent exercise are found able to support the whole ex- of the knowledge thus acquired is jealously pense; secondly, the superior schools, prevented.

which have failed in France, are here in We will now observe the increase of vigor, being supported by the government; these various kinds of schools during the and nine such, distributed amongst a popu- ten years since their establishment, ending lation of only two millions and a half, seems with 1832:

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Besides these government schools, in which children from six to twelve years old, are gratuitously instructed, there were, in 1832, 228 schools for Sundays and holi days (called scuole festive,) where 4566 children above the age of twelve are taught the duties of religion, and perfected in the knowledge which they had acquired at the public schools. These are opened gratuitously, by parish priests and schoolmasters, in conformity with the following sentence in the instructions to the clergy, attached to the government regulations for elementary schools: "The prescribed period of attendance at the public schools being often in sufficient for the necessary education of the children; in those places where there exists none but elementary schools, the priest will be required to give instruction in religion, and the schoolmaster in other subjects, on the afternoons of holidays, to those above the age at which attendance at the public school ceases to be obligatory."

In some large towns charitable individuals instruct the shopboys and apprentices every evening in all that is most suitable to their condition.

2108
2279

492 1184

81,241 26,524 112,127 54,640

the number of children, chiefly between the ages of six and twelve, who were in 1832 receiving elementary instruction in Lombardy, at the considerable number of 188,879, i. e. one-thirteenth of the inhabitants. At that date there were only ninety-eight comuni without a school, and most of these contained a population below that which the law obliges to maintain one. The readiness of the people to avail themselves. of the benefits of education for their children may be judged of from the fact that,in 1832, there were, in the 2233 comuni of Lombardy, 3443 public school-rooms, of which 473 were gratuitously erected by private beneficence, the rest being entirely at the expense of the comuni.

The yearly expense of public elementary instruction in Lombardy is estimated at 2,550,000 Austrian lire, to the government (about £85,000,) and 1,275,000 to the comuni (£42,000.)

The plans of government will not be complete till two institutions of still higher instruction, for merchants and manufactu rers (scuole tecniche), shall be established, one at Milan, and the other at Venice. All the asylums for foundlings and or. They will teach history, particularly of arts phans have an elementary school attached and commerce, the science of commerce, to them. There are also in Lombardy foreign languages, chemistry applied to the thirty-six charitable boarding schools (con-arts, architecture, mechanics, and hydrau vitti); twenty for 702 boys, and sixteen containing 732 girls.

The elementary schools kept by private individuals, in which the scholars pay for their education, amounted in 1832 to 241; containing about 5119 boys, and 459 with 8631 girls.

The private superior schools, or colleges, contain 721 boys and 1641 girls.

Altogether, therefore, we may estimate

lics.

The government appoint provincial and district inspectors of public schools, on whose efficiency much of the success of the system depends.

Of the whole number of children between the ages of six and twelve years in Lom

* Saggio Statistico sull' Italia, by Colonel Serristori.

bardy, the proportion which frequent the operation. The government schools receive schools differs in the various provinces. It the child at six years old-but in what sort of appears that, on an average of the whole, training has he passed the important years 680 1-3 in every thousand boys of the pro- which have preceded? On the answer to per age frequent the public schools, and this question depends much of the success 428 in every thousand girls The defi- of the subsequent efforts made for his imciency in the attendance of the girls is in provement, nor can any system be complete part accounted for by the more numerous which does not secure a good education from private establishments for their education.* the earliest childhood. It is but recently that To secure a supply of proper persons to this great truth has been plainly perceived assume the important office of schoolmaster and cordially acted upon. must be a principal consideration in every system of general education. The means adopted for training young men for this employment in Lorabardy appear rather deficient. A six months' course in the science of teaching (methodica) is given in the higher schools of Milan and Mantua, and three months in the other schools of four classes. After this course, the aspirant to the office of master must pass a year as assistant in the practice of teaching at some public school. Instruction in the science of teaching is also given to those intended for holy orders in the episcopal seminaries.

Such is a sketch of the government system of popular instruction in Lombardy, which must be contemplated with satisfaction by every one who is interested in the improvement of the human race, and which invites the attention and imitation of all civilized nations.

Yet, much as has been done by the government, the energy and charity of indivi. duals have still great scope for beneficial

In the following table a comparison is made between the number of children who frequent elementary schools and the whole population in different countries: Lombardy Bohemia

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This was the proportion previously to the introduction of the recent system of popular instruction in France. It now is in all France as 1 to about 27.

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Infant schools owe their invention to Ro. bert Owen, who established the first in Scotland in 1824. Five years after this (in 1829,) the Abate Ferranti Aporti, the founder of a school for the deaf and dumb at Cremona, had the honor of first introducing infant schools into Italy by the formation of one in the same town. This first attempt, which was confined to those whose parents could afford to pay for the instruction given, was followed in March of the next year by the establishment, by the aid of some charitable persons, of a second, in which poor boys were received for the whole day and their food given to them gratis. In January, 1833, the same individual, indefatigable in offices of charity, opened a similar one for poor girls, at his own expense. In the four last years these excellent institutions have been very much extended in Lombardy, being encouraged by an Aulic decree of Feb. ruary, 1832, in which the Austrian government expresses its satisfaction at the creation of such schools, and its permission to extend them in all the provinces by means of charitable associations.*

The importance of infant schools, an in. vention which forms an era in the moral progress of mankind, may be considered, with reference to their effects upon public econo. my, and upon public and private morals. By accurate statistical inquiries, it appears that the hardships to which the infants of the poor are exposed reduce the total number of those born to one-fourth at the end of the three first years of their existence. This small surviving portion is frequently reduced by accidents or carelessness to a state of infirmity; a degeneration in health and bodily strength has been caused; and thus hereditary infirmities are propagated, which affect, not only families, but whole districts. These

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physical evils which affect the surviving chil. | indecent, provincialisms; to telling them dren are much corrected by the cleanliness, stories of witches, fairies, and apparitions the security from bodily injury, the whole. of ghosts and goblins, fit only to fill their minds with vain terrors; no development some diet, and the gymnastic exercises, afforded to the intellectual faculties; no which they enjoy in an infant school. The direction adapted to form their young scrofulous affections and rachitis, under which judgment; so that, in short, the whole systhey are often suffering when first received tem of education given to their virgin into the schools, are completely eradicated, minds seems rather adapted to corrupt or greatly mitigated by the wholesome life them in their first exertion and in their they lead. A flattering testimony to the im- earliest development. 3. In reference to portance of these advantages was borne by chiefs arise, whether from the practice of their physical faculties: innumerable misthe physicians of Florence, when the ap condemning children to sit for many hours proach of the cholera to that city, in 1835, a-day without stirring in baby-chairs, or threatened it with a visitation. Upon that from allowing them to indulge without occasion the medical faculty, being consulted check their naturally immoderate spirits. as to the propriety of closing the infant Excessive restraint causes weakness of schools of that city, in case the disease should body and every deformity which alters its make its appearance there, gave it as their proportions, and which often renders them wretched and useless through the remainopinion, that the danger arising from a num-der of their days. From the contrary exber of children being collected together in these schools would be counter-balanced by the advantages to their general health which they enjoyed whilst frequenting them. The mothers often express their delight that they can now go about their work with light hearts, knowing that their children are not only in safety but also improving in goodness; whereas, before the establishment of these schools, they were compelled to leave them the whole day to the care of some neighbor more wretched than themselves, where their health and their morals suffered equally.

Indeed, the moral benefits resulting from these institutions are still more important than their effect upon the health of the children.

treme serious accidents often occur, which leave behind them permanent injuries, or lameness and mutilations, which render them a burden to society. From these causes result injury to their bodily health and strength, a moral corruption not easihabits of forming erroneous judgments ly remedied, and false ideas of things, and are implanted in the tender minds of the children. These two last evils are the more worthy of attention inasmuch as daily experience proves how indelible are the early impressions and first ideas which we receive in tender infancy. It is a false opinion that at an early age children are incapable of learning any thing reasonable. Children are apt to learn as soon as they can speak, and it is a sad waste of the most precious time of life to allow them to occupy their first years in trifles. Nor is it more correct to suppose that they do not at that age employ their reason; any one who will observe their little sports, and listen to their conversation, will be convinced of it. It must not, however, be supposed from this that we think it right to extend widely the sphere of instructions which we consider useful to infancy. Having established the possibility of instruction and education, we select only those subjects adapted to the nature of infants, and such as are suggested by the exercises without the direction of guide or master. which they practise when left to themselves, For instance, we observe that children "1. In the moral habits, obstinacy and (even of a tender age) at the sight of a caprice often manifest themselves, origi- new object immediately ask its name. nating in the over-indulgence of their pa- Now why may we not profitably excite rents; the spirit of revenge, taught them their curiosity, either by offering to their by the practice of satisfying the child for consideration objects necessary or useful any pain which he endures, by guiding to be known, or by asking them the names his hand to strike the real or supposed which they do not yet know of objects alauthor of the injury; shyness and awk-ready familiar to them? In this way is wardness, caused by living only with their obtained the advantage of teaching them families; no habit of order; no practice the pure Italian, (the patois of all Lomof moral or religious duties. 2. As to their bardy is detestable,) and this not by dry intellectual culture: all teaching confined grammatical rules, but by actual example, to that of some uncouth, and sometimes (per via di fatto,) the most efficient method

In order to give an idea of the principles upon which these schools are conducted in Italy, we will quote the words of the Abate Ferranti Aporti, of whom we have before made honorable mention as the father of these institutions in that country. It is extracted from a paper by him communicated to the Imperial and Royal Academy of Georgofili of Florence.

The Abate first enumerates the evils of the education received by infants abandoned to the care of their parents, as observed at Cremona.

VOL. XX.

20

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