Johannes Sieber seized the golden chance. A master of a school like Scherr, he found the liberal sentiment was with his class. The name and cause of Scherr were dear to all; and Sieber wrote that name, that cause, upon his flag. The Liberals took him for their leader, and the fight being won, they carried him from his desk as Uster into Government House in Zurich, where he holds, under the pure democracy, the two chief offices of this Canton-President of the Council, and Director of the Education Board. Illiteracy Unknown So Director Max Wirth, of Bern, assures me that no boy, no girl, exists in this Confederation-save an idiot here and there-who can not read and write. far as one can judge, Herr Wirth is right, as to the outer side of things. All Switzers seem to be-and to have been-at school. There must be some exceptions to this happy rule; exceptions in remote and barren wilds, where nature gives her offspring an embrace like that of wolves and bears. In cities there are no illiterate classes like the savages of London, Paris, and New York; but in such chasms as break the snowy alps of Schwyz and Uri, where the pine and larch can hardly grasp the rocks, there may be found some unkempt, untaught boors. Not many, perhaps but some; enough to show that men are men, and that the sternest rules may fail where nature works against them. More than once, in crossing by the passes of Graubünden, through the Fore Rhine country, I have come on village schools shut up; and on inquiring at the nearest house of call, have learned that they are closed for more than six months out of twelve. In summer time a lad is on the mountains tending goats; in winter time his house is buried under snow. The school is three miles from his door; how can he be expected to attend it every day? The law may tell him he must go to school. The law sounds well enough in Chur; but who shall fetch him from the Alpine tops, and who unearth him from the falling snow? In these secluded mountain troughs the life is hard, the priest is easy, and the village mayor is kind. A peasant mayor can feel for peasant woes; and though he reads the law, and talks of putting it in force from day to day, the months slip by, and Johann is not seen at school. But these exceptions hardly tell against the mass. In looking broadly for results, these Alpine savages may well be dropped. "We reckon all such waifs and strays as idiots," Wirth remarks. They need not mar the picture, though they shade it with a little cloud. In general terms, all Switzers, male and female, may be said to read and write, to keep accounts, to sing, to shoot, and take a personal and intelligent part in what concerns the public weal, Compared with the United States. How much unlike the state of things in England, who shall need to say? At home, we English stand outside the lists; and even in the United States our kinsmen show to disadvantage. Take the census of 1860 in the United States. The figures will astound some persons who have long been saying that if education is neglected on the parent soil, it flourishes abundantly among our How stands the record; In America the number of illiterate men and women, white of skin, and over twenty-one years old, is upwards of a million. The number of illiterate persons is increasing, not diminishing. In 1840 the white-skins over twenty-one who could not read and write were 549,850; in 1850 these illiterates had increased to 962,898; in 1860 they had swelled to 1,126,575. If you were to throw in other classes-red-skins, black-skins, yellow-skins-you would increase this number very much. The yellow-skins and red-skins were not counted in this census, but the black-skins were; and from this color only the Department of Education add 1,750,536 adults to the mass of ignorant whites. In all, the States report that they are burthened with a population of 2,872,111 whites and blacks who neither read nor write. Thus the number of ignorant adults in America-of men who read no books, no laws, no constitutions, no reports, yet exercise political power-is greater than the whole population of Switzerland. It may be fancied that these ignorant whites are strangers; this is partly true, though not to any large extent. The mass of those who neither read nor write are natives of the soil. We cite these figures from the census: Illiterate white adults, 1860: Native-born,. 871,418 But some may dream that this neglect of education in America is partial only; in the ignorant South, in the chaotic West. The tables yield no facts that would support this view. What strikes one most in going through these tables is the uniformity of ignorance in the leading States. Virginia-home of chivalry—is the most ignorant State of all; but North Carolina and Tennessee are not far behind. Read this tale of grown-up white men and women who (in 1860) could neither read nor write: He takes Horace Mann asserts that these returns are far below the facts. some pains to show that many persons are returned as able to read and write who are not able; and he adds no less than forty in the hundred to these numbers, in correction of that false return. He nearly doubles the enormous totals of these ignorant whites. From this pleasing picture of Swiss schools and popular education in the nineteenth century, as compared with the most advanced nations in the same period, it will be instructive to get a glimpse of school life in the fifteenth century, not only in Switzerland, but in the heart of Europe, as we find it recorded at the time, in the autobiography of Thomas Platter, a pupil and teacher of the Schools of Canton Valais. As a measure of the progress, not only of popular education, but of the higher culture of that, and even of a much later period, we introduce from Raumer a chapter on the Universities in the sixteenth century, and a frightful picture of the demoralization which characterized those seats of learning, down even to the beginning of the present century. We shall thus realize more clearly the exceeding low point from which the progressives of the eighteenth century began their work, and the debt of gratitude which is due to such educators as Ratich, Comenius, Franké, Pestalozzi, and Fellenberg. IV. SUPERIOR AND PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION. The statistics of institutions and pupils in the departments of Superior and Professional Instruction will be found on the next page, and the historical development and present organization of these departments of the system will be given in another volume. V. BUDGET OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION FOR 1870. The principal items of State appropriations for public schools and institutions for the year 1869, were given under the head of central administration, to which these expenditures belong. We give below a few particulars which throw light on the details of the system. I. The State expenditures for Primary Instruction was 2,651,254 liras, which included: (a.) 1,500,000 in subsidies to the local communities; (b.) 608,500 for normal schools; (c.) 124,964 for girls' schools; (d) 93,914 for deafmutes' schools. The local taxes for primary schools realized 1,500,000 liras. II. The sum appropriated to Secondary Instruction was 4,092,878 liras, viz.: (a) Salaries of professors, &c., in State Lyceums, 1,185,593; (b.) in Royal Gymnasiums, 867,000; (c.) in State Technical Schools, 579,668; (d.) for Examinations, 110,000; (e.) for special aid and subsidies, 93,382; (f) in National boarding colleges, 316,795. These sums are exclusive of 578,920 received from endowments in the Neapolitan provinces, and 1,849,221 from similar sources in other provinces, besides an equal amount from local communities, making the aggregate expenditure for secondary instruction about 9,000,000 liras, exclusive of private tuition. III. Superior Instruction, including 20 Universities and several Higher Scientific Institutes, absorbed 5,469,386 liras. Among the items are, (a.) for salaries of rectors, professors, heads of laboratories, cabinets, &c., 3,530,405; (b.) scholarships and prizes 162,653; (c.) for museums, cabinets, observatories, libraries, classics, 1,200,000; (d.) for Superior Institute at Florence, 315,820; school of engineers at Turin, 100,750; do. at Naples, 76,850; do. at Milan, 90,410; Scientific Academy at Milan, 54,000; Superior Normal school at Pisa, 42,000; Medical College at Naples, 27,540; Provisional University schools, 23,415; three Veterinary schools, at Milan, Turin, and Naples, 226,315. IV. (a.) Academies, Museums, &c., of Science and Art, receive 550,000 liras; in this class are the Royal Academy at Turin, the Crusca, at Florence, Royal Institutes at Milan and Venice, 162,342; (b.) Historical studies of Italy, 27,700; (c) Museum at Naples, including excavations in old cities and Pompeii, 269,324; (d.) Observatories at Milan and Naples, 34,000; (e.) for Academies of the Fine Arts, 1,413,568 liras, viz.: Royal Academies at Turin, Florence, Pisa, Modena, Bologna, Parma, Carrara, &c.; Royal Foundry in bronze at Florence; Conservatories of Music at Milan, Parma, Florence, Naples, Palermo, &c.; Royal Commission of the Fine Arts. V. The public libraries at Naples, Florence, and Milan, receive 120,000, in addition to the income of special endowments; other libraries containing 5,059,895 volumes, receive special appropriations. Total, 521,528 liras. VI. The Central and Provincial administration absorbed 816,965 liras; (a.) 372,000 liras in the Central; 253,500 in department of the Minister; 28,500 by the Superior Council; 90,000 for Provincial Special Inspections. The Provincial Administration expended 444,465 liras. VII. Total expenditures in 1869 were about 16,000,000 liras, or 1.56 of entire State expenses. VI. STATISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS. The statistics of public instruction in a kingdom made up of so many provinces, till recently accustomed to entirely different systems, are for the present necessarily imperfect. 1. Primary Instruction. In 1866 there were 24,682 public primary schools, viz: 14,240 for boys, and 9,737 for girls; whilst the number of private primary schools was 5,435, viz: 2,726 for boys, and 2,341 for girls; making a total of 31,117 primary schools, víz: 16,966 for boys, and 12,078 for girls. Besides these, there were (in 1863) 2,803 evening and Sunday schools. The total number of scholars in the public schools was 1,102,721, viz: 630,230 boys, and 472,491 girls; and in the private schools, 115,149, viz: 56,068 boys, and 59,081 girls. Total, 1,217,870 scholars: 686,348 boys, and 531,522 girls. The number of teachers in the public schools was 26,019, viz: 15,478 male teachers, and 10,541 female teachers; whilst in the private schools there were 6,371 teachers, viz: 3,047 male teachers, and 3,324 female teachers; making a total of 32,391 teachers, viz: 18,526 male teachers, and 13,865 female teachers. Thus the total numbers are as follows (of all the primary schools with the exception of evening and Sunday schools): 31,117 schools, 32,391 teachers, and 1,217,870 pupils. For the education of primary teachers there are 91 seminaries and model schools, and 44 conferences or institutes. 2. Secondary Instruction. There exist the following kinds: lyceums (lyrei), and gymnasia (gimnasi), for the different grades of classical instruction; and the technical schools, technical institutes, and superior technical institutes, for scientific and practical instruction. In 1868-1869 there were 78 royal lyceums, with 3,172 scholars; 14 assimilated lyceums, with 326 scholars; and 54 private lyceums, with 1,380 scholars; making a total of 146 lyceums, with 4,878 scholars. In the same year there were 103 royal gymnasia, with 8,223 scholars; 40 assimilated gymnasia, with 2,524 scholars; and 323 free gymnasia, with 9,783 scholars; making a total of 466 gymnasia, with 20,550 scholars. Total, 612 secondary classical schools, with 25,408 pupils. There were 55 royal technical schools, with 5,868 scholars; 72 assimilated technical schools, with 4,594 scholars; and 138 free technical schools, with 6.495 scholars; making a total of 265 technical schools, with 16,955 scholars. There are 84 technical institutes, with 880 pupils; and 3 superior special institutes (at Milan, Turín, Naples), with 555 pupils. Total, 352 institutions, with 17,392 pupils. Total number of secondary technical schools was, in 1868, 964, with 42,800 scholars. 3. Superior Instruction :—20 universities, with 2,096 students of law, 1,320 of medicine, 987 of science, 71 of philosophy and literature, 9 of theology. With most of these universities there are special courses, some with one, others with two, three, or more, in all 47 courses, with 82 students in the notary course, 530 in the pharmaceutical, 16 in the surgical, 19 in the course of midwifery, 84 in the veterinary course. The total number of students in 1867-68 was 5,124 approrati, and 1,308 licentiates (only in the courses). 4. Special and Professional Schools. Of these there are: Royal Institute of superior practical studies, at Florence, 138 students. Royal superior technical institute, at Milan, 254 students. School of medicine and veterinary surgery, at Milan, 58 students. School of applied engineering, at Turin, 190 students. School of medicine and veterinary surgery, at Turin, 98 students. Royal superior normal school, at Pisa, 28 students. Royal school of applied engineering, at Naples, 111 students. School of medicine and veterinary surgery, at Naples, 71 students. 20 Nautical schools. 2 Mining schools, at Aosta and Agerdo, each with course of three years. 1 School of artillery and military engineering, at Genoa. 1 Military academy, at Turin. 1 School of infantry, at Parma. 1 School of cavalry, at Modena. 2 Marine academies, at Genoa and Naples. 6 Academies of music of the highest grade. 29 Schools of art. SUMMARIES AND STATISTICS FOR 1868-9. From official documents addressed to the king, printed in Athens in 1869, for which we are indebted to Mr. Rangabe, the Minister Resident at Washington, we gather the following summaries and statistics: The kingdom of Greece, including the Ionian Islands annexed in 1864,* had an area of 19,941 square miles, with a population of 1,325,479. The establishment, extension and improvement of schools has been a cardinal principle with the government and the people since the organization of the kingdom, and considering the fact that at the close of the war of independance only nine towns had escaped even partial destruction, and the work of building houses and developing homesteads has had to go on with constructing roads and public buildings, the progress of education has been rapid, and the following results in institutions, teachers and pupils are highly creditable: In the following summary the statistics are partly for 1866 and partly for 1868-9. I. The University at Athens has an aggregate of 1,205 students and 53 professors, distributed as follows:- Each faculty elects its own rector and a representative, who with the president appointed by the king, constitute the academic council. The University is represented in the national legislature by a member elected by the whole body of professors. Connected with the University is a Philological and Pedagogical Seminary for the training of professors and teachers of gymnasia and special schools. The library, botanical garden, museum of natural history, the observatory, collection of coins and antiquities, chemical laboratory, hospital for practice and demonstration în medicine and pharmacy, are all on a respectable scale. The salaries of the professors are paid by the government, and incidental expenses are met by income of endowments. Instruction is free. From 1837 to September 1869, 5,245 students have frequented the university, of whom 1,877 have gone through the regular course required for the graduating diploma. The students represent every section of Greece. * By the treaty of Paris in 1815, the seven Ionian Islands-Corfu with a population in 1861 of 70,124, Cephalonia with 73,571, Zante with 39,693, Santa Maura with 20,797, Ithaca, with 11,940, Cerigo with 14,564, and Paxo with 5,009, a total population of 235,678, were declared a single, free and independent state under the protectorate of Great Britain, représented by à Lord High Commissioner. In 1864 these islands, after a popular vote approving the same, were transferred and made part of the kingdom of Greece. Under British protection a system of public schools was established, which at the date of the transfer embraced 100 District Schools with 6,005 pupils; two Classical High Schools with 112 pupils; oné Lyceum or College with 80 students at Zante; one of a higher order at Corfu with 73 pupils and a library of 30,000 volumes, and an Agricultural College with 140 pupils. |