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LEFT EDUCATION 472 EDUCATION, COMMERCIAL by the grant of a royal charter to the commissioners, it was specially provided that of the 20 members of the board, one- half should be Catholics and one-half Protestants. Religious instruction is provided in all the schools, but a strin- gent conscience clause protects the in- terests of parents who do not approve of that given in the school. Canada. — The relation of the prov- inces of Canada to the Dominion Parlia- ment is very nearly analogous to that of the States of the American Union to the Federal Government. Each province has its own educational laws and its own de- partment of public instruction. The schools of Nova Scotia, British Colum- bia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and On- tario are free; but in Quebec there is a school-tax levied on parents for all chil- dren of school age. France. — In France there is a very completely organized system of instruc- tion, superieure, secoTidaire, et primaire, under the supervision of the Minister of Public Instruction, the schools being all visited and examined by state officers. The professors in the universities are remunerated by the state. The lycees, or secondary schools, also receive large subventions from the state, those of Paris and Versailles being considered rather higher in rank, and having a bet- ter paid staff of professors and teachers than those of the provinces. Colleges are establishments for intermediate edu- cation, maintained at the charge of the local municipalities, but without any aid from the central government, except the occasional endowment of special chairs and the partial support of a few profes- sors. Primary instruction is everywhere throughout France gratuitous. Germany. — The German elementary schools are divided into (1) those with three or more classes; (2) schools with two teachers; and (3) schools with one teacher, either with one class or half-day schools. Eighty is recognized as the maximum number of scholars under one teacher, even under the most unfavor- able conditions. The compulsory laws as to ordinary school attendance are en- forced from the age of 6 to that of 14, but generally if a child at 14 fail to reach the proper standard, he may be compelled to attend either another year at the day-school, or at a supplementary school in the evening or on Sunday. Fines for non-attendance are imposed, and the agency of the police is called into requisition to force the child of a negli- gent parent to attend school. For the development of educational systems in other countries, see their re- spective titles and in the United States see under the various States. EDUCATION, COMMERCIAL. Shortly before the Civil War private business colleges were established in the United States. Their purpose was to train men for active business work, but it was some time before their curriculums eliminated many of the subjects more properly belonging to an academic educa- tion. About 1884 the Wharton School of Finance and Economy was founded as a part of the University of Pennsylvania, and a regular four-years' course leading to a baccalaureate degree was instituted. While other colleges, notably Harvard, Dartmouth, Columbia, and the vari- ous State universities, have established courses in commercial education, the University of Wisconsin is the only one of a few to follow the examples of the University of Pennsylvania and make the business course one on the completion of which the degree of Bachelor of Science can be secured. The high schools fol- lowed suit and began to give courses sim- ilar to those offered in the private busi- ness colleges. In a few of the universi- ties commercial education is offered as a graduate professional course. This is the case at the Harvard School of Busi- ness Administration and the Tuck School at Dartmouth. Some colleges have or- ganized evening courses in business edu- cation; those situated in large cities par- ticularly. Columbia University now has a three-years' evening course preparing students to take the State examination for the certificate of Certified Public Ac- countant. Teachers of business law and adminis- tration are now members of the National Education Association, and there are many societies organized to further and improve the work of commercial educa- tion. The most prominent of these are the Eastern Commercial Teachers' Asso- ciation and the National Federation of Commercial Teachers. Commercial education was well de- veloped in Europe before it was begun in the United States. Saxony in the 18th century and Paris in 1820 had founded schools of commerce. Germany quickly seized upon the idea and developed it until, in the 19th century, she led the world in this as in other forms of edu- cation. Higher schools of commerce, the equivalent of our university courses, were founded in Leipzig, Cologne, Frank- fort, and Berlin, while many schools for the education of those between the ages of fourteen and eighteen were estab- lished. Antwerp, Venice, and Vienna also have higher schools of commerce. In England the task of training in business law and administration was taken up by the new universities established in the great industrial centers, such as Bir-