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 418 EDUCATION study is usually three years, and embraces re- ligious, intellectual, and industrial instruction. Frequent examinations are held as a test of pro- gress. The study of music and drawing and practice in the art of teaching are more promi- nent features perhaps than in any other country. For a more comprehensive education of teach- ers special courses are established in some of the universities and technical schools, and their improvement is further provided for by means of educational journals, libraries for teachers, periodical conferences for teachers, and special courses for professional improvement. In no other country has the kindergarten been so successfully established as in Germany. This institution, originated by Frobel, provides for the education of infants between the nursery and the school by means of plays, games, stories, conversations, singing, and other simple ex- ercises adapted to the nature of the child. Much importance is also attached to object teaching, which is a continuation of the kin- dergarten, and designed especially to develop the perceptive faculties. The kindergarten has also been introduced into Italy and other continental countries and the United States. Many of the seminaries of Germany for train- ing female teachers have departments for the preparation of teachers for the kindergarten. Another important feature of the German sys- tem is the numerous schools open evenings and Sundays for adults who are unable to attend the ordinary schools. In France, as in Germany, every grade of public instruction is under the direct control of the government, which acts through the minister and superior council of public instruction. This council under the late empire consisted of the minister, three senators, five bishops or archbishops, three councillors of state, three members of the court of ap- peals, eight inspectors general, three clergy- men (Lutheran, Reformed, and Jewish), five members of the institute, and two heads of pri- vate educational establishments. The schools are classified as 1, primary, including all ele- mentary and the lowest grade of normal schools ; 2, secondary, comprising the communal col- leges, lyceums, and the second grade of normal schools ; 3, superior, comprising the academies. To insure a high standard of excellence in the schools of every grade, a rigid system of in- spection prevails. Every commune is required to establish and maintain schools for primary instruction, and is aided by the government whenever the school fees and local taxes are insufficient. Instruction in religion is given in all public schools, but no pupil is obliged to receive instruction in any creed against the wish of his parents. Private schools are en- couraged, ^but instructors in these must pass the examinations required of those serving in the public schools ; and the proficiency of their pupils and their general management are sub- ject to governmental supervision. The ly- ceums are founded and maintained by the state with the cooperation of the departments and towns, while the communal colleges are found- ed and maintained by the communes. The ar- rangement of classes and studies is fixed by the government, and is the same in both. Su- perior education is provided for by the acade- mies, of which there are 15 in France proper, each constituting the educational centre of an academy district and embracing several de- partments of the country. These institutions correspond to the universities of other coun- tries, though many of them are inferior to the German universities. A complete academy embraces the five faculties of sciences, letters, theology, law, and medicine. Only the acad- emy of Paris, however, includes all these facul- ties. All have faculties of letters and science, six of theology, ten of law, and two of medi- cine. The affairs of each academy, including all superior and secondary institutions of the district properly subordinate to the minister of public instruction, are managed by an aca- demic council. Under the empire this con- sisted of the rector as president, the acad- emy inspectors (one for each department in the academic district, except in Paris, where there were eight), the heads of faculties, known as deans, and seven additional members ap- pointed triennially by the minister, and in- cluding an archbishop or bishop of the dis- trict, two ministers of the Catholic, Prot- estant, or Jewish church, two magisterial officers, and two public functionaries or other notable persons of the district. The degrees conferred by all the faculties are those of bachelor, licentiate, and doctor. Besides the academies, there are numerous institutions of great excellence in France for advanced edu- cation, among which maybe mentioned the col- lege de France in Paris; the ecole des cJiartes ; the museum of natural history ; the school of living oriental languages, with chairs of learned Arabic, vulgar Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Arme- nian, modern Greek, Hindostanee, modern Chi- nese, Malay and Javanese, Algerian Arabic, Thibetan, and Japanese ; the school of Athens, &c. All these institutions, with the chief public libraries of Paris, are under the su- pervision of the minister of public instruc- tion. In like manner the special schools are under the supervision of the different minis- tries. Thus the minister of war has the super- vision of the polytechnic school r the military school of Saint Cyr, and the cavalry school of Saumur ; the minister of marine, of the na- val school and the schools of hydrography ; the minister of finance, of the school of wood- craft (ecole forestidre) ; the minister of the household, of the school of fine arts ; the minister of agriculture, commerce, and pub- lic works, of the schools of agriculture, vet- erinary science, arts and trades, arts and manufactures, commerce, mines and miners, &c. Applicants for the position of teacher in any of the public schools of France must prove their qualifications by rigid examinations regu- lated by the government. The educational