Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/311

* NATIONAL EDUCATION. 269 NATIONAL EDUCATION. taxes, and tuition. In the city schools the local taxes supply tlic larger part of the income; in secondary schools the tuition furnishes nearly one half the sum re(piircd for support. Tlu; coun- try schools, however, receive over two-thirds of their income from tile State, the amount being a tixed contribution of 100 marks for each head teacher, 200 marks for each additional regular nuile teacher, and 150 marks for each female teacher, with 100 marks for each assistant teacher who is in the probation year. The nor- mal schools are supported by the Government, as are also the universities. In the latter tuition is a considerable item. For their organization, see the article on Univeusity. F(M- tlic development of the German public educational system, of which the Prussian system is taken as a type, .see Geumany, section on Edu- cutiun. SWITZERLAND. Each of the twenty-five cantons of Switzer- land has its own separate and independent school organization, and there are very few federal regulations on the subject. The Federal Constitution of 1874 empowers the Bund to es- tablish and maintain or assist a university or other institution for 'higher education.' This power has not been used except to continue the support of the Federal Polytechnic at Zurich, and to subsidize various cantonal higher insti- tutions. The Constitution further states that all education, whether public or private, must be under the control of the cantons. They must provide for it, and make it compulsory and gratuitous. That they do this well is evident from the fact that in 1898-99 the ratio of attendance to population was great- er there than in any other country in the world, while of the recruits in 1899 only .23 per cent, could not read. All attempts to estab- lish anrthing like a centralized system have met with determined opposition by those who feared interference with linguistic or religious instruc- tion in the schools. Indeed, the problems of education in Switzerland are more complex than in most countries. Some cantons are predomi- nantly French, others are German, others Italian, and there is still a fourth vernacular. Romansch, extensively spoken. In cantons where one lan- guage predominates, another is i:sually the sole one spoken by n considerable part of the people. Jloreover, Catiiolieism and Protestantism are face to face everywhere, and both fear that the free-thinkers might endeavor to exclude religious instruction from the schools if their control were centralized. The Constitution provides, however, that "it must be possible for the public schools to be attended by the adherents of all beliefs without hurting their freedom of belief or con- science." That not more than .3 per cent, of the attendance is in private schools, which are, moreover, patronized almost entirely by children of non-Swiss parentage, attests the satisfactory nature of the religious instruction in the public schools. A few cantons, as Geneva, exclude it entirely from the public system. Three addi- tional Fcrleral regulations alTect education. The first forI)ids the labor in factories of children uniler fourteen, and limits that of those under sixteen. The second prescribes an examination for every recruit on entering the army at his twentieth year. The results of this are made known, and it stimulates educational edort, be- sides bringing into existence improving schools for recruits, and increasing the attendance at continuation schools. The linal regulation con- cerns military drill, which by the acts of 1874, 1H77, and 18.S.3 is made a reijuircd part of every school programme, to be given to children be- tween ten and fifteen years of age. At the foundation of the school .system of Switzerland wp have at present the conununal primary schools taking children frcmi six to eleven years of age. After this they go cither to the cantonal secondary schools |)ro])er. or to the advanced elementary schools, the so-called 'secondary' schools, the district for one of which embraces several couuiiunes. or to the communal continuation schools, usually held in the evening. There are also courses for adults given in the comuuines. The .secondary schools are main- tained by the cantons, and include professional and technical schools, with others variously styled middle schools, gymnasia, or pro-gym- nasia. These are supplemented by cantonal uni- versities and a Federal polytechnic. The teachers are licensed by cantonal governments on examina- tion, or in some cantons on a diploma from a normal school. For the higher grades of work, an additional examination is required. There were in 1900 thirty-eight normal schools in Switzerland, most of them public institutions maintained by the cantons. In most cantons teachers are elected for life, either by a school board or at a general election. They are also usually pensioned at the end of their term of service. This is, in general, partly provided for by a fund to which they make regular con- tributions. At the head of education in each canton there is either (1) an educational council, or, (2) an education ministry, headed by a director of edu- cation, who is a member of the Executive Council of the canton, or (3) a permanent education council, presided over by a director of education who is a political officer. The Canton of Bern be- longs to the second type, and in the control of its schools it represents the extreme of centraliza- tion in Switzerland. The Director of Education controls the inspectors and frames the educa- tional budget. His department determines, on consultation with certain authorities, the cvir- riculum and methods of instruction in all public schools. Private schools nuist receive his au- thorization and that of the local school inspect- oi's. The communal council votes the money for its primary schools, ami nominates a school board to control the expenditure of this and the details of local school management. Several communes combine to form a secondary school, the control of which is in the hands of a com- mission, whose members are appointed by the various communal councils and the Director of Education. The middle or higher schools are u.sually Citntonal schools, and .are controlled by a commission appointed by the Educational De- pivrtment. On the other hand, the Canton of Zurich has the least centralized of all the Swiss systems. Its central government is of the tliird type above mentioned. The Educational Coimeil is composed of six men, four of whom arc chosen by the Cantonal Council, and the other two by the whole body of teachers. It controls the or- ganization of education in the canton. The com- missions that direct the cantonal schools, i.e. the