FOREIGN

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

ART. I.- Rapport sur l'état de l'Instruction Publique dans quelques pays de l'Allemagne, et particulièrement en Prusse. Par M. V. Cousin, Conseiller d'Etat, Professeur de Philosophie, Membre de l'Institut et du Conseil Royal de l'Instruction publique. Nouvelle Edition. Paris. 1833. 8vo. IN our last number we gave an account of the valuable work founded on the observations of MM. de Beaumont and de Tocqueville, the commissioners sent by the French government to inquire into the Penitentiary system established in some of the states of the North American Union. The Report of M. Victor Cousin is the result of a similar scientific or legislative mission, and on a subject even more important than the system of legal punishments. The first part of it contains a sketch of the entire system of education, both learned and popular, in the free city of Frankfort on the Main, the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, and the kingdom of Saxony: the second part comprehends a detailed account of the general organization of national education in Prussia, of the authorities, by which it is regulated and controlled, and the funds from which its expenses are defrayed. The public education of Prussia consists of three degrees 1. Primary or elementary instruction, destined for children of the lower and middle orders. 2. Secondary instruction, communicated in schools called gymnasia. 3. The highest instruction, communicated in the universities. The first of these parts relating to the primary instruction, M. Cousin has completed in the published report; on the two other branches he promises another report of equal extent with the first. In the present article we do not propose to follow M. Cousin through all the details of the various establishments and methods of education which he describes, however interesting and important they may be, as it would be impossible to give a distinct and clear impression of them in the limited space at our command; we shall therefore confine ourselves to the kingdom of Prussia, and give a general view of the admirable system of education established in that state; after which, we shall offer some

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remarks on the subject of national education as applicable to our own country.

In Prussia, in the year 1819, a minister of state was created by the name of minister of public instruction, of ecclesiastical and medical affairs. His department embraces the superintendence of the national education, the religious establishment, the secondary medical schools, all institutions relating to public health, and all scientific institutions, as academies, libraries, botanical gardens, museums, &c.; every thing, in short, which belongs to the moral and intellectual advancement of the people. This minister is the head of a council or board, consisting of three sections; viz. an ecclesiastical section, composed of thirteen persons, of whom some are lay, but the majority are clerical, with one Roman Catholic; a section of public instruction, composed of twelve persons, chiefly laymen; and a section of medicine, consisting of eight members. All the members of this council are paid; thus the director or chairman of the section of public instruction has a salary of 5000 thalers (7607.); four other members a salary of 3000 thalers (4601.); seven, from 2000 to 2600 thalers (3007. to $75.) The same person may be member of two sections at the same time; thus, nine persons are members both of the ecclesiastical section and of that of public instruction; but in that case he only receives one salary. The section of public instruction meets twice a week, the director in the chair; and the business is transacted by the whole board. Sometimes, however, special reports are made to the minister by some of the councillors. Each of the sections has an establishment of clerks, besides the official establishment belonging to the minister. The entire expense of the department, including the salaries of the councillors is 80,610 thalers a-year (12,1807.)

In order to understand the arrangement of the national education, it is necessary to explain the territorial division of Prussia, as the one is adapted to the other. Prussia is divided into ten provinces, viz. Eastern and Western Prussia, Posen, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia, Saxony, Westphalia, Cleves, and Lower Rhine. Each of these provinces is divided into regencies, called Regierungs-Bezirke, corresponding to our counties; each regency is divided into circles (Kreise), and each circle is divided into communes (Gemeinden), corresponding to our parishes. Nearly every province has its university; East and West Prussia, and the duchy of Posen, which border on one another, have the university of Königsberg; Pomerania that of Greifswald; Silesia that of Breslau; Saxony that of Halle; Brandenburg that of Berlin; Westphalia the imperfect university, called the aca

demy of Munster; the Rhenish provinces that of Bonn. Each of these universities has its authorities named by itself, under the superintendence of an officer appointed by the minister of public instruction, called curator in the old universities. This office is always entrusted to a person of importance in the province; and although the appointment is considered as a mark of honour, it is accompanied with a certain salary. All communication between the universities and the minister is carried on through the medium of this officer; and no provincial or local authority has the right of interfering with the establishments for the higher instruction.

This however is not the case with the other two degrees of education, which are considered as belonging in great part to the local authorities. Every province is under the control of a supreme president (Oberpräsident), who is at the head of a body dependent on the central department of public instruction, and organised on the same plan, called the provincial consistory. This body, like the central council, is divided into three sections; the first for ecclesiastical affairs, or consistory properly so called; the second for public instruction, called the school-board (Schulcollegium); the third for affairs relating to public health, called the medical board. All the members of this provincial consistory are paid, and are named directly by the minister of public instruction; the supreme president of the province is chairman both of the entire body and each of the sections, and he corresponds with the minister of public instruction. This correspondence however is not of much importance, and is only intended to maintain the connexion between the different parts of the administration; as in fact the whole authority is in the hands of the consistory, each section of which deliberates separately, and decides every thing by a majority of voices. The Schulcollegium or school-board has the management of the secondary instruetion in the whole province, and all the higher parts of the primary instruction, such as the progymnasia or preparatory gymnasia, the upper town schools, and the seminaries for teaching the masters of the primary schools. Attached to this body is a board of examiners, generally composed of professors of the university in the province, who examine the pupils of the gymnasia before their admission into the university, and the candidates for the situations of teachers in the gymnasia. This board of examiners forms the connecting link between the establishments of the higher and secondary instruction.

We now proceed to explain the arrangement of the primary instruction. Every circle, as we before stated, is divided into

communes; and each commune is provided with a school, of which the pastor or curate of the place is inspector, together with a committee of the principal persons of the commune, called Schulvorständ. In the city communes, where there are several primary schools, there is a higher board, composed of the magistrates, which exercises a general superintendence over the several committees. Moreover, in the chief place of the circle there is another inspector, whose authority extends over all the schools of the circle, and who corresponds with the local officers. This as well as the local inspector is almost always an ecclesiastic, but after these two officers the authority of the civil administration commences. The school-inspector of each circle corresponds with the government or council of each regency or department through the medium of its president. One of the members of this council is an officer called Schulrath, paid as well as his colleagues, and specially charged with the superintendence of the primary schools; this officer connects the public instruction with the regular administration of the department, being on the one hand named on the presentation of the minister of public instruction, and on the other belonging by virtue of his office to the local government council, and thus being in relation with the minister of the interior. The Schulrath makes reports to the council, which decides by the majority of votes. He also inspects the schools; awakens and stimulates the zeal of the inspectors, the committees, and the schoolmasters: all the inferior and superior inspectors correspond with him, and he carries on, through the medium of the president of the council of the department, all the correspondence relative to the schools, with the higher authorities, such as the provincial consistory, and the minister of public instruction: he is in fact the real manager of the primary instruction in each department. It will be observed, therefore, that the details of the primary schools, to which we now limit our attention, are in Prussia left to the management of the local authorities, while the central government exercises everywhere a general superintendence.

Having given this account of the place which the popular or primary instruction occupies in the Prussian system, we shall now proceed to explain its character, objects, and operation.

All parents in Prussia are bound by law to send their children to the public elementary schools, or to satisfy the authorities that their education is sufficiently provided for at home. This regulation is of considerable antiquity; it was confirmed by Frederic the Great in 1769, and was introduced into the Prussian Landrecht or code in 1794, aud finally it was adopted in the law of 1819,

which forms the basis of the actual system of Prussia. The obligation in question extends not only to parents and guardians, but to all persons who have power over children, such as manufacturers and masters of apprentices, and applies to children of both sexes from their 7th to their 14th year complete. Twice a-year the school committee and the municipal authorities make a list of the children in their district whose parents do not provide for their education, and require the attendance of all who are within the prescribed age. This attendance is dispensed with, if satisfaction is given that the children will be properly instructed elsewhere; but the parents are nevertheless bound to contribute to the school to which their children would naturally belong. Lists of attendance kept by the schoolmaster are delivered every fortnight to the school committee. In order to facilitate the regular attendance of the children, and not altogether to deprive the parents of their assistance, the hours of lessons in the elementary schools are arranged in such a manner as to leave the children every day some hours for domestic labours. The schoolmasters are prohibited by severe penalties from employing their scholars in household work. The schools are closed on Sundays; but the evenings, after divine service and the catechism, may be devoted to gymnastic exercises. Care is taken to enable poor parents to obey the law, by providing their children with books and clothes. "It is to be hoped (says the law,) that facilities and assistance of this kind, the moral and religious influence of the clergymen, and the good advice of the members of the school committees and the municipal authorities, will cause the people gradually to appreciate the advantage of a good elementary education, and will diffuse among young persons the desire of obtaining knowledge, which will lead them to seek it of their own accord.' If, however, the parents omit to send their children to school, the clergyman is first to acquaint them with the importance of the duty which they neglect; and if his exhortation is not sufficient, the school committee may summon them and remonstrate with them severely. The only excuses admitted are a certificate of ill health by a medical man, the absence of the children with their parents, or the want of clothes. If all remonstrances fail, the children may be taken to school by a policeman, or the parents, guardians or masters brought before the committee, and fined or imprisoned in default of payment, or condemned to hard labour for the benefit of the commune. These punishments may be increased up to a certain limit for successive infractions of the law. Whenever the parents are condemned to imprisonment or hard labour, care is to be taken that their children are