The Express.
London, England, 1847-04-06 00:00:00

PRUSSIAN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

Dr. Schmitz, head master of the High School of
Edinburgh, has published the (cawing letter in the Scots-
man. It corrects some of Mr. Baines's blunders:

was not a little surprised to find that after so
many able explanations which have recently been published
in this country about the working of the Prussian system of
education, there still are men of talent and intelligence, and,
what is worse, men coming forward to instruct the public on
matters of education, who display an utter ignorance of the
system which they revile. Mr. Baines, in his address to the
Edinburgh meeting, on the governmentscheme of education,
is reported to have said that in the continental states in
which a government system of education is established, the
government take into their hands both the pulpit and the
press. He does not seem to be aware of the fact that both
the pulpit and the press were in the hands of those govern-
ments long before their system of education was thought of,
and that one of the first fruits of their very system of edu-
cation was an attempt, in several parts of Germany, to
emancipate the pulpit and the press from the hands of the
government. The struggle has been going on ever since the
year 1819, and every one who reads newspapers must know
that at this moment, in consequence of the general diffusion
of education, the people in that country are more clamorous
for religious and political liberty than they Lave ewe been,
and that in some instances great objects have already been
gained. The government system of education, therefore,
far from having, even in Germany, and under despotic
governments, checked the growing desire for religious and
political liberty, has, on the contrary, conjured up these very
spirits, for whose safety, in a free country, our orators are
so much alarmed. Every day furnishes fresh examples of
the truth of what I have here stated. I have now been in
Great Britain for a great many yeah, and have from the
first kept a watchful eye upon the educational establish-
ments of the country ; if I had time to draw up • statistical
and comparative table, I might give you some very curious
facts, to show the different standards and the different ex-
tension of education in this and continental countries, which
would, perhaps, not turn out very flattering to Scotland.
and still less to England. But as it is, I shall confine myself
to a few general observations. When I speak of continental
countries, I mean more especially Prussia, in which the
system of government education has been carried cut more
fu than in any other state. While in England and Scot-
land a very large number of people of the lower classes
are ,till unable to read and write, you will find that in
Prussia scarcely one in twenty is ignorant to nho same ex-
tent, although the system has hardly been in operation
for thirty yearn. As for the qualifications of teachers,
both male and female, we can scarcely make a compa-
rison at all, for in this country they are admitted
either without any examination at all, and on the mere re-
commendation of Kind friends, or the examination is of the
very slenderest and lowest kind. I have been present at
some, and been obliged to act the part of examiner at others,
and in each case I have been amazed at the little which satis-
fied the patrons of schools. lam not singular in expressing
this opinion ; it is one of the main reasons which have re-
cently led the more intelligent teachers in Ireland, England,
and Scotland, to form associations for the purpose of raising
the standard of education. The teachers themselves are be-
ginning to feel that their profession is degraded by the igno-
rance attune that are admitted into it. A person who in
this country is regarded as a very fit teacher, would, in
Prussia, scarcely be admitted as a student into a normal
school. He would have to remain in it at least
three years, to make himself acquainted not only
with all the various subjects be has to teach, but
also with the different methods of teachinz ; hat is,
he must make himself thoroughly acquainted with the
theory of his professioa—a thing which is scarcely known by
name in this country. The subjects which the master has to
teach, independent of religious instruction, are reading,
writing, arithmetic, history, geography, botany, zoology,
drawing, singing, and all those branches which are calcu-
lated to make the children fill with propriety the station in
life which they are likely. to occupy, for which reason there
is some slight difference an the subjects taught in the schools
of towns, and in those of rural districts. In the schools for
the higher and middle classes, the same attention is paid to
the probable future calling of the TToaths ; those who prepare
themselves for the learned pno~aMma attend the gymnasia,
where they go through • mum of aiming which lasts eight
years, and during which dustman make themselves tho-
roughly 'acquainted with the *Wed Imig=fital,tiefoltz,
one living language, history, gsra
natural philosophy, botany, , and some WSW
subjects. Those again who are to engage in com-
merce or any of the practical palmate of life, have their
Burger, or Heal-Schulen, in which tie principal subjects of
instruction are the living languages, history, geography,
natural philosophy, mathematics, elleasistry, drawing, te.
Now, I ask you in which of our schools can this kind, or this
amount, of information be obtained? and can a population
trained in these branches, and trained not in a mere mecha-
nical way, but in a manner calculated to rouse their think-
ing and intellectual powers, be said to be trained for religious
or political slavery? Experience says No! I for one feel
the strongest conviction that a reasonable government sys-
tem of education in this free country would confer upon the
population blessings far beyond those which most people
anticipate, and certainly greater blessings than were and are
attainable in despotic countries.—l. SCHNUTZ.—Edinburgh,
April 1, 1847.

THE ROYAL HOSPlTALS.—Yesterday the Lord
Mayor attended at Christ's Hospital uponthe occasion of the
preaching of the first Spital sermon at Christ's Church. A
true report of the number of children and other poor
people maintained in the several royal hospitals of the City
of London under the care of the Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor, Aldermen, and governors thereof the year last put,
was presented to him.
Tan BRITISH MUSEUM.—Yesterday the British
Museum was visited by 36,128 persons. otwithstanding
the exertions that kad been made, the grand entrance and
staircase could not be completed for the admission of the

public.
A MONUMENT TO LORD BYON AT MISSOLONOUI
is spoken of, to be erected on ths site of the DOW demolished
house in which the ebampion-bard died. The proprietor
has offered the ground for the purpose, and a handsome sub-
scription towards the work has been commenced.