Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-07-16
THE Schools of Switzerland.

a correspondent Oh tue lrlUuuc, lutnieneS iot
that paper very interesting letter,on the schools
of Geneva, Switzerland, to which place very
considerable numbers of boys are sent from this
country. From this letter, we make the follow
ing extracts:
The price of tuition per annum, at each, falls
little short of $3.50, including washing and neces
saries. Every branch of study is variously pro-
secuted in these establishments under accom-
plished masters, while the physical education OF
the pupils is made matter of unceasing and
systematic obligation. For example, at Mr.
Roediger's school, where ] have placed my boys
the pupils have q play ground as large very near
" as Washington Square, with all sorts of gym
nastic apparatus, nine-pin alley, &C.; and here
they play to their hearts content not apart
from. but in company with their teachers, who
Law aside the pedagogue and convert themselves
into boys for the time, with good will which
would be surprising to one who did not Know
how much oflmber and elastic boyhood survives
| in these ripe European constitutions.
| The sport of the pupils is not only amply fos-
lored and directed, their health is also carefully
~ the general discipline ofthe school.
~. '"uto the Rhone to bathe,
promoted y, .~v 90 twice O
They 90 down every Coy m IN
of course under watchful care the, G.
week to swimming school upon the lake, -
practice swimming; they ramble all about the
delicious neighborhood, in short excursions with
their teachers they make long pedestrian tours
in the summer vacation across the Alps; they
sometimes visit Italy, sometimes some German
city; they invade the Businesses of the Jura; they
ride on mules and donkeys; they pluck the wild
strawberries !; they drink at the wayside foun-
tains :they eat the bread and honey of the
mountaineers, as they pause to avoid the noon
day sun; they inhae all day the untainted air
of those grand solitudes; and they sleep at night
in barns, or chalet, sleep SO sweet, am told,
that every angel who waits on health and limo.
cence ,unquestionaby conspires to minister to it.
At home they are subject to the best influences.
The teachers and pupils all make one family
They have games, and stories, and plays, to a.
muse themselves with, after night-fall, and of
Sunday evenings, they have charming concerts.
in which all voices are taught to join and lift up
to God the incense of grateful hearts for all the
goodness he showers upon them. Music, | think,
IS one of the necessaries in Mr.. RS school,
However, all the schools provide the best in
struction in this respect.
Another point of interest, is the extreme good
manners nourished by these institutions. All
the pupils are made gentlemen in department.
Instead of the tyranny and oppression which is
complained of in the English schools, and to some
degree in our own, the most rigid and exact
courtesy from each to all, and all to each, is
here insisted on. A son of Judge Vanderpool,
of New York, who is at DR.. Haccias' school, told
me that on his joining the school, he was start
led to find himself the object of so many defer
ential attentions on the part of the older pupils
He could hardly believe such amenity compati-
BILE with the boyish bosom, and half expected to
see the beautiful illusion suddenly dissipated by
sly punch in the ribs, or the compulsory des-
cent of his hat over his eyes, all in the way of
prospective good-fellowship. Certainly it is very
lovely to see youth preserving its ingenuousness
to see boyhood wholly unused to the coarse
and brutal commerce Of the great world; and
from all that can learn, | really think these
schools do every thing possible to secure that
advantage. The whole tone of society around
them, too, strikes as highly auspicious in this
regard.
The Life Illustrated, in commenting on the
above asks SIS there any reason why zoe can
not have such schools2 Should the State of
educational science among us be such, that
thoughtful, wise parents, shrink from placing
their sons ut an American school, and traverse
wide seas to find an institution where something
else is inculcated besides indigestion; where obe-
dience and freedom are not found irreconcilable;
where as much is done for heart, taste, and
manners, as for the poor faculty of calculations 2
Year by year the practice of sending children
abroad for education increases, and it will con-
tinue to increase until our higher schools are
radically reformed.