The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-11-30
Attendance

y
for every child found in the street,
during the hour of religious instruc-
ton, the parents had to pay fine
which went Into the poor-box.l
In 1649, the synod of Wurtem-
berg made attendance at school
compulsory under penalty of a fine.
In 1887 this attendance was ,squir-
ed from the sixth to the fourteenth
year.
In Saxony the law of 1873 made
attendance at school from the. fiji h
to the fourteenth year, and provided
that children who went to service
before their fourteenth year should
attend school two hours daily at the
expense of their masters. The law
Of 1904 was more stringent, and
Imposed a heavy fine upou delln-
quents. A similar law was enacted in
Bavaria in 1902.
In France, says NJ. Duruy, Com
pulsory education is ancient and of
uoble origin In 1875 it was
ordered that all children throughout
the Republic should be compelled to
attend school; bu. this regulation,
like many others during that sad
period, remained a dead letter. nor
was ii revived by the admirable law
of 1888, nor the more recent law of
1850. The attendance at school IS
consequently very irregular, nor was
the late Emperor able 20 prevent 1t.
The consequence Of this has been
signally exemplifed by late events,
Ia Prussia compulsory education
has been most efficiently enforced,
end its practical resnltr can be easily
computed The first attempt at
more regular attendance al school
was in 1853. This was repeated in
1716. By a regulation of August
IL, 1863, it was ordered that all
children be sent to school, from t'e
fifth to the fourteenth year. This
order was revived in 1894, and In
1919 severe penalties were imposed.
The result is that in 1864, out OF
three million children OF school age,
OILY -, 900 did not attend school,
ard sn officer in Potsdam, having in
charge the exa mination of rec uits
for the army, received IN the space
of twelve years, only three soldiers
who could neither read nor write. In
country districts where children live
farther than two miles from the
achool, they are not Obliged to attend
before the completion Of the sixth
year; when the distance is greater,
not before the seventh year. Similar
laws prevail in all the German
States.
In Sweden, Norway and Denmark,
parents who do not send their child
ren TO school are subject TO fine,
and, either from this cause or the
conviction of the value of education,
out of 385. coo Swedish children in
1852, only 8, 131 were uninstructed.
In ali Switzerland, except four
cantons, education is obligatory In
Zurich the school age extends from
five to sixteen, inclusive. Not only
parents and guardians, but also
masters Of trades are required to
have children attend school. In the
canton of Berne, young soldiers
must read, write and solve ordinary
Examples in authentic, or attend
school in the barracks. Ordinarily
not more than Il rec or five in a
hundred are of this class. a.
Bandouin; the French school COM
missioner of Switzerland in 1860,
says: "When one travels in this
country, not to admire the beauty OF
the landscapes, but to examine its
institutions ard to seek counsel in
results, he has no need to look at
Territorial limits to know that ne is
passing from a canton in which
lit has been carefully cultivated "
| In view Of the amount of gross
ignorance that has so far prevailed
in England, the two extremes of the
most stoiia ignorance and the high
est culture existing in close contact,
many influential Englishmen have
publicly declared that the remedy is
to be found in compulsory education.
Penn. School journal.