The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-10-19
Education in Belgium.

A correspondent of the London Times
writes: SIN the city of Client education is
by no means embarrassed by the conditions
under which it labors in the rural communes
of Flanders. The city spends lavishly upon
education, and the instruction is entirely in
tho hands Of lay teachers. In the years 1874.
1873. 1913 children and adults were under
instruction in the elementary schools direct
ed by the city. in addition to those being
educated in UNCONVENTIONAL schools. AT
present the schools are in vacation. They
have 4 long holiday from the 18th OF August
to the end Of September. A few pupils are
still at work in the sewing school of the Cal
lier Institution. This is one of the best
schools in the town. and we'll deserves Wis
it. 1t is q public elementary day school for
girls. to which is attached an infant school
for 200 little children. The low forms with
out desks which remain in these airy rooms
show the early age at which the infants are
admitted. For those whose parents cannot
take them away dinner is gratutously proy-
ded. There is q good playground ior the
children. The girls school contains 800 pu-
pills.. None of those who live in the city pay
anything for their tuition, but children from
neighboring communes pay few francs per
month. The hours are from $50 to 1l:30
and from 1:30 to in the winter and 80 in
summer. Scool begins and ends with pray
er, and the catechism is taught by priest
once week. In the upper classes history
and geography are taught, although the Bel-
gian code only prescribes the teaching OF
religion, morality, reading, writing, arlti-
metic, the national weights and measures,
and French, Flemish, Oh German, as the case
may be- Maps, abaci, black-boards, devo-
tional pictures, and the actual measures OF
capacity ornament the walls of the principal
class-rooms. In q lower class for girls be-
tween the ages of six and eight the follow
ing is one days work. 1t will serve as
specimen: in the morning: prayer, FLEMISH
gymnastics arithmetic, writing; in the al
ternoon, French, object lesson, needlework,
prayer. Saturday is a half holiday, and no
instruction is given on Sunday but on that
day the school building is used for an adult
class of 200 who also meet there in the eve
nings as q night school. 1t will be seen that
little girls in Client have to be b-linqual-
to learn both French and Flemish. Their
mothers and fathers speak, as a rule, moth !
ING but Flemish, a fact which makes Ghent |
perpleXing town to foreigners. The pro- |
vision as to German in the article OF the |
Code quoted above refers to some parts OF
Luxembourg, where German is the language |
of the people. A great many of the children
leave at the age of eleven, but the city is try
ing to keep them till a later age. There IS |
useful addition to this institution in the !
shape of large work-room, where girls who
have passed the superior classes in this school |
or another are instructed in millinery and |
dressmaking from one to eight in the after |
noon, after attending ordinary lessons in
the morning. This half-time system is found
very successful one The girls begin to |
earn money from the first day they enter |
the room. and there is always great compe- |
tition to be admitted to it. 1t holds sixty |
girls at little side tables for four each, with |
large central table for cutting out. Sew |
ing machines are at one end of the room. |
There Is no instruction in cookery, and such |
instruction is less necessary here than in |
England, because the subject is better mn
derstood at the childrcn's homes. Another |
institution, the school bank, which the Bel |
gians claim to have invented, is established |
in the school. The total deposits in the pen |
nv banks OF the schools of Client amounted |
in 1875 to no less than Ia, 235 francs invest |
ed in l1,797 names. Instruction to the A., |
1915 boys, the 1866 girls, the ,4Sl infants in
the free schools, in the 1878 pupils in the |
paving schools, and the 3,5l3 adults in the |
night schools, is siven by {. body of 274 lay |
teachers and assistant teachers. A Congress
of Belgian teachers meets at Client in the |
beginning of next week.
Inc girls WOrk-fOOm mas q more imposing |
parallel in the Industrial School, where S2l |
pupils are instructed in chemistry, mechan- |
les, physics, construction, engineering, geol- |
ogy, accounts, design, and in the theory and |
practice of the manufactures of the town, |
which are chiefly concerned with linen and |
cotton. Girls are admitted to the course in /
design.
Another institutional the mid(lle-class school |
contained 40 pupils in 1875, the Royal |
Athenaum 37S. There were SOC students in |
the university. and their distribution among
the faculties shows the practical character of |
the training sought Only twenty students |
entered in the faculty of philosophy and let |
tiers. Law had 90 students, sciences. 81, |
medicine &c. In the school of civil engineer |
ing, annexed tc the science faculty there |
were 2lS pupils, i'll the school of arts and !
manufacturers G2, in the normal school of |
science 5. The town has other normal |
schools which appear to be successfully con-
Quoted. The population OF Client is less |
than in the time of Charles v, whose IA
nous boast it was that he could put Paris in
his gauntlet. Then it was the most popu-
lous city of Northern Europe. No vessels |
could pass through the drawbridges Gifts ca
nails, no children ventured out of doors, when |
the armies of is craftsmen were going to and 1
from their work. At present the number of
it's inhabitants is 121 1863. still mainly man.
ufacturing population.