New-York tribune., 1901-01-06


South where until slavery disappeared there
was practically no provision for popular instruc-
ton, the models of educational systems
We're largely copied.
In England Parliament first recognized tho
need OF aiding popular education by granting.
In 1853 and thereafter, money 20 the NOncon-
fOrmlSt and Church schools. The disposition OF
these grants OF money determined by Gov
eTnment inspection. and was prOporticned to
he numbers who passed examinations in the
three elementary branches In 1863 the In
speeted schools provided for about two million
provided Tor ten years earlier, although this
was adequate accommodation for but half the
population of school age The daily attendance.
moreover, was only half of the school accom-
mOdatiOn provided. In 1870 MIR. FOrster's Ele-
mentary Education bill passed Parliament, and
provided for public schools in all districts
where inspectors thought them required Local
school boards. elective in character, were
created by this act with power to impose local
taxes for the support of schools These Board
schools as well as the voluntary schools q. e.,
NoneOnfOrmist and Church schoOls). still re-
of expenses The religious difficulty was
avoided by making religious instruction unde-
nOInlnatlOnal and optional in Board schools. The
PIIIClpie OF compulsory attendance has been
gradually extended, though it's application and
enforcement were left in large part to the dis
creuon or local officials. The combined schools
provide accommodation for about 20 per cent
OF the population. and the average daily at
tendance to-day is over IL per cent Of the pop
1t would be impossible TO recount the ways
M which the compulsory rudimentary instruc-
tlOn OF the masses mas been taken UP and devei-
Oped by other progressive nations. Austria after
being vanquished by Prussia, in 1866. set itself
seriously to work TO reform its educational sys-
tenn In 1909, under Casati the cOmmunes of
Piedmont Sardinia and Lombardy were forced
TO erect elementary schools This served as the
basis for the construction of the common school
system of United Italy. where in 1877 instruc-
tiOn was made obligatory for children between
SlN and nine years of age. In Japan as early as
lSi2 a law providing for elementary educa-
ton was promulgated. Attendance upon the
elementary schools is made obligatory upon boys
10 from civ -0rr
this, as in many other respects, the Japanese
have copied the most advanced educational ex-
per1T1ents CT Western nations
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY
The net result of the nineteenth century's
establishment OF common schools and conlpuI-
sorry attendance thereon may be grasped in a
nutshell. if we compare the areas Of fliteracy
in 1901 and 1901. In the earlier year il is doubt
t aGl MAsInsF s mere was any considerable region
America and certain German principaIities
where the illiterate population did not enormous
OF education To-day the area of enIighten-
ment includes Central and Western EUrone.
Australia and North America Except where the
Diacks pFedOnlnate In numbers in the SOUTH.
In Italy and AustrO-Hungary the iIiterates
probably are in the minority. though forty years
ago % per cent OF the italian population could
not read or write. The Iliterate nations are
chiefly Russia, Spain. Turkey and the unpro-
gresslve nations of the Orient and OF South
If the educational progress of the nineteenth
century on its external side is most clearly
marked by the diminutiOn of niteracy, on its
inner side the educational advance Of the CEN
tury is best eXemplified by a series of move
tension OF the educational franchise. Under this
title fall cd the educative nurture OF early child
hood embraced by the. kindergarten and the
maternal schools; 90 the specialized fnstruc-
tOn for detectives and delinquents, typfied the
one in schools for the blind and for deaf ulIItes
the other in various grades OF reform schools.
he 1Srrc adm rSu
en-; CD the pOpUlarizatiOn OF knowledge through
the extension of various voluntary agencies
extension centres
The kindergarten was devised by the German
froebel 1tS2-1So9 in the early part Of the cent
ury, While the French pastor Oberlin at the same
time organized in his parish parallel system the
ecOles gardiennes, the fOrerunners of the present
ecOleS maternelles The essential feature OF both
systems is the guidance OF the Instructive ac-
tvity of earliest childhood in manner and ac-
COrdlng 70 sequence which is indicated by a
sympathetic knowledge of children's mental and
moral growth. The system met with little or
hctal favor in Germany, where its spread IS
recOgnitiOn in France. however. has been
cured for the ecOles maternelles. About 1870
the kindergarten method was brought to the
United states Dy private agency. So successful
did the early experiments prove that the public
school management undertook the maintenance
of various kindeTgartens which had been begun
private ventures Both under public and pri-
vate management it's growth I'm the United
States has been fOstered. and it seems TO have
tenn. The kindergarten has suffered somewhat
from the indiSCriminating adhesion OF its adher-
ents TO the technique devised by Froebel- 1t Is
not at ali unlikely that experiment will alter
some details of kindergarten practice but what
seems likely To remain is a special form of in-
structOn for children who are too young for the
ordinary primary schools.
EDUCATIONAL BENEvoLENcE.
The philanthrOpic impulse of the century has
especially manifested itself in educational work
for defective and delinquent classes and in its
generous provision for the enlightenment OF
backward half-civilized races. The Peabody
and Slater funds in the United States as we'll
the State support of cOlOFed schools and Fed
eral support of Indian education instance our
participation in this kind of educational benevo-
lence- More generally widespread throughout
ChrlStendOm has been the growing interest in
the Instruction of the blind and of deaf mrtes
Valentin Haiiy. in 1854 founded in Paris the first
school for the instruction OF the blind This
school was taken under State patronage in 119l
Hauy was chiefly instrumental in founding i'm
ST. Petersburg in lS06, and shortly after ar
Berlin. similar institutions The first English
institution for the instruction of the blind arose
IN Liverpool in lt9l. and in this country the wear
lS29 saw founded in Boston the first estab-
nshment OF the same kind To-day in the United
states alone there are nearly forty of these.
schools. almost four hundred teachers and more
than three thousand pupils. The instruction of
dear @ mutes presents much the same history.
Here again France led the Way under the guild
ance of the Abbe de TEpee whose school in
Paris dates from 116Js In Edinburgh was erected
the first British school for these unfortunates
in 1tt3s while Hartford had the honor of nar-
boring the first American institute of the kind
QslD To-day upward of seventy-five of these
schools ere TO be found in the United States
alone. IL is not the least interesting part of the
educational story of the century to see how the
meshes of the lesser educational nets have been
woven ever finer TO catch the refuse elements
the blind, the deaf mutes. the feeble minded
the insane and the criminally disposed-who are
OF necessity discarded from the haul which or