Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-05-15
TEACHERS AIDING
ITALY.
With Educational Progress
Illiteracy Is Decreasing

u.,t,ng of education in Italy, VIII
Monroe. of the State Normal
100 Westfeld, Mass, holds that
ssrs Of progress are manifested
ssvvbere. Notwithstanding the fact
~. I,aly shares with Portugal and
p 49, the primacy of illiterscy among
sp a.t,ous of western Europe. Mr..
ne ..oe,s observations, of which adj
- 70 sheets have recently been is
va - form a chapter o; the report
ne United States commissioner
= sducation for 1906.
srlIteracy," he says, has decreased
..r cent. among the male popu-
~, oyer six years Of age since
81 and q per cent. among the fe-
e. -. There is today rs per cent.
~ ,uteracy among army recruits
-, -, thirty years ago, and 16 per
-, less among naval recruits. The
...hsru and central provinces prog
- less rapidly than the northern
.,ncss. but even in the former
parrbon and Papal States, where at
~ time OF unifcation, the illiteracy
-. was highest-in the case OF the
liner including SO per cent. OF the
's,,rs population-there are hopeful
,sus There are but 2 per cent. OF
r,,erates In Turin and 3 per cent.
: Milan today, as against 63 per
- IN. Sicily and rs per cent. in
c.,sbria. among the population over
- Years of age. The percentage OF
aose who are unable to sign the
..,,s.er when they marry in Turin
! I'm for men and 6 for women;
!, Rome, 20 for men and 80 for wo-
men. IN Cosenza. 70 for men and 81
lr women. -
.Tbe Casati law Of November IL.
,sss which followed in the train OF
M hattie of Solferino, forms the
s.s,s Of the elementary school code
= italy. 1t decreed that education
I,om the sixth to the ninth year
.hould be secular, gratuitous. and OBJ
Bratory. 1t did not, however, make
,Seouate monetary provision for the
..,ntenance OF the elementary
,,bools and It failed to impose pen
,lties upon parents who neglected or
refused to send their children to
,cbool. The Coppino law OF July 10.
is77 imposed upon recalcitrant pa
rsuts an ascending scale of fines, from
"A cents for the first offence up to
n The DEGREES of February 16 and
december rs, 1888, formulated the
ourse Of study; and the law of July
1904, has fixed the compulsory
rhool attendance period at six
rhool years. or rather the compile
Ion Of six-year school course, for
m communes Of more than 1000 in
habitants.
Every commune with seventy chill
aren between the ages Of six and
uIne years must provide an elemen-
hry school for boys and one for girls.
smaller and poor communes may
mite with neighborfng municipalities.
Communes Of less than 500 inhabi-
hnn may have a mixed school, al
though the sentiment against co-edu-
ution Is everywhere strong in Italy,
wen for the youngest children. The
rode provides for male teachers for
boys schools and female teachers for
girls schools; but the constant de-
crease In the attendance at the State
normal schools for men has so re-
duced the supply that women are now
vUy generally found teaching boys
b the first grade and often in the
second grade also. The schools are
bee and are maintained by commu-
nal and provincial taxes, supplement-
u BY State subsidies.
The course Of study In Italy, as
b France, is fixed by the national
I sOyernment. and Is not left, as in the
United States, to short-lived boards
q education and school trustees. The
0mpulsory course for the elementary
rhools Includes the mother tongue,
enmanship. arithmetic, history, geog-
nphy, civics, nature study, drawing,
mgng and gymnastics. Domestic
kience Is obligatory in girls schools,
md manual training and agricult1ke
ne elective In boys schools"