The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-12-31
SWISS SCHOOLS

s-nIearIy 90 per cent of the teach hrz in Switzerland are men, said w. R Tate supervisor of rural schools In SorxTh Carolina, to conference of ed rcaAoxs at the United States Bu- t-eau of Education. Mir. Tate has just returned from a three months, 1nvest1- gatson in Switzerland under the ,alls- pices of the Bureau.
 "B1ve hundred dollars is considered a good salary for a teacher. After lifetime of service he may go as high hs $500. Living is cheaper there than here. however, and in addition to his salary he Is furnished with a dwelling. a certain amount of garden land and wood for fuel. His dwelling is gen. eraIlv in the same building with the scsotoI. His position is of considerable local importance. Aside from his du- lies in the schoolroom he is often sec .retary of the local creamery associa- lion leader of the village band, organ bs4 in the church and general intellec- tua1 guide for the community
 when a teacher is engaged for a Ksosition it fig for life or a. long term of gears. He settles down with the peo- ple whose children he teaches, and generally expects to make that par ticular job his life work. And he stays. Changes are rare. Twelve new teachers in one year in system of zzO was considered very unusual The record for continued service in the game village Is held by a teacher in h-hugau, who has occupied the same position for sixty-ffve years. One keacher that I visited hss held his po- eftfoza for twenhy-four years and his Father held the same position for thir- ky-nve years before him.
 One Of the most attractive features of the Swiss schools is the cordial per eonal relation that exists between teacher and pupil. There is nothing pf the military in the discipline of the echool: no nning-up; marching to plaswes- When the children go to the classroom, they shake hands with the keaUher, greeting him as if they had nct seen him for a long time and are really glad to see him. The whole re- kation Is one of charming natura1ness and krdIiness on both sides.
 Tn the Swiss cantons school is in session from to in winter time, with an intermissfon of two hours at noon (three hours for the younger phildren.) In summer the children have 10 be at school at a. m
 Failure to be promoted is rare. Af- ter the four years of elementary train Ing In the primary school, prescribed For everybody, the children proceed in Do schools that are carefully differen- tiated for the various types of chill Hren. Some of the children enter up pm a technical training; others are eent through the gymnasium and uI- tirnateEy to the university; and still others are prepared for business life pr any other suitable career, accord Ing to the ability and aptitude of the Individual boy or girl''
 Commissioner CEa1cton, kvf1o intro HOced the speaker, said he believed Americans would derive much benefit from MT Tate's study of conditions ln Switzerland, which will soon be published as a bulletin of the Fsurea u pf Education. ''In Switzerland said Dr. Claxton, fits a case of the school tor the people, not the people for the DchooI. We can learn much from Swift Eer1axsd-more perhaps than from Fome Of the larger countries of Bu- rope"