The Elk Mountain pilot., 1924-05-22
CHILDREN TAUGHT IN HOME
Pupils Must be Ten in Iceland


at Seydisfjordur, little fishing vii
lage on the east coast of Iceland,
some time before supper; we were
tired of sea food and decided to stroll
along the shore, confidently expect
ing to find coffee and cakes, at least,
at the home of the British consul.
Our experience had been that the
second sentence of the consul always
was will you have coffee?" And
we invariably accepted.
Here, however, we found the consul,
an Icelander, i'll in bed From the
depths of his throne of eiderdown
coverlets he raised himself, as we
were ushered into his room, to sit
ting posture He turned US over to
the care of Faroese clergyman, who
promised to take US to one of the
fishermen's cottages for supper.
A dignified woman, wearing the
Icelandic costume, greeted us when
we stood before the low doorway of
the first of four frame houses half
way up the mountain side. While we
waited in the sitting room for the
supper to be- prepared, four children
solemnly appeared. Two girls gave
us pretty curtsey, the two boys
stiff bow, so exactly like their father
would have done that l almost dis
graced myself by bursting into
laughter.
To laugh in the face of such dig
nifty would have proclaimed myself
barbarian. With undisturbed gravity,
the elder girl, looking about 10, l
thought, brought out music box,
wound it and soon the pleasant tinkle,
tinkle of an old tune came forth
from the tiny mahogany case. Then
the boy dived under the table and
came out with two pasteboard boxes,
which l found on opening, to contain
views of Switzerland, Iceland and
Denmark One of the girls handed
me a stereoptcon and, perforce, I
was soon well away on a sightseeing
tour
While | gazed and exclaimed at
a few words of painstaking English,
explained them They knew more
about the three countries than 1 did,
and more English than I knew of
Norwegian or Icelandic
Did you learn English at SCHOOL,"
| asked this question of the larger
girl as she seemed most proficient in
the use of languages, both her own
and English.
Il have not been to school yet"
came her careful reply. 'None of US
has. We are not old enough. We
may not start to school in Iceland
until we reach the age of 10. I shall
not be 10 until the winter comes.
Then l shall be able to go. These
children" and she gazed rather pity
ingly at her three playmates, twill
not be able to attend for some time"
/ was amazed. Not to start chill
dren to school until 10! And yet,
these children seemed to be almost
abnormally clever Where had they
learned English? How did they know
about Switzerland and Denmark, as
we'll as more geography and history
about their own country than we
knew after years in colleges? The
clergyman supplied the answer.
Children in Iceland are taught
great deal more at home than in 9TH
er countries They must know how
to read, to write and to spell, as well
as certain figuring, before they start
to school. And in many homes where
their parents speak English they
teach their children to speak English.
Latin, too, is not infrequently taught
and botany"
Il must confess that since the
electric lights, telephones, moving
pictures and othr modern signs of
progress have invaded Iceland there
is not so much studying done in the
homes as there used to be-" the cler-
gyman continued. "In the olden
times the only amusement for the
long, dark winter evenings was for
the head of the household to gather
around him all is family and servants
and read to them from all tie books
of learning in the house.
Travelling historians, too, used to
go. from place to place, instructing
everyone about the sages of old Ice
land. That is why, in the present
time. it is usual to find maid SER
want in Iceland knowing more of the
olden history than the sons and
daughters of well-to-do citizens in
other countries"
Each little fishing community has
a well-built schoolhouse. where pre.
liminary education is supplied, we
discovered in our tour. 1t is not 60