department of agriculture; the course of instruction covers one and one-half to two years, including practical work on the school farm, which is supplied by the district. The recent investigation showed that many of these schools were in a very unsatisfactory condition, and it is proposed that the amount of the State aid shall be increased and the schools brought under closer supervision and conducted in a more systematic manner and with greater regard to the relation between scientific knowledge and its practical application to farm work.

A recent departure in this local provision is that of the "movable agricultural schools" for small farmers. An example is the movable school established in the Nordlands Amt in 1911, offering two threemonths courses in selected places during the winter. Naturally in this case the instruction can not be supplemented by farm practice.

Norway also has several important private agricultural schools, among them a winter school at Christiania, and a similar one at Ørsten, founded by the young people's association of that town; both of these receive aid from the State.

MOVABLE AGRICULTURAL COURSES.

The subject of instruction for petty farmers was brought up for consideration in the budget of agriculture for 1912. In presenting the subject the minister said:

The matter of prime importance is to arouse the interest of the farming population; especially to make the petty farmers realize that scientific knowledge is of importance for their work. And if this is to be successful, there is no other way than to bring the means of instruction to their very doors; the courses must be given in every community. It is the same method that has been used in other countries to awaken the interest of the petty farmer.

The following plan for this new departure was outlined by the department of agriculture:

Movable agricultural courses are to be arranged with a program of instruction especially fitted for the small farmers. As teachers for these courses men are to be appointed who have received special training for this work. Teachers are provided with material, easily packed, consisting of such things as are in use: Plants, seed for sowing, seed of weeds, fertilizers, models, etc.

With this outfit they travel about in winter, or, if there is enough demand, the entire year, from one community to another, and conduct courses in the schoolhouses. The length of the courses is adapted to the conditions in each place. To begin with, it will probably be necessary to limit them to one or two weeks. The instruction is given in the afternoon or evening three or four hours a day.

A course is worked out which the teacher must follow, that the time may be well used and the instruction not become a matter of chance. The course must give something of evident practicability; it must, in other words, come as near home to the work of the farmer as possible. At the same time it must arouse interest, so that the listeners shall desire to have the course continued and to extend their knowledge further. There must be the chance to choose between different subjects of instruction according to conditions in the community in question, but the method of instruc

tion should be the same everywhere. The instruction must be methodical and well prepared, nothing left to chance.

For free distribution at the courses small pamphlets are printed which discuss useful points for the small farmer.

The courses are made known by means of posters, announcements, and course outlines, which are sent a week or two in advance to the teachers in the common schools with the request that they be sent home with the children. These outlines should be illustrated by pictures giving an idea of what will be offered, and they must be made interesting, so that they may tempt the reader to apply for the course.

Admission to the courses should be free for every man or woman who has anything to do with agriculture or with the side branches of agriculture. It is possible that in order to arouse the interest of the small farmer it will be necessary at first, just as in Switzerland, to offer stipends.

The expenses should be divided between the State, the amt, and the communities in which the courses are held. Probably the community and the amt should offer an equal share and the State supply the rest. The fairest plan would be that the State handle three-fourths of the expenses, just as it does in the present instruction in agriculture.

Stress is placed on the excellence and the fitness of the teachers for their task, for on them depends to a marked degree whether or not the plan shall meet with success and the attempt show any good results.

PREPARATION OF TEACHERS.

It was urged by the department that in drafting a new plan of study for the agricultural academy, provision should be made for preparing teachers for the local agricultural schools and also for the movable courses; in this connection the example of Denmark was referred to, and in view of the time that would be required to prepare the new teachers of agriculture it was advised that, for the present, the traveling teachers, before they begin their work in Norway, should have opportunity to study a few months at the Danish schools for cottagers or at the schools for small farmers in Sweden.

The scheme thus presented was put into operation last year, 43 courses of instruction having been offered; the attendance was good, in some places reaching 200, and the traveling teachers report that great interest had been manifested by the farmers and that the instruction had been extremely useful.

The arrangement is regarded as temporary, and a proposition has been recently presented by the department of agriculture for establishing a special school to prepare teachers for the work of instructing petty farmers and for the gradual establishment of schools for farmers of this class. This motion is still pending in the Storthing.

DENMARK.

Denmark has become an object lesson to the world by reason of its system of rural education and its agricultural prosperity. Every nation recently awakened to the importance of the subject and to the dangers that threaten when rural populations are ignorant and shift

less has turned to Denmark for direction in the effort at rural uplift. The United States, although later in the movement than European nations, is now alive to this necessity, and in its turn ready to profit by this example. Obviously, the subject can not be covered in the brief survey of the year, but it has been very fully treated in several bulletins published by the bureau. The most recent of these deals with the Danish folk high school, which has had a wonderful effect in enabling rural communities to hold their own against urban influence. To quote the author:

* *

Strong churches and well-organized schools in charge of devoted and well-trained men who are giving their lives to the work in the open country lie there as permanent citadels against any outside aggression. * Pastors and teachers have their share in the remarkably effective extension work emanating from the folk high schools and local agricultural schools.

These activities all belong to the period after the school life has finished, but the schools themselves have an equal bearing upon rural prosperity. They not only impart instruction in the elements, but they train "young men and women for a varied rural artisanship." As a result of this fortunate combination of school training and community exercises, the entire rural population of Denmark have learned to take "the right outlook on life," and are bearing the most important part in the "social economic evolution of the country."

HIGHER INSTITUTIONS.

The veterinary and agricultural college at Copenhagen has played an important part in promoting the remarkable development of the agricultural and dairy industries of the Kingdom. The Polytechnic Institute, situated at the capital, has recently been installed in new buildings, thoroughly appointed for the various branches of technical education. The State contributes to its support an annual appropriation of 345,000 kroner ($86,200). This institute maintains close relations with the university, many lectures and laboratory facilities being common to both.

The culture of Denmark centers in the University of Copenhagen, which from the time of its foundation, 1478, has exercised great influence upon the intellectual life of northern Europe. Students who have completed the course of the gymnasia are admitted to the university without examination. The studies of the first year are the same for all students and lead to the degree of candidate of philosophy. After the first year the students enter upon professional courses according to their choice. These courses vary in duration from the four or five years required for the degree of master of arts

1 Foght, Harold W. The Educational System of Rural Denmark, Bulletin, 1913, No. 58. The Danish Folk High Schools, Bulletin, 1914, No. 22.

Friend, L. L. The Folk High School of Denmark, Bulletin, 1914, No. 5.

or master of science to the seven or eight years required for the diploma of candidate in medicine. The university is supported by the income of its own funds and an annual appropriation from the State of about 900,000 kroner ($241,000). There are no tuition fees, but small charges for extras are made. Between three and four thousand students are in annual attendance at the university and the Polytechnic Institute.

In addition to the influences that have raised rural life to such a high level in Denmark, there is a development in respect to ideal interests that is extending its influences to other nations. These two tendencies are characterized in a contemporary journal as follows:

NATIONAL TENDENCIES.

Two tendencies have been chiefly dominant for a long time in Danish intellectual and cultural life; one is represented by the movement inspired by Grundtvig, the other is Brandesianism. The movement represented and led by Brandes claims the honor of having introduced modern European intellectual and cultural life into Denmark, while the movement fostered by Grundtvig is, in its origin and subsequent development, intensely national. While the former, which arose in the seventies, is a cult of the intellect, Grundtvig's movement aimed at satisfying man as man and above all the yearnings of the heart, both with respect to temporal and with respect to eternal concerns.1

BELGIUM AND THE NETHERLANDS.

INTRODUCTION.

The calamity which has overtaken Belgium in the course of the European war and the refuge afforded the homeless people by the Netherlands recalls an important period in the history of the two nations. From 1815 to 1830 Belgium formed with Holland the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the influence of this union is still seen in many customs and institutions. The similarity of the educational systems of the two countries is very noticeable. In both, communal and denominational authorities have had supreme control over elementary schools, although the respective Governments have borne a large part of the cost of the schools. Both countries have also been distinguished by their liberal provision for industrial education and for the general use of those facilities by the young people of the working classes.

Ample support for higher education has also been characteristic of the two nations, while the distinction between the schools for the people and those attended by the wealthier classes has been less pronounced than in European countries generally.

1 Dragehjelm, Hans. Die dänische Volkshochschule-eine geschichtliche Aufklärung. Neue Bahnen, 25; 495-96, August, 1914.

BELGIUM.

SYSTEM OF PRIMARY EDUCATION.

The system of primary education in Belgium was originally organized in accordance with the education law of 1842, which was abrogated by the law of 1879, passed during the temporary ascendency of the Liberal Party. In 1884 the Catholic Party having regained a majority in the legislature, a new school law was passed which returned to the conditions established in 1842. In accordance with this law primary schools were established and maintained by communal authorities, which were authorized also to subsidize parochial schools. The communal taxes for the support of the schools were supplemented by State and provincial appropriations. Normal schools for the professional preparation of teachers for primary schools were either State institutions or schools under private control approved by the State.

The new school law, which went into effect in May, 1914, continued the policies embodied in the law of 1884, but included a compulsory school-attendance clause, applicable to all children from the ages of 6 to 14, completed."

At the latest date reported (1912), the enrollment in the primary schools was 935,377, equivalent to 12.5 per cent of the population (estimated at 7,500,000); there were also 277,721 children under 6 years of age in the infant schools (écoles gardiennes) and 249,121 pupils in the public classes for adults.

THE FEDERATION OF TEACHERS.

The General Federation of Belgian Teachers has long been regarded as one of the most vigorous and progressive associations of the kind in Europe. In its session held in March, 1914, the association considered, particularly, the infant schools of the Kingdom. The condition of these schools in the smaller communes was severely criticized, buildings and equipment being miserable and classes overcrowded; in striking contrast were the infant schools in the large cities. These were characterized as veritable "school gardens,' provided with suitable buildings, ample courts and grounds, and conducted by teachers expert in the art of developing young children by means of plays and free activities. The federation placed itself on record in favor of the Froebelian system for infant schools, and urged the increase of provision for training teachers in this system. Attention was called to the fact that the normal school for women in the city of Brussels included a section for this special work, and classes in the system and methods of Froebel were maintained by the cities of Liege, Antwerp, and Ghent. Two provincial schools for the training of kindergarten teachers had also been established, one in the Province of Hainaut and a second in the Province of Brabant.