APPRENTICE SCHOOLS OF HUNGARY.

The system of industrial and technical education in Hungary comprises apprentice schools under the department of education and higher technical or trade schools under the department of

commerce.

The apprentice schools are either general or special in character. An important feature of the former is the course of "readings" intended to give the pupil knowledge of his own and other countries and to impart a sense of his duties and his relation to his environment. The scope of the "readings" is shown by the following topics from the official syllabus: "Industrial life; geography, Hungarian history and legislation; public hygiene; political economy; physics; chemistry and technology. The character of these "readings" may be illustrated by the full outline under industrial life, which is as follows:

Extracts from the lives of celebrated manufacturers, exhibiting the qualities demanded in a manufacturer (love of work, exactitude, honesty, sobriety, the spirit of economy, purity of morals, respect for the law, patriotism, a conciliatory character, the duties of the apprentice toward his master or guardian, rules of good behavior in the family, the school, and in public life).

For each of the three years of the course the instructions emphasize the importance of selections from Hungarian literature bearing on the historical and geographical subjects.

The remaining subjects of instruction in the apprentice schools pertain to the industries for which the students are preparing. The schools are maintained by a special tax, limited to 2 per cent of the school tax, and where this is not enough the deficiency is made good by State subsidies, disbursed by the minister of education. The school sessions cover seven hours a week, of which three fall on Sunday; trade apprentices are obliged to attend, and factory proprietors and masters of shops, etc., are liable to fines of 50 florins ($22) for failure to send their apprentices to these schools.

TRADE AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS.

The trade and technical schools are under the general direction. of the ministry of commerce, and are distinguished from the apprentice schools by a higher order of technical training and the higher attainment of their teachers. These must be graduates from the division of the polytechnic school-i. e., the engineering department, the department of architecture, or the department of practical chemistry, corresponding to the speciality over which the teacher may be placed.

Many of the teachers are sent to schools in other countries for at least a year at the expense of the State or else they enter the univer

sity for studies relating to their specialties. In general, each teacher has three or four years of academic work, supplemented by a year of travel in foreign lands.

The trade and technical schools pertain to many industries, including those for women, and hence differ widely with respect to the technical courses which they offer, although all include the same general instruction. This comprises

Hungarian, and its form in business and industry; arithmetic and geometry, with their applications; physics and chemistry, treated in a very general way, but experimentally illustrated; writing; industrial accountancy, dealing with the principles of cost, sale, profit and loss systems of bookkeeping as applied to industries.

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION.

Commercial education has received every encouragement in Hungary, which depends largely for its progress upon inland trade. The constant activity in this direction is illustrated by recent efforts to extend trade to the new Kingdom of Albania. For this purpose an exposition of articles manufactured in Hungary was opened at Valona, Albania, under the charge of the Hungarian Commercial Museum. In connection with the display, small booklets were distributed describing, in the French and Albanian languages, all the samples, representing 220 different manufactures. The importance attached to this enterprise was indicated by the fact that Dr. Julius Kovacs, the director of the commercial museum, personally superintended the arrangements of the exposition in Albania. An excursion of the leading business men of Albania to Budapest was also arranged, and every effort made to induce them to establish close relations with Hungarian manufacturers.'

1 See report by William Coffin, American consul general, Budapest, in Daily Consular and Trade Re ports, May 18, 1914.

CHAPTER XXXV.

EDUCATION IN THE KINGDOMS OF SOUTHERN EUROPE.

CONTENTS. Spain: Educational movements-Portugal-Italy: Educational progress; rural schools for the Roman Campagna; secondary and higher education-Greece-Balkan nations-Turkey.

EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS IN SPAIN.

The most stirring events in the recent history of Spain have arisen from the educational conflicts between progressive leaders and their political opponents. The latter have been weakened in the contest by the pressure of industrial needs, and gradually Government support has been secured for reforms in the organization and conduct of primary schools throughout the Kingdom. The important feature of the new policies is the larger control of primary education assumed by the State. This action began by the creation of a ministry of education in 1900; in 1902 the State took over the payment of teachers' salaries, and provided also for the erection of school buildings in cities or districts neglecting this duty; in 1909 a law was passed increasing the authority of the State in respect to the appointment of teachers and the internal conduct of schools. Finally, in 1911, a decree was passed creating the office of general director of primary education in the ministry. This office was committed to Dr. Altamira, widely known by his historic writings and his practical conduct of a university extension movement in the interests of artisans and laborers.

The recent withdrawal of Señor Altamira from the directorship of primary education has been the occasion for a review of the work accomplished during the three years of his administration. The interests of the teachers were his first concern, and he was successful in securing for them a general increase in salaries, more secure tenure, and promotion at fixed intervals. At the same time, he raised the standards of the service by the reorganization of the normal school programs, the creation of special courses of instruction for teachers in the service, and traveling scholarships for the purpose of enabling teachers to profit by tours of observation in foreign countries. Under his administration, the service of school inspection was placed on a higher plane as regards the qualifications of candidates, and a corps of inspectresses added to the force. Sixty circulating libraries for 73226°--ED 1914-VOL 1- -48

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the use of teachers were established, and finally primary education was made free by the suppression of school fees. The efforts of Dr. Altamira extended beyond the strictly educational features of the service; medical school inspection was extended and placed upon a firmer basis and provision made for school colonies for the benefit of delicate children.

The reforms authorized by law have necessitated substantial increase in the public appropriation for primary education. In 1909 the budget of the ministry of public instruction amounted to 52,351,374 pesetas ($10,103,815); in 1911 this total was increased by 6,173,212 pesetas ($1,191,430), and by successive increases the budget for 1913 reached the total of 62,711,373.06 pesetas ($12,103,295). The greater part of this appropriation, and especially of the increase, was applied to primary education.

The effect of these efforts has been felt beyond the province of the schools; in many cities courses of instruction for adults have been held with excellent results, which appear from the decline of illiteracy. In 1900 statistics showed that 42 per cent of the population were unable to read and write. Recent military statistics give 35 per cent as the ratio of illiteracy among the recruits.

Great interest is also shown in provision for the education of women, an interest growing out of the successful operations of the wellknown Institute for Girls, at Madrid. This institute is the outgrowth of a mission school founded at Santander by the agency of Rev. William H. Gulick and his wife. The plan of a higher nonsectarian school for girls gradually took shape, and, without interference with the missionary work, was carried into effect at the capital city through the indefatigable efforts of Mrs. Gulick, supported by American philanthropy. The institute is under the general management of a board of directors in the United States, and in 1912 was moved to the present site, on which a commodious building had been erected. The opening ceremonies in its new home took the form of a memorial service for its foundress, who died just at the completion of this last effort in behalf of the enterprise.

Under the direction of Miss Susan D. Huntington, a graduate of Wellesley College, who had been connected with the work during Mrs. Gulick's administration, the institute has fully sustained its efficiency and influence as an educational center.

In close relation with the educational movement are the efforts for the improvement of agriculture and commercial affairs. The Government is taking an important part in the former by the establishment of experimental stations, where improved processes of agriculture are demonstrated for the benefit of the farming population. The commercial development is promoted, more generally, by municipal action. There is also a noticeable increase of provision for

scientific education in the higher institutions, so that, both from the educational and industrial standpoint, Spain seems to be entering upon a new era of progress and prosperity.

PORTUGAL.

Portugal has entered with some vigor upon the effort to make adequate provision of primary schools and to enforce the compulsory clause of the school law. For the latter purpose a special decree was issued by the Provisional Government under date of March 29, 1911. Measures have also been adopted looking to the improvement of normal schools and the development of science courses in the universities. It need hardly be said that the disturbed conditions of the country have not been favorable to the progress of these reforms.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN ITALY.

Recent educational progress in Italy has been marked, as in Spain, by the increased activity of the Central Government in the province. of primary education. In view of the fact that the compulsory provision of the education law was nullified in large parts of southern Italy by the want of schoolhouses, an act was passed in 1906 pledging 18,000,000 lire ($3,600,000) for new buildings; in 1912-13 the appropriation for primary education was raised to 56,000,000 lire ($10,800,000), which was more than double the corresponding sum for 1911. It was provided in the act confirming the increased appropriation that four-fifths of the amount should be used to secure additional teachers and to raise the salaries of those in the service.

A direct effort to overcome illiteracy was made by an act of June 4, 1911, transferring the control of primary schools to provincial authorities in the case of communes reporting more than 25 per cent of illiterates in their population. The actual result of these successive measures can not be shown until the issuing of the next quinquennial report, which should bring the data down to 1912-13. From current advices, however, it is certain that large gains have been made in the number of schools and in their efficiency.

Striking phases of the current educational movement are the efforts to overcome adult illiteracy, and to prepare intending emigrants for the unforeseen exigencies of travel and of the strange conditions in foreign lands. This latter enterprise, developed under the auspices of the commissioner of emigration, is one of the most important welfare activities of the present age.1

1 See Rep. Commis. of Educ., 1912, vol. 1, pp. 561-563.