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the Education of Youth,' and who should prepare, and deliver, and would carry with them the spirit of the Institution, and thus, by these print, a course of lectures on the subject. various processes of communication, the whole mass of public sentiLet the institution be furnished with a library, which shall containment, and feeling, and effort, would be imbued with it. all the works, theoretical and practical, in all languages, that can be obtained on the subject of education, and also with all the apparatus that modern ingenuity has devised for this purpose; such as maps, charts, globes, orreries, &c.

Let there be connected with the institution a school, smaller or larger, as circumstances may dictate, in which the theories of the professors can be reduced to practice, and from which daily experience would derive a thousand useful instructions.

To such an Institution let young men resort who are ready to devote themselves to the business of instructers of youth. Let them attend a regular course of lectures on the subject of education; read the best works; take their turns in the instruction of the experimental school, and after thus becoming qualified for their office, leave the Institution with a suitable certificate, or diploma, recommending them to the confidence of the public.

Another advantage resulting from such an institution would be, that it would lead to the investigation and establishment of those principles of discipline and government most likely to promote the progress of children and youth in the acquisition of intellectual and moral excellence. How sadly vague and unsettled are most of the plans in this important part of education, now in operation in our common schools. What is the regular and well-defined system of praise and blame; of rewards and punishments; of exciting competition or appealing to better feelings; in short, of cultivating the moral and religious temper of the pupil, while his intellectual improvement is going on, which now pervades cur schools? Even the gardener, whom you employ to deck your flower beds, and cultivate your vegetables, and rear your fruit trees, you expect to proceed upon some matured and well understood plan of operation. On this subject I can hardly restrain my emotions. I am almost ready to exclaim,-shame on those fathers and mothers, who inquire not at all, who almost seem to care not at all, with regard to the moral discipline that is pursued by instructers in cultivating the temper and disposition of their children. On this subject, everything depends on the character and habits of the instructer; on the plans he lays down for himself; on the modes by which he carries these plans into effect. Here, as in everything else, system is of the highest importance. Nothing should be left to whim and caprice. What is to be this system? Who shall devise it? Prudence, sagacity, affection, firmness, and above all, experience, should combine their skill and effort to produce it. At such an Institution as I have proposed, these requisites would be most likely to be found. Then night we hope to see the heart improved, while the mind expanded; and knowledge, human and divine, putting forth its fruits, not by the mere dint of arbitrary authority, but by the gentler persuasion of motives addressed to those moral principles of our nature, the cultivation of which reason and religion alike inculcate. In addition to all this, suppose that some intelligent and respectable individual, after having made himself master of the subject in all its bearings, and consulted with the wise and judicious within his reach, who might feel an interest in it, should prepare a course of lectures, and spend a season or two in delivering them in our most populous towns and cities. The novelty of this, if no other cause, would attract a great many hearers. Such an individual, too, in his excursions, would have the best opportunity of conferring with well-informed and influential men; of gaining their views; of learning the extent and weight of all the obstacies which such a project would have to encoun pear deserving of patronage, of enlisting public sentiment and feeling in its favour.

I have scarcely room to allude to the advantages which would result from such a plan. It would direct the attention, and concentrate the efforts, and inspire the zeal, of many worthy and intelligent minds to one important object. They would excite each other in this new career of doing good. Every year would produce a valuable accession to the mass of experience that would be constantly accumulating at such a store-house of knowledge. The business of instructing youth would be reduced to a system, which would embrace the best and the readiest modes of conducting it. This system would be gradually diffused throughout the community. Our instructers would rank, as they ought to do, among the most respectable professions. We should know to whom we entrusted the care and education of our offspring. These instructers, corresponding, as they naturally would, with the Institution which they had left, and visiting it at its annual, and my imagination already portrays, delightful festivals, would impart to it, and to each other, the discoveries and improvements which they might individually make, in their separate spheres of employment, In addition to all this, what great advantages such an institution would afford, by the combined talents of its professors, its library, its experimental school, and perhaps by the endowment of two or three fellowships for this very object, for the formation of the best books to be employed in the early stages of education; a desideratum which none but some intelligent mothers and teachers, and a few others, who have devoted themselves to so humble, yet important an object, can duly appreciate. Such an institution, too, would soon become the centre of informa-ter, and the best modes of removing them; and, if it should indeed aption on all topics connected with the education of youth; and thus, the combined results of those individuals in domestic life, whose attention has been directed to the subject, would be brought to a point, examined, weighed, matured, digested, systematized, promulgated, and carried into effect.

If the experiment could, at first, be made upon a small scale; if such an Institution could be moderately endowed with funds sufficient to support one or two professors, and procure even the elements of a library, afterwards to be enlarged, as private or public bounty might permit; if it could be established in some town large enough to furnish from its youthful population pupils to form its experimental school; and if only a few young men, of talents and worth, could be induced to resort to it, with an intention of devoting themselves to the business of instruction as a profession,-it would not, I think, be long before its practical utility would be demonstrated. The instructers, although few in number, who would, at first, leave the Institution, would probably be located in some of our larger towns. Their modes of instruction would be witnessed by numbers of the influential and intelligent, and, if successful, would soon create a demand for other instructers of similar qualifications. And as soon as such demand should be produced, other individuals would be found willing to prepare themselves to meet it. And thus we might hope, that both private and public munificence, so bountifully bestowed, at the present day, on other useful objects, would eventually contribute a portion of its aid to an establish ment designed to train up our youth more successfully to derive benefit from all the other efforts of benevolence, or institutions of literature and religion, which are so widely extending their influence through every part of our highly favored country.

Such an Institution would also tend to elevate the tone of public sentiment, and to quicken the zeal of public effort with regard to the correct intellectual and moral education of the rising generation. To accomplish any great object, the co-operation of numbers is necessary. This is emphatically true in our republican community. Individual influence, or wealth, is inadequate to the task, Monarchs, or nobles, may singly devise, and carry in o effect, Herculean enter prises. But we have no royal institutions; ours must be of more gradual growth, and perhaps, too, may aspire to more generous and impartial beneficence, and attain to more settled and immovable stability. Now, to concentrate the attention, and interest, and exertions of the public on any important object, it must assume a definite and palpable form. It must have a local habitation and name.' For instance, you may, by statements of facts, and by eloquent appeals to the sympathies of others, excite a good deal of feeling with regard to the deaf and dumb, or to the insane. But so long as you fail to direct this good will in some particular channel of practical effort, you only play round the hearts of those whom you wish to enlist in the cause. They will think, and feel, and talk, and hope that something will be done; but that is all. But erect your Asyluin for the deaf and dumb, and your Retreat for the insane. Bring these objects of your pity together. Let the Another obstacle, in the prosecution of such a plan, is the difficulty of public see them. Commence your plans of relief. Show that some-inducing young men of character and talents to embark in it, and to thing can be done, and how and where it can be done, and you bring devote themselves to the business of instruction for life.* into action that sympathy and benevolence which would otherwise I cannet but hope that the time is not far distant, when the education have been wasted in mere wishes, and hopes, and expectations. Just of youth will assume, in the minds of intelligent and pious individuals, so with regard to improvements in education. Establish an Institution, its proper place among the various other benevolent exertions which such as I have ventured to recommend, in every state. The public are made, through the aids of private and public bounty, for meliorating attention will be directed to it. Its professors will have their friends the temporal and eternal condition of man. In the meanwhile, cannot and correspondents in various parts of the country, to whom they will, a few young men, of talents and piety, be led to feel that the thousands from time to time, communicate the results of their speenlations and of our rising generation, the hope of the church and the state, have efforts, and to whom they will impart a portion of the enthusiasm strong claims on their benevolence; and that to consecrate their which they themselves feel. Such an institution, too, would soon be- | time and their efforts to such an enterprise, may be as much their duty come an object of laudable curiosity. Thousands would visit it. Its experimental school, if properly conducted, would form a most delight ful and interesting spectacle. Its library and various apparatus would be, I may say, a novelty in this department of the philosophy of the human mind. It would probably, also, have its public examinations, which would draw together an assembly of intelligent and literary in dividuals. Its students, as they dispersed through the community,

of children and youth a profession, to be pursued as an occupation for life, he is *While the writer, in this essay, urges the importance of making the teaching rely aware of the difficulties attending the subject, in the state of society in this country. He would have every thing done that can be, to give efficacy and success to the plan of employing good teachers from among such as can give only a short time to the employinent. This mode, too, has some advantages. But the other mode has peculiar and great advantages. At any rate, there is no danger, at present, of having too many good teachers who are willing to make it a profession.

as to engage in the missionary cause? Missionaries make great sacrifices, and practice much self-denial, and endure weighty labors, with out any prospect of temporal emolument, in order to train up heathen youth for usefulness in this world, and for happiness in the next; and cannot those be found who will undergo some sacrifices, and self-denial, and labour, to bring about so great a good as a reformation in the instruction of those youth who are bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh? Only admit the importance of the object, (and who can deny it?) and it almost looks like an impeachment of their Christian sincerity, to suppose that among those hundreds of young men who are pressing forward into the ranks of charitable enterprise, none can be persuaded to enter upon a domestic field of labor, which promises so much for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. No, only let the project be begun, let the way of usefulness be opened, let the countenance and support of even a few pious and influential individuals be afforded, and I am persuaded that agents to carry on the work, at least to commence it, will not be wanting.

The difficulty is not in being unable to procure such agents: it lies deeper it arises from the very little interest that has yet been taken in the subject; from the strange neglect, among parents, and patriots, and Christians, of a well-digested and systematic plan for the education of children and youth; from the sluggish contentment that is felt with the long established modes of instruction; and from the apprehensions which some entertain, that all improvements are either unsafe or chimerical.

sary to give him what is called a good English education. I do not fear to hazard the assertion, that under an improved system of education, with suitable books prepared for the purpose, and conducted by more intelligent and experienced instructers, as much would be acquired in five years, by our children and youth, as is now acquired in eight. Now with regard to those parents who calculate on receiving benefit from the labor of their children, it will easily be seen that, by gaining three years out of eight in the course of their education, there will be an immense saving to the state. This saving alone would, I appre hend, ff youth were usefully employed, more than defray the additional wages which would have to be given to instructers of skill and experience, and who should devote themselves to their employment as a profession for life. But if even the advantage to be derived from the labor of children is not taken into the account, it is evident that, for having the sume object accomplished in five years that now consumes eight, you could at least afford to pay as much for five years of instruction as you now pay for eight. In addition to this, as it is the custom in many of our country towns for the instructer to board in the families of those who send children to school, there would be a saving also in this respect. There would be a saving, too, with regard to all the contingent expenses of the school, such as books, stationery, wood, &c. In a community constituted like that of New England, where so great a proportion of its population is devoted to agricultural and mechanical pursuits, any system of education which could save to the public three years out of eight of the time and labor of all its children and youth, would, it is manifest, add an immense sum to the pecuniary resources of the country, and recommend itself to every patriot and philanthropist, even on the most rigid principles of a calculating economy.

But these young men are poor, and cannot defray the expense of a preparatory education at such a seminary as has been proposed. Poor young men are taken by the hand of charity and prepared for other spheres of benevolent exertion;-and shall this wide, and as yet almost uncultivated field of benevolence be quite neglected, for the Besides, the grand object of education-to prepare the rising genewant of a little pecuniary aid? Who gave the first impulse to Foreign ration for usefulness and respectability in life, and to train them up for Missionary efforts? Was nothing done until the whole Christian pub a better and happier state of existence beyond the grave-would not lic was awakened to a sense of its duty? Did this mighty enterprise only be accomplished in a shorter space of time, but they would be begin in the collected councils of the grave and venerable fathers of much more effectually accomplished. At present, with all the time, and the church? Was the whole plan of operation digested and matured labor, and expense bestowed upon it, the work is too often only half in all its parts, and no steps taken until all obstacles were removed, and done; and the effects of our imperfect modes of instruction are to render patronage, and influence, and means collected and concentrated to in- youth far less competent to succeed in any pursuits in which they may sure the successful prosecution of the vast design? No; long, long engage, than if their education was conducted by intelligent instructbefore all this complicated machinery was put in motion, the master-ers, on a well-digested plan, and made as thorough and complete as it spring was at work, and a few pious and prayerful young men gave an impulse at first to private zeal, and afterwards to public co-operation, and the result fills us with gratitude and astonishment.

might be.

Let a MLS and his associates arise to a hearty engagedness in the project of diffusing throughout our country a system for the best mode of conducting the education of youth; let their faith be strong, and their perseverance unwavering; and influence and wealth will soon contribute their share in the prosecution of the work; poverty on the part of those who are willing to endure the heat and burden of the day, will cease to be an obstacle in the way of accomplishing their benevolent designs. Providence can, in this, as in all the other departments of his dispensations, make even the selfish passions of our nature tribute to the promotion of good and charitable exertions. Those who should devote themselves to the business of the instruction of youth as a profession, and who should prepare themselves for it I know it is no easy task to convince some minds that all these adby a course of study and discipline at such a Seminary as I have pro- vantages yield just so many dollars and cents to the private purse, or posed, would not find it necessary as our missionaries do, to depend to the public treasury. But my appeal is to those who take a more on the charity of their countrymen for support. Their talents, their comprehensive view of what constitutes the real wealth of any commu qualifications, and their recommendations, would inspire public confi-nity, and who estimate objects not by what they will to-day fetch in dence, and command public patronage. For experience would soon the market, if exposed to sale, but by their effects upon the permanent prove, if it cannot be now seen in prospect, that to save time in the ed- well-being and prosperity of the state.

How often has the individual of native vigor of intellect and force of enterprise to lament, through a long life of unremitted effort, his many disappointments in the prosecution of his plans of business, arising altogether from the defects of his early education! And if this early education were properly conducted, what an accession it would yield to the resources of the community, in the superior ingenuity and skill of our artists; in the more accurate and systematic transactions of our merchants; in the profounder studies and more successful labors of our professional meu; in the wider experience and deeper sagacity of our statesmen and politicians; in the higher attainments and loftier proconductions of our sons of literature and science; and permit me to add, in the nobler patriotism, the purer morals, and the more ardent piety of the whole mass of our citizens.

ucation of youth, and to have this education complete instead of being With such I leave the candid consideration of the remarks which I imperfect, and to prepare the youthful mind for accurate thought, and have offered in this and the preceding essays; in the meanwhile chercorrect feeling, and practical, energetic action, in all the business of ishing the hope, that that Being who is now most wonderfully adjustlife, is to save money; and even those who now expend a few dollars ing the various enterprises of benevolence, that distinguish the age in with so niggardly a hand, in the education of their dear, immortal off-which we live from all others which have preceded it, to the consumspring, would soon learn how to calculate on the closest principles of mation of His gracious designs for the universal happiness of man, on loss and gain in the employment of instructers, and be willing to give the principles which the gospel of Jesus Christ inculcates, and which it twice as much, to him who would do his work twice as well and in half alone can produce, will, sooner, or later, and in some way or other, the time, as they now give to lum who has neither skill nor experience rouse the attention, and direct the efforts of the Christian world to that in his profession. department of philanthropic exertion, the neglect of which must retard, if not quite counteract, complete success in all others,-the education of youth.

Am I extravagant in these speculations! I think I am not; and if my readers will exercise a little more patience, I hope to show, that in adopting the plan which I have proposed, there will be an actual saving of money to individuals and to the state, in addition to those numerous advantages in a social, political, and religious point of view, that would result from it, and which are, if I mistake not, so great, that if they could not be attained in any other way, a pecuniary sacrifice ought not for a moment to stand in competition with them. My reasoning is founded on two positions which, I think, cannot be controverted-that the present moles of instructing youth are susceptible of vast improvement; and that, if this improvement could be carried into operation, by having a more effectual system of education adopted, and by training up instructers of superior attainments and skill, there would be a great saving, both of time and labor, and of all the contingent expenses necessary to be incurred.

Suppose, for the sake of argument, though I believe it falls short of the truth, that eight years of pretty constant attendance at school, counting from the time that a child begins to learn his letters, is neces

HISTORY OF NORMAL SCHOOLS, OR SEMINARIES FOR THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. The following curious and valuable details on the history of their institutions, are given by Mrs. Austin, in the preface to her translation of Cousin's Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia.

"Schools specially destined for educating the school-master in the principles and application of his profession cannot be traced higher than the commencement of the last century. Franke, the celebrated pietest, must be regarded as their originator. Beside his noble foundations of the Pædagogium and Orphan House of Halle, stood a seminary for the instruction of teachers, whether of learned or popular schools; and under Steinmetz, and his successors in that Abbacy, Klosterberge, near Magdeburg, was long a nursery from whence

school-masters trained in the principles of Franke, and the spirit of into her system, but she can now claim a high rank for the Normal Spenerian pietism, were transplanted over the whole north of Germa school at Harlaem, of which we shall give an account in this number. ny. The education and the educator now became an object of general England, with all her wealth and literature-with all her princely interest in Germany. From 1730, academical lectures on Padagogik endowments for the education of the higher classes of society, has, appear to have been regularly and universally delivered; and for phitill within the last few years, done absolutely nothing as a governlologists by profession, and those destined for teachers in the classical ment, for the education of the poorer and working classes. The or learned schools, special seminaries, in which the stipendiary alum two Societies, the National, and the British and Foreign School Soni were carefully instructed and exercised, gradually became attached cicties, have accomplished much. The Central School, in Westmin. to all the principal universities. Overlooking the Seminarium doctri-ster, and the more famous Borough Road school, are model schools, na elegantioris, of Celarius, in Halle, the Philological and Scholastic and designed to be seminaries for the education of teachers to be Seminary of Gottingen, which owes its origin to Gesner, in 1738, was the first regular institution of the kind, an institution imitated in Jena, last named is conducted after the system of Joseph Lancaster, and employed in their several schools throughout the kingdom. The Halle, Erlangen, Helmstadt, Leipzig, Herdelberg, Kiel, Breslan, Berlin, Munich, Dorpat, &c. The beneficial effects of the seminaries was such an one as Dewitt Clinton was anxious to have adopted in for learned teachers, naturally directed an increased attention to the the State of New York. One of the best Lancasterian teachers in education of the inferior instructers. In Prussia, the meritorious Heck- this country, Mr. Lovell, of New-Haven, was trained in that school. er, a pupil of the Frankean discipline, and first founder of the schools We shall give an account of it in some subsequent number of the variously denominated Burgher, Middle or Real, had supported at Berlin, from the year 1748, a sort of nursery of popular instructers, in In Scotland, efforts have more recently been made, both at Glas. which Frederick 2d testified an interest. In 1752, a royal ordinance gow and Edinburgh, to establish Normal Schools. The one at Glasenjoined that on the crown demesnes in the Neu Mark and Pomerania, gow, under the management of Mr. McCrie, is rendering great ser all vacancies in the country schools should be supplied by pupils from vice to the cause of education in that old dominion of parochial Hecker's Seminary, the king at the same time allowing an annual sti-schools.

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pend for the support of twelve alumni of that establishment; a number In the United States, the Journal of Education, that able and suc. which, in 1788, was raised to sixty. Basedow had the merit, at least, cessful pioneer in the cause of Common School improvement, was of concentrating public interest, on the importance of improving meth-early and earnest in calling the attention of the public to the necessiods of education, although his seminary for teachers was never brought ty of providing seminaries for teachers. The Teachers Seminary to bear; but the Canon von Rochow was the man who mainly opera- at Andover, established in 1835, was the first to go into operation; ted a reform in the instruction of the people, and proved, by precept and although it could never be ranked as a completely organized and example, the advantages of a more careful education of the pri- Normal School, it did much to promote the cause of school improvemary school-master. The school, on his own estate of Rekahn, in ment. New-York was the first state to take up the policy of provi Brandenburg, and those on the adjoining properties, were organized ding partially in her Academical Teachers Departments" for the under his direction. Hither, travellers from all parts flocked to admire education of her teachers. Massachusetts, as will be seen in the sub. and imitate; in fact, from 1773, these became the model schools, to sequent pages of this number, as she was the first to organize an effiwhich young men from every quarter of Germany were sent, to be cient, universal system of free schools on this continent, is likely to be trained in the principles and practice of primary instruction. The the first to bring the uplifting influence of Teachers Seminaries or good example operated. In Prussia, previous to the period of revolu- Normal Schools to bear upon that system. And will not Connecticut, tion, public seminaries for the education of inferior school-masters which has been quoted the world over for her munificent patronage were established at Halberstadt, in 1788, and at Breslau, in 1787; of Common School Education, and enjoying as she does better adwhile similar establishments were supported by private liberality, in Wesel by the Baron von der Reck, and in Minden by the pastor Her-vantages for engrafting those improvements which the experience of bing. During the subsequent years of calamity and war, the determi-other countries have struck out, and demonstrated to be indeed imnation previously given was necessarily retarded. In 1806, there ex-provements, in primary schools, make one general and generous ef isted in Prussia only fourteen of the greater public seminaries for pri-fort to place her school system on an eminence, not only on a level mary school-masters. These are now nearly quadrupled. with, but far above the system adopted by any state or people, at home or abroad.

PRUSSIA.

"The other states of Germany have not, however, lagged behind the country in which these institutions originated; and the lesser states have been even more forward than the greater. Though far inferior to most of the German principalities, in the education of the lower orders, As we purpose to present in some future number of the Journal an Hanover has one of her seminaries for the training of primary school-abstract of Cousin's Report on the system of Public Instruction in masters, which dates from 1750. Previous to the French revolution, Prussia, and all of Prof. Stowe's Report which relates to the workthere existed similar flourishing establishments in Usingen, Dessau.ing of this system in the school rooms of that kingdom, we shall here Cassel, Detmold, Gotha, Oehringen, and Kiel. Nor were the Catholic contine ourselves to an exposition of the liberal and thorough provistates less active than the Protestant in the same blessed work. In the sion which is made by this military despotic government in the forma Austrian monarchy, the improvement of popular education, and the tion of skillful and able teachers for her Common Schools. It may be general institution of normal schools were mainly promoted by the zeal of two eminent churchmen, Bishop von Felbiger and Dean Kin well enough just to state that in Prussia every child must be educated. dermann von Schulstein, (an auspicious name!) Their exertions date Every town must support schools, which carry forward children to a from 1770, and the reform was commenced in Bohemia. In the Bish-much higher point of intellectual and moral improvement than most opric of Munster, the spirit of improvement was awakened by the of our common schools, even in the larger cities, aim at. Every Baron von Furstenburg, and seminaries for school-masters established school house must be built in a healthy and pleasant location, of suffi prior to the French revolution. The Bavarian reform was more re-cient size, and well ventilated, with a play ground and garden attachThe spirit of amelioration was communicated from Germany ed. The supervision is at once minute and comprehensive, acting on to the neighboring states. Denmark became an early imitator; and every district and family in the kingdom, and all centres for purpo seminaries for primary teachers were introduced, not only into Hols-ses of general direction and superintendence, in the Minister of tein, but into the Scandinavian provinces of that monarchy, previous Public Instruction. Bu above all, every teacher must be properly to the revolutionary period." qualified for his responsible duties-and to enable them to become thus qualified, 47 seminaries devoted exclusively to the education of teachers for the Common Schools, are in successful operation,

cent.

In addition to what has been stated of the history of Teachers' Seminaries, it may be remarked generally, that within the last half century, the progress of primary instruction may be measured by the This system, so comprehensive in its reach, and so complete in all provision made for the education of teachers. In Russia, where the its details, is the growth of about a half century- although the germs Emperor Alexander commenced a wise system of policy by estab- of it existed in some of the provinces of that kingdom, as the offlishing universities, academies, and district schools, the entire ma.springs of the parochial schools established by the reformers. But chinery is governed by the central Normal School at St. Petersburg. fifty years ago the common school system of Prussia did not differ Switzerland can claim that the schools of Pestalozzi and Fellenberg were in fact the Normal schools of Europe-and some of the cantons have lately made liberal annual provision for the education of com.

mon school teachers.

materially from that of many other countries in Europe. The first efficient step towards improving the system was made about 55 years ago, by a law which prohibited any young clergyman to claim a church living if he had not some years previous been a teacher in In France, the first application of this grand idea was made by a public school Heretofore such persons had found easier and betNapoleon, in his decree of the 17th of March, 1808, for the organiza. ter paid employment in private schoo's, or as tutors in noble fami. tion of the University establishing the central Normal School at Pa. lies. Slight as this improvement was, it led to others more imporris-although the first conception of it was struck out in the frenzy tant. Men of the best talents, in not a few instances, took a strong of the Revolution, by a decree of the National Convention in 1794. liking to their new employment, and thus were induced to abandon In 1837 there were eighty-three of these seminaries in full opera.all thought of prefermont in the church, and to devote themselves to tion, forming, as the minister of public instruction remarked, in each the office of teaching. The government, perceiving the advantage department a grand focus of light, scattering its rays in all directions, of having men of good talents who were pursuing teaching as a proHolland was mor? How dartial in introducing this improvement fession in the public schools, tried to encourage the practice by honor

able distinctions, and pecuniary remunerations. This course soon operated to draw young men of ability into the business of public instruction. It next occurred to the government to increase the ad. vantages of having permanent teachers, by affording young persons who prepared to teach, an opportunity of becoming thoroughly trained for the performance of their duties. Hence arose the pædago. gical and philological seminaries of Germany. The latter class were designed principally to teach the best methods of acquiring and communicating a knowledge of the ancient languages. By the beginning of the present century, these institutions which had been con fined principally to rearing up teachers for the gymnasia, or school of secondary instruction, who had previously gone through the uni. versities, had greatly advanced education among the higher and wealthier classes of society. But their uplifting influence had not been brought to bear upon the schools of a lower grade The mas ters of these schools were, ordinarily, young men in feeble health, or of bad constitutions, thereby slender, and unfit for the more rug. ged occupations of life; or else persons who had failed of success in other walks of business, and fled to this as the last resort for a temporary and precarious subsistence. Hence the school master was regarded as the refuse of society, instead of standing in a position of the most delicate trust, and honorable and arduous responsibility. Experience has demonstrated the best and only thorough way of raising the condition of the lower schools, and that by raising up and employing more skillful and respectable masters. This gave rise to the establishment of Seminaries for school masters for the lower schools. There existed before 1800, but six of these institutions in Prussia. These had been erected by benevolent individuals at their own expense, and were very imperfectly organized. As late as 1807, the present king had succeeded, amid the disaster of war, in establishing but five, which, together with those before existing, made eleven in all. In 1810 they had increased to sixteen, and in 1826 there were twenty-eight in successful operation, and in 1837 they amounted to 47.

under the superintendence of an experienced clergyman or rector; and in these the state contributes only a part of their income.

In some of the larger seminaries the state gives, besides board, a small gratuity to some of the best and most informed pupils, who act as assistant teachers of their younger fellow students.

The number of pupils in these forty-two institutions amounted, at the above mentioned period, to more than two thousand, the number of situations for school-masters, to about twenty-two thousand, and the number of pupils formed for these institutions, annually leaving the seminaries, to about eight or nine hundred. The annual vacancies in the situations of school-masters amount to about three or four per cent.; so that, with due allowance for pupils selecting other situations, or reber of candidates for such appointments, and the possibility of making tained by bodily infirmities there, there still remains a sufficient numtheir examinations as rigorous as they ought to be.

DURATION OF THE Course.

The usual length of the course of education in the seminaries is three years, each year having two terms. In the smaller, or branch seminaries, forming school-masters for the poorest and most thinly inhabited villages, the course is limited to two years.

The school-masters which have an appointment are sometimes (perhaps every year) assembled at the nearest seminary for the purpose of receiving there, during three or four weeks, a term of instruction on methods newly invented, in the progress of the art of teaching. Besides this, the most distinguished or most active school-masters receive from the Consistory of the province, small premiums, in money, or books. The school-masters of the circles, (nearly equal to one or two townships,) have, under the protection of the government, weekly conferences, where they discuss the different methods of instruction, comment on new works on education, keep exact minutes of these transactions, and read their own observations or papers on these subjects.

SUBJECTS OF STUDY.

The age of entering into the seminaries is between sixteen or eighteen years, and the pupils are free from any service in the army or in the

DR. JULIUS ON TEACHERS' SEMINARIES IN PRUSSIA. militia during times of peace.

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The expense of these seminaries belongs to the ordinary annual

budget of the minister of Public Instruction.

The seminaries, wherein no pupil can be received who has not gone the least doubt, are destined to form teachers for the elementary or prithrough the elementary instruction, or whose morality is subjected to mary schools, as well as for the middle, or citizens' schools, where no instruction in the classical languages is given. The parts which constitute the course of instruction for such teachers are.

1. Religion. Biblical history, introductory and commentatory lessons on the Bible, systematical instruction on the religious and moral 2. The German language in an etymological and grammatical point of view. Exercises in expressing thoughts and reasoning orally and by writing.

Some of the seminaries have ancient endowments, in landed prop-duties of man. erty, which contribute to diminish the expense of the royal treasury, but the departments have nothing to spend for this part of popular education. In the year 1831, the annual expense for thirty-three seminaries amounted to nearly $80,000; whereof the treasury had only to pay about $60,000.

At the beginning of 1833, there were forty-two seminaries in the kingdom, with a population of thirteen millions of inhabitants. To each of these seminaries a small elementary school for children of the city is attached, but merely as a means to develope the practical skill of the future teachers. The expense of the seminaries makes nearly the fiftieth part of the entire expense of the primary schools. The expense of the primary schools is borne nearly in such proportions by the state, and by the parishes, or rather 'Communes,' consisting of a village or a city, that the last contribute nineteen twentieths of the expenditure, and the state only one twentieth part.

SUBSISTENCE OF THE PUPILS.

The whole expense of the erection of seminaries, and of providing them with suitable buildings wherein the professors and the pupils live, as well as with a library, apparatus for instruction, and musical instruments for the exercise of the pupils, is borne by the state. As to the board of the pupils, it is paid for by far the greatest proportion of them, and provided for all by the state. There is only a small part of the pupils for whom the magistrates of the places of their nativity and residence, or their relatives, make a small annual payment to the treasurer of the seminary.

Those pupils which receive their education and support wholly from the state, are legally bound to fill, during a certain number of years, the situations of school masters to which they are elected, receiving always the annual salary attached to each of these situations. The length of time during which they have to fill in this way some place of schoolmaster offered to them, is three years. Should they not choose to accept such an appointment when offered to them, they have to pay to the treasurer of the seminary where they were educated, for each year of instruction $14, and the whole amount of their board.

3. Mathematics. Arithmetic as well from memory or intellectual as by putting down the numbers, geometry, stereometry, and trigo

nometry.

4. A knowledge of the world, consisting in an acquaintance with the most important events or objects in history, natural history, natural philosophy, geography and cosmology or physical geography. 5. Musical instruction, consisting in the theory and practice of singing, theory of music, instruction in playing on the violin and the organ. 6. Drawing, according to the system of Peter Schmid, and penmanship. 7. The theory of education, the theory and practice of teaching, and their connection with religious service, the liturgy.

8. Gymnastic exercises of all kinds.

horticulture, in the cultivation of fruit trees and in husbandry. In the 9. Where it is practicable, theoretical and practical instruction in country, the dwelling house of the school-master has a garden, serving lives there, without paying any rent or local taxes, and for the inas a nursery and an orchard, for the benefit of the school-master who struction of the village. In latter years the rearing of silk-worms and the production of silk, has been frequently tried by the schoolmasters in the country, the government furnishing malberry trees and other materials.

What is still more important than this complete course of instruction, is the spirit of religious and moral industry and self-denial which perrectors, all highly distinguished men of piety and learning, and by the vades the seminaries, continually supported and inculcated by the district discipline under which the pupils live, without feeling themselves fettered by it.

EXTENT OF STUDIES.

The answer to this question may be found already in the preceding one. On the whole, the school-master is so trained, that he may form, Of the forty-two seminaries existing first January, 1833, twenty-in connection with the rector, even of the remotest village, where the eight were large, with 25 to 100 pupils. The law, which from unavoidable circumstances has not always been observed, prescribed never to have more than sixty or seventy pupils in a seminary. These seminaries were entirely supported by the state, or from their own funds. The remaining fourteen seminaries, which may be called branch seminaries, count cach of them six to eighteen pupils, sometimes

last mentioned is always president ex officio of the school committee elected by the inhabitants, a central point of religious, moral and intellectual information, sending its beneficent and cheerful beams through the whole extent of the little community.

This whole system of instruction tends to a religious and moral end, and rests on the sacred basis of Christian love. As the most affecting

and indeed sublime example of this spirit, I mention the little, or branch In 1829, the number of Normal schools in France was thirteen ; at seminaries, for training poor school-masters in such habits and with the close of 1832, it was forty-seven; in March, 1834, sixty-two. Of such feelings as shall fit them to be useful and contented teachers of these sixty-two, fifty-four correspond to the same number of Departthe poorest villages. Here is poverty, to which that of the poorest la- ments, each department having one; of the remaining eight, each borers in this country is affluence; and it is hopeless, for to this class of serves for two or more departments; so that out of the eighty-six deschool-masters no idea is held ont of advancement or change. Yet if partments composing the French monarchy, seventy-three have now ever poverty on earth appeared serene, contented, lofty, beneficent, it is the certain prospect of drawing their future supply of parochial teach here. "Here we see," as the well informed English translator of Cousers from a Normal school. Thirteen only are unprovided, and eleven in's Report on the state of public instruction in Prussia, says: "Here of these were busy in making arrangements for supplying the deficienwe see men in the very spring-time of life, so far from being made, as cy, when the last returns were made. we are told men must be made, restless and envious and discontented by instruction, taking indigence and obscurity to their hearts for life; raised above their poor neighbors in education, only that they may become the servants of all, and may train the lowliest children in a sense of the dignity of man, and the beauty of creation, in the love of

God and virtue."

APPARATUS.

The first thing requisite for the larger seminaries is a house, with ground for gymnastic exercises, for horticulture, and an orchard with fruit trees, to teach pomology, &c., attached to it.

The sixty-two Normal schools already in activity, are attended by 1914 pupil-teachers, who may be regarded as the capital out of which vacancies, as they occur in the primary schools, are to be supplied. The entire number of parish school-masters in the 73 Departments provided with Normal schools, is 26,565, among whom the average annual mortality is one-twentieth, or 1328. A supply of accomplished young teachers, to this amount, can scarcely as yet be expected from the Normal schools, many of which are still in their infancy; but the object of the government, and they have already secured the means of attaining it, is to adjust, as nicely as possible, the supply of qualified teachers from these institutions, to the demand created by the death or removal of masters. The sure prospect of an excellent education, and subsefrom military service, has already begun to make this profession more popular than the clerical; and to attract to it a class of young men who are able, and, for such advantages, willing, to pay the whole cost of their maintenance, or the difference at least between that and any little assistance they can obtain in the shape of an exhibition or bursary.

Besides this a library composed principally of works on theology, moral philosophy, the art of teaching, and systems of education, historical and geographical compendiums, books on natural history, natu-quently of employment as school-masters, together with exemption ral philosophy, husbandry, cultivation of fruits and vegetables, rearing of bees and silk-worms, the German classics, and musical works and compositions. Farther, a number of musical instruments, violins, flutes, pianos, and a large organ.

The apparatus for chemistry and natural philosophy, comprises only those instruments which are requisite for those primary branches of both sciences that may be of use to the future school-master; and also a small cabinet of natural history, consisting of minerals, plants,

and animals.

NORMAL SCHOOLS IN FRANCE.

The law of "primary instruction," which, under the administra. tion of the most enlightened men in France, is doing so much to elevate the standard of common school education in that kingdom, is as complete in its general plan and minute details as any with which we are acquainted, unless it is that of Prussia, from which it is avowed. ly modelled.

But this most desirable, and as we think indispensable element, in any complete system of common school instruction-good teachers, is not left to chance, or to the judgment of those entrusted with the administration of the system. Adequate provision is made in the law itself for training school masters to the skilful discharge of their arduous duties. For, as M. Guizot justly and eloquently observes in his speech on introducing the law in the Chamber of Deputies,

All the provisions hitherto described would be of none effect, if we took no pains to procure for the public school thus constituted, an able master, and worthy of the high vocation of instructing the people. It cannot be too often repeated, that it is the master that makes the school. And, indeed, what a well-assorted union of qualities is required to constitute a good school-master! A good school-master ought to be a man who knows much more than he is called upon to teach, that he may teach with intelligence and with taste; who is to live in a humble sphere, and yet to have a noble and elevated mind, that he may preserve that dignity of sentiment and of deportment, without which he will never obtain the respect and confidence of families; who possesses a rare mixture of gentleness and firmness; for, inferior though he be in station to many individuals in the commune, he ought to be the obsequious servant of none;-a man not ignorant of his rights, but think ing much more of his duties, showing to all a good example, and serving to all as a counsellor; not given to change his condition, but satisfied with his situation, because it gives him the power of doing good; and who has made up his mind to live and to die in the service of primary instruction, which to him is the service of God and his fellow-creatures. To rear masters approaching to such a model is a difficult task; and yet we must succeed in it, or else we have done nothing for elementary instruction. A bad school-master, like a bad parish priest, is a scourge to a commune; and though we are often obliged to be contented with indifferent ones, we must do our best to improve the average quality. We have, therefore, continues M. Guizot, availed ourselves of a bright thought struck out in the heat of the Revolution, by a decree of the National Convention, in 1794, and afterwards applied by Napoleon, in his decree, in 1808, for the organization of the University, to the establishment of his central Normal School at Paris. We carry its application still lower than he did in the social scale, when we propose that no school-master shall be appointed who has not himself been a pupil of the school which instructs in the art of teaching, and who is not certified, after a strict examination, to have profited by the opportunities he has enjoyed.

The law declares that there shall be one Normal School for every department, unless it may be necessary at first to make one sufficient for two or more. The following account of their organization and condition we copy, with some alterations and additions, drawn from official documents, from an article in the Edinburgh Review:

The sum required to cover the expenditure, ordinary and extraordinary, of 1834, in carrying into effect the government plan of Normal schools, is calculated by the Minister of Public Instruction at 1,532,000 francs, or about $300,000;—an amount, we presume, much beyond what will be necessary when the first outlay is over, and the annual chargés alone are to be inet. Of this sum, raised from various sources, by far the greatest proportion is borne by the Departments. In most cases, they have voluntarily burdened themselves to the full amount required; where negligence or backwardness is shown, the law arms the Executive with power to enforce payment of their quota from the defaulters.

The annual cost of each pupil, including maintenance, education, and every thing else but clothing, is estimated at 400 francs, or about $80. As one means of meeting this charge, Exhibitions or Bursaries are created, one of which, if enjoyed entire, will defray the whole expenses of the holder. But they are generally granted in halves and quarters, the rest of the expense being made up from the pupil's own resources. The Communes, the University, and the Departments, are all expected to found bursaries, which originate also occasionally from the bounty of individual donors and benevolent associations. It is only when all these sources are insufficient, that the State comes in to supply the deficit. M. Guizot states, that of the 1944 pupil teachers Communes; 245 of the State; and 273 are maintained at their own now in attendance, 1303 are bursars of the Departments; 118 of the

expense.

Every candidate for admission to these institutions, and to the enjoyment of a bourse, or any part of one, must bind himself to follow the the institution; and to reimburse it for the whole expense of his mainprofession of a parish school-master for ten years at least after quitting tenance, if he fail to fulfil his decennial engagement. He must have completed his sixteenth year; and besides the ordinary elementary acquirements, must produce evidence both of good previous character, and of general intelligence and aptitude to learn. Most of the bursaries are adjudged upon a comparative trial among competitors, who are admission is so well arranged and conducted, that it tends to raise likely to become every year more numerous: and the examination for higher and higher the standard of previous acquirement.

introduced, occupies two years of eleven months each, i. e. from the 1st The course of instruction and training to which the youth is thus October, to the 1st of the ensuing September, and embraces the following objects:

1st. Moral and religious instruction. The latter, in as far as it is distinct from the former, is given by the clergyman of the particular faith which the pupil happens to profess.

2d. Reading, with the grammar of their own language.

3d. Arithmetic, including an intimate and practical acquaintanco with the legal system of weights and measures. This knowledge is made to hold so prominent a part in the program of instruction, as affording the best means of introducing that admirable system into the habits of the French people, among whom, from ignorance and prejudice, it is still far from being generally adopted.

4th. Linear drawing, and construction of diagrams, land-measuring, and other applications of practical geometry.

5th. Elements of physical science, with a special view to the purposes of ordinary life.

6th. Music, taught by the eye as well as by the ear.
7th. Gymnastics.

8th. The elements of general geography and history, and the particular geography and history of France.

9th. The pupils are instructed, and, wherever the locality admits,

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