first elements. These asylums are supported partly by public funds, but chiefly by voluntary annual contributions. The amount applied to the support of asylums in the country is not estimated at more than 6,000 specie dollars. MEMORABLE DATES. 1536. Reformation gave first impetus to education, although not creating a systematic public-school system. 1736. Royal decree providing that no children be admitted to confirmation who had not been instructed in the elements of Christianity. 1739. Promulgation of school law, based on this provision. 1741. Modifications requiring the establishment of a school in each district. 1811. Founding of University of Christiania. 1814. Establishment of constitution of Norway, the Storthing first interesting itself in the furthering of educational progress. 1824. Organization of the university faculties. 1827. Promulgation of school law dividing elementary schools into rural and urban schools, each having its own legislation. It also provides for the establishment of normal schools in the different dioceses. 1848. Law in regard to city schools, regulating the supervision, expenditure, number of schools, obligatory instruction, courses of study, teachers' salaries, etc. 1860. Law in regard to country schools, regulating administration, expenditures, length of school vacations, school age, and also establishing practice schools for teachers in connection with the higher elementary grades. 1869 (May 22). Additions to law of 1860, permitting the employment of women teachers in lower grade elementary schools. 1869 (June 17). Law regulating secondary education, the courses of study arranged so as to determine the precise status of the middle schools and gymnasia. 1869 (July 31). Decree fixing course of study for the six normal schools of the different dioceses. 1869 (November 6). Highest administration of higher public schools conceded to department of ecclesiastical affairs and education. 1870. Regulations for course of study in middle schools issued by department of ecclesiastical affairs. 1873. Law for public elementary schools in rural districts, supplementary to laws of 1860 and 1869, respecting subsidies to school or locality from State or local sources. 1878. Law for public elementary schools in rural districts, supplementary to laws of 1860, 1869, 1873. Includes possible additions to salaries of teachers and assistant teachers from governmental funds. Admits women to graduation examinations from the middle schools. 1881. Law appertaining to elementary schools, supplementary to earlier laws. Creates sufficient number of schools for the instruction of the defective classes. 1882. Law permitting women to enter for the examen artium and examen philosophicum. 1885 (March 1). Courses of study in secondary schools changed from plan of 1870. 1885 (December 22). The department of ecclesiastical affairs given the power to admit girls as pupils in the public schools providing such admission does not interfere with the instruction or discipline. 1883, 1885, 1886. Decrees concerning admission to the examen artium of gymnasia and Realschools, prerequisites of study, place and time of examination, etc. 1889. Law reorganizing elementary education in both urban and rural districts, the appointment of teachers being left to local boards, as also the plan of instruction. 1890 (January 18). Law for the protection of children, girls, and women employed in manufactories; children of school age not to be employed during the hours required for instruction nor during the hour immediately preceding such instruction, the employers being obliged to procure certificates from teachers indicating the regular attendance of such children in school; the hours of work to be limited so as not to interfere with the required teaching. 1890 (September 13). Bill, sanctioned by the King, dealing with modifications of the plan of study in secondary grades; more time to be given to modern languages and less to ancient languages. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. 1. Beretning om skolevæsenets tilstand i Kongeriget Norge for Aaret 1888. 2. Udkast til lov om det lavere Undervisningsvæsen i Kjøbstæderne. 3. Lov om offentlige Skoler for den höiere Almendannelse. 4. Oversigt over Norges almueskolevæsen. 5. Udkast til en forandret ordning af det höiere Skolevæsen, 1891. 6. Undervisningsplan for middelskolerne og gymnasierne vedtaget den 1ste marts 1885. 7. Universitets-og Skole annaler 1889, 1890. 8. Det kongelige Norske Fredriks universitets aarsberetning, 1888-'89, 1889–290. 9. Vor Ungdom, Hæfte 5, 1891. 10. Instruction publique dans les États du Nord, par C. Hippeau. 11. La femme au point de vue du droit public, par M. Ostrogorski. 12. Recueil de rapports sur les conditions du travail dans les pays étrangers adressés au Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, Suède et Norvège, 13. Revue Internationale de l'Enseignement, Juin 1882. 14. Larousse: Dictionnaire Universel, v. 11. 15. Buisson: Dictionnaire de Pédagogie et d'Instruction primaire, v. 2, Pt. 1. 16. Lois du 26 Juin 1889 sur l'École primaire. 17. Revue pédagogique Belge, 15 Juillet 1890. 18. Rapport à M. le Ministre de l'instruction publique de France sur les Écoles Scandinaves, par Mlle. Matrat. 19. Manuel général de l'instruction primaire, 15 Mars 1890. 20. Schmid: Encyclopædia des Erziehungs-und Unterrichtswesens, v. 8. 21. Zeitung für das höhere Unterrichtswesen, Nov. 28, 1881, Jan. 20, 1887, Feb. 22, 1889. 22. Pædagogium, Sept., 1890. 23. Die Lehrerin in Schule und Haus, 1884-'85, pp. 405-407. 24. Allgem. Lehrerzeitung, Oct. 6, 1889. 25. Boletin de ensenanza primaria, Montevideo, Octubre de 1890. 26. Royal Commission Elementary Education Acts: Foreign Returns, 1888. 27. Circular of Information of Bureau of Education for July, 1871. 28. Education, March, 1890. 29. London Journal of Education, Oct., 1890, and May, 1891. 30. Kiddle and Schem: Cyclopædia of Education. 31. Statesman's Year Book, 1890, 1891. CHAPTER XV. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF DENMARK.' [Constitutional Monarchy: Area, 14,124 square miles; population, 2,185,159 in 1890; capital, Copenhagen; population (without suburbs), 312,387; Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Instruction, A. H. Goos; Chief of the Division of Education, A. F. Asmussen; Chief of the Royal Archives, A. F. D. Jörgensen; Chief of the Royal Library, Dr. C. W. Brunn; Chief of the Museum of Antiquities, C. F. Herbst; Director of the Academy of Fine Arts, F. Meldahl.] INTRODUCTION. The constitution of Denmark was originally embodied in the organic law of June 5, 1849; it has since undergone various revisions, the most recent being through a statute which received the royal sanction July 28, 1866. This constitution is based on the most liberal principles; the king shares his power, which had been hitherto wellnigh absolute, with a diet (Rigsdag) of two houses (Landsthing and Folksthing), both elective. The Folksthing discusses the budget and other public questions; the Landsthing attends to the local affairs of the provinces. The State religion is Evangelical Lutheran; it was introduced in 1536, the church revenue having been seized at that date by the crown, to be delivered up to the university and other religious and educational establishments. The King must be a member of that church; religious affairs are under the superintendence of seven bishops, who have no political functions. Ninety-nine per cent of the entire population is Lutheran, though complete toleration is enjoyed. Denmark is divided into provinces, Amter or counties, and parishes. The centers of population, Copenhagen excepted, are the Kjöbstaeder or cities, which number sixty-six, the principal ones being: Odense, on 'Prepared by Frances Graham French, specialist in the school systems of northern and eastern Europe. 519 the island of Fionia; Helsingör, in Seeland; Aarhus, Aalborg, Randers, Horsens, and Viborg, in Jutland. The provinces, which vary in size from 221 to 9,597 English square miles, are divided into eighteen counties or Amter, which are subdivided into sixty districts, and these again into numerous school districts (in 1867 there were 2,399; of these, 1,081 in the islands and 1,318 in Jutland). The seven provinces correspond to the church dioceses; three are on the islands and four on the mainland. Iceland, the chief dependency of the crown, has its own constitution. and administration by a charter of January 5, 1874, which went into operation August 1, 1874, and by the terms of which the legislative power is vested in the Althing. A minister for Iceland, appointed by the King, is at the head of the administration, while the highest local authority is vested in a governor-general. There are alsotwo Amtmænd, or under governors, for the northern and western districts of Iceland. HISTORICAL SKETCH. The convent and cathedral schools, which date from the introduction of Christianity in 965, were but the forerunners of the famous Latin schools established in Viborg, Ribe, Odense, and Copenhagen for clericals and laymen of the higher classes. The Reformation period brought about the establishment of two grades of Latin schools, which were under clerical supervision, and admitted students from both urban and rural districts to the three or four classes into which they were divided. A third class of schools-the scholæ vulgares, Skri veskoler, or writing schools-omitted Latin, and were under the supervision of municipal authorities. The schools at the commencement of the sixteenth century were almost entirely city schools; the country population had almost no instruction, unless possibly in the catechism from the Sacristan or Degn of the parish, who brought together the neighboring children of a rural domain or gaard. King Frederic IV (1699-1730) was the first ruler to seriously give thought to the organization of people's schools. In each of the twelve districts which were dependencies of the crown he established twenty schools, each with a school room and a lodging for a teacher, who was to give instruction in religion and reading in exchange for a moderate salary and lodging. This plan of establishing schools was soon followed by members of the nobility, so that on many estates the children of the tenantry were being taught the rudiments, under the supervision of the clergy. A royal decree of 1721 regulated the organization of such schools, fixed the teachers' salaries, made religion and reading obligatory branches, writing and arithmetic optional branches, and required children between 5 and 8 years of age to attend school daily from five to six hours; after that age half a day's schooling was considered to be enough. |