DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INSTRUCTION.

The latest official report of the department of primary instruction. is for the year 1894-95, a résumé of which was presented in the Commissioner's last report (1895-96). The principal statistics are also repeated in this report (tables, p. 32).

New law respecting teachers' salaries.-The law with respect to the classification and salaries of teachers passed July, 1893, goes into effect the present year. The chief modification which it introduces is in the classification of teachers of the elementary primary schools. The teaching force consists of probationers (stagiaires) and full teachers (titulaires). The former, under the new law, comprise 15 per cent of the total number in place of 20 per cent, as under the previous law, and the annual salary is raised from $160 to $180.

The "titulaires" are divided into five classes. The proportion that each class bears to the total force under the two laws, and the salaries which remain unchanged under the new law, are as follows:

Observation.-An additional sum of $40 is allowed principals in charge of a school of three or four classes, and of $80 for a school of more than four classes. Communes may and often do supplement these salaries. Moreover, every coinmune must provide its teachers with free residence or with a money indemnity for the same at fixed rates.

It will be seen that the increase of the proportion of teachers in the third, second, and first classes increases the advantages that the service offers, and at the same time calls for larger appropriations from the State, which pays the salaries.

The principle of a fixed proportion of teachers in each class met with decided opposition in the Chamber of Deputies, and the abolition of these "percentages" in the classification of the teachers of the superior primary (high) schools and in the primary normal schools is regarded as an important triumph.

The salaries of directors and directresses of the two classes of schools remain unchanged. They are as follows:

The salaries of assistant teachers in the superior primary schools and of professors in the normal schools are fixed at the following rates:

The State is responsible only for the legal salary of the primary teachers (elementary and superior), and as a rule these are increased by the communes. Thus in Paris the directors of the higher primaries receive as a minimum salary $1,400; maximum, $1,800; full professors from $760 to $1,000.

Scope and progress of superior primary schools.-Superior primary (high) schools are nonclassical high schools which carry the instruction of pupils for two, three, or four years beyond the elementary primaries. They were authorized by Guizot's law of 1833, which also prescribed a programme comprising an extension of the subjects of the lower primaries, with the addition of linear geometry with its useful applications, surveying, elements of the physical sciences, and natural history, with their practical applications. It was further provided that the courses should be specially developed in subjects required by local conditions. The establishment of schools of this grade was made obligatory for communes of more than 6,000 inhabitants. The execution of the law was long delayed by political vicissitudes, and, outside of a few cities which established high schools of the general character indicated without aid from the State, they had no existence until a comparatively recent date. The municipal high schools soon became noted for the excellence of their scientific courses and the artistic and technical skill manifested by their graduates.

In 1878 the General Government indicated its purpose of fostering higher primary schools by a credit of $22,000 to aid communes in their establishment. This appropriation has been augmented year by year, and has proved a great stimulus to local effort.

Peculiar complications arose from the endeavor to class in the same category schools for general instruction and a class of schools industrial or commercial in their character (écoles professionelles) that had been established in a few cities. The development of both classes of schools was retarded until the school law of 1886 prescribed explicitly the scope, studies, and general management of all schools classed as primary.

It soon became evident that high schools with a purely literary curriculum were likely to crowd out those having a technical character, and as this was regarded as a national misfortune measures were taken to increase the provision of the latter class. Accordingly, in 1892 a department of technical instruction was created in the ministry of commerce and industry, and appropriations covering salaries and many other expenses were offered through this ministry for schools giving instruction in commerce and industry to pupils from the elementary schools. Such schools were also transferred to the jurisdiction of the ministry of commerce and industry, and are known as practical schools of commerce and industry. By this arrangement the minister of education was left free to develop higher primary schools of a more educative character.

The purpose, however, was not to increase the literary influence of higher primaries, and the regulations issued since 1892, especially the official programmes of 1893 and also the actual course which these schools have taken, show a strict adherence to the purpose of making them schools for practical training.

Under the regulations of 1893 every higher primary school may have, in addition to its general course, special sections-industrial, commercial, or agricultural. Schools in which these technical departments are distinctly developed come under the direction of the minister of commerce and industry with respect to the same, but as regards teachers and general programmes remain under the minister of public instruction. The various measures indicate the double purpose of fostering manual skill and technical knowledge among the more promising youth of the laboring classes and at the same time extending the scope of their general education.

The initial stage of the higher primary school is often an advanced course (cours complémentaire) annexed to the lower primary and under the same director. These higher primary schools are supported by the combined efforts of the State and the communes. The State assumes the legal salaries of the regular staff, which amounts to about five-sevenths of the total salaries required to maintain the full complement of teachers. The municipality (commune) must pay the

salaries of teachers in charge of the workshop and also of the persons employed as technical and industrial teachers.

The expense for buildings, furniture, apparatus, etc., must also be met by the commune.

The State assists in bringing the provision within the reach of poor but promising youth by a system of scholarships. These are of three classes:

(a) "D'internat," to cover or partially cover the expenses of pupils in boarding schools, not to exceed $100 per annum.

(b) "Familiales," to pay for boarding out the scholar in a private family when his home is at a long distance from the school and the latter has no boarding house; value, $100.

(c) "D'entretien," to pay the parents for the scholar's food, clothes, traveling expenses, etc., and to help toward making good the sacrifice of his wages while he is kept at school (varying from $20 to $80).

Candidates must not be less than 12 or more than 15 years of age. The scholarships are tenable for three years, with possible extension to a fourth year.

These scholarships are secured by strict competitive examination and only by successful candidates who can prove that they would be unable without the assistance to continue their studies. The number of State scholarships awarded in 1892 was: To boys, 674; to girls, 436, or a total of 1,110. The departments and communes also provide scholarships.

Under the admission requirements prescribed by the minister for all pupils, no child can enter the higher primaries unless he has obtained the "certificate of primary instruction" and has passed a year in the highest standards of the elementary schools, or if educated privately can prove equivalent attainments.

The recent increase in the number of these establishments is indicated by the following statistics:

In 1878 they numbered only 40. In 1887 there were 255, besides 431 complementary courses. At this date 47 private schools of the same grade were reported. The total enrollment, public and private schools, was 38,441. In 1892 the situation was as follows:

The increase in enrollment in five years, it will be seen, was 7,158 pupils.

Among the public schools are included 47 which are essentially technical, and as such under the joint control of the two ministers, as already specified.

The following additional particulars with respect to this feature of the primary-school system of France are from a very exhaustive report on the subject by Mr. R. L. Morant, assistant director of the recently created department of special inquiries and reports in the English department.1

Organization.—One very important point should here be noted; both the "cours complémentaires" and the higher primary schools are, in intention, "écoles régionales;" that is to say, though their creation and maintenance is decided upon and paid for by one commune or town, most of them serve the needs, not only of the town itself, but of all the surrounding districts. Many of them draw pupils from a radius of several leagues, and, though the town itself has borne all the expense of establishing and maintaing the schools, no restrictions are as a rule placed upon the district from which scholars are admitted.

As a result of being "écoles régionales," a large number both of the higher primary schools and of the "cours complémentaires" have boarding houses. These are built by the town at the same time as the rest of the school."

Sometimes they are managed by the town under a salaried "économe" or burser and bring in actual profits to the town budget; but in the vast majority of cases, in the provinces at least, they are left to the charge (and profit) of the director of the school. Half the boys' higher primary schools and two-thirds of those for girls have "internats," i. e., are at least partly boarding schools. This is the case also with half the boys' "cours complémentaires" and nearly one-third of those for girls. There is thus in France practically a widespread system of municipal boarding schools, with the staff supplied at the expense of the State.

The fees for the boarding houses vary from $80 to $150 per annum, the greater number ranging about $125. For the externes or day boys there is also in most schools a system of "études surveillées ;" that is to say, pupils may stay at the school beyond the fixed school hours (usually 8 a. m. to 11 a. m., and 1 p. m. to 4 p. m.), under the supervision of the school staff, from 5 to 7 p. m. A charge is made for this in most schools, but not in all, amounting to $10 or $15 a year. In Paris groat discussion has arisen upon this point, the progressive members on the council insisting that these charges are contrary to the spirit of the free-education act, and tend to place hindrances in the way of the spread of higher primary instruc

'The report is published in the first volume issued by the new department, pages 290-336.

"In many cases the higher primary schools have previously been private schools, taken over at a valuation by the municipality, the original director and staff being often retained.