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This class of schools shows a tendency to increasing use of Froebelian methods. The original idea of assistance to the home and of a place of refuge offering a favorable environment is retained without any modification. To their success it is essential that unselfish people be placed in charge, who may anticipate the needs of the children and keep in close touch with their homes.

Just as the system permits the infant gradually to enter the instruction stages of the schools, it permits the young man or woman gradually to enter on the duties of a vocation while still remaining under the guidance of the schools. This principle is realized in most Cantons by the obligatory continuation schools. These are founded by the communes and by them brought to an accepted standard with regard to buildings and equipment in order to receive State aid. They are of two classes, schools for reviewing and supplementing the general school branches and schools mainly for training in the vocations and the trades.

In most Cantons the compulsory attendance for boys ceases with the completion of the fifteenth year, though in others, like Obwalden and Wallis, it is from 6 to 12 months longer; yet even these have a proviso permitting boys to discontinue at 15 by passing a special examination. In certain localities there is an obligatory continuation school of two or three years for girls, where instruction is given in manual work for girls and in household economy.

In most continuation schools is embodied an idea of the Grundtvig institutions of Denmark, namely, that of an intermission after the compulsory period by which time is provided for the pupil to recover from a species of classroom fatigue by which he is then handicapped; a year or two is permitted to lapse before the continuation; the pupil then takes up the work not only with better vigor, but with clearer conception of educational aims.

The brevity of time in the programs of these schools does not permit comprehensive curricula nor exhaustive study of any of the branches. Hence, only the subjects pertaining to practical and civic life are taken up. As a rule these schools admit only young men, though in some Cantons, as in those of Zürich and Bern, they are coeducational. As nearly all lead to such practical vocations and industries as pertain to the localities in which they are established, they show a strong tendency to specialize in the direction of the trades, in agriculture, horticulture, or commerce. In the Cantons of Fribourg and Thurgau there are household schools for girls; in the former the required attendance is two years, which may be extended to three years if the pupils' progress has not been satisfactory.1

The continuation schools specializing in the vocations and the trades are often conducted in accordance with a schedule that permits the

1 Substance from the Report of Prof. Neuberth.

pupil to be both wage earner and pupil at the same time. The schoolroom and the workshop function in close cooperation. To be properly matriculated the pupil must have secured regular employment in the trade which he makes his chief study. The employer is closely identified with the school; he not only instructs the pupil, but he also looks after his interest as wage earner; he has a definite understanding with the school authorities about the courses and the time the apprentice pupil may reasonably spend at school. The time the pupil is to remain at the work he has begun, together with other particulars calculated to insure his attendance to duty, are embodied in a contract which the pupil is required to sign. The session is held almost exclusively in the winter, with from 6 to 12 hours so grouped as to fall upon two or three forenoons each week. The flexibility of the general system adapts itself to varying local conditions, and the instruction often extends throughout the year. The schools thus specialize in individual directions so that they fall into groups, each of which is characterized by the needs of its general patronage. It would be a mistake to suppose that the dominant endeavor is to impart peculiar technical skill merely to fit the pupil to be an acceptable wage earner. Ethical and humanitarian subjects are always included, to ennoble the work of whatever kind it may be by educational ideals and associations.

A view of the plans and methods prevailing in the teachers' training schools will show that their work is ordered in strict accordance with the one principle of anticipating what the pupils are to do later on in life. In the apportionment of the time between the academic and the professional subjects, those training directly for the teacher's future duties are given the greater prominence. Realizing the need of a review of the general branches, and yet the danger of allowing too much time for this, the regulations concerning it are so framed as to effect a carefully balanced compromise without unnecessary restrictions. The statutes of Zürich order that the future work of the teacher shall determine the allotment of time to each subject, as well as the character of the instruction; they also specify that the instruction in all branches shall be such that it may serve the pupil as an example in his future school work. To secure conformity to these regulations those who conduct the recitations are required to make thorough preparation for every lesson and to keep a book in which the plan of each lesson is preserved. Instruction material, textbooks, plans, programs, and apparatus are fully discussed, so that the prospective teacher becomes familiar with them, and reaches an estimate of their value for his future work. The training is conducted with regard to the twofold capacity of a good teacher: As a master of the details of his subject organically combined and, again,

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as the instructor specialist who has the skill to fashion the subject matter for presentation before the class.

The official guides and study programs anticipate in their outlines the practical work of the pupil after his school days. The instruction plan for the Canton of St. Gall sets up as a chief principle that instruction in fact should predominate. In grammar, for example, there is to be less theory than practice; this book should, in fact, be only a guide to the correct use of the language in speech and writing, an aid in composition. The outlines direct the pupil to write on what he has seen or heard or experienced, and hence really understood. Description is to be not simply a list of the characteristics of an object, but it is to be brought into living relation to nature and to man. In history the events of one's country should be seen as related to what takes place about one's home. In the geography of particular localities and countries careful attention is to be given to the life of the people of these places, their work, and arrangements peculiar to their life and calling. In natural history the pupil is to be led to see why the object under inspection has the peculiarities he discovers and how well it is adapted to its mode of existence, what relations of reciprocity it holds to other beings, what value it has for man, and how man accordingly is under obligation to protect it or destroy it.

The report of Prof. Neuberth, of Christiania, supplying details of observations in the classrooms of Swiss schools, gives a glimpse of the actual work of teachers thus trained. He says:

There was a quiet orderliness in all the activities of the pupils, no trace of indifference, no slovenliness, but evidence of painstaking care and of close cooperation between pupil and teacher. Some, to be sure, would fall below the good marks, but there was no real, and certainly, no general delinquency. The instructor was gifted with particular skill in framing his questions, a matter regarded of such importance that it is pointed out in the statutes of Zürich as the special mark of a good teacher. The questions invariably compelled the pupils to think; instead of furnishing the form for the pupil's answer, they left him to do this for himself. The teachers had, it appeared, carefully weighed and judged both the content and form of their questions, appearing to be indefatigable in training themselves to get their questions stated right. * * The answers, which were given with very satisfactory readiness, often gave rise to new questions on the part of the teacher and, what was particularly noticeable, also on the part of the pupil. Though the deliberateness seen may be criticized for its dry outline character and for the absence of those spontaneous details that vitalize a lesson, the landmarks through the lesson were certainly charted and established, giving a chance to fill in with appropriate illustrative matter.

The practical life issues of the teaching have, as would be expected, a large share in the deliberations of teachers at their professional meetings. During its session of September 30, 1918, the Zürich Teachers' Association discussed contemplated changes in the higher

grade classes and the courses to be given in these. As the suggested rearrangements involved time allotment to various subjects, the accepted or alleged values of these were again fully considered. It was evident that the world events and the recent experience of Switzerland made the teachers, even more than formerly, insist on positive answers to questions of a subject's value to the pupil after his years at school. The propositions for the discussion of the classics were formulated with regard to these considerations:

1. What significance does the culture of the ancients have for our own time? 2. Does the instruction at our gymnasia correspond with this significance? 3. Can not the same goal be reached in other ways, and, if so, what adaptation would it entail on the gymnasia of the future?

Early in the discussion it was insisted that Latin, to maintain itself, must show that it leads to undoubted present-day values. Since the war, it was urged, important developments have taken place in the industrial and social life, with new social phases, outlook, and ideals the position of the individual in the State, the place of woman as a member of the Commonwealth, the principle of the family unit, the international position of the State-time must be found to master and to organize new masses of details to prepare the pupil for the place he is now to take. Hence the question,

Can Latin be dropped as an obligatory study and the time thereby gained given to modern subjects, and can the study of the ancients be extended by reading good translations? Time should be found for psychology which, as it is now being developed, moves close to everyday activities; we constantly come into psychic relations with other people creating perplexing situations and problems. Outside of the schools the pupil is left slowly, painfully, and wastefully to acquire the psychology which the schools could more conveniently give him.'

On the other hand it was held that the western world has been influenced by the old classic world for centuries, and hence no matter how high it might tower above the old, its roots get their sustenance from the ancient soil. Our modern social organizations-state, church, school, society-are the result of a development in a straight line from the ancient world. If our present-day intellectual conditions are to be apprehended in their integrity and continuity of development, their origin and growth must be understood.

Earlier in this account the pupil's gradual release from lessons and entrance upon wage-earning employment has been mentioned as a feature in the school arrangements. The transition period thereby created gives opportunity for the teachers to render service to the pupils, no less important because it comes outside of the usual school programs. In a circular published January 1, 1916, and addressed by the school authorities of Zürich to the teachers of district sel

1Adapted from Schweizerische Lehrerzeitung, February, 1919.

higher grade schools, and folkschools, is set forth the duty of teachers to help pupils to find employment suited to their aptitudes. The school boards and teachers have, accordingly, cooperated with the Bureau of Statistics to ascertain what callings were most sought by pupils after completing the period of required attendance. The information brought in showed what callings were most attractive to boys and girls, and also in what fields of endeavor their labor was most in demand. It was taken for granted that the teachers would understand that the prerequisites were bodily force and vitality, power of orderly and sustained thinking, congenial manners, resolution in will and deed, and strength of character. The teacher through personal experience understands the pupil's mental and physical capabilities, and is, in consequence, prepared as no one else to assist the parents in selecting his life work. He would reach an understanding with the parents, and perhaps take occasion to explain to them the moral as well as the industrial conditions depending on the choice, and the disadvantage of being without a trade or calling. If a choice is difficult to make, a pupil may, while yet at school, be guided in the general direction of a trade or one of the commercial lines. In performing this duty the teacher, it was pointed out, would often have a delicate task, for he might have to advise the choice of manual labor in cases where the parents would insist on something they regarded as higher as the calling for their children. If the economic conditions of the parents would permit the pupil to pass through only the primary school, or at most, two classes of the higher grade school, a calling consisting in the main of labor with the hands should not be looked upon as unsuitable, unless marked personal gifts pointed to something different. If, despite the statistical showing that clerical positions and offices are crowded by young applicants, a choice of this calling should seem wise, it becomes the teacher's duty to point out that success here depends especially on tact and personal address, readiness in the use of several languages, skill in figures, and the ability to write a neat and legible hand.

The circular of the Zürich school authorities also states that young men and women should be advised that a great many of their number-most of them insufficiently prepared-turn in the direction of a calling requiring scientific training. These people crowd the middle schools, and when they have painfully and at great sacrifice gone through the courses, they find no opening commensurate with their hopes. It is an especially responsible task to guide those that contemplate taking up the profession of teaching. The requisite endowments and possibilities are not always obvious at the age of 14 or 15. The high order of mental power, with responsive temperament and strength of character, is not always indicated by the marks pupils get as the result of examinations. The teacher should there

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