The School System of Norway Part 13

FACILITIES FOR EDUCATION

To satisfy the varied requirements of the nation along the line of educational facilities it has been necessary to establish a complex system of diversified schools. Fundamental in the system are the _primary schools_ providing the thorough elementary training so essential and effectual in the qualifying of citizens. Following these are the _secondary schools_--middle school and gymnasium--which afford the advantages of higher education along the more liberal lines. Besides these are the many inst.i.tutions--public and private--for technical and professional study. There are general technical schools, schools of trades and manual arts, agricultural and horticultural inst.i.tutions, naval and military academies, schools of art, teachers' colleges, a technical high school--an engineering college and inst.i.tute of technology of high rank--in the city of Trondhjem, and the Royal Frederik University in Christiania which is devoted to specialized study and research in science, letters, and learned professions, including theology, law, medicine, and education. The last is provided for in the affiliated Pedagogical Seminary recently established.

At this point we may speak a word in commendation of the important part played by private inst.i.tutions in Norway. Among them may be enumerated primary and secondary schools, teachers' seminaries, and technical inst.i.tutes. Being of high merit and operating side by side with the state schools, they have rendered valuable service and exerted a wholesome influence. The state has recognized their work and expressed its appreciation of their efforts by giving them standing and by voting annuities to certain of them.

The uniformly high standard of preparation required for entrance to and the close correlation between the several special schools make easy the pa.s.sage from one to another when it is desired, and give solidarity and unity wherein cooperation is natural and mutually beneficial.

It should be noted that provision is made for the proper care of the exceptional child in Norway. This is more particularly true of the defective. The child who is dull of comprehension along some lines receives individual a.s.sistance from his regular teacher or another who is employed to do the work. Recognition is given to disparity in physiological and mental age of children. Those who are definitely lacking in mentality are segregated into cla.s.ses in the large schools and into separate schools in the larger cities, where they are provided with abundant, well-selected equipment and expert teachers who exert every effort to improve the conditions and to overcome the handicaps of the unfortunates. Morally delinquent children are placed in children's homes--homes for correction--where they are supervised and taught. Each child is placed under the conditions best suited to his needs--where he will be most profited. All of this work comes under the authority of the school officials, and as a result there is close coordination between the regular and the special schools.

Not only do these officials care for the mentally and morally delinquent but they are also authorized and required to take children from environments that are likely to develop evil and lawless traits. Unfit parents may be deprived of the control and authority over their offspring who are taken and placed in private homes of moral influence or in children's homes where they receive proper care and training.

Being vested with such authority the school officials are able to do much toward the prevention of delinquency as well as to attend specifically to the individual cases where a lack of moral responsibility is evidenced.

Here are wholesome lessons for our American schools. Instead of giving sufficient individual help or providing expert teachers for the less intelligent, we permit them to become repeaters or to drop out altogether; in place of taking the child from an evil environment before he becomes a moral delinquent and placing him under moral surroundings in some good home, we hesitate to interfere with parental rights--as though they were greater than social--and permit him to become a law-breaker; and rather than give to school officials the authority and necessary equipment to care rightfully for the child who has committed some error, we place him in the hands of the law and he is probably sent to a reformatory having neither facility for his proper treatment nor any connection with the schools whatsoever.

Closer co-ordination of these educational functions and inst.i.tutions would prevent much misfortune, cure a vast amount of misery, and accomplish more efficient results.

DIRECTING AUTHORITY AND MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS

Norway's educational authority is definitely centralized in the person at the head of the Department of Ecclesiastical and Educational Affairs, who is a member of the King's cabinet. The several departments, bureaus, commissions, and boards for control are radiations from this central focus. Furthermore, their schools are parts and parcels of one very definite, though somewhat complex, system; each cla.s.s of schools, in its respective field, is ordered according to certain specifications; and all are coordinated so as to result in a unified whole without overlapping, or exposure of ragged and loose ends.

The controlling features of greater importance such as curriculum, appointment of teachers, plans of instruction, and the determination of qualifications for teaching positions are in the hands of the higher authorities. In effect the state determines the policies, the officers are expected to respect them, and the patrons exercise but little direct control. For example, the law provides that completion of certain grades of school work shall mean practically the same throughout the country, that the middle school and gymnasium examinations shall be uniform everywhere in the state, that standards of academic fitness for teaching positions must be the same, and that teachers' salaries shall not be below a certain minimum amount. Local opinion never has a thought of departing from these requirements.

Being vested with considerable authority the school officials are able not only to make suggestions and recommendations, but also to enforce all school regulations. This plan is successful in securing the most efficient service of which the officials are capable. They are expected to pursue their duties and perform their obligations according to directions without being too largely influenced by the opinions of individuals or community sentiment. Local politics plays a very small part in determining what shall be the educational trend, though the patrons of the school do enjoy considerable liberty and bear some responsibilities in arranging minor factors with reference to local situations.

We Americans might avoid a vast amount of leakage and unnecessary expenditure by improved organization of our educational inst.i.tutions. A unified system of education, manned by competent officials with some authority, might easily raise the standard of efficiency of our schools several grades, and at the same time reduce the proportional cost.

President Hall has given optimistic expression along this line. He writes:--"The time is not far off when we shall coordinate all educational agencies for all cla.s.ses of children of school age....

All... inst.i.tutions for the care and betterment of the bodies, minds or morals of children should correlate their work so that eventually it may all become so consolidated that each child can be placed in that position in the whole great system which will do most and best for it at each stage and so that changes from one to the other can be made whenever it becomes for the welfare of the child.... Diversities of agencies, aims and method should increase; and incorrigibles, defectives, homeless, neglected, backward children and the rest should each have special provision; but integration should keep pace with this differentiation."[27]

Were our public schools, reformatories, schools for defectives, etc., etc., all combined into one system they might perform their offices more effectively than they do now. Instead of permitting each to run along independent of the rest, they should be made to supplement each other.

Again, it is a matter of common knowledge that in our own country high school graduation, qualifications for teaching positions in the several grades of school work, college entrance requirements, college degrees, etc., are without uniform standardization. At present even a college degree has meaning only when the work and equipment of the inst.i.tution granting it have been carefully estimated; state teachers' certificates may or may not be valid in other states; and reciprocity among the states in recognizing certificates is not in operation generally. While state certificates are not always demanded, some of the states are now requiring that all teachers in the high schools must be college graduates. In all too many instances the only effectual prerequisite to obtaining a position as teacher in the schools--primary or secondary--is the vote of the school directors. The gradation of educational activity according to a fixed basis and the raising of standards in academic and pedagogical preparation and in personal fitness for teaching positions would make the schools vastly greater factors in the country's progress and do the nation an inestimable service.

Centralization and uniformity in authority and purpose are distinctly evident in every school activity in Norway. The authority of the state is clearly stamped on the work of every official from the directing head to the last in position. Everyone connected with the system feels the obligations of the position occupied and, at the same time, recognizes his own security while keeping within the limits of the law. They all concentrate their energies in an earnest endeavor to realize the ends which the educational system is designed to reach. Even individual subjects of instruction are presented for specific purposes which in turn contribute to the general end to be reached through the course of study as a whole. Purposes, aims, and ends are always in the foreground of attention, and when teacher and pupils cooperate and are actuated by common ideals, their efforts are sure to be vital and successful.

TEACHERS' TRAINING

Proper pedagogical training is perhaps the most potent factor for good in educational activity. But few systems, if any, adequately meet the needs along this line. Some are well supplied with inst.i.tutions devoted to the training of teachers so far as their number and distribution are concerned but they are lacking in quality; others have training schools very high in quality but they are poorly distributed and insufficient in number.

The ideals and equipment of these special inst.i.tutions are factors of prime importance in determining their real values. These center in the personnel of the directing and teaching force. Too frequently thorough scientific preparation for the specific work of supervising and instructing in teachers' seminaries is wanting. Natural endowment coupled with long, varied, and successful experience has been regarded as sufficient qualification. To be sure, native ability is an absolute essential; experience is of immeasurable value; but intensive scientific research in the fields of child nature and development, psychology, and pedagogical principles, together with scientific methods, are equally indispensable.

Now it is a truism that teachers teach as they have been taught. Hence, to achieve greatest results, prospective teachers should secure their education (general and professional) from ideal teachers as far as possible and obtain experience through practice teaching under the personal supervision of masters in education. Preparing under such conditions, their natural capabilities would be brought more nearly to maximum efficiency and they would become powers for good in the profession. To have seminaries so distributed and equipped that all prospective teachers might have the best training within easy access would be an ideal condition.

Germany affords an unparalleled example in the development of teachers'

seminaries. No other nation ever had a system of training schools as efficient as the one there provided. Her right to the t.i.tle of "School mistress of the world" is in large measure traceable to the excellent training provided for and required of the teachers in the schools.

Norway early recognized the importance of this phase of school work and established six teachers' seminaries. Subsequently four private seminaries have been opened and the state has inst.i.tuted the Pedagogical Seminary in affiliation with the university in Christiania. This gives them a liberal number of training colleges well distributed. While they are subject to some adverse criticism for failure to keep pace with the development of their school system as a whole, we must admit that the excellent results achieved by the schools of Norway are due largely to the early provision of these seminaries and insistence upon special training for teaching positions.

It is probable that certain normal schools of the United States deserve the honors so far as ideals and results are concerned even though we have accorded first ranking in system to Germany. Our plan, however, is too individual in nature to accomplish greatest good. We lack a centralized authority with power to do things. We have practically no co-ordination between state systems and no uniformity. Even in certain states the several schools do not cooperate or supplement each other as they should. The waste occasioned by the looseness of our system is enormous. Could we unify our resources, systematize our equipment, and provide efficient direction along cooperative lines of activity, the American schools would advance by leaps and bounds such as have not been known up to the present time in any nation.

A word is in place here with reference to the process of obtaining professional preparation. One of the best things to be gained by special training is a professional att.i.tude toward the work of teaching. This cannot be attained by spasmodic effort but must be grown into. It comes rather as a result of long-continued study and application of principles than by intensive training for a short while. Direct instruction and experiment extended over a long period of time affords opportunity for innumerable a.s.sociations and interrelations which no "hurry-up" process can provide. When professional training and study along the general lines of academic learning parallel each other they become interwoven in such a way that each contributes to the other, and simultaneously the proper att.i.tude with respect to educational processes becomes a very real part of the student's life.

There are a number of important pedagogical principles which should become ingrained in the life of the individual in order that he make a success in the teaching profession. It is a generally conceded and commonly practiced rule in education that to thoroughly master any field of knowledge and really get into its vital parts it is necessary to keep the mind acting upon it, at least intermittently, through several years of time. Principles acted and reacted upon, viewed in this light and that, examined under a certain condition and then another, and tested in various ways may result very differently in one's life than when given a hurried, even though intensive, examination. They are certain in the one instance to sink deep into the life of the individual while in the other case they may or may not affect his behavior.

It seems, therefore, that if the excellent features which now characterize Norway's Pedagogical Seminary might be carried along through the whole or a large part of the college course, or if the work of the seminary might be supplemented by studies such as principles of education, history of education, child study, and psychology, carried along with the college work the results would be more effectual--the preparation for teaching more thorough. However, considering the short time that has elapsed since the founding of this Seminary, its work is of high order and its ideals are praiseworthy. The expressed intent of the director is to develop the field as rapidly as possible until it shall be characterized by the best means of professional training known to the science.

THE TEACHERS' LIFE

The life of the teacher is one of service, calling for an expenditure of the self to an extent perhaps greater than any other profession. Among the Norse, however, it is not as strenuous as that experienced in American schools. The Norwegian teachers have more time than we for recreation, self-improvement, or any of the activities opened up by leisure hours. Life generally is set at a more moderate pace with the Nors.e.m.e.n than with the rus.h.i.+ng Americans, and the schoolmen enjoy the attendant advantages along with those in other professions or occupations.

While leisure among certain cla.s.ses leads to idleness and corruption, it has quite opposite results among the better cla.s.s of citizens.

Windelband says that "The cultured man is he who in his leisure does not become a mere idler." The cultured men of the past have in their leisure developed science, art, literature, and philosophy. They have had reserve energy after the performance of their regular labors to use in fruitful, self-selected activities. There are always innumerable avenues through any one of which an earnest servant of the state may bring great gain to its people.

There is no n.o.bler profession than that devoted to the development of youth; neither is there any occupation which brings more satisfying recompenses. The child is the most precious a.s.set of the nation and deserves the maximum service possible for teachers to render. To perform the most efficient service the teacher should have health, vigor, and time for recreation in addition to scholastic and professional qualifications. When school authorities make conditions conducive to these ends, the results will be of such character that teachers, pupils, patrons, and community will all obtain greater profits.

Where school activities are not overtaxing, the teacher has opportunity to build up his physical being, increase the buoyancy of his spirits so as to enthuse his pupils to a greater extent, or improve his educational qualifications. One may concentrate his efforts along some given line of research and from day to day give the pupils under his tuition the benefits derived from these specialized efforts. An individual by persistent study may become the discoverer of new laws or truths which reach the ends of the earth and profoundly influence human affairs.

Whatever the particular activity, leisure consecrated to the uplift of mankind is sure to result in great good.

When inst.i.tutions drive their servants to the limit of their powers they must inevitably be the losers in the long run. They extinguish the light of ambition, reduce to machines the individuals who should be contributors to human progress, and make legion "the man with the hoe."

Such practice in our schools results in waste of energy, depletion of our teaching force, and irretrievable loss in many ways.

It is my candid opinion that the rapidity of the evolution of the Norwegian school system, its excellencies, and the highly satisfactory results coming from it are in large measure due to the fact that it does not overtax the powers of its teachers and educational leaders, but on the contrary allows them opportunity for the exercise of initiative and encourages a professional att.i.tude towards their work.

THE CURRICULUM

The course of instruction in the primary and secondary schools of Norway is uniform for all pupils except in the second and third years of the gymnasium where diverse lines of study are offered. The arrangement is unfortunate in that the individual is sometimes required to pursue subjects of study for which he has no adaptability and in which he can develop no interest. Teachers in Norway tell me that this requirement is a great handicap; r.e.t.a.r.ding the progress of the cla.s.s, demoralizing the individual, and increasing the burden of the teacher. More flexibility in this regard would doubtless be an advantage. The elective system, so common in our own schools, when rightly supervised preserves sufficient coherence between the studies taken up and gives opportunity for more perfect adjustment.

Not only in the course of study but also in organization, plans of instruction, and equipment, the schools of Norway are too uniform to result in the freest development of the intellect, the richest growth of individuality, or the greatest conservation of time, energy, or money.

There are a few variations from their regular routine but these are not sufficiently numerous.

One favorable innovation is the promotion of teachers along with cla.s.ses through a part or all of the primary school. The consensus of opinion seems to be that better results accrue when a teacher continues with a cla.s.s through several years of work. This plan is generally followed unless the special fitness of a teacher for work within particular limits renders it highly advisable for a.s.signment to be made to such place. While special aptness for a particular cla.s.s of instruction should be recognized, the promoting of teachers along with cla.s.ses generally obviates any tendency to staleness and usually emphasizes special qualifications.

While it would be interesting to discuss the methods used in presenting each subject in the curriculum a few must suffice.

_Religious Instruction and Moral Education_

The church was first to establish schools in Norway, putting them into operation in connection with their cathedrals, probably about the middle of the twelfth century. The chief aim was to prepare the pupils for a religious life, either as ministers or as faithful disciples. Having these as definite ends, the materials for study were selected because of their fitness to contribute along these lines. Instruction was almost wholly in religion. Since morality is such a fundamental part of religion, moral education in large amount was given indirectly. The aim was religion and the result was both morality and religion. Schools came to be generally regarded as inst.i.tutions wherein moral and religious instruction were the prevailing if not the dominating features. This phase of work early became traditional and gained such momentum that it has ever formed a conspicuous part of every grade of instruction throughout the primary and secondary schools.

During the formative period the instruction in religion maintained a vitality which was quite in keeping with the demands of the times.

However, as the school system developed, especially during the closing half of the last century, it became necessary to arrange more definite plans of instruction in religion as well as in other subjects in the school curriculum. The adapting of instruction to the various grades of school work was a difficult task. The adjustment made to needs in the primary schools seems a very happy one. In this elementary section of the school system the instruction in religion consists mainly in story telling. The work is made concrete and personal, and its influence is most excellent.

Not so fortunate has been the attempt to present the great truths and ideals of religion in the secondary grades. The human appeal, so fruitful in the lower cla.s.ses, does not appear in the higher, at least to the same degree. Instead the work is formal and prescribed. Interest dies out and even respect for the work rapidly wanes as the pupil pa.s.ses into more advanced grades. I have often thought while observing the listlessness of the pupils during the period for religious teaching that the effects upon morals and religion would be better by far without the instruction as now provided.