Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Education and Mental Culture. Introd. by P. E. Lindström - 1. Elementary Education. By J. M. Ambrosius - Reformatories for Juvenile Offenders. By K. Blomquist - Popular Education. By G. A. Aldén, A. Dalin, K. Kjellberg, N. Lundahl and B. Sernander
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iv. education and mental culture.
entitled "Straffets sociala upiigift" (The Social Mission of Punishment), being
Part I of his big work "Principer för en strafflagsreform" (Principles of Penal
Law Reform).
Popular Education.
This section will be devoted to that work which aims at extending
the benefits of education to the People. It will deal with the People’s High
Schools (folkhögskolor), with voluntary educational work among grown
up men and women engaged in various occupations, particularly with
that educational work which takes the form of popular lectures and
free libraries.
The "people" must be understood to mean not merely the working
classes or the lower ranges of society, but also the layman in
contradistinction from the savant, though indeed the endowments made in aid
of popular education were intended at the outset mainly for the
poorer classes.
The Folkhögskolor, or People’s High Schools, are a species of
educational establishments that exist only in the Scandinavian countries
and in Finland. Their aims are, "to impart a good general education to
grown up young men and women; the teaching shall embrace the
humanities and the sciences, and those subjects shall be taught in such a
manner as to stimulate independent thought, and exercise a good moral
influence on the lives of the pupils. Above all, they shall learn to
know their own country, its history, its present social structure, and its
spiritual and material recources. Finally, the knowledge imparted shall
be such as will be of real use in practical life."
This movement originated in Denmark about the middle of the nineteeth
century. Denmark was at that time in a very precarious situation with regard to
her neighbour, Germany. This led — on the principle that "knowledge is power"
— to the utmost efforts being made in Denmark to raise the standard of
national culture. In Sweden the folkhögskolor were the sequel to the revival of
municipal self-government in 1862 and the reorganization of the Riksdag in
1865. These measures, by increasing the social importance of the People, created
a demand for a higher general education for the People. Among the founders
of these establishments the following names merit to be singled out for
mention: Ola Andersson of Nordanå, afterward member of the Riksdag, Dr 0.
Pehrsson-Bendtz, C. Bergman of Vinslöv, a clergyman, Sven Nilsson of Everöd
and Jonas Andersson of Häckenäs, both members of the Riksdag, August
Sohl-man, editor, and Dr O. Ålund. The first school of this kind was opened in
1868 at Vilan in Skåne. That school, which is still in existence, may, in many
respects, be regarded as the mother of all the others. Its Principal has been
from the very first to 1908 inclusive, Dr L. Holmström (at present Dr E. Ingers.
At the present time Sweden possesses 44 folkhögskolor, one or more in
each län, the largest number being in Skåne. The folkhögskolor are, as
a rule, located in the country. Most of them now have their own premises,
with accommodation for the teachers and some of the pupils; the rest
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