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 - Popular Education. By G. A. Aldén, A. Dalin, K. Kjellberg, N. Lundahl and B. Sernander
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380
iv. education and mental culture.
live in farms in the vicinity. Several of the schools have gymnastic halls
which also come in use as halls for large meetings.
Most of the schools have been from the outset private enterprises,’hut
they have, almost in every case, received aid from public funds, the
County Councils (landsting), the Provincial Agricultural Societies
(hushållningssällskap), the State. A board of managers is appointed
by the subsidizing authorities, but considerable power is laid in the hands
of the Principal (föreståndare), on whose personal qualities the success of
the school greatly depends. There is no fixed syllabus of instruction,
and there is no final examination, except in the form of practical exercises
in the subject taught.
Teachers and pupils. The Principal is usually a university man; the other
teachers (two to five in each school) are university graduates, engineers,
agriculturists, or officers. The pupils admitted to these schools are youths who
have reached the age of 18 (the average age is from 20 to 22), who have
passed through the elementary school, and have a good character. There is no
entrance examination. In 1912 the number of male pupils was 1 194.
The Teaching. There may be either one, or else two courses; if the latter,
the courses are widely different in character. The majority of the pupils take
only the first course. The instruction takes the form chiefly of popular
lectures, alternating with questions, reading, and discussion of the texts,
demonstration and explanation of teaching material (object lessons), written exercises,
etc; moreover, in order to give the pupils some insight into the machinery of
administration, deliberations are got up on the exact pattern of ratepayers’
meetings and meetings of executive committees. According to the average figures
of 1905 (since which time no important changes have taken place) 46 percent
of the teaching consisted of general subjects: history, literature, political
economy, art lectures, state and municipal administration, geography, science, hygiene,
elocution, singing and social evenings; whereas 54 per cent of the teaching hours
were allotted to subjects of a more practical kind: Swedish grammar and
composition, arithmetic, book-keeping, copy-book writing, drawing, geometry,
surveying, levelling, and (in some cases), agriculture and sloyd.
The second course is of a more strictly practical nature: it usually includes
agriculture, cattle-breeding, and forestry. In several schools this second course
is converted into an agricultural course pure and simple; in this case, there is
a State grant in aid of this instruction. See the section: Agricultural Education.
There are also courses of a similar kind for women. The courses for
men had from the outset been carried on during the six winter
months (from November to April); the idea thus suggested itself
quite naturally that the summer should be used for courses for
women. This idea was first carried into effect at Yilan in 1873,
and it was afterwards generally adopted. As a rule, these courses are
superintended by the principal of the men’s school and his wife, with
the assistance of an adequate number of the other masters and of specially
appointed women teachers.
The total number of women pupils in 1912 was 1 224. The age is usually
from 18 to 20. The subjects taught are: Swedish, history, geography, nature
knowledge, hygiene, household economy, arithmetic, book-keeping, writing, sing-
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