Part 13 (1/2)

FACILITIES FOR EDUCATION

To satisfy the varied require the line of educational facilities it has been necessary to establish a complex system of diversified schools Funda the thorough ele of citizens Following these are the _secondary schools_--es of higher education along the more liberal lines Besides these are the many institutions--public and private--for technical and professional study There are general technical schools, schools of trades and ricultural and horticultural institutions, naval and es, a technical high school--an engineering college and institute 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 institutions in Norway A them may be enumerated primary and secondary schools, teachers' sehside by side with the state schools, they have rendered valuable service and exerted a wholesonized their work and expressed its appreciation of their efforts by giving the annuities to certain of theh standard of preparation required for entrance to and the close correlation between the several special schools e froive 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 co soular teacher or another who is eiven to disparity in physiological andin e 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 hoht 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 ho 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 wholeso sufficient individual help or providing expert teachers for the less intelligent, we perether; in place of taking the child from an evil environ hiood hoh they were greater than social--and perive to school officials the authority and necessary equiphtfully for the child who has committed some error, we place him in the hands of the law and he is probably sent to a refor neither facility for his proper treatment nor any connection with the schools whatsoever

Closer co-ordination of these educational functions and institutions 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 '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 class 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 deter 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 exarades of school work shall hout the country, that the ymnasium examinations shall be uniform everywhere in the state, that standards of acade positions must be the same, and that teachers' salaries shall not be below a certainfro vested with considerable authority the school officials are able not only to estions and recoulations This plan is successful in securing the most efficient service of which the officials are capable They are expected to pursue their duties and perfor too largely influenced by the opinions of individuals or community senti what shall be the educational trend, though the patrons of the school do enjoy considerable liberty and bear so minor factors with reference to local situations

We Ae and unnecessary expenditure by ianization of our educational institutions A unified system of education, ht easily raise the standard of efficiency of our schools several grades, and at the same tiiven opti this line He writes:--”The tiencies for all classes of children of school age

All institutions 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 systee and so that changes from one to the other can be made whenever it becoencies, aiibles, defectives, holected, 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 coht perform their officeseach to run along independent of the rest, they should be ain, it is a h school graduation, qualifications for teaching positions in the several grades of school work, college entrance requirerees, etc, are without uniforree hasonly when the work and equip it have been carefully estimated; state teachers' certificatesthe states in recognizing certificates is not in operation generally While state certificates are not always de that all teachers in the high schools raduates In all tooa position as teacher in the schools--priradation of educational activity according to a fixed basis and the raising of standards in acadeical preparation and in personal fitness for teaching positions would ress 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 sta head to the last in position Everyone connected with the systeations of the position occupied and, at the sa within the liies in an earnest endeavor to realize the ends which the educational systened 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, airound 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 ood in educational activity But few syste this line Some are well supplied with institutions devoted to the training of teachers so far as their nu 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 institutions are factors of pri 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' se, 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 developether with scientific methods, are equally indispensable

Now it is a truisht 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 ofunder such conditions, their natural capabilities would be brought more nearly to ood in the profession To have seminaries so distributed and equipped that all prospective teacherswithin easy access would be an ideal condition

Germany affords an unparalleled example in the development of teachers'

se schools as efficient as the one there provided Her right to the title of ”School eprovided 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 instituted the Pedagogical Seminary in affiliation with the university in Christiania This gives thees 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 se positions