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 LECTURE 
 
 f^' PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 I 
 
 PRUSSIA 
 
 READ BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, 
 
 GEORGE S. HILLARD, ESQ. 
 
 OF BOSTON. 
 
 KEY & BIDDLE, 23 MINOR STREET. 
 1836.
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 The Discourse, which forms a principal 
 part of the following pages, was furnished to 
 the Institute by particular desire. The 
 writer of this abstract, having been long 
 convinced that the institutions of New Eng- 
 land, for popular education fulfilled the 
 design of such education, but very imper- 
 fectly, desirous also, to " exclude boasting," 
 and to substitute, if possible, some actual 
 improvements in practice, such as might ac- 
 complish the true design of popular instruc- 
 tion, took occasion, in the summer of 1835, 
 to publish in a weekly paper, a series of 
 articles, very imperfectly illustrative of the 
 actual state, and possible amendment of the 
 common schools of the country. Those 
 anonymous speculations, not ascribed to any 
 female, suggesting some applications of the 
 Prussian system of education to the Ameri- 

 
 IV PREPACK. 
 
 can people, were so far acceptable to some 
 of the most intelligent members of the In- 
 stitute, that they applied to the writer for 
 more detailed illustrations of that system. 
 These were readily furnished, and, in the 
 form of the annexed discourse, were read, 
 as a favour to the writer, by George S. Hil- 
 lard Esq., in August, 1S35. 
 
 This Discourse was detached from the 
 annually printed discourses of the Institute, 
 and is now printed in a convenient and 
 cheap form, to furnish, for wide circula- 
 tion, it is hoped, some practical views of 
 education,'which may be extensively bene- 
 ficial. Other documents and observations, 
 in relation to this great public interest, are 
 subjoined for further illustration of it. The 
 v\ hole claims no other merit than the desire 
 to diffuse sound and practical ideas, among 
 all who take any part in meliorating and 
 exalting general society, by means of a ra- 
 tional, and truly moral education of all class- 
 es of the people. 
 
 ELIZA ROBBINS. 
 
 Phxiadklphu, March 20th, 1836.
 
 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 The writer has been requested to furnisli 
 to the Institute some particulars of the 
 system of national education in present use 
 in the kingdom of Prussia. The spirit, 
 rather than the details, of this great institu- 
 tion is applicable in the United States, 
 and its whole economy and general charac- 
 ter are now offered to the American public 
 in Mrs. Austin's translation of Cousin's 
 Report. In the preface to that work the 
 author asserts that, " There is such a cohe- 
 rency, both in the fabric it describes, and in 
 the description, that no one will fully un- 
 derstand the system, who cannot bear the 
 toil of following the author step by step.
 
 6 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 Portions may be selected which show the 
 beautiful spirit pervading the whole, and 
 which must, I should think, touch any hu- 
 man heart; but its merit as a piece of legis- 
 lation — as a system living and working — 
 can only be appreciated when studied con- 
 nectedly and in detail." — These remarks of 
 Mrs. Austin suggest the character of this 
 institution, and it is hoped, will commend 
 it to persons interested in public education, 
 and in its practical improvement in the 
 United States. 
 
 Public Instruction, in relation to this 
 system, signifies, " instruction provided 
 for the whole public by the state.'^''* 
 
 The territory of the kingdom of Prussia 
 is divided into ten provinces, the provinces 
 into departments, the departments into cir- 
 cles, and the circles into parishes. The 
 whole of the public establishments of edu- 
 cation, throughout these subdivisions of 
 territory, comprehend elementarj'- or pri- 
 
 * Cousin.
 
 I 
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 7 
 
 mary schools; burgher or middle schools; 
 gymnasia or high schools; and Universities. 
 All these institutions are under the regula- 
 tion of the laws, and under the protection 
 and ministration of an appointed magistracy. 
 The present system came into operation in 
 1819; it has therefore been subjected to fif- 
 teen years of experiment, and has been con- 
 stantly growing in popular favor, and in the 
 estimation of the most public-spirited and 
 philosophical minds over all Europe. The 
 whole system is under the cognisance and 
 control of the minister of Public Instruc- 
 tion, who is assisted in his function by a 
 council, which, to use the words of Cousin, 
 serves to prevent the probable errors of " a 
 single and variable head; to make new 
 rules or modify old ones; to aid the judg- 
 ment of the minister as to what establish- 
 ments it may be desirable to found, or what 
 to suppress; above all, to guide him in the 
 appreciation and the choice of men, and to 
 serve as a rampart to ward off solicitation 
 and intrigue.'^ The council are sometimes 
 severally employed to visit the institutions
 
 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 under cognisance of the minister. These 
 vists are unexpected, alwa)^s determined by 
 a real necessity, and entrusted to men espe- 
 cially fitted for the occasion. In the general 
 course of affairs, the correspondence and 
 intervention of inferior authorities, imme- 
 diately connected with the ministry, is suf- 
 ficient to carry on the system in its ramifi- 
 cations most remote from the centre of 
 authority. 
 
 Every department, circle, and parish, has 
 its school board, which regulates its respec- 
 tive affairs, and every school its proper in- 
 spectors or committee, consisting of laity 
 and clergy, who have particular and fre- 
 quently recurring duties in regard to the 
 schools. The minister, though thoroughly 
 informed of results, does not interfere mi- 
 nutely with details. His information of the 
 operation of the whole system is nearly 
 perfect, being gathered from full and accu- 
 rate reports of the dependent function- 
 aries. 
 
 Two features in this system are very 
 striking — one, is the respect felt by the na-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. y 
 
 tion for the dignity and uses of education; 
 and the other, the positive fitness required 
 by the laws, for the exercise of the respec- 
 tive duties of those employed in the admin- 
 istration of it. "The high rank assigned 
 to the head of public instruction, marks 
 the respect in which every thing relating to 
 that important subject is held by the govern- 
 ment; hence science assumes her proper 
 place in the state. Civilisation, the intellec- 
 tual and moral interests of society, have 
 their appointed ministry. This ministry 
 embraces every thing relating to science, 
 and consequently all schools, libraries, and 
 kindred institutions.'^ 
 
 " The spirit of the Prussian monarchy 
 is decidedly adverse to unpaid functionaries 
 of any kind," says M. Cousin, therefore 
 the administrators of the public education 
 have generally some small salary proper to 
 their office. "In Prussia all public servants 
 are paid; and as no post whatsoever can be 
 obtained without passing through the most 
 rigorous examinations, all are able and en- 
 lightened men. And as, moreover, they are
 
 10 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 taken from every class in society, they bring, 
 to the exercise of their duties, the general 
 spirit of their nation, while in that exercise 
 they contract habits of public business." 
 By such an arrangement it must be seen 
 that voluntary benefactors are excluded, ex- 
 cept in the bestovvment of donations and 
 legacies to the schools, and also that the in- 
 trusive counsels, and arbitrary proceedings 
 of well intentioned ignorance, cannot pre- 
 vent the constant improvement and progress, 
 which wise men, associated together for the 
 public benefit, will certainly aim at, and may 
 probably accomplish. No languor, negli- 
 gence, and apathy are likely to enter into 
 the applications of a system guarded in so 
 many ways. Every parish must, by the 
 law of the land, have a school; and the pas- 
 tor, or minister of that parish, is in virtue 
 of his office, the inspector of that school; 
 associated with him is a committee of admin- 
 istration and superintendence, composed of 
 some of the principal persons in the parish. 
 If all the operations of this association were
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 11 
 
 carried on without any check or authority, 
 the methods and results of instruction might 
 be correspondent entirely to the knowledge 
 or ignorance, the vigilance or negligence, of 
 the school committee, or trustees. But every 
 department has a board of education, called 
 the Regency, which employs school-inspec- 
 tors, who reside in the chief town of every 
 circle, and who inspect all the schools in it; 
 and another officer, the school councillor, 
 also inspects the schools, quickens and keeps 
 alive the interest of the school committees 
 and the schoolmasters, and makes reports 
 to the higher authority of the excellences 
 and defects of the particular schools; and 
 thus whatever is wrong is known, and is put 
 in the way of redress. 
 
 The preceding statement is only a brief 
 notice of the general economy of these 
 schools. The translation of Mrs. Austin is 
 limited to the details of primary instruc- 
 tion, and to this only the present abstract 
 from Cousin is also restricted. — Cousin di- 
 vides his report into the rules and tYie^factSy 
 thus:
 
 12 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 I. The organization of primary instruc- 
 tion; the laws and rules by which it is go- 
 verned. 
 
 II. What the laws and regulations have 
 actually produced. — The rules are, concern- 
 ing the duty of all parents and guardians to 
 send their children to the primary schools; 
 the duty of each parish to maintain a 
 school, at its own cost; general objects and 
 different gradations of primary instruc- 
 tion; how primary teachers are to be train- 
 ed, placed, and rewarded or punished; au- 
 thorities employed in superintendence; and 
 private schools. 
 
 The duty of parents to educate their child- 
 ren, by means of schools, letters, and science 
 haslongbeen recognised in northern Europe. 
 Cousin believes that the system of the present 
 education in Prussia originated in national 
 tendencies — in a deep and general feeling 
 that the moral and intellectual well-being 
 of the state, and of the individual, must be 
 promoted by letters, science, and religion; 
 the last two being especially represented 
 and inculcated by means of literature.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 13 
 
 <^This duty," says Cousin, " is so natural, 
 so rooted in all the moral and legal habits 
 of the country, that it is expressed by a 
 single word, [in English,] school- obliga- 
 tion. In Prussia the state has for many 
 years imposed on all parents the strict ob- 
 ligation of sending their children to school, 
 unless they are able to prove that they give 
 them a competent education at home. They 
 are bound to send their children to school 
 from the age of five years. By the law of 
 1819 this obligation is rigidly enforced, and 
 yet it is not esteemed tyrannical, but the 
 school is generally regarded as a privilege. 
 All masters and manufacturers who employ 
 children as servants or apprentices, says the 
 law, shall be required to give them a suitable 
 education from their seventh to their four- 
 teenth year inclusive. No child can be re- 
 moved from school till the inspectors exam- 
 ine whether he has gone through the whole 
 elementary course. A rigid census is taken 
 of children, and in case of any negligence of 
 parents or guardians, in regard to their reg- 
 ular attendance at school, the magistrate is 
 2
 
 14 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 called in, to enforce the law. But consider- 
 able facilities are aflforded to the observance 
 of this law — for the time employed upon 
 lessons is so arranged as to leave children 
 several hours daily for work at home. Care 
 is every where taken to furnish necessitous 
 parents with the means of sending their 
 children to school by providing them with 
 clothing, books, &c. To these facilities are 
 added the benevolent and enlightened per- 
 suasions of the school committee, who re- 
 present to the parents the exceeding value of 
 a good elementary education, and spread 
 among the young a thirst for knowledge, 
 which they can only obtain by means of 
 the legal provision, which offers it to them. 
 Every parish is bound to have an elemen- 
 tary school. The schools are supported in 
 part by endowments variously derived, by a 
 tax upon property, and by contributions of 
 parents who are able to pay for education; 
 The financial provisions, are procured in 
 these ways, according to local circumstances. 
 It may happen that one village will be too 
 poor to defray the expense of a school; in
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 15 
 
 that case the combination of several, includ- 
 ing insulated farm-houses, is allowed in 
 order to form a school. 
 
 The number of children in one school 
 must not be too great. One master cannot 
 take more than a hundred. Difference of re- 
 ligion does not prevent children from attend- 
 ing school together, unless the populousness 
 of the place conveniently separates them 
 into schools of distinctive denominations. 
 
 In relation to the maintenance of the 
 schools, the law thus defines the provision: 
 
 1. A suitable income for schoolmasters 
 and school mistresses, and a small annuity 
 for them when past service. 
 
 2. A building for the purposes of teaching 
 and exercise, properly laid out, kept in 
 repair, and warmed. 
 
 3. Furniture, books, pictures, instruments, 
 and all things necessary for the lessons and 
 exercises. 
 
 4. Pecuniary assistance for necessitous 
 scholars. 
 
 Some mention has been made of the sour- 
 ces by which the expense of the schools is
 
 16 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 defrayed. A small but certain recompense is 
 afforded to the teacher while labouring, and 
 when superannuated, and some assistance is 
 afforded by the public bounty for the widow 
 and orphans of this most respectable and 
 honoured labourer for the public good. 
 
 The conditions which are essential in a 
 school house are a healthy situation, rooms 
 of sufficient size, w^ell ventilated, and kept 
 with the greatest neatness. Every school in 
 a village, or small town, has a garden, and 
 this garden is made available to the scholars 
 for instruction in botany, and horticulture. 
 A gravelled court must he laid out in front 
 or rear of the school for exercises. 
 
 There shall be, according to the degree of 
 every school, a collection of maps and geo- 
 graphical instruments; models for drawing 
 and writing; instruments and collections for 
 s udying mathematics and natural history. 
 Similar articles for the inferior schools, 
 must be regulated in quantity and quality 
 by the possible means of procuring them. 
 
 All landholders, tenants and household- 
 ers, contribute, in proportion to their pro-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 17 
 
 perty, to the support of the schools. The 
 scholars, according to their means, or the 
 funds of the school, which may be greater 
 or less, pay school fees. No schoolmaster 
 collects the fees, but this must be done by 
 the committee. Children are permitted to 
 contribute a fund for the education of others 
 too poor to pay their portion of the charge. 
 There are some schools in large places en- 
 tirely free to the poor. 
 
 No schoolmaster can be allowed to in- 
 crease his income by occupations unsuit- 
 able to the dignity of his office, or deroga- 
 tory to morality in the highest sense, or 
 likely to divert his attention from his 
 studies. He may be a clerk or organist in 
 a church, and may receive the income of 
 the place, provided the service of the school 
 be not interrupted by such employment. 
 No master or mistress shall engage in any 
 other occupation without special permission, 
 and that is never granted, except perfectly 
 consistent with the peculiar decorum of the 
 teacher's station. 
 
 The committees are legally responsible 
 2*
 
 18 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 for all expenses of the schools, and manage- 
 ment of funds. 
 
 The province of primary, middle, and 
 high schools, together with the universities, 
 is recognised to be nearly the same in Prus- 
 sia as we regard it, except that the Prussian 
 system aims at higher objects than the com- 
 mon education of this country, and employs 
 more definite means for the peculiar ends of 
 instruction. 
 
 "The first vocation of every school," 
 says the law of 1819, " is, to train up the 
 young in such a manner as to implant in 
 their minds a knowledge of the relation of 
 man to God, and at the same time to excite 
 both the will and the strength to govern 
 their lives after the spirit and precepts of 
 Christianity. Schools must early train chil- 
 dren to piety, and therefore must strive to 
 second and complete the early instruc- 
 tions of parents. In every school, there- 
 fore, the occupations of the day shall begin 
 and end with a short prayer and some pious 
 reflections, which the master must contrive 
 to render so varied and impressive, that a
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 19 
 
 moral exercise shall never degenerate into 
 an affair of habit. All the solemnities of the 
 schools shall be interspersed with songs of 
 a religious character. 
 
 " Care shall be taken to inculcate on youth 
 the duty of obedience to the laws, fidelity 
 and attachment to the sovereign and state, 
 in order that these virtues may combine to 
 produce in them the sacred love of coun- 
 try. 
 
 " The paternal attachment of the masters, 
 their affectionate kindness towards all their 
 pupils, are the most powerful means of 
 preserving them from immoral influences, 
 and of inclining them to virtue. 
 
 " No kind of punishment which has a 
 tendency to weaken the sentiment of honour 
 shall in any case be inflicted. Corporal 
 punishments, in case they be necessary, 
 shall be devoid of cruelty, and in no case 
 injurious either to modesty or health.'^ 
 
 Some further regulations of these schools, 
 and the detail of their course of instruction 
 is taken entire, as follows, from Cousin's re* 
 port: —
 
 20 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 " Incorrigible scholars, or those whose 
 example or influence may be pernicious to 
 their schoolfellows, after all the resources 
 of paternal authority, joined to that of the 
 masters, shall have been exhausted, shall be 
 expelled in compliance with the judgment 
 of the school committees. 
 
 " By making the pupils themselves, as 
 they advance in age, assist in maintaining 
 order in the school, they will be accustomed 
 to feel themselves useful and active mem- 
 bers of society. 
 
 " Primary instruction shall have for its 
 aim to develope the faculties of the soul, 
 the reason, the senses, and the bodily 
 strength. It shall comprehend religion and 
 morals, the knowledge of size and numbers, 
 of nature and man; corporeal exercises, 
 singing, and, lastly, imitation of form by 
 drawing and writing. 
 
 " In every school for girls, without ex- 
 ception, the works peculiar to their sex 
 shall be taught. 
 
 " Gymnastics shall be considered as a ne- 
 cessary part of a complete system of edu-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 21 
 
 cation, and shall be taught by simple rules 
 favourable to the promotion of the health 
 and bodily strength of children. 
 
 ** Every complete elementary school ne- 
 cessarily comprehends the following ob- 
 jects: — 
 
 " 1. Religious instruction, as a means of 
 forming the moral character of children ac- 
 cording to the positive truths of Christi- 
 anity. 
 
 "2. The German language, and in pro- 
 vinces where a foreign language is spoken, 
 the language of the country, in addition to 
 the German. 
 
 " 3. The elements of geometry, together 
 v^^ith the general principles of drawing. 
 
 '^4. Calculation and practical arithme- 
 tic. 
 
 <' 5. The elements of physics, geogra- 
 phy, general history, and especially the his- 
 tory of Prussia. 
 
 ^' Care must be taken to introduce and 
 combine these branches of knowledge with 
 the reading, and writing lessons, as much 
 as possible, independently of the instruction
 
 22 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 which shall be given upon those subjects 
 specially. 
 
 '' 6. Singing; with a view to improve 
 the voices of the children, to elevate their 
 hearts and minds, to perfect and ennoble 
 the popular songs and church music or 
 psalmody. 
 
 " 7. Writing and gymnastic exercises, 
 which fortify all the senses, and especially 
 that of sight. 
 
 "8. The simplest manual labours, and 
 some instructions in husbandry, according to 
 the agriculture of the respective parts of 
 the country. 
 
 "The instructions in religion, reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, and singing are strictly 
 indispensable in every school. No school 
 shall be considered as a complete elemen- 
 tary school, unless it fulfil the whole 
 scheme of instruction just marked out. 
 
 " Every burgher school shall afford in- 
 struction on the following heads: — 
 
 " 1. Religion and morals. 
 
 " 2. The German language, and at the 
 same time, the language of the country in
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 23 
 
 the provinces not German; reading, compo- 
 sition, exercises in style, study of the 
 national classics. In all the German part of 
 the country, the modern foreign languages 
 are an accessory branch of study. 
 
 " 3. Latin is taught to all the children, 
 within certain limits, as a means of exer- 
 cising their faculties and their judgment, 
 whether they be or be not to enter the 
 higher schools. 
 
 "4. The elements of mathematics, and 
 especially a thorough course of practical 
 arithmetic. 
 
 " 5. Physical science, as far as is sufficient 
 to explain the most remarkable phenomena 
 of nature. 
 
 " 6. Geography and history combined, 
 in order to give some knowledge of the 
 earth, of the general history of the world, 
 of the people who inhabit it, and the em- 
 pires into which it is divided. Prussia, its 
 history, laws, and constitution, shall form 
 the subject of a special study. 
 
 '' 7. The principles of drawing shall be
 
 24 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 taught to all, concurrently with the lessons 
 in physics, natural history, and geometry. 
 
 " 8. Writing must be carefully attended 
 to, and the hand trained to write distinctly 
 and neatly. 
 
 " 9. The singing lessons shall be attend- 
 ed by all the pupils, not only with a view 
 to form them to that art, but to qualify 
 them to assist in the services of the church 
 with propriety and solemnity, by singing 
 the psalms or choral music with correctness 
 and judgment. 
 
 ^MO. Gymnastic exercises, adapted to 
 the age and strength of the scholars. 
 
 " Masters must take pains to know the 
 particular character and qualtities of each 
 pupil, and must give the greatest possible 
 attention to the periodical examinations. 
 
 " Every scholar of an elementary school 
 shall, when he leaves it, receive a certificate 
 as to his capacity, and his moral and religions 
 disposition, signed by the masters and the 
 school committee. These certificates shall 
 always be presented to master-manufacturers
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 25 
 
 or artisans on being bound apprentice, or to 
 housekeepers on entering service. 
 
 " The certificates shall not be given to the 
 scholars till the moment of their finally 
 quitting school; and in both the burgher 
 schools and the gymnasia, this shall always 
 give OTCcasion to a great solemnity. 
 
 " In order to impose no shackles on the 
 constant onward course of improvement, no 
 special books shall be prescribed for the dif- 
 ferent branches of instruction in the primary 
 schools. They shall be free to adopt the 
 best books as they appear. 
 
 "For religious instruction, which, in pro- 
 testant schools, is founded mainly on the 
 Holy Scriptures, the Bible and the cate- 
 chism generally adopted shall be used. The 
 New Testament shall be given to children 
 who can read. The more advanced scholars 
 shall have the whole Bible in Luther's 
 translation. This book shall also be used 
 for the religious instruction in all the class- 
 es of the gymnasia, to which shall be added 
 the New Testament in Greek. 
 
 " The lesson-books shall be carefully se- 
 3
 
 26 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 lected by the school-committees, with the 
 concurrence of the higher authorities, with- 
 out whose approbation no book can be ad- 
 mitted. It is commended to teachers to ex- 
 amine elementary works, and their opinion 
 is regarded in the choice of such books. 
 
 " If there is a deficiency of elementary 
 books in any branch of learning, the minis- 
 ter shall see that proper ones be written or 
 compiled. 
 
 " The masters of the public schools must 
 choose the methods best adapted to the natu- 
 ral growth and improvement of the human 
 mind; the methods which gradually and 
 constantly enlarge the understandings of the 
 children, and not such as instil merely me- 
 chanical knowledge. 
 
 " It will be the duty of the school com- 
 mittees to inspect the methods adopted by 
 ^he masters, and to aid them with their ad- 
 vice; they are never to tolerate a bad 
 method; and they shall refer the matter to 
 a higher authority if their advice is disre- 
 garded. 
 
 " Parents or guardians have a right to in
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 27 
 
 quire into the system of education pursued 
 in the school, and into the progress made 
 by their children. In order, however, to 
 avoid continual applications of this sort, 
 measures shall be taken for giving a public 
 report of the state of the school from time 
 to time. 
 
 " Parents may address any complaints to 
 the higher authorities charged with the su- 
 perintendence of schools, and these com- 
 plaints must be examined into with the 
 greatest care. 
 
 " On the other hand, those who intrust 
 their children to a public school are bound 
 not to oppose any obstacle to their conform- 
 ing exactly to the rules established in the 
 school. They are bound, on the contrary, 
 to second the views of the masters, to ful- 
 fil all their obligations towards them, and to 
 furnish the children with every thing neces- 
 sary for their studies. 
 
 " It is essential to the general order that 
 every pupil in every public school should 
 be obliged to go through the whole course 
 of fundamental instruction of the degree
 
 28 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 or stage to which that school belongs; and 
 parents shall not be allowed to withhold 
 a pupil at pleasure from any branch of in- 
 struction. Dispensations from any branch 
 must be asked of the higher authorities, 
 who will judge of the validity of the rea- 
 sons. 
 
 *^ Every public school, in as much as it is 
 a national institution, ought to afford the 
 greatest publicity possible. Consequently, 
 in every boy's school, besides the private 
 examinations on passing from one class to 
 another, there must be public examinations 
 calculated to show the nature and the ex- 
 cellence of the studies. 
 
 " Besides this, the director, (or chairman) 
 of the committee, or one of the masters, 
 shall give an account of the state and pro- 
 gress of the school in a written report. 
 Lastly, from time to time, a general report 
 on the state of education in each province 
 shall be published. 
 
 " Every establishment shall be at liberty 
 to choose the days on which to give the 
 public the means of knowing the state of
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 29 
 
 the school, by speeches or other exercises. 
 But the anniversaries of the most remarka- 
 ble days in the national history are to be 
 selected in preference. 
 
 " As girls are destined by nature for a 
 quiet and retired life, these exercises or 
 trials are never to be public in their schools. 
 The examination shall take place only in 
 the presence of the masters and parents. 
 
 *< But if, on the one hand, is is incumbent 
 on those charged with the conduct of the 
 public schools to strive to accomplish the 
 duties the state imposes on them for the 
 training of citizens, they, on their part, 
 have a right to expect that every one should 
 pay the respect and gratitude to which they 
 are entitled as labourers in the sacred work 
 of education. Masters and mistresses ought, 
 therefore, to be the objects of the general 
 esteem due to their laborious and honour- 
 able function. 
 
 "Institutions for the public instruction 
 have a right to claim from all, even those 
 who do not send their children to them, as- 
 sistance and support wherever or whenever 
 3*
 
 30 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 needed. All public authorities are required 
 to protect the public -school, each in his 
 sphere of action, and to lend their aid to 
 schoolmasters in the exercise of their func- 
 tions, as to any other servants of the state. 
 
 «* In all the parishes of the kingdom, with- 
 out exception, the clergymen of every 
 Christian communion shall seize every oc- 
 casion, whether at church, or during their 
 visits to schools, or in their sermons at the 
 opening of classes, of reminding the schools 
 of their high and holy missio-n, and the 
 people of their duties towards the schools. 
 The authorities, the clergy, and the masters 
 shall unite their efforts to strengthen the 
 ties of respect and attachment between the 
 people and the school; so that the people 
 may accustom themselves, more and more, 
 to regard educj?.tion as one of the essential 
 conditions of public life, and may daily take 
 a deeper interest in its progress." 
 
 " The best plans of instruction cannot be 
 executed except by the instrumentality of 
 good teachers; and the state has done no- 
 thing for popular education, if it does not
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 31 
 
 watch that those who devote themselves to 
 teaching be weir prepared; then suitably- 
 placed, encouraged, and guided in the duty 
 of continued self-improvement; and, lastly, 
 promoted and rewarded in proportion to 
 their advancement, or punished according 
 to their faults. 
 
 " A schoolmaster, to be worthy of his 
 vocation, should be pious, discreet, and 
 deeply impressed with the dignity and 
 sacredness of his calling. He should be 
 thoroughly acquainted with the duties pecu- 
 liar to the grade of primary instruction in 
 which he desires to be employed ; he should 
 possess the art of communicating knowl- 
 edge, with that of moulding the minds of 
 children; conscientious in the duties of his 
 office, friendly and judicious in his inter- 
 course with the parents of his pupils, and 
 with his fellow-citizens in general; finally, 
 he should strive to inspire them with a 
 lively interest in the school, and secure to it 
 their favour and support.'^ 
 
 Such is the character, which the laws and 
 public opinion in Prussia demand in a teach-
 
 32 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 er of children and youth — a just under- 
 standing, well cultivated; an upright and 
 benevolent heart, disciplined by » wise 
 judgment; amiable and prepossessing man- 
 ners; generous and enlarged sympathies; 
 and a power oi intellect and a warmth of 
 feeling which act upon other minds, and 
 cause to be comprehended and valued by 
 others, the truth he honours, and the cause 
 he serves. Let us review for a brief space 
 the circumstances which have led to this es- 
 timation of the teacher and his office. 
 
 Our attention has been turned in the pre- 
 ceding pages chiefly to the government of 
 the Prussian schools; their connection with 
 the state; and the course of instruction pur- 
 sued in them. No such government could 
 have any power, nor could any such course 
 of instruction be more than a dead letter, if 
 the human instruments destined to carry the 
 whole into efiect did not thoroughly com- 
 prehend, and heartily concur in the design of 
 the institution. If the school inspectors 
 should not be enlightened and benevolent 
 men, vigilant in the execution of a trust
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 33 
 
 which they perfectly understood, they could 
 not dh-ect the teacher in his duty, nor pro- 
 tect, encourage, and suitably reward him in 
 the performance of it. If a system of edu- 
 cation in this country should embrace the 
 same scope and design, it would require for 
 its application a superintendence as active, 
 intelligent, and truly interested for the com- 
 mon welfare, as the Prussian system presup- 
 poses. And that enlightened superintend- 
 ency could effect nothing without the entire 
 cooperation of teachers perfectly capable of 
 appreciating the value, and the means of 
 the school system in question. The Prus- 
 sian law assumes this fact. No other pro- 
 fession or calling in life, is allowed to be 
 taken up among us without some prepara- 
 tion. When the laws do not forbid it, con- 
 ventional usage slowly admits an uninstruct- 
 ed person to the exercise of a new function. 
 The trust in his sufficiency, which must 
 fall in with every man's exertions in any 
 new path, in order to give power to them, 
 is not readily accorded to an unpractised 
 person. It is to be wished that the same
 
 34 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 restraint of opinion were applied to profes- 
 sional teaching. 
 
 Institutions for the training of school- 
 masters have been long esteemed in Ger- 
 many to be yery essential to the exercise of 
 that function. Schools for the education of 
 schoolmasters may be traced, according to 
 Cousin, to the beginning of the last century. 
 About 1730, education and the educator be- 
 came objects of general interest in that 
 country. Lectures on School Method then 
 began to be delivered regularly and exten- 
 sively in the country, and special seminaries 
 for the benefit of those destined for teach- 
 ers in the classical or learned schools, grad- 
 ually became attached to all the principal 
 universities. Before the Prussian law had 
 established the present schools, a meritori- 
 ous individual, named Hecker, founded at 
 Berlin, in 174S, a nursery of popular in- 
 structors, of which institution, Frederic the 
 Great, an earnest promoter of this vital in- 
 terest of humanity, became a patron, and 
 enjoined by royal ordinance, that the country 
 schools should be supplied with teachers
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 35 
 
 irom it. Another private establishment 
 became soon after a model-school for the 
 formation of teachers. The founder, who 
 wrought, during many years, for a reform 
 and enlargement of popular education, by 
 name Von Rochou, multiplied these schools 
 on his own estate. Their uses were fully 
 proved, and, in 1806, fourteen seminaries for 
 instruction of teachers, existed in Prussia 
 — in 1833 they were nearly quadrupled. 
 
 In Cousin's report, the schools for the in- 
 struction of teachers are called Normal 
 schools. This is the French name for them. 
 The course of study in these schools lasts 
 three years. The probable wants of eve- 
 ry district in the department is ascertain- 
 ed, and a certain per cent, of new teachers 
 is presumed to be the annual demand for 
 them; and the normal schools take so many 
 pupils and no more than can find employ- 
 ment in the country. The same normal 
 school trains masters for the lower and high- 
 er schools. Ability and knowledge suited to 
 the latter being based upon the elementary 
 principles illustrated in the former, youths.
 
 36 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 who exhibit a decided talent and natural 
 aptitude for teaching only, are admitted to 
 the normal schools, and they enter them 
 from sixteen to eighteen years of age. 
 
 The pupils of the normal schools are ex- 
 pected to acquire competent knowledge of 
 all that is required to be taught in the com- 
 mon schools; and to add to that species of 
 information, just, enlarged, and practical no- 
 tions on the art of teaching. The principal 
 aim of the normal schools is to form men, 
 sound both in body and mind, and to im- 
 bue the pupils with the sentiment of religion, 
 and with that zeal and love for the duties of 
 their station which is truly allied to religion; 
 which aims, by patient continuance in a 
 right course of exertion, to promote the 
 welfare of man in obedience to the law of 
 God. The course of instruction received 
 by the pupils of the normal schools is, of 
 course, the same which they are expected in 
 due time to impart; and during the last year 
 the pupils of those schools are practised in 
 a school of experiment which is attached to 
 the normal school.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 37 
 
 The instruction of these schools is aflford- 
 ed at a low price, and the expense of 
 them is chiefly defrayed by government. 
 Preparation for the vocation of a teacher is 
 not limited to the normal schools, though 
 they afford the approved labourers in this 
 good work; and the standard of fitness which 
 is set up in them, is applied by law to all 
 other preparations for the duty of teaching. 
 No normal school admits more than sixty or 
 seventy pupils. They are divided mto 
 larger and smaller schools, and also into 
 Protestant and Catholic. Clergymen, or 
 skilful schoolmasters may train masters for 
 town or village schools, but the masters so 
 trained come before the authorities which 
 give license to the pupils of normal schools. 
 Females are subject to a legal preparation 
 ' for the tuition of their own sex. Any man 
 of mature age, of irreproachable morals, 
 and sincere piety, who understands the 
 duties he designs to fulfil, and gives satis- 
 factory proof of his capability, is permitted 
 to exercise the office of a teacher, and may 
 4
 
 38 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 find employment in the public school, or 
 establish a private seminary. 
 
 The election and nomination of school- 
 masters resides in the committee, and in the 
 inspector of schools conjointly. They 
 generally look to the normal schools for 
 teachers, and never accept one unless he is 
 recommended according to law. The ap- 
 pointment is ratified by the provincial board, 
 and sometimes by the ministerial authori- 
 ties. Teachers are solemnly installed in 
 their office, and it is held by those thus ap- 
 pointed in the same place, according to the 
 mutual satisfaction of both parties. The 
 teacher is sometimes preferred to a more 
 lucrative place when experience of his 
 services proves him to be deserving of pro- 
 motion. 
 
 Incompetent teachers are sometimes re- 
 turned to the normal, school for additional 
 preparation, and are again restored to their 
 occupation, but no inefficient teaching and 
 discipline are overlooked, or permitted in 
 the schools. It is expected and desired that
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 39 
 
 the masters of schools will be constantly 
 improving their own minds. Their office 
 is to store the minds and sharpen the intel- 
 lect of their pupils, to reason with them, 
 and cultivate their moral sentiments — a 
 stupid good man can do no such thing, but 
 one with his faculties all alive, and furnish- 
 ed with a multitude of ideas, alone is fit for 
 this service. 
 
 The directors of schools are expected to 
 be the guides and friends of the teachers. 
 " They shall especially attend to the young 
 masters," says the Prussian law, "give them 
 advice, set them right, and excite them to 
 aim at perfection, by attending to the plans 
 of more experienced masters, by frequent- 
 ing their society, by forming school con- 
 ferences, or other meetings of schoolmasters, 
 and by studying the best works on educa- 
 tion." 
 
 The provincial consistory, that is, the 
 school board or council, are required "ur- 
 gently to address themselves to the inspec- 
 tors of schools to promote associations of 
 teachers in town and country, for the pur-
 
 40 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 pose of keeping alive a sense of the digni- 
 ty and sanctity of their vocation, of con- 
 tinuing their own improvement by regular 
 meetings, by consultations, conversations, 
 practical essays, dissertations on particular 
 branches of tuition, and by reading to- 
 gether." 
 
 The provincial consistory may at their 
 pleasure recall masters highly susceptible of 
 improvement from their school, and place 
 them in some educational establishment, 
 there to go through a more complete course 
 of tuition both in theory and practice; and 
 particularly that they make themselves ac- 
 quainted with the latest improvements in 
 -the art of teaching; and also that they may 
 effect a stricter union among themselves, 
 and establish a beneficial interchange of 
 learning, experience, and opinions. 
 
 " The most eminent masters, those who 
 are to become directors of normal schools, 
 shall, with consent, and by suggestion of 
 government, be enabled from the public 
 funds to seek by travels, both in Prussia, and 
 in other countries, more exact and extended
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 41 
 
 information on the organisation of schools, 
 and their wants internal and external." 
 
 Clergymen in Prussia are required to 
 study both the theory and practice of edu- 
 cation, and become acquainted with the or- 
 ganisation of the public schools, and the 
 subjects there taught. At the time of the 
 examination for the office of a pastor, par- 
 ticular attention is paid to the knowledge 
 which the candidate possesses on the sub- 
 jects of education and teaching; and none 
 are admitted to orders who do not give 
 proof of the knowledge necessary for the 
 right management and superintendence of 
 schools. This is required in order to pre- 
 serve the bond between the church and 
 the school, so that the duty of the clergy- 
 man in the school shall be performed with 
 dignity, gentleness, and love; that the clergy 
 may honour the respectable profession of 
 teacher, in the person of all its members; 
 that they may endeavour to secure to them 
 in their parishes the consideration which is 
 their due; and always support them with 
 vigour and firmness. 
 
 4*
 
 48 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 « Public schools are the basis of popular 
 instruction in Prussia. The government of 
 that country takes good care not to leave to 
 chance or private speculation the noble task 
 of the training of youth, nor does primary 
 instruction depend at all upon private 
 schools." But, notwithstanding the para- 
 mount importance conceded to the public 
 institution, private establishments are per- 
 mitted, though not without license, and 
 liability to an inspection of the local school 
 commission, which may inform the higher 
 authority of any great defect or breach of 
 regularity in such schools, and they may be 
 suppressed when it is clear that they are not 
 in accordance with the general system. The 
 particular plan of tuition, the choice of 
 books, of methods, and discipline are left 
 entirely with the proprietors of the schools, 
 and they are in fact benefited by the super- 
 intendence they are under, being commend- 
 ed and encouraged by those who regard the 
 welfare and virtue of all persons, without 
 exclusion of any useful enterprise, or private 
 service to society.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 43 
 
 Thus Cousin's division of his subject has 
 been followed, through the rules of the 
 Prussian system, the most prominent of 
 which have been indicated; and it is hoped 
 that their wisdom commends them so far 
 to those who are now just introduced to the 
 knowledge of this system, that they will 
 possess themselves of the excellent docu- 
 ment which is a full exposition of it, and 
 satisfy themselves of the great capability 
 of public instruction to exalt a nation, and 
 to make any people under its best and com- 
 pletest influences, " holy, happy, rich" — 
 rich, it is meant, according to the best sense 
 — rich towards God — rich in good works 
 — rich in an inheritance that fadeth not 
 away. 
 
 The facts which illustrate the present ap- 
 plications of the Prussian system remain to 
 be stated. "According to the latest census, 
 the population of Prussia is 12,726,823. 
 Out of this population it is computed that 
 the children from seven * to fourteen, in at- 
 
 * The statute makes ^ce years the legal period to 
 commence school attendance — but usage does not en- 
 force the law till the age of seven.
 
 44 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 tendance at these schools, is 2,043,030,being 
 thirteen fifteenths of all the children of the 
 age mentioned. 
 
 The number of elementary schools in 
 1833 was 22,612, of the monarchy, and 
 these employed 27,749 masters and mis- 
 tresses. " We may be certain'' says Cousin, 
 '' that there does not exist a single human 
 being throughout that monarchy who does 
 not receive an education sufficient for his 
 moral and intellectual wants so far as school 
 education is sufficient. This result, glori- 
 ous and admirable as it is, is an incontesta- 
 ble fact." This was written with the school 
 reports before his eyes. A respectable 
 Prussian gentleman * now in this country, 
 told the writer that such was rather the aim 
 and tendency of the Prussian system of 
 education than its positive result. Cousin 
 himself states that some of the provinces 
 are more advanced than others, and that 
 " Berlin shares the fate of all great cities, 
 where a thoroughly exact control is peculi- 
 
 * Dr. Julius.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 45 
 
 arly dilSicult, and where the law cannot 
 be rigidly enforced." But in Saxony and 
 Brandenburg, " the taste for instruction is 
 so generally diffused that parents anticipate 
 the age fixed by law for sending their chil- 
 dren to school;" therefore in those highly 
 civilised provinces, the compulsory law of 
 school-obligation is no compulsion at all, 
 but is regarded as a general blessing, as edu- 
 cation is in this country with some excep- 
 tions that might easily be overruled. There 
 is a sufficient number of normal schools in 
 the kingdom to supply almost all the mas- 
 ters of the public schools, elementary and in- 
 termediate, so that there is no remote place, 
 nor any prejudice, nor mercenary exclu- 
 sion, nor local poverty, nor deficiency of 
 superintendence, nor lack of labourers, that 
 can leave human beings to grow up in heath- 
 enism and sin,unpitied and untaught- — with- 
 out care of the state, or beyond reach of the 
 ennobling and renewing influences of ra- 
 tional and Christian education. 
 
 The present occasion does not, perhaps, 
 permit a more ample representation of the
 
 46 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 rules and facts, which illustrate the Prussian 
 system of education. It only remains to 
 consider its spirit, and its possible applica- 
 tion to the American people. For its 
 spirit, what can be more worthy of a pa- 
 ternal government, what more salutary for 
 the formation of national character, what 
 more preventive of the deterioration and 
 corruption to which uninstructed and unre- 
 generate man tends? — M. Cousin truly says, 
 ' the whole fabric rests on the firm basis of 
 Christian love.^^ The principles which en- 
 ter into the institution are strictly in accord 
 with the universality and beneficence of 
 Christianity, and the system has the beauti- 
 ful character of truth stamped upon it. — It 
 is an experiment not a speculation — it is 
 education " actually given and actually re- 
 ceived.'' And then how admirable are its 
 extensiveness and thoroughness. — It is not 
 the manna of the seventh day, the pro- 
 vision of emergency, but the bread of 
 every day — it is not generosity, it is justice 
 — it is not a gift, but the payment of a debt 
 — -it is not a charity that celebrates the giver,
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 47 
 
 but an obligation of the parent state, to 
 the dependent child, and blesses alike him 
 that gives and him that takes it. It makes 
 law a magnificent benefactor to all that are 
 the organs and the receivers of this great 
 bounty, and unalienable blessing, and ex- 
 cludes from despotism itself every trait of 
 severity and unreasonableness, of favour 
 and preference, of neglected mercy, or self- 
 ish domination. 
 
 But if these schools only taught letters 
 and sciences, if they formed no moral prin- 
 ciples and habits; if they took no cogni- 
 sance of the laws of duty; none of the de- 
 fenceless state of a mind uninformed of the 
 evil that is in the world; if they never 
 turned the attention of the young to the 
 Providence of God, and his divine attri- 
 butes; if they never connected the present 
 life to the eternal; if they afforded no ex- 
 positions of morality; if they presented it 
 only in negations; if they referred it exclu- 
 sively to the Sunday, the minister, the 
 church, the casual Sunday-school, and the 
 self-culture of ripe age — to whatmere world-
 
 48 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION ' 
 
 liness and technicality, to what selfishness 
 and implied materialism, to what small ef- 
 fects and low purposes, would they be em- 
 ployed, and how much would they leave 
 undone, which their broad policy, and tried 
 efforts actually accomplish ! 
 
 It has been shown that in the German 
 schools great liberty is allowed in the use of 
 the instruments of instruction. Masters are 
 invited to progress and improvement, and 
 to the examination of new elementary 
 works, and though they cannot adopt new 
 works without concurrence of the school- 
 commission that is " free to adopt the best 
 books as they appear;" and the lesson-books 
 are carefully selected by the committee, and 
 referred, previous to the adoption of them, 
 to higher authorities — but cheapness, or 
 any inferior consideration, does not hinder 
 these several authorities in their preference 
 of what is absolutely best, for it is their 
 principle to " choose the methods best 
 adapted to the growth of the human mind; 
 the methods which generally and constantly 
 enlarge the understanding, of the children,
 
 IN PKUSSIA. 49 
 
 and not such as instil merely mechanical 
 knowledge." Under the influence of such 
 principles, the teachers seek for the best 
 books, they look confidently to the assistance 
 of the committee for procuring them, and the 
 latter may calculate upon the judgment 
 of the higher commission for approbation of 
 their judgment. In this sense, co-operation is 
 power; the judgment of all parties concerned 
 is mutually helpful in procuring the best in- 
 struments of instruction. Concurrence of 
 this sort is much wanted in this country, 
 for the regulation of school books, and is 
 particularly desirable to intelligent persons 
 employed in the preparation of juvenile 
 books. At present the most philosophical 
 mind can engage in such works, with small 
 hope of success; the interests of booksel- 
 lers, and of old copy-rights are formidable 
 impediments to the dissemination of improv- 
 ed school books. School books are account- 
 ed of immense value in Germany, and the 
 German school books are essentially differ- 
 ent from ours. Mr. Bulwer, addressing 
 himself to Dr. Chalmers, says, "While 
 5
 
 50 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 we [the English] have so many schools or- 
 ganised, and so little is taught in them, just 
 let me lead your attention to the four com- 
 mon class books, used in all the popular 
 schools of Saxe Weimar;" and then he de- 
 scribes the books which are so infinitely 
 more instructive than our multifarious 
 books of extracts. Adaptation — Connection 
 — Progress, are the principles upon which 
 they are formed. Morality and religion, 
 not sectarian in the least, but the truths 
 acknowledged in all religions, the laws of 
 the external world, and of the human con- 
 stitution, enter into their plan. The cul- 
 ture of all the faculties, the conscience, , 
 affections, reason, and imagination, is at- 
 tempted in a certain measure, that is, the 
 measure of probable and possible develope- 
 ment; and they are perfectly intelligible to 
 young minds of ordinary power. Such 
 books are an invaluable help to a rational 
 and faithful teacher. Of the German books, 
 Mr. B. says, " such is the foundation 
 of the lofty, united, and intellectual spirit 
 which distinguishes the subjects of Saxe
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 51 
 
 Weimar," and, we might add, not of Saxe 
 Weimar alone, but of every community 
 put under the influence of this peculiar 
 mode of culture. 
 
 Can the Prussian mode of education be 
 applied to this country? It is difficult to 
 give answer to this question. It has been 
 adopted in France, by recommendation of 
 Cousin, a man whose name stands first as a 
 benefactor of nations in this age, but not 
 without national modification; and Cousin 
 believed that after ten years of experiment it 
 would require new adaptations to the French 
 people. We may not be able to adopt its 
 whole economy, it may not be desirable to 
 us. At any rate, as teachers of the young, we, 
 who are here assembled, can only follow its 
 suggestions, for it requires the word of legisla- 
 tion to order its operation, and it requires the 
 public suffrage to receive it. In Germany, 
 Francke and Von Rochou showed the im- 
 portance and practicableness of improved 
 schools by forming schools for teachers at 
 their own expense; A very able writer, 
 Basedow, urged upon the public mind new
 
 52 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 methods, and constructed, also, at his own 
 expense, new school books, and illustrations 
 of the sciences; and a sovereign prince 
 aided their enterprises. And this for the 
 special advantage of a people ready for the 
 reception of the benefit, but which it has 
 taken nearly a century to impart fully to 
 them. We are, it is true, in a different 
 state already much advanced in the use of 
 science and letters, and feeling the import- 
 ance of them to our whole nation,and to 
 posterity; and, we are, severally, and sepa- 
 rately, as trustees of schools, or principals 
 of them, allowed much liberty in our func- 
 tion. We are, in a great measure, able to en- 
 large its uses, exalt its influence, and choose 
 its instruments. 
 
 Before education in this country can pro- 
 duce its best fruits it must be reformed. 
 This is not said to depreciate what is good, 
 but to increase that which is good, and cor- 
 rect whatever is imperfect in our practice. 
 In New England generally all the people 
 can read, but all over the country there is a 
 vast misapplication and deficiency of means
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 53 
 
 which might turn education to better ac- 
 count. In some parts of the country, out 
 of New England, multitudes are growing 
 up in total ignorance, and almost every 
 where, the common schools are far below 
 what they ought to be. No compulsory 
 law is necessary in any part of the United 
 States, for inducing the people to send child- 
 ren to good schools; but in all parts the 
 schools would derive much of their efficacy 
 from the inspection and regulation of an 
 enlightened and vigilant public authority. 
 When once the legal managers of schools 
 shall become acquainted with the means of 
 affording education of tlie best quality to the 
 people, and shall make it appear that they 
 endeavour to procure it for them, parents 
 will feel perfect confidence in the public in- 
 stitutions, and private ones will emulate 
 their excellence. In the present state of our 
 popular education those who can possibly 
 procure it, obtain other and casual instruc- 
 tion for their children, of necessity, much 
 inferior to that which the collective means 
 of any community, wisely and faithfully ap-
 
 54 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 propriated, might afford to all the children, 
 provided they were assorted in a natural 
 classification, and instructed according to 
 their different stages of progress, by judici- 
 ous persons, with suitable, varied, and pro- 
 gressive books in their power. At present 
 a large portion of the children, withdrawn 
 by pride or principle, from the popular 
 schools, receive a substituted instruction, of 
 which no enlightened cognisance is taken, 
 and they are at the mercy of speculators; 
 whilst those who must rely upon the public 
 institution often suffer from it; as the dises- 
 teem in which it is held serves to depreciate 
 it; and the numbers withdrawn, which 
 might countenance and illustrate a good 
 system, are so many supports removed. 
 
 Schoolmasters worthily educated, ade- 
 quately paid, and encouraged, and assisted 
 by intelligent and faithful supervisors, 
 would effect great improvements in society. 
 The qualifications and suitable education of 
 schoolmasters must depend upon what they 
 are expected to teach, and how they are re- 
 garded in society, as well as how they are
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 55 
 
 paid. It has been shown how much dignity 
 the German system attaches to the profession, 
 and how it is cherished and guarded. Ac- 
 knowledged want of good teachers, and pro- 
 per respect paid to their wants and their hap- 
 piness, will create a supply of them. It may 
 be objected, that such education as the pro- 
 jectors of improved systems demand for the 
 people, cannot be paid for. Every thing else 
 is paid for, according to its quality. All 
 functions of government and magistracy; 
 all military defences, and penal inflictions 
 are paid for. Some of these would cost 
 less, and some would fall into disuse, if 
 knowledge cost more. But if no more 
 should be paid, than is now paid for educa- 
 tion, if persons were thoroughly taught 
 how to teach, and what to teich, they would 
 teach well as cheaply as they now teach ill, 
 and they would be as well satisfied as they 
 now are. Of the useful and contented 
 teachers of the humblest cottagers of the 
 poorest villages in Germany, Mrs. Austin, 
 says—" if ever poverty appeared on earth, 
 serene, contented, lofty, beneficent, grace-
 
 56 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 ful, it is here. Here we see men, in the 
 very spring time of life, so far from being 
 made, as we are told that man must be made; 
 restless, and envious, and discontented by in- 
 struction, taking indigence and obscurity to 
 their hearts for life; raised above their poor 
 neighbours in education, only that they may 
 become the servants of all, and may train 
 the lowliest children in a sense of the dignity 
 of man, and the beauty of creation, in the 
 love of God, and of virtue.'^ Who will 
 say that the function of a teacher is not 
 a holy and a high vocation, and that he is 
 not a minister of God for good? 
 
 Who shall afford a standard to teachers, 
 and a method of attainment? Teachers 
 are not likely to do it. Each for the most 
 part practises under circumstances of too 
 much restraint and obscurity, to enable him 
 to set up any very superior methods or 
 means of teaching, or to give them wide 
 efficiency. Lyceum members, and those 
 who can address the public through the 
 press — Patrons and trustees of schools, 
 have a better opportunity to inform the pub-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 57 
 
 lie entensively on this subject, and by their 
 influence, to establish schools for teachers; to 
 patronise good works designed for the use 
 of the young; to expose all imposture and 
 unfaithfulness in teaching, and all lifeless 
 mechanism; in short, to strengthen the hands 
 and encourage the hearts of upright and en- 
 lightened teachers of both sexes, and to re- 
 ject and exclude all others; and thus to form 
 the coming age to a higher moral intelli- 
 gence, and superior character than this, our 
 day, assumes. 
 
 That part of the Prussian system of edu- 
 cation most imitable by us is the adoption of 
 rational school books. The teaching to 
 read arid the practice of the art of reading, 
 when acquired, is a great opportunity to in- 
 culcate useful truth. So persuaded are the 
 Germans that the sense of words, whenever 
 presented to children as the means of infor- 
 mation, should be perfectly clear to them, 
 that they do not give them a written copy 
 to imitate; which has not obvious and appli- 
 cable meaning, nor a book to read which 
 does not thoroughly explain itself; nor a
 
 58 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 lesson that is not appropriate to their 
 real circumstances, or their probable devel- 
 opement. They condescend to the young 
 mind, and yet are in advance of it. They 
 address curiosity and all the faculties at pro- 
 per times, and intersperse all narrative and 
 all reasoning with interrogations that exer- 
 cise the moral and rational judgment con- 
 tinually. 
 
 The books which can do this are not 
 fragments of men's books, cut up for the use 
 of children, they are not oratory detached 
 from history, poetry, from criticism, and 
 parts of sermons, or unprofitable fictions, 
 " These are,'' says a recent writer * in 
 high and deserved estimation, " indications 
 of a revolution in the system of education, 
 which will probably lead to great and bene- 
 ficial results," and he predicts that this 
 revolution will consist of the adoption of 
 what may be considered rational means, 
 among which he regards books as the chief, 
 
 # 
 
 * Jonathan Dymond. Essays on the principles of 
 Morality.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 59 
 
 "Children" says he, "will learn to read 
 well when the books are delighful," that is, 
 when they interest, excite, inform, and 
 satisfy the young reader. " We complain," 
 he proceeds, " of the aversion of the young 
 to learning, and the young complain of 
 their weariness and disgust. It is in a great 
 degree our own fault. Knowledge is ac- 
 ceptable to the human mind, but we may, 
 if we please, select such kinds of knowledge 
 and such modes of imparting it, as shall be, 
 not agreeable but repulsive." This truth is 
 more apparent than the revolution which 
 Mr. Dymond thought he foresaw ten years 
 ago. The practice, which disregards the 
 more needful and acceptable sort of instruc- 
 tion, and perseveres in preferring the less 
 attractive and valuable, is continued. We 
 have multitudes of new school books, it is 
 true and they supplant old ones, but in what 
 do the new differ from the old ones? They 
 are all "judicious selections" so called. But 
 in them the thing that hath been is ^jLp 
 thing that shall be, under another form, as 
 little edifying as ever. The more recent
 
 60 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 books, like their predecessors, are scraps of 
 extracts, almost wholly unfit for the young 
 of both sexes, and especially so to females. 
 Instead of principles and expositions, the 
 former drawn from facts, and the latter illus- 
 trated with skill and amplification, new 
 school books contain more moral essays, 
 more fugitive poetry, and more parliamen- 
 tary speeches. We have Channing in place 
 of Blair, Hemans rather than Pope, and 
 Webster in preference to Pitt; and nearly 
 the same quantity of warlike odes, and the 
 same laudation of misnamed heroes, and 
 martial enterprises, as those who take no 
 cognisance of the Christian law of love. 
 What better fruits can grow out of this 
 change of books.'' 
 
 The greatest men that ever lived have 
 been in favour of adapted and moral culture. 
 Socrates loved the young, and all his hope 
 of human improvement in the guilty age, 
 in which he lived, w^as from them, and by 
 m-eans of enlightening their eyes daily. 
 Milton, who, great as he was, " the lowli- 
 est duties on himself did lay," trusted only
 
 IN PRUSSIA, 61 
 
 to adapted instruction to penetrate the 
 young with all good influences. John 
 Locke, a philosopher as well known for his 
 excellent common sense as his deep think- 
 ing, earnestly counselled instructors of the 
 young to follow a natural method, and to 
 furnish the understanding according to its 
 wants and its relish. " What pleasure or 
 advantage," says, Mr. Locke, " can it be to 
 a child to exercise himself in reading those 
 parts of a book of which he understands 
 nothing." What boy understands Gray's 
 Elegy, or Hamlet's soliloquy, or Satan's 
 address to the Sun; or what does it profit a 
 girl to read Lochiel's warning, or Lord 
 Lyttleton's Dialogue between Locke and 
 Bayle? We might multiply authorities 
 against such practices, particularly Miss 
 Edge worth, and Dr. Spurzheim; but we 
 forbear, except to trespass a few minutes 
 longer on your patience. We will conclude 
 these suggestions by a short extract from 
 Dr. Spurzheim's work on Education. 
 
 There should be, says Spurzheim, schools 
 for infants, children, and youth, where posi- 
 6
 
 62 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 five notions of things, [accurate ideas] 
 their uses, and the means of self-improve* 
 rnent are communicated. I hope, he con- 
 tinues, that the time will come, when every 
 one will learn to read, write, and cipher, 
 in the same institution, and by the same 
 authority, where morality shall be shown in 
 action, and imposed as a duty, and where 
 mutual civility and refinement of manners 
 will be inculcated. I hope that places of 
 instruction will furnish abundance of ideas, 
 which the learner will learn the art of com- 
 municating to others, and that the knowl- 
 edge thus acquired will extend through 
 every stage of life, and every class of soci- 
 ety, and that this knowledge will be practi- 
 cal, from the most common notions of 
 household affairs and agriculture to the 
 deeper conceptions of art and the principles 
 of science. I hope also that the time will 
 come when nothing shall be taught in the 
 school merely for the school, but every 
 thing in reference to the uses of future life. 
 When religious sentiments will be cultivat- 
 ed in every one, not in words merely, but
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 63 
 
 in deeds; not in superstitious formalities, but 
 in harmony with reason and charity; and 
 that in the school the young will learn every 
 public and private virtue, and become quali- 
 fied to value, to enjoy, and maintain religious 
 and civil liberty, as well as to raise the stand- 
 ard of true wisdom, and augment the gene^ 
 ral amount of personal and domestic happi- 
 ness, in the world. These are rather the 
 suggestions, than the exact words, of Dr. 
 Spurzheim, but they express perfectly the 
 true ends of instruction, and they are hap" 
 py, who, hearing them, shall imbibe their 
 spirit and accomplish their ends.
 
 NORMAL SCHOOLS 
 
 PRUSSIA, 
 
 One of the most judicious, elegant, and 
 convincing articles, ever written on the sub- 
 ject of public instruction, is Mrs. Austin's 
 preface to the Report of Cousin. Her 
 mind perfectly apprehends the universal 
 features of this beautiful system. She sees 
 that of knowledge, all cannot provide for 
 all, and that the mind that feels the want, 
 cannot procure the supply. She knows 
 that the wise must have pity upon the igno- 
 rant, and them that are out of the way , and 
 that they must enlighten the blind, and 
 raise the low. She believes, also that nation- 
 al virtue is obtained and cherished by 
 general intelligence, that neither grow spon-
 
 66 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 taneously, but are a result of the care and 
 beneficence of the most enlightened and 
 disinterested spirits of a country. To such 
 minds all that she says is properly addressed. 
 She believes that such exist in the stations of 
 middle life, and she writes to just think- 
 ers, and to those who are perfectly sincere, 
 in morals, whoever they are, and wherever 
 they may be, and can exert any influence 
 to those truly desirous to dispel error and 
 enlarge the limits of truth and right reason, 
 to those who would extend and secure the 
 happiness of a people, who can alone become 
 zealous of good works through information 
 of immutable principles of right and wrong. 
 Mrs. Austin believes that in England a 
 great fault is committed in the offering of 
 selfish motives, of false ambition, to young 
 persons; we wish that we in America were 
 free from this error. The selfish principle 
 in human hearts is strong enough in itself, 
 without being commended and praised as a 
 salutary incentive to intellectual labour. 
 Truth, for its own sake, wisdom, because its 
 ways are pleasantness j benevolence, because
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 67 
 
 it gives and gains the greatest good; a feel- 
 ing of brotherly kindness and of public 
 spirit, are the influences which that admira- 
 ble writer commends to be infused into the 
 preceptive and practical parts of popular 
 education. In this country, in entire oppo- 
 sition to this liberal and safe course, the 
 visiters of schools often address the most 
 selfish and deceptive motives to boys, as 
 inducements to diligence and perseverance. 
 ^' You have heard," sometimes say these 
 counsellors, " of the wise Franklin who be- 
 came one of the chief men of this nation; 
 a minister from our government to Europe, 
 who lived and died, honoured and admired 
 by all who knew or heard of him. This 
 man was a mechanic— a printer; but by 
 means of his industry, and fidelity in what- 
 ever he undertook, by the information of 
 all kinds with which he stored his mind, 
 he rose to this extraordinary eminence 
 among his fellow citizens. You have heard 
 also of the good Roger Sherman, of Con- 
 necticut; of his independence and honesty; 
 his excellent understanding and judgment. 
 
 \
 
 68 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 He was bred a shoemaker. But he was 
 not destined to spend his days at the last. 
 His superior mind, and correct notions of 
 politics, obtained for him the honour to aid 
 in the public councils; to attain to many- 
 dignified places; to stand high in the esteem 
 of the greatest men in the land. These exam- 
 ples are set before you that you may do like- 
 wise; that you may be as well informed and 
 as faithful as these honourable persons, and 
 that you may secure to yourselves equal ad- 
 vantages. And if you should resemble these 
 great men, what is to hinder you from be- 
 ing diS fortunate as they were; as much dis- 
 tinguished? How many of the richest men 
 in this country ; the greatest merchants and 
 lawyers in it, have been poor hoys! There 
 is nothing to prevent you from following 
 their examples, and attaining to their good 
 fortune. It is to be hoped that you will not 
 forget this truth, that you will not neglect 
 your opportunities, and come short of their 
 success in the world.'' Such is esteemed 
 by many to be a very sensible lecture. 
 Now it must occur to every sound mind
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 69 
 
 that this is false in principle. If all the 
 printers in Franklin's time, or one tenth 
 of them, had resembled him in all points of 
 sufficiency for public duties; and if all the 
 shoemakers, or any number of them, in 
 Connecticut, had been as wise as Mr. Sher- 
 man, there was but one mission for the 
 printers, and one seat in congress for the 
 shoemakers. And though the merit of all 
 had been exactly the same, the reward of 
 that merit, did it really consist in power or 
 place, could not possibly be accorded to all. 
 Printing is more in request than diplomacy, 
 and shoes are more needed than legislation, 
 that is, a certain sort of want is more gene- 
 rally felt and acl^nowledged, more imperi- 
 ous in its demands, than another class of 
 wants in the community. A very few per- 
 sons indeed, relatively to the whole, can 
 supply the rarer want; and a very large 
 number are absolutely necessary to supply 
 the daily, physical, and outward need of so- 
 ciety. The common provisions of educa- 
 tion, and the common chance of success in 
 life, must be for the latter chiefly in their
 
 70 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 original vocation. So few are the high places 
 of earth; and young persons are so quick- 
 sighted in perceiving " that which is set on 
 a hill;" and so very ready of their own ac- 
 cord to explore the upward path, how hard 
 soever to climb, that it is more just, and 
 more judicious, to set before children ra- 
 tional and probable views of future life than 
 the stimulants of a vain and deceitful ambi- 
 tion; ambition, which often makes them 
 self-seekmg, encroaching, and vain-glorious 
 prematurely, and too often leaves them in 
 the end without any moral correction in the 
 mind, a prey to the bitterest disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 This truth is set forth with convincing 
 power by the translator of Cousin. " It 
 seems to me," says Mrs. Austin, " that we 
 are guilty of great inconsistency as to the 
 ends and objects of education. How in- 
 dustriously have not its most able and most 
 zealous champions been continually instil- 
 ling into the minds of the people that educa- 
 tion is the way to advancement, that ^knowl- 
 edge is power,' that a man cannot < better
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 71 
 
 himself without some learning! And then 
 we complain, that education will set them 
 above their station, disgust them with 
 labour, make them ambitious, envious, 
 dissatisfied! We must reap as we sow. 
 We set before their eyes objects the most 
 tempting to the desires of the most un- 
 cultivated men, we urge them on to the 
 acquirement of knowledge by holding out 
 the hope that knowledge will enable them 
 to grasp these objects: if their minds are 
 corrupted by the nature of the aim, and im- 
 bittered by the failure which must be the 
 lot of the mass, who is to blame? 
 "If,instead of nurturing expectations which 
 cannot be fulfilled, and turning the mind on 
 a track which must lead to a sense of con- 
 tinual disappointment, and thence of wrong, 
 we were to hold out the appropriate and at- 
 tainable, nay, unfailing ends of a good edu- 
 cation; the gentle and kindly sympathies; 
 the sense of self-respect, and of the respect 
 of fellow men; the free exercise of the in- 
 tellectual faculties; the gratification of a 
 curiosity that ' grows by what it feeds on,'
 
 72 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 and yet finds food for ever; the power of reg- 
 ulating the habits and the business of life, so 
 as to extract the greatest possible portion of 
 comfort out of small means; 'he refining and 
 tranquillising enjoyment of the beautiful in 
 nature and art, and the kindred perception 
 of the beauty and nobility of virtue; the 
 strengthening consciousness of duty fulfill- 
 ed; and, to crown all, ' the peace that pass- 
 eth all understanding;' if we directed their 
 aspirations this way, it is probable that we 
 should not have to complain of being disap- 
 pointed, nor thei/ of being deceived. Who 
 can say that wealth can purchase better 
 things than these? and who can say that 
 they are not within the reach of every man 
 of sound body and mind, who, by labour 
 not destructive of either, can procure for 
 himself and his family, food, clothing, and 
 habitation." 
 
 The design of all popular education is 
 not to raise up extraordinary individuals, 
 but to exalt the nation, to elevate whole 
 classes of people. Not to make the Ameri- 
 can people or any particular nation, superi-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 73 
 
 or to other people in physical resources and 
 power, but to develope the whole faculties 
 of the human being and of aggregate man; 
 to multiply his defences against evil, and 
 his capabilities of enjoyment; to afibrd to 
 every man security and enjoyment of what 
 belongs to himself individually, and to pro- 
 mote among all men mutual and safe confi- 
 dence in their fellow men; to enlarge the 
 commerce of good offices, and multiply the 
 interchanges of thought and affection in hu- 
 man society; and this must be done with 
 some regard to the structure of civilised 
 society. 
 
 All men are moral beings; all have the 
 same rules of right and wrong to apply to 
 their own circumstances. The circum- 
 stances of different classes of men however 
 are, and must be, different. There ought to 
 be extra provisions for extraordinary means 
 to obtain, and extraordinary capacity to 
 profit by, but there should be besides in 
 very well regulated state, one ample insti- 
 tution for the benefit of the whole people, 
 superior to all private and selfish dealings, 
 7
 
 74 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 in the sale and barter of knowledge. This 
 should supply what is wanting, correct what 
 is wrong, and prevent what might else be 
 depraving, in private and casual education. 
 Such an institution Prussia has established 
 for all her children, and it is tending to pro- 
 duce its natural effects. Such an institution 
 France has imitated from this great nation- 
 al experiment. Time, the demonstrator of 
 all true politics, and of all human projects, 
 well or ill devised, will show with how much 
 eflBcacy in improving the morals and man- 
 ners of her people. Could this institution 
 fully accomplish its proposed ends, what 
 wise legislator would refuse to urge similar 
 provisions for the public virtue and happi- 
 ness upon any community now destitute of 
 them. 
 
 The direct instruments of this system of 
 education are, first of all, qualified teachers. 
 How these are disciplined and prepared for 
 their function will be most correctly shown 
 in the representation of Cousin, who has de- 
 scribed, in a very interesting manner, some 
 of the institutions which exist in Prussia for 
 the education of schoolmasters.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 75 
 
 One of the most important features of 
 the normal school is the function of its head 
 or director. " It is the constant practice of 
 the ministry in Prussia, — to be scrupulous 
 to the last degree in the choice of a director, 
 and then to leave him great latitude at the 
 beginning, with reservation to the minister 
 to judge of the whole by the results, and 
 to interpose his authority after full knowl- 
 edge of facts." 
 
 Extract Jrom the Instructions for the Di- 
 rector of the Primary Normal School 
 of Potsdam. 
 
 " These instructions, which prescribe the 
 duties of the director, are rather calculated 
 to suggest the point of view under which he 
 ought to regard his office, than to define his 
 functions and occupations with precision. 
 These may undergo various modifications 
 from unforeseen circumstances; and the di- 
 rector of an establishment ought not to ad* 
 here to the literal meaning of official rules, 
 but to be guided by more large and elevated 
 conceptions, and wherever the law is silent,
 
 76 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 to supply the deficiency from his own in- 
 telligence. 
 
 "'All that a rational and a pious father of 
 a family is to his household, the director 
 ought to be to the whole establishment and 
 to each of its members; the kind friend and 
 colleague of all the pupils and masters who 
 are animated with a true feeling of their 
 duties; on the other hand, the severe and 
 inflexible ruler of those who refuse to 
 listen to the voice of reason and of reli- 
 gion. 
 
 " He ought to pay attention to the smallest 
 things as well as to the greatest, that no- 
 thing may trouble the harmony of the en- 
 tire machine committed to his watchful 
 guidance. 
 
 He is bound especially — 
 "1. To manage the pecuniary aflairs of the 
 establishment. 
 
 " 2. To superintend the domestic economy 
 and the steward; to have an eye to the li- 
 brary and to all the instruments, &c. neces- 
 sary for the school; 
 
 " 3. To preserve and add to these, and to
 
 " IN PRUSSIA. 77 
 
 give an account of the funds appropriated 
 to the purchase of books, &c.; ' 
 
 " 4. To carry on the correspondence, to 
 make the report to the school-board on the 
 normal school and the school attached to it; 
 to send in a list of candidates for admission, 
 to keep the archives, &c.; 
 
 " 5. To call up, examine, and choose the 
 candidates for admission, with the advice of 
 the masters; 
 
 "6. To draw out and present plans of 
 study, after having referred them to the con- 
 ference of schoolmasters, and to distribute 
 and arrange the subjects of instruction, ae>- 
 cording to the plan approved by the com- 
 petent authorities; 
 
 " 7. To overlook and direct the maste^^, 
 both in their moral conduct and their func- 
 tions; 
 
 *^ To organise and direct the schoolmas^ 
 ters' conferences, and to draw up prospec- 
 tuses for them; 
 
 " 9. To fix and direct the public exami- 
 nations of the normal school and the school 
 attached; 
 
 7*
 
 78 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 " 10. To maintain the high discipline of 
 the normal school, and of the school attach- 
 ed by all possible means, even to the ex- 
 pulsion of a student, after the decision of 
 the conference of masters; subject, however, 
 to the obligation of making an immediate 
 and circumstantial report to the competent 
 authorities. 
 
 <« It is impossible more completely to jus- 
 tify the confidence of the ministry than 
 Mr. Striez, the director of the Potsdam 
 School has done. From year to year the 
 normal school confided to his care has made 
 extraordinary progress, and in 1826 he laid 
 before the public an account of it, which ex- 
 cited the liveliest interest. This account I 
 place before you; it will give you an accu- 
 rate and complete idea of the material and 
 moral condition — of the whole internal 
 life — of one of the best primary normal 
 schools of Prussia.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 79 
 
 Report of the Primary Normal School 
 at Potsdam, by F. L. G. Striez, Direc- 
 tor of this School and Minister of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 HISTORICAL STATEMENT, 
 
 "Until the middle of the last century 
 there were no primary normal schools in 
 Brandenburg. The schoolmasters were ap- 
 pointed by the parishes, either with the ap- 
 probation of the authorities or without their 
 knowledge, and were all drawn from the 
 primary schools then established. All that 
 was required of these masters, who were 
 chiefly mechanics, was to be able to read, 
 say the catechism, sing tolerably a few well- 
 known psalm-tunes, and to write and cipher 
 a little. Numbers of shepherds, employed 
 in summer-time in keeping sheep, during 
 winter assumed the office of teachers of 
 youth. The nobility used generally to be- 
 stow the place of schoolmaster (if it was at 
 their disposal,) on their valets or grooms, as 
 a reward for past services. The primary 
 schools in towns sometimes had masters a
 
 80 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 little better informed, but even they had 
 neither good taste nor method in their man- 
 ner of teaching. 
 
 " Johann Julius Hecker, chief councillor 
 of the consistory at Berlin, and minister of 
 Trinity church, was the first who under- 
 took to train young men for the art of teach- 
 ing. With this view he founded a school 
 to supply masters for his own diocese. 
 
 ^' This establishment, founded in 1748, re- 
 mained for some time a private one; in the 
 year 1753, it was raised to the rank of a 
 royal primary normal school for schoolmas- 
 ters and parish-clerks. The provincial au- 
 thorities were enjoined, in a Cabinet order 
 published the 1st of October, 1753, to se- 
 lect, as far as possible, the members of this 
 establishment for the royal places of parish- 
 clerk and schoolmaster. 
 
 " But this primary normal school was still 
 far from meeting the constantly increasing 
 wants of the province, and little merited 
 the name of a royal school. The pupils, 
 scattered in all parts of the capital, were 
 not properly watched nor directed in their
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 81 
 
 studies. Being all mechanics, they labour- 
 ed at their trades rather than their studies, 
 and were besides exposed to the influence of 
 the corporation spirit, * and to the seduc- 
 tions of a great town. In fact, the time 
 which they devoted to their studies at the 
 normal school was in general too short to 
 afford any hope of effecting the end pro- 
 posed. 
 
 "In 1771, Frederick the Great appropri- 
 ated 4000 crowns, interest upon a capital of 
 100,000 crowns, to the improvement of the 
 country schools in the Electoral March; he 
 used on this occasion the following expres- 
 sions: ^Primary education, especially in 
 the country, has been hitherto much neg- 
 lected; it becomes imperative to remove the 
 bad masters, and replace them by compe- 
 tent men.^ Understanding that the schools 
 were better organised in Saxony, he order- 
 ed that masters should be drawn thence. 
 
 * In Germany the members of each trade, till very 
 recently composed a Zunft, — guild, or corporation. — 
 Tra.nsl.
 
 82 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 and put in the place of those whom it 
 might have seemed fit to remove, in spite 
 of their being dependents on the crown or 
 on the nobles. An increase of salary was 
 to be allowed to the new masters, from the 
 special fund lately created; and the individ- 
 uals most distinguished among them to be 
 held out to the primary normal school as 
 models for masters in training. 
 
 But the benevolent intention of the king 
 could not be entirely realised; either the 
 persons intrusted with its execution were 
 negligent, or they found it difficult to draw 
 skilful masters from Saxony. To obviate 
 this inconvenience, it was determined to 
 place in the schools which were susceptible 
 of reform, theological candidates, who 
 should fill the office of masters. 
 
 ^* This arrangement not answering the 
 purpose, some lesser normal schools, indeed, 
 sprang up insensibly at Berlin; but either 
 they were not of long continuance, or 
 they remained unimportant; or else they 
 had no other view than to form masters for 
 Berlin and the neighbouring towns of an 
 inferior order."
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 83 
 
 Such was the state of things when, in 
 1S09, the regency of Potsdam, the ecclsei- 
 astical authorities, and the school-deputation 
 began to give a new direction to the system 
 hitherto followed in primary instruction. 
 
 Nothing was more strongly felt than the 
 want of good masters. Exact information 
 was eagerly sought as to the condition of 
 the primary normal school at Berlin, and in 
 1810, great improvements were effected in 
 this establishment. Upon their success de- 
 pended, in part, whether this school should 
 be continued and remain at Berlin, or 
 whether it should be transferred to another 
 place. Now, on experiment, the measures 
 adopted appeared inapplicable to the estab- 
 lishment at Berlin, and the primary normal 
 school of Berlin was superseded by that of 
 Potsdam. 
 
 PRESENT ORGANISATION OF THE NORMAL 
 SCHOOL. 
 
 1. Direction and Inspection. 
 The normal school and its annexed school 
 are placed under a director or principal, 
 subordinate to the royal school-board of the
 
 84 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 province of Brandenburg at Berlin, and to 
 the minister of public instruction. 
 
 The last-named authority lays down the 
 principles to be followed in this school, as 
 in all other public schools; exacts an ac- 
 count of all important matters, such as the 
 nomination of the masters, and any change 
 in the fundamental plan of the studies; and 
 receives every year, through the medium 
 of the royal school-board, a detailed report, 
 prepared by the director of the school. 
 
 The school-board is charged with the spe- 
 cial inspection of the normal school: it 
 must watch its progress, and from time to 
 time send commissioners to make inquiries 
 on the spot. It examines also and approves 
 the plan of studies. 
 
 2. Building. 
 
 The normal school, situated near the ca- 
 nal and the Berlin gate, is a large edifice two 
 stories high, with a frontage of 127 feet, 
 and considerable back-buildings, which, 
 joined to the main building, form a square 
 within which is a tolerably spacious court. 
 The whole comprehends:
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 85 
 
 " 1. A family residence Tor the director 
 or principal, and another for a master; 
 
 " 2. Three apartments for three unmarri- 
 ed masters; 
 
 " 3. An apartment for the steward and 
 his servants, and sufficient convenience for 
 household business and stowage ; 
 
 " 4. A dining-room for the pupils, which 
 serve also for the writing and drawing 
 class; 
 
 " 5. An organ-room, in which the music- 
 lessons are given, the examinations take 
 place, and the morning and evening prayers 
 are said; 
 
 " 6. Two rooms for the scientific instruc- 
 tion of the pupils; 
 
 " 7. Four rooms for the classes of the an- 
 nexed school; 
 
 "8. Five rooms of different sizes, and 
 two dormitories for the pupils; 
 
 " 9. Two infirmaries; 
 "10. Awash-house; 
 "11. Two cabinets of natural history; 
 " 12. Granaries, cellars, wood-houses, &c. 
 8
 
 86 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 3. Revenues, 
 
 Are afforded by state funds, by fees from 
 pupils, and from children at the primary 
 school — which serve to pay — 
 
 " 1. The salaries of the masters; 
 
 " 2. The household expenses; 
 
 " 3. The materials for instruction for 
 the normal school and the school annexed; 
 
 ^'4. The garden-ground; 
 
 " 5. The heating and lighting; 
 
 " 6. The repairs of the building, furni- 
 ture and utensils, the insurance, taxes and 
 expenses of the house, &c.; 
 
 " 7. The maintenance of the pupils. 
 
 " 8. The physician and surgeon. 
 
 4. Inventory. 
 
 " The establishment contains the follow- 
 ing articles; 
 
 '* 1. Things required in the economy of 
 the house, kitchen-utensils, tables, forms, 
 &c. ; 
 
 " 2. Sufficient and suitable furniture, con- 
 sisting of chests of drawers, tables, forms, 
 chairs and boxes, for the class of the nor-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 87 
 
 mal school, and the school for practice, and 
 for the masters' rooms, &:c. There is also, 
 for the poor pupils, a certain number of 
 bedsteads with bedding; 
 
 " 3. A considerable library for the mas- 
 ters and pupils, as well as a good collection 
 of maps and globes for the teaching of ge- 
 ography; 
 
 " 4. A tolerably complete collection of 
 philosophical instruments; 
 
 " 5. A collection of minerals. 
 
 " 6. A collection of stuffed birds, and 
 other objects in natural history; 
 
 " 7. The instruments most required in 
 mathematical instruction; 
 
 " 8. Complete drawing apparatus; 
 
 " 9. A very considerable collection of 
 music; 
 
 " 10. A very good organ, a piano-forte, 
 seven harpsichords, and many wind and 
 string instruments, 
 
 5. Domestic Economy and Maintenance 
 of the Pupils. 
 
 " To support about eighty pupils, and to
 
 88 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 preserve cleanliness in the house, a steward 
 has been appointed, whose duties are speci- 
 fied in a contract renewable every year. 
 
 " The food of the pupils is good and 
 wholesome, which is proved by the state of 
 their health. Some parents think it need- 
 ful to send their children eatables, or money 
 to purchase them. They are wrong, for the 
 children have no such want; on the con- 
 trary, so far from being advantageous, these 
 presents only serve to take away their ap- 
 petite at meals, and to make them dainty and 
 gluttonous. The orphans and those whose 
 parents are too poor to send them any thing, 
 are exactly those who are the strongest and 
 healthiest. 
 
 " The director is almost always present 
 at meals, to be sure of the goodness of the 
 food, and to prevent any irregularity in the 
 serving up. 
 
 " Sick pupils are sent to the infirmary, 
 and are attended by the physician or sur- 
 geon of the establishment. 
 
 6. Mast 67^8. 
 " All the masters belong exclusively to
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 89 
 
 the establishment, in which also they live. 
 Each of them with the exception of 
 the principal, (whose number varies from 
 twelve to sixteen,) gives from twenty-four 
 to twenty seven lessons a week. 
 
 " The number of lessons being so great, 
 one of the cleverest pupils trained in the 
 house is employed as assistant master, so that 
 the number of masters in fact amounts to 
 six. 
 
 7. Number of Pupils. 
 
 " The number of the pupils is fixed by the 
 regulation at from 75 to 80, and is now 78,* 
 of whom 72 live in the establishment; the 
 other six have obtained a license to remain 
 with their parents in order to lessen the ex- 
 pense of their maintenance. 
 
 " This number is determined not only by 
 the building, but also by the wants of the 
 province. The number of pupils to be ad- 
 mitted is very easily determined. It de- 
 pends on the average number of new 
 masters required in a year by the depart- 
 * 1831. 
 8*
 
 90 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 merit. This principle is fundamental. It 
 is absurd to gather together at random a 
 crowd of students who have no security for 
 obtaining employment. 
 
 S. What is required of *B.pplicants for 
 Admission. 
 
 " Once a year, 26 pupils are admitted. 
 Of these are required — 
 
 " 1. Good health and freedom from 
 all bodily infirmity. (Obstacles to admis- 
 sion would be, exceeding smallness of 
 stature, short-sightedness, or a delicate 
 chest;) 
 
 " 2. The age of 17 complete; 
 
 " 3. The evangelical religion; 
 
 " 4. A moral and religious spirit, and a 
 conduct hitherto blameless; 
 
 " 5. A good disposition and talents, 
 amongst which are a good voice and a musi- 
 cal ear; 
 
 " To be prepared for the studies of the 
 normal school by the culture of the heart 
 and mind: to have received a good religious 
 education (which shall include a knowledge
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 91 
 
 of the Bible and biblical history;) to be able 
 to read; to know the grammar of the Ger- 
 man language, of composition, arithmetic, 
 the principles of music. 
 
 "A written request for admission must 
 be sent to the director, by June at the latest, 
 accompanied with — 
 
 " 1. A certificate of birth and baptism; 
 
 " The director enters the petitioners on a 
 list, and in the month of June or July in- 
 vites them, by letter, to present themselves 
 at the examination which takes place in July 
 or August. 
 
 " The examination is conducted partly in 
 writing, and partly viva voce. 
 
 " As a means of ascertaining the acquire- 
 ments of the candidates, and of judging of 
 their memory, their style, and their moral 
 dispositions, an anecdote or parable is relat- 
 ed in a clear and detailed manner, summing 
 up and repeating the principal points, after 
 which they produce it in writing, with ob- 
 servations and reflections. 
 
 The oral examination usually includes
 
 92 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 only religion, reading, grammar, logical ex- 
 ercises, and arithmetic. 
 
 They are also examined in music. 
 
 " After the examination, the talents and 
 merits of the respective candidates are con- 
 scientiously weighed and compared, in a 
 conference of the masters. The choice be- 
 ing made, it is submitted to the sanction of 
 the royal school-board, with a detailed re- 
 port of the result of the examination. 
 
 At the end of some weeks the candidates 
 are informed of the decision; their admis- 
 sion is announced, or the reason which pre- 
 vented it stated; with either advice to give 
 up their project entirely, or suggestions rela-. 
 tive to their further preparation. 
 
 "The admitted candidate is bound to 
 bring, besides his clothes and books, 
 amongst which must be the Bible and the 
 prayer-book used in the establishment, half- 
 a dozen shirts, six pairs of stockings, a knife 
 and fork, and, generally, a bedstead with all 
 requisite bedding. 
 
 " He is also bound to sign, on his en- 
 trance an engagement to the director, with
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 93 
 
 the consent of his father or guardian, to ob- 
 serve the rules of the institution, to hold his 
 future services at the disposal of govern- 
 ment, or to refund all expenses incurred on 
 his account. 
 
 " The normal school is by no means de- 
 signed for those who are unfit for any busi- 
 ness, and think, if they can read and write, 
 they are capable of becoming schoolmasters. 
 This notion is so deeply rooted, that you 
 hear fathers declare with all the simplicity 
 in the world — ^ My son is too delicate to 
 learn a business,' or ' I don't know what 
 to make of my son, but I think of getting 
 him into the normal school.' We reply to 
 such, that the pupils of the normal school 
 must, on the contrary, be sound both in 
 body and mind, and able to brave the toils 
 and troubles of a career as laborious as it is 
 honourable. 
 
 ^' Much neglect unfortunately still exists 
 on a subject which is of the highest import- 
 ance — the methodical preparation of these 
 young men for the calling which it is desir- 
 ed they should embrace. 
 
 " A false direction is often given to their
 
 94 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 preliminary studies. A young man is be- 
 lieved to be well prepared for the normal 
 school, if he have passed the limits of ele- 
 mentary instruction; and if he have acquir- 
 ed a greater mass of knowledge than other 
 pupils. It frequently happens, however, that 
 candidates who come strongly recommend- 
 ed from school, pass the examination with- 
 out credit, or are even rejected. 
 
 *' The most immediate and the most im- 
 portant aim of all instruction, is to train up 
 and complete the Man; to ennoble his heart 
 and character; to awaken the energies of his 
 soul, and to render him not only disposed, 
 but able, to fulfil his duties. In this view 
 alone can knowledge and talents profit a 
 man; otherwise, instruction, w^orking upon 
 sterile memory and talents purely me- 
 chanical, can be of no high utility. In or- 
 der that the teacher, and particularly the 
 master of the primary school, may make 
 his pupils virtuous and enlightened men, it 
 is necessary he should be so himself. Thus, 
 that the education of a normal school, es- 
 sentially practical, may completely succeed, 
 the young candidate must possess nobleness
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 95 
 
 and purity of character in the highest possi- 
 ble degree, the love of the True and Beau- 
 tiful, an active and penetrating mind, the 
 utmost precision and clearness in narration 
 and style. 
 
 " Such above all things are the qualities 
 we require of young men. If they have 
 reached this state of moral and intellectual 
 advancement by the study of history, geo- 
 graphy, mathematics, &c.,and if they have 
 acquired additional knowledge on these vari- 
 ous branches, we cannot but give them ap- 
 plause; but, we frankly repeat, we dispense 
 with all these acquirements, provided they 
 possess that formal instruction of which 
 we have just spoken, since it is very easy 
 for them to obtain in the normal school that 
 material instruction in which they are 
 deficient. 
 
 « It is nevertheless necessary to have some 
 preliminary notions, seeing that the courses 
 at the normal school are often a continuation 
 of foregone studies, and that certain branch- 
 es could not be there treated in their whole 
 extent, if they were wholly unknown to 
 the young men when they entered. We
 
 96 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 have already mentioned the branches they 
 should be most particularly prepared in; but 
 this subject being of the greatest interest, 
 we shall conclude this chapter with some 
 suggestions on the plan to be followed. 
 
 "1. Religion. To awaken and fortify the 
 religious spirit and the moral sentiments. 
 For this purpose the histories and parables 
 of the Bible are very useful. Frequent 
 reading and accurate explanation of the Bi- 
 ble are necessary. 
 
 '^ As to general history, there is no need 
 of its being circumtsantially or profoundly 
 known, but the young men should be able 
 to refer with exactness to those historical 
 facts which may be profitably used to form 
 the heart, to exercise and rectify the judg- 
 ment, to infuse a taste for all that is grand 
 and noble, true and beautiful," 
 
 It appears here, that mere chronological 
 tables and books or abstracts do not satisfy 
 the German notion of learning history. 
 The philosophy of history, its moral spirit, 
 is communicated in the very first lessons to 
 the humblest minds. A brief list of some 
 of their elementary works follows:
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 97 
 
 *«1. Examples oj Virtue, 2, collection 
 of noble deeds and characteristic traits from 
 universal history, &c., 3 vols. 
 
 " 2. School of Wisdom and Virtue. 
 
 " 3. Logical Exercises. These ought to 
 tend to produce in young minds clearness 
 and accuracy of ideas, justness of judgment, 
 and, by consequence, precision and facility 
 in oral and written explanations. 
 
 "4. Exercises for learning to think 
 in a m,ethodical and natural m,anner.^^ 
 
 These are a few of the books used in the 
 normal schools. Their very titles express 
 that they aim by direct means to sow the 
 good seed of moral truth in the juvenile 
 mind. It is intended to furnish in another 
 place some further notice of the general 
 character of the books used in the Prussian 
 schools. 
 
 " 5. Reading. When once the pupil can 
 read fluently, he must be taught to give em- 
 phasis to his reading, and to feel what he 
 reads. He should be habituated to recite, 
 and even gradually to analyze the phrases 
 and periods he has just read, to change the 
 9
 
 98 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 order, and express the same idea in differ- 
 ent words — to put, for example, poetry into 
 prose, &c. Thus these exercises serve at 
 the same time to teach him to think, and 
 to speak. We advise also that he be made 
 to declaim pieces he has learnt by heart. 
 
 " 6. Arithmetic, This does not include 
 either methods of abstruse calculation or 
 practical arithmetic. Nothing more is re- 
 quired of the pupil than to use figures with- 
 out difficulty, and to calculate in his head. 
 
 " All the pupils are bound to pursue the 
 course of the normal school for three years; 
 their acquirements and instruction would be 
 incomplete if they did not conform to this 
 regulation. 
 
 9. Education of the Pupils by means of 
 Discipline and of Instruction. 
 
 " This important subject is of far too great 
 extent for us to attempt to exhaust it here. 
 We shall take a future opportunity of entfer- 
 teringuponit,and show how all the branch- 
 es of instruction are treated in the normal 
 school.* At present we shall content our- 
 » Page 105. 
 
 I
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 99 
 
 selves with the mention of the principles 
 which regulate the instruction and general 
 discipline. 
 
 " In the education of the masters of pri- 
 mary schools the wants of the. people must 
 be consulted. 
 
 " We have abundant proof that the well- 
 being of an individual, like that of a peo- 
 ple, is no wise secured by extraordinary in- 
 tellectual powers or very refined civilisation. 
 The true happiness of an individual, as of 
 a people, is founded on strict morality, self- 
 government, humility, and moderation; on 
 the willing performance of all duties to 
 God, and his neighbours. 
 
 " A religious and moral education is con- 
 sequently the first want of a people. With- 
 out this, every other education is not only 
 without real utility, but in some respects 
 dangerous. If, on the contrary, religious 
 education has taken firm root, intellectual 
 education will have complete success, and 
 ought on no account to be withheld from the 
 people, since God has endowed them with 
 all the faculties for acquiring it and since
 
 100 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 the cultivation of all the powers of man 
 secures to him the means of reaching per- 
 fection, and, through that, supreme happi- 
 ness. 
 
 " Religious and moral instruction, far from 
 leading to presumption and a disputatious 
 spirit, on the contrary, produces in man a 
 consciousness of his weakness, and, as a 
 consequence, humility. The object then 
 should be, to give the people solid and prac- 
 tical knowledge, suited to their wants, which 
 will naturally refine and soften their habits 
 and manners. 
 
 " If such be the instruction the people 
 ought to receive, that of the masters of the 
 primary schools is at once determined, and 
 the principles to be followed in the instruc- 
 tion of our pupils are equally clear. 
 
 " A more definite direction is given to re- 
 ligious and moral instruction by belief in 
 the revealed word of God in the Holy 
 Scriptures. But this belief must not be 
 simply historical, as amongst the learned. 
 It ought rather so to penetrate the heart of 
 man as to produce a constant endeavour to
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 101 
 
 have his thoughts, sentiments, and actions, 
 in strictest harmony with the word of God. 
 It is, then, on the living conviction of the 
 truths and doctrines of Christianity, that 
 we base the religious and moral character 
 of our pupils. Enemies to all needless 
 constraint, we allow the young men all the 
 liberty compatible with our responsibility, 
 with our duty of guarding them from every 
 seduction, and with the internal order of 
 the establishment. We are indulgent to 
 faults which arise not from bad disposition, 
 but we punish unkindness and rudeness 
 even in look and gesture. 
 
 "Our principal aim, in each kind of in- 
 struction, is to induce the young men to 
 think and judge for themselves. We are 
 opposed to all mechanical study and servile 
 transcripts. The masters of our primary 
 schools must possess intelligence themselves, 
 in order to be able to awaken it in their pu- 
 pils; otherwise, the state would doubtless 
 prefer the less expensive schools of Bell and 
 Lancaster. 
 
 " We always begin with the elements,
 
 102 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 because we are compelled to admit pupils 
 whose studies have been neglected; and be- 
 cause we wish to organise the instruction in 
 every branch, so as to afford the pupils a 
 model and guide in the lessons which they 
 will one day be called upon to give. 
 
 " With respect to material instruction, 
 we regard much more the solidity, than the 
 extent, of the acquirements. This not only 
 accords with the intentions of the higher 
 authorities, but reason itself declares that 
 solidity of knowledge alone can enable a 
 master to teach with efficacy, and carry 
 forward his own studies with success. 
 
 ''Practical instruction we consider of 
 the greatest importance. 
 
 '' All the studies and all the knowledge 
 of our pupils would be fruitless, and the 
 normal school would not fulfil the design of 
 its institution, if the young teachers were to 
 quit the establishment without having alrea- 
 dy methodically applied what they had 
 learned, and without knowing by experi- 
 ence what they have to do, and how to set 
 about it.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 103 
 
 " To obtain this result, it is not sufficient 
 that the young men should see the course 
 gone through under skilful masters, or that 
 they should themselves occasionally give 
 lessons to their school-fellows; they must 
 have taught the children in the annexed 
 school for a long time, under the direction 
 of the masters of the normal school. It is 
 only by the familiarising themselves with 
 the plan of instruction for each particular 
 branch, and by teaching each for a certain 
 time themselves, that they can acquire the 
 habit of treating it with method." 
 
 *Rnnexed School. 
 "The annexed school was founded in 1825, 
 and rece ivs gratuitously from 160 to 170 
 boys. The higher authorities, in granting 
 considerable funds for the establishment of 
 this school, have been especially impelled 
 by the benevolent desire of securing to the 
 great mass of the poor children in this 
 town* the means of instruction, and of re- 
 lieving the town from the charge of their 
 ed ucation. 
 
 * Potsdam.
 
 104 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 " The town-authorities agreed on their 
 part, to pay one thaler and five silber-gros- 
 chen (3*. 6d.) a year for each child. On 
 this condition we supply the children gra- 
 tuitously with the books, slates, &c., which 
 they want. 
 
 ** The annexed school is a primary school, 
 which is divided into four classes, but rec- 
 kons only three degrees : the second and 
 third classes are separated from each other 
 only for the good of the pupils, and for the 
 purpose of affording more practice to the 
 young masters. 
 
 " The first class with the two above it, 
 forms a good and complete elementary 
 school; while the highest presents a class of 
 a burgher school, where the most advanced 
 pupils of the normal school, who will pro- 
 bably be one day employed in the town 
 schools, give instruction to the cleverest 
 boys of the annexed school. 
 
 " Here is a table of what is taught in this 
 school.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 
 
 105 
 
 
 
 The two 
 
 
 SUBJECTS TAUGHT. 
 
 Lowest 
 
 middle 
 
 Highest 
 
 
 class. 
 
 classes. 
 
 class. 
 
 
 Lessons. 
 
 Lessons. 
 
 Lessons. 
 
 1. Religion . . . - 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2. Reading . . . . 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 3. The German language 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4. Arithmetic - - - 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5. Geometry and drawing 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 6. Writing . . . . 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 7. Singing - - - . 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 8. Mathematics - - - 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 9. Geography - - - 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 10. Natural History - - 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 11. History . . . . 
 No. lessons in the week 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 30 
 
 "We shall add a few remarks on this 
 plan. 
 
 "1. In the two middle classes, the most 
 common sorts of knowledge are taught, to- 
 gether with reading. 
 
 '*2. The lessons in language consist, in 
 the lower class, of logical exercises and an- 
 ecdotes; and, in the middle classes, of ex- 
 ercises in language and grammar. 
 
 " The master of the normal school, who 
 has prepared the young masters beforehand 
 is present during the lesson given by them 
 in the school of experiment. He listens.
 
 106 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 observes, and guides them during the lessons, 
 and afterwards communicates his observa- 
 tions and his opinion of the manner in 
 which the lesson was given. 
 
 " It is requisite that every pupil of the 
 normal school should teach all the branches 
 in the lowest class in succession; for the 
 master of a primary school, however learn- 
 ed he may be, is ignorant of the most indis- 
 pensable part of his calling, if he cannot 
 teach the elements. 
 
 10. Departure from the Normal School; 
 
 Examinations; Certificates and Ap- 
 pointments. 
 
 " The pupils quit the normal school after 
 having pursued the course for three years; 
 for the lengthening of their stay would be 
 an obstacle to the reception of new pupils. 
 
 " But they must first go through an ex- 
 amination in writing and viva voce, of 
 which we give an abstract. 
 
 ^' 1. All the pupils of the primary nor- 
 mal schools shall go through an examination 
 on leaving.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 107 
 
 " 2. The examination shall be conducted by- 
 all the masters of the normal school, on all 
 the subjects taught in the house, in the pres- 
 ence and under the direction of one or more 
 commissioners. 
 
 " 3. Every pupil, before leaving, shall give 
 a probationary lesson, to show to w^hat de- 
 gree he possesses the art of teaching. 
 
 " 4. After the examination is over, and ex- 
 act accounts of the pupils leaving are given 
 by the director and all the masters, a certifi- 
 cate shall be delivered to each pupil, signed 
 by the director, the masters and the com- 
 missioners. 
 
 "5, This certificate shall specify the 
 knowledge and talents of the pupil; it shall 
 state whether he possesses the art of teach- 
 ing, and whether his moral character ren- 
 ders him fit for the office of primary school- 
 master. It shall include, besides, a general 
 opinion of his character and attainments, 
 expressed by one of the terms, ^ excellent,' 
 < good,' ' passable,' and answering to the 
 numbers 1, 2, 3. 
 
 < 6. This certificate only gives the pupil
 
 108 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 a provisional power of receiving an appoint- 
 ment for three years. After that time he 
 must undergo a new exammation at the nor- 
 mal school. But any pupil who, on leav- 
 ing the establishment, obtained number 
 1, and has, in the course of the three first 
 years, been teacher in a public school, shall 
 not have to pass another examination. No 
 other can take a situation, except provi- 
 sionally. 
 
 " 7. These new examinations shall not take 
 place at the same time as those of the pu- 
 pils who are leaving; but, like those, al- 
 ways in the presence and under the direc- 
 tion of the commissioners of the school- 
 board. 
 
 " 8. In the first examination the princi- 
 cipal object is, to ascertain if the pupils 
 have well understood the lessons of the nor- 
 mal school, and learned to apply them; in 
 the last, the only object of inquiry is the 
 practical skill of the candidate. 
 
 « 9. The result of this new examination 
 shall likewise be expressed in a certificate, 
 appended to the first, and care shall be taken
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 109 
 
 to specify therein the fitness of the candi- 
 date for the profession of schoolmaster." 
 
 " For which reason the pupils on their 
 departure receive a certificate, the first page 
 of which describes their talents, character, 
 and morality, and the two following contain 
 an exact account of the result of the exam- 
 ination on all branches of study. 
 
 "jThose who have not obtained appoint- 
 ments in the interval between the two ex- 
 aminations, shall present this certificate to 
 the superintendents and school-inspectors of 
 the places where they live, and, on leaving 
 that place, shall demand a certificate of con- 
 duct, which they shall produce at the time 
 of the second examination. Those who 
 have been in situations during the three first 
 years, shall produce certificates from their 
 immediate superiors. 
 
 " All the pupils cannot be appointed im- 
 mediately on their leaving the school: but 
 a great number of them are proposed by the 
 director for vacant places, and are sought 
 after by the royal government, by superin- 
 tendents, magistrates, &c.; so that at the 
 10
 
 110 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 end of a year we may calculate that they 
 are all established. 
 
 ^^ I * can answer for the perfect fidelity 
 of this description of the normal school of 
 Potsdam; and in the long visit and minute 
 investigation of this great establishment 
 which I made in person, I came to the con- 
 viction that the representation I have now 
 just completed and which was drawn 
 up in 1826, was, in 1831, below the real- 
 ity. 
 
 "The primary normal school of Pots- 
 dam now contains eighty students: they all 
 board in the house. The charge is 48 tha- 
 ler a year (7/. 4^.) Half the students pay 
 this entire sum; others have purses (exhibi- 
 tions) or half purses. The director and the 
 masters, to the number of five are all lodg- 
 ed in the house. The director's salary is 
 1060 thaler a year, (159/.;) the five masters 
 have 530, 480, 400, 220, and 200 thaler, not 
 including an allowance for wood. 180 tha- 
 ler a year are devoted to the maintenance 
 
 * Cousin.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. Ill 
 
 of a garden, and of a gardener, who gives 
 instruction in his art. 120 thaler a year 
 are spent in books; the library already con- 
 tains more than a thousand volumes. There 
 is a little cabinet of mineralogy and natural 
 history, a collection of seeds, a tellurium 
 for the illustration of geographical and as- 
 tronomical lessons; there is also a fine organ, 
 for every one of the pupils is expected to 
 be able to act as organist. Each study has 
 its piano-forte, each pupil his violin, and a 
 small collection of books. I have said that 
 there are eighty students: at least a hundred 
 applicants for admission present themselves 
 yearly, out of whom twenty -six or twenty- 
 seven are chosen — about the same number 
 as quit the school. No one can be admitted 
 before the age of seventeen or eighteen, but 
 they may enter considerably later; and I 
 have seen students as old as four-and-twen- 
 ty. At the end of three years there is a 
 parting examination; those who go through 
 it with credit are entered as candidates for 
 the mastership of an elementary or burgher 
 school.
 
 112 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 '^ The course of instruction is very tho- 
 rough, and at the same time very exten- 
 sive. 
 
 " I saw this scheme in action. The spirit 
 which dictated the arrangement and distri- 
 bution of the tuition is excellent, and equal- 
 ly pervades all the details. The normal 
 course, which occupies three years, is com- 
 posed, for the first year, of studies calculat- 
 ed to open the mind, and to inculcate on the 
 pupils good methods in every branch, and 
 the feeling of what is the true vocation of 
 a primary teacher. This is what is call- 
 ed the ybrTTZa/ instruction, in opposition to 
 the material or more positive instruction of 
 the second year, in which the pupils go 
 through special studies of a very solid kind, 
 and learn considerably more than they will 
 generally be called upon to teach. The 
 third year, is entirely practical^ and is de- 
 voted to learning the art of teaching. 
 
 <'As appears from the prospectus, the 
 musical instruction is carried to a very high 
 point There are few students who have 
 not a violin, and many of them leave the
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 113 
 
 school very good organists and piano-forte 
 players. Singing is particularly cultivated- 
 The course of instruction embraces not only 
 a little botany, mineralogy, physical science, 
 natural history, and zoology, but exercises 
 in psychology and logic, which tend to give 
 the young men the philosophy of that por- 
 tion of popular education intrusted to their 
 care. I was present at several lessons; 
 among others, one on history and chronolo- 
 gy, in which, out of courtesy to me, the 
 pupils were interrogated on the history of 
 France, particularly during the reigns of 
 Charles IX.; Henry III., and Henry IV., 
 — a period of which protestantism is so im- 
 portant a feature. The young men answer- 
 ed extremely well, and seemed perfectly 
 familiar with the dates and leading facts. I 
 say nothing of the gymnastic courses, as 
 Prussia is the classic land of those exercis- 
 es. 
 
 " What struck me the most was the cour- 
 ses, called in Germany courses of Methodik 
 and Didaktik, as also those designated by 
 the name of Pddagogik: the two former 
 10*
 
 114 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, &C. 
 
 intended to teach the art of tuition, the lat- 
 ter the more difficult art of moral education. 
 These courses are almost always given by 
 the director, who also generally gives the 
 religious instruction, which here comes in 
 its proper place — that is, first. There are 
 many examples in Germany of laymen who 
 teach religion. As all schoolmasters, who 
 are of necessity generally laymen, are 
 bound to give religious and moral instruc- 
 tion in their several schools, it follows of 
 course that the teaching the art of giving 
 such instruction cannot be confined to ec- 
 clesiastics. 
 
 " I ought to add that all the students of 
 the school at Potsdam had a cheerful happy 
 air, and that their manners were very good. 
 If they brought any rusticity to the school, 
 they had entirely lost it. I quitted the es- 
 tablishment highly satisfied with the students, 
 full of esteem for the director, and of re- 
 spect for a country in which the education 
 of the people has reached such a pitch of 
 prosperity.''
 
 SMALL NORMAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 " The small normal schools differ, general- 
 ly, from the large, not onl}^ in the number 
 of pupils, which is much smaller, but above 
 all as being nurseries of village schoolmas- 
 ters for the very poorest parishes. The 
 great schools furnish masters for the coun- 
 try as well as for the towns. The masters 
 from the smaller schools, labour for these 
 poor and backward villages. To this their 
 whole organisation, their studies, their dis- 
 cipline, are to be directed. Unquestionably, 
 the great normal schools of Prussia are en- 
 titled to the highest respect; but never can 
 there be veneration enough for these humble 
 labourers in the field of public instruction, 
 who, as I have said, seek obscurity rather 
 than fame; who devote themselves to the
 
 116 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 service of poverty with as much zeal as 
 others to the pursuit of riches, since they toil 
 for the poor alone; and who impose re> 
 straints on every personal desire and feeling, 
 while others are excited by all the stimu- 
 lants of competition. They cost scarcely 
 anything, and they do infinite good. Nothing 
 is easier to establish — but on one condition, 
 that we find directors and pupils capable of 
 the most disinterested, and, what is more, 
 the most obscure, devotion to the cause. 
 Such devotion, however, can be inspired 
 and kept alive by religion alone. Those 
 who can consent to live for the service of 
 men who neither know nor can appreciate 
 them, must keep their eyes steadfastly fixed 
 on Heaven: that witness is necessary to 
 those who have no other. And, according- 
 ly, we find that the authors and directors 
 of these small schools are almost all minis- 
 ters of religion, inspired by the spirit of 
 Christian love, or men of singular virtue, 
 fervent in the cause of popular education. 
 In these humble institutions every thing 
 breathes Christian charity, ardor for the
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 117 
 
 good of the people, and poverty. I shall 
 lay before you a description of two; — one 
 hidden in a suburb of Stettin, and the 
 other in the village of Pyritz in Pomera- 
 nia. 
 
 " Stettin has a large normal school, insti- 
 tuted for the training of masters for the 
 burgher schools. An excellent man, Mr. 
 Bernhardt, school-councillor [Schulrath) in 
 the council of the department, was the 
 more powerfully struck by the necessity of 
 providing for the wants of the country 
 schools. He founded a small normal school 
 for this sole purpose, and placed it not in the 
 town, but in a suburb called Lastadie; he 
 laid down regulations for its government, 
 which I annex nearly entire.^' 
 
 Small Primary Normal School of Lasta- 
 die near Stettin. 
 
 '' 1. This school is specially designed for 
 poor young men who intend to become 
 country schoolmasters, and who may, in 
 case of need, gain a part of their subsistence 
 bv the labour of their hands.
 
 118 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 ''2. Nothing is taught here but those 
 things necessary for small and poor country 
 parishes, which require schoolmasters who 
 are Christians and useful men, and can afford 
 them but a very slender recompense for 
 their toils. 
 
 " 3. This school is intended to be a 
 Christian school, founded in the spirit of 
 the Gospel. It aspires only to resemble a 
 village household of the simplest kind, and 
 to unite all its members into one family. 
 To this end, all the pupils inhabit the same 
 house, and eat at the same table with the 
 masters. 
 
 " 4. The young men who will be admit- 
 ted in preference, are such as are born and 
 bred in the country; w^ho know the ele- 
 ments of what ought to be taught in a good 
 country school; who have a sound straight- 
 forward understanding, and a kindly cheer- 
 ful temper. If, withal, they know any 
 handicraft or understand gardening, they 
 will find opportunities for practice and im- 
 provement in it in odd hours. 
 
 "5. The school of Lastadie neither can
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 119 
 
 nor will enter into any competition with 
 the great normal schools completely organ- 
 ised; on the contrary, it will strive always 
 to keep itself within the narrow limits as- 
 signed to it. 
 
 " 6. The utmost simplicity ought to pre- 
 vail in all the habits of the school, and, if 
 possible, manual labour should be combined 
 with those studies which are the main ob- 
 ject, and which ought to occupy the greater 
 portion of the time. 
 
 " 7. The course of instruction is designed 
 to teach young people to reflect, and by ex- 
 ercising them in reading, writing, arithme- 
 tic, and singing, to put it in their power to 
 instruct themselves, and to form their own 
 minds. For the humblest person ought to 
 be taught to think; but to enlighten him, to 
 make him a rational and intelligent being, 
 does not mean to make him highly learned. 
 < God willeth that all men be enlightened, 
 and that they come to the knowledge of 
 the truth.' 
 
 " 8. The instruction ought to have a di- 
 rect connection with the vocation of the
 
 120 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 students, and to include only the most es- 
 sential part of the instruction given in the 
 great normal schools. 
 
 " 9. The objects of instruction are, reli- 
 gion, the German language, reading, writ- 
 ing, arithmetic, and singing. To these are 
 joined the first elements of geometry, easy 
 lessons in natural history, narratives drawn 
 from the national histor}^, and geographical 
 descriptions. The principal object, and the 
 foundation of all education, is religion, as 
 learned from history and the Bible. The 
 school of Lastadie will also strive to excite 
 and cherish in its pupils a love of nature, 
 and to that end will cultivate a taste for 
 gardening and planting. 
 
 " 10. In treating of all these subjects, the 
 pupils must be trained to speak in pure and 
 accurate language; for after the knowledge 
 of religion and of nature, there is nothing of 
 which children stand more in need, than to 
 learn to express what they know with sim- 
 plicity, truth, and accuracy. 
 
 "11. The students know enough, when 
 they speak, read, and write wellj when
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 121 
 
 they can produce a good composition in the 
 German tongue; when they can calculate 
 with facility and with reflection, and when 
 they sing well; they know enough, when 
 they are thoroughly versed in the Bible, 
 when they possess the most essential notions 
 of the system of that universe which they 
 have constantly before their eyes, of that 
 nature, in the midst of which they live: 
 they have attained much, when they are 
 Christians, rational, and virtuous men. 
 
 " 12. The period of study is fixed at 
 two years. The first year the pupils learn 
 what they are hereafter to teach to others; 
 besides which, they assist at the lessons the 
 masters give to the children of the school 
 annexed to this small normal school. In 
 the second year the future teacher appears 
 more distinctly, and from that time 
 every thing is more and more applied to 
 practice. They continue i\\e whole year to 
 practice teaching, and at the end they re- 
 ceive a set of rules, short and easy to under- 
 stand, for the management of a school of 
 poor country children. 
 11
 
 122 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 " 1 3. To the school of Lastadie is joined 
 a school of poor children, in which the 
 young men have an opportunity of going 
 over what they have learned, by teaching it 
 to others, and of exercising themselves in 
 tuition according to a fixed plan. This 
 school consists of a single class, in order 
 that the students may see how a good school 
 for poor children should be composed and 
 conducted, and how all the children may be 
 kept employed at once. 
 
 " 14. The number of pupils is fixed at 
 twelve. The pecuniary assistance they re- 
 ceive will depend on circumstances. The 
 instruction is gratuitous. Six pupils in- 
 habit each room. The master lives on the 
 same floor. They take their simple but 
 wholesome meals together. Servants are 
 not wanted. The pupils do the work of the 
 house. 
 
 " 15. The daily lessons begin and end 
 with prayers and psalmody. It rests with 
 the master to fix the hours of devotion, 
 (founded chiefly on the Bible and the book 
 of psalms,) as well as their number. So
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 123 
 
 long as the true spirit of Christianity — faith 
 quickened by charity — shall pervade the 
 establishment, and fill the hearts of masters 
 and of pupils, the school will be Christian, 
 and will form Christian teachers; and this 
 spirit of faith and of charity will be pro- 
 ductive of blessings to the poor and to the 
 mass of the nation. 
 
 " 16. It will not, therefore, be necessary 
 to lay down minute regulations; but practi- 
 cal moral training must be combined as 
 much as possible with instruction. ' The 
 letter killeth, the spirit quickeneth.' But 
 what will it not require to imbue the whole 
 establishment with the true spirit of Chris- 
 tianity, so that masters and pupils may de- 
 vote themselves with their whole hearts, 
 and for the love of God, to the children of 
 the poor? 
 
 " 17. Whoever wishes to be admitted 
 into this establishment, must not be under 
 eighteen nor above twenty years of age. 
 He must bring the certificates of his pastor, 
 of the authorities of his parish, and of the 
 physician of the circle, as to his previous
 
 124 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 conduct and the state of his health. He 
 must, moreover, have such preliminary 
 knowledge as is to be acquired in a well-con- 
 ducted country school, on Biblical history, 
 reading, writing, arithmetic and singing. 
 Those who join to these acquirements the 
 principles of piano-forte or violin playing, 
 will be preferred. The candidates for ad- 
 mission give notice to the director, and 
 are examined by the members of the de- 
 partmental authorities who have the care of 
 the people's schools. 
 
 " 18. There is no public examination. 
 The examination on quitting is likewise 
 conducted by the school-councillors of the 
 department, and the certificates of capacity 
 are founded on this examination, according 
 to the gradations 1, 2, 3, and are delivered 
 by the departmental authorities. 
 
 " 19. As to the placing of the pupils, it 
 is desirable that they should work some 
 years as assistant-masters, in order that they 
 may gradually acquire the necessary expe- 
 rience and confidence, and may become well 
 acquainted with children, and with the in-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 125 
 
 habitants of villages. Under this supposi- 
 tion, the age of admission might be conve- 
 niently fixed at sixteen; and this arrange- 
 ment would be a great relief to aged school- 
 masters who are become burthensome to 
 themselves and to their parishes. 
 
 "20. Particular attention is paid to sing- 
 ing and to horticulture; as means of enno- 
 bling and animating the public worship of 
 God, and the general course of a country 
 life; of providing the pupils with an agree- 
 able recreation, and, at the same time, a use- 
 ful occupation; and, further, of combating 
 the grossness of mind and the obstinate 
 prejudices to which uneducated husband- 
 men are prone. 
 
 "21. All the students attend divine ser- 
 vice in the church of Lastadie on Sundays. 
 
 " 22. The vacations must not exceed four 
 weeks for the whole year: they are at 
 Easter, in the autumn, and at Christmas. 
 
 " 23. The establishment has no other 
 revenues than what it owes to the bounty 
 of the state. 
 
 " May this establishment, (concludes Mr. 
 11*
 
 126 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 Bernhadt,) which owes its existence to such 
 fervent charity, not be deprived of that 
 blessing, without which it can do nothing! 
 
 " Assuredly there is not a virtuous heart 
 which does not unite its prayers with those 
 of the worthy and benevolent councillor. 
 
 " The second small normal school of this 
 description was founded in 1824, in honour 
 of Otto, bishop of Bamberg, who introduc- 
 ed Christianity into Pomerania, having 
 baptized 4000 Pomeranians in 1124, near 
 the fountain of Pyritz. When the minister 
 of public instruction granted the license foi* 
 its establishment, he made it a condition 
 that the students should be instructed in 
 agriculture, not merely as a recreation, but 
 as essential to their destination; that they 
 should be bound to study gardening, the 
 cultivation of fruit-trees, and of silk-worms. 
 — The special superintendence of this house 
 is intrusted to the pastor of the place. The 
 regulations are as follows: — they resemble 
 those of Lastadie in many respects, but go 
 into great detail, and are perhaps still more 
 austere as to discipline.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 127 
 
 Rules of the small Normal School of Py- 
 ritz in Pom,erania. 
 
 " 1. The purpose of this endowment is 
 to give to every pupil the training and in- 
 struction suitable for a good and useful 
 country schoolmaster: this, however, can 
 only be done by the union of Christian 
 piety with a fundamental knowledge of his 
 vocation, and with good conduct in the 
 household and in the school. 
 
 " 2. Piety is known — 
 
 " By purity of manners; 
 
 " By sincerity in word and deed; 
 
 <^ By love of God and of his word; 
 
 <' By love of our neighbour; 
 
 *< By willing obedience to superiors and 
 masters; 
 
 " By brotherly harmony among the pu- 
 pils; 
 
 " By active participation in the pious ex- 
 ercises of the house, and of public wor- 
 ship. 
 
 "By respect for the government and
 
 128 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 laws, by unshaken fidelity to our country, 
 by uprightness of heart and of conduct. 
 
 " 3. A thorough knowledge of the du- 
 ties of a teacher are acquired — 
 
 "By long study of the principles and 
 elements; 
 
 " By learning what is necessary and real- 
 ly useful in that vocation; 
 
 " By habits of reflection and of volunta- 
 ry labour; 
 
 " By constant application to lessons; 
 
 " By incessant repetition and practice; 
 
 " By regular industry and well-ordered 
 activity; according to this commandment, 
 * Pray and work.' 
 
 " 4. Good conduct in the house and the 
 school requires — 
 
 " A good distribution and employment 
 of time; 
 
 " Inflexible order, even in what appears 
 petty and insignificant; 
 
 " Silence in hours of study and work; 
 
 " Quietness in the general demeanour; 
 
 " Care and punctuality in the completion 
 of all works commanded;
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 129 
 
 " Decent manners towards every person 
 and in every place; decorum at meals; 
 
 " Respect for the property of the school 
 and for all property of others; 
 
 " The utmost caution with regard to fire 
 and light; 
 
 " Cleanliness of person and of clothing; 
 
 " Simplicity in dress, and in the manner 
 of living; according to the golden rule, 
 < Every thing in its time and place. Let 
 things have their course. Provide things 
 honest in the sight of all men.' 
 II. 
 
 " 1. All the pupils inhabit one house and 
 one room; for they must live in union, and 
 form one family of brothers, loving one an- 
 other. 
 
 " 2. The whole order of the house rests 
 on the master of the school; he lives in the 
 midst of the pupils; he has the immediate 
 superintendence of them, of their conduct, 
 and of their labours. He ought to be to 
 those under his care what a father of a 
 Christian family is in his household. 
 
 " He is responsible for the accounts of
 
 130 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 the establishment, the registers, the result 
 of the quarterly examinations, and for the 
 formation of the necessary lists. He has 
 the special care of the provisions, the 
 rooms, the library, the furniture. He is re- 
 sponsible to the school-administration for 
 good order in every department. 
 
 " 3, The oldest and most intelligent of 
 the students assist the master. He is call- 
 ed the master's assistant. He must take 
 care — 
 
 " That every one in the room under his 
 care rises and goes to bed at the appointed 
 moment: 
 
 " That nobody without the master's per- 
 mission, leave the house, smoke, or carry 
 candles into the passages or the loft: 
 
 "That no one wantonly injure the 
 windows, doors, or furniture, or throw any- 
 thing out of the windows: 
 
 " That the utmost cleanliness be observed 
 in the sitting-room, the passage, and the 
 sleeping-room; 
 
 " That all clothes, linen, books, &c., be in 
 their places;
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 131 
 
 " That no noise be made in going up and 
 down stairs, or in going to the children's 
 school. 
 
 " It is his especial business to help his 
 companions in the preparation of their les- 
 sons, to hear them repeat, to prepare the 
 exercises for their master, and to assist him 
 as far as he can in all his business. He ought 
 to be to his fellow-students what a good 
 elder brother is to his young brothers and 
 sisters. He is chosen, on the master's re- 
 commendation, by the school-committee. 
 
 " 4. The humbler sort of household 
 work, such as cleaning and putting in order 
 the rooms, dusting the furniture, fetching 
 water, cleaving wood, &c., is done by the 
 pupils, who serve a week in rotation. The 
 time of service is prolonged by order of the 
 master, in case of negligence. 
 
 " 5. The order of the day is as follows — 
 
 " In winter at five, in summer at half- 
 past four in the morning, at a given signal, 
 all the pupils must rise, make their beds, 
 and dress. 
 
 " Half an our after rising, that is half-
 
 132 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 past five in winter, and five in the summer, 
 all the pupils must be assembled in the 
 school-room. The assistant first pronounc- 
 es the morning benediction, and each pupil 
 then occupies himself in silence till six. 
 If any repetitions stand over from the pre- 
 ceding day, they must be heard now. After 
 this, breakfast. 
 
 " In winter, as well as in summer, the 
 lessons begin at six o'clock, and last till a 
 quarter before eight. Then the students go 
 with their master to the children's school, 
 attached to the normal school, where they re- 
 main till ten, either listening, or assisting in 
 small classes; some teaching or they may be 
 employed in their own studies at home. 
 
 " To these employments succeeds an hour 
 of recreation, and then an hour's lesson in 
 the establishment. 
 
 " At noon, the students assemble in the 
 master's room where they find a frugal but 
 wholesome meal, consisting of vegetables 
 meat and fish, at the rate of two thaler (six 
 shillings) a month. 
 
 "The time which remains, till one o'clock,
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 133 
 
 may be passed in music, gardening, and 
 walking. 
 
 " In the afternoon, from one till three, 
 while the master is teaching in the town 
 school, the pupils accompany him, as in the 
 morning. From three till five, lessons. 
 
 "The succeeding hours, from five till 
 seven, are, according to the seasons, employ- 
 ed in bodily exercises, or in the school-room 
 in quiet occupations. At seven they assem- 
 ble at a simple cold supper. 
 
 " From seven to eight they practise sing- 
 ing and the violin; then repetitions or silent 
 study till ten, when all go to bed. 
 
 ^' Two afternoons of each week are free, 
 and are usually spent in long walks. The 
 time from four to six, or from five to seven, 
 is devoted to the practice of music. 
 
 " On Sundays or holidays all the pupils 
 must attend divine service in the church of 
 the town, and assist in the choir. The re- 
 mainder of these days may be passed by 
 every one as he pleases: in the course of 
 the morning, however, the students must 
 write down the heads of the sermon (the 
 12
 
 134 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 text, the main subject, the distribution,) 
 and in the evening must give an account 
 of the manner in which they have spent the 
 day. 
 
 "Every evening, as well as on the morn- 
 ings of Sundays and holidays, a portion of 
 time is spent in meditation in common. 
 
 " A few Sundays after the setting-in of 
 winter, and after the festival of St. John,* 
 the students partake of the Lord's supper, 
 in company with their masters. 
 
 " Every student, from the time of his 
 admission, must solemnly engage (in token 
 of which he gives his hand to the master 
 and signs his name) to follow the rules of 
 the house, which may be summed up in 
 these three principal maxims: — 
 
 " 1. Order in behaviour and in work, 
 combined with the utmost simplicity in all 
 things; to the end that the students who be- 
 long to the poorer classes, and whose des- 
 tiny it is to be teachers of the poor, may 
 willingly continue in that condition, and 
 
 May 6th. 
 
 i
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 135 
 
 may not learn to know wants and wishes 
 which they will not, and ought not to have 
 the power of satisfying. For this reason, 
 they must be their own servants. 
 
 " 2. As to the course of instruction, the 
 repetitions must always be heard by the 
 forwardest pupils. The pupils must 
 •be made as much as possible, to teach 
 each other what they have learned of the 
 master, in order that they may perfect 
 themselves in the art of teaching. 
 
 "3. Piety and the fear of God should 
 be the soul of their little community, but a 
 a true Christian piety, a fear of God ac- 
 cording to knowledge and light, so that the 
 pupils may do all to the Glory of God, and 
 may lead a simple, humble, and serene life, 
 resigned and contented in labour and tra- 
 vail, according to the exhortation of the 
 Apostle; 
 
 " Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-mind- 
 ed, having the same love, being ot one ac- 
 cord of one mind. Let nothing be done 
 through strife or vain-glory; but in lowli-
 
 136 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, &C. 
 
 ness of mind let each esteem other better 
 than themselves." — Philipp. ii. 2, 3. 
 
 " And as many as walk according to the 
 rule, peace be on them and mercy!" — Ga- 
 lat. vi. 16. 
 
 <' I abstain from all comments on these 
 two sets of regulations. The greater num- 
 ber of the small normal schools of Prussia? 
 are founded and governed in the same spir- 
 it. All rest on the sacred basis of Christi- 
 anity. But beneath their simple lowly ex- 
 terior we trace a taste for instruction, a feel- 
 ing for nature, a love of music, which take 
 away every vestige of coarseness, and give 
 these modest institutions a character of libe- 
 rality. Undoubtedly all this is the offspring 
 of the national manners, and of the genius 
 of Germany; yet Christian charity might 
 transplant a good deal of it into our coun- 
 try."
 
 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 It is the design of the discourse on the 
 Prussian system, and of the extracts from 
 Cousin's Report, which describe the schools 
 for education of teachers, rather to com- 
 mend the design and spirit of the system, 
 than to urge such a system, servilely copi- 
 ed,upon the American people. It has intrinsic 
 attributes of universal excellence. Its extent 
 of application is one of its best features; its 
 moral power is its very best; its acceptable- 
 ness to the people who enjoy its benefits is 
 12*
 
 138 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 its highest praise. In this country we are 
 satisfied with a much lower standard of pub- 
 lic education, though we esteem that which 
 we have. Indeed it is esteemed too much; 
 too much to be improved as it might be, if 
 conviction of its deficiencies should influence 
 the measures of its benefactors and its proper 
 functionaries. It would be an eminent ser- 
 vice to society in any of these states, and 
 in all, if a commission of enlightened men 
 authorised by legislative appointment, and 
 adequatelypaid for their labour, would make 
 themselves positively and accurately ac- 
 quainted with the results of instruction 
 throughout any single state. They would ex- 
 amine the whole school, not " picked child- 
 ren" — they would enquire into the effects of 
 instruction upon young persons educated 
 wholly in the public schools after they have 
 left those schools, and are employed in the 
 business of life; they would also examine the 
 books used in the schools: the scope and aim 
 of instruction given there; they would care- 
 fully inform themselves of the general quali- 
 fications of the teachers employed in the
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 139 
 
 schools; and, if they made honest reports 
 of what they had observed and ascertained, 
 they would interest and enlighten the pub- 
 lic mind upon the subject; and, in order to 
 enlighten their own minds, if they should 
 make themselves acquainted with what has 
 been accomplished in other parts of the 
 world, by an efficient public education, be- 
 sides exhibiting plans in actual operation in 
 other countries for the general information, 
 they might introduce reformatory measures 
 of the best tendencies and uses in general 
 society. 
 
 Education will never be reformed, me- 
 thodised, and exalted, to any large extent 
 and power, till men who are learned, philo- 
 sophical, and truly benevolent shall be ap- 
 pointed to this work, and shall perform it 
 faithfully. 
 
 The office of inspection and trust would 
 itself be highly enlightened by the exposi- 
 tions of such a commission; they would 
 show alike the necessities and the capabili- 
 ties of the rising race. Similar commis- 
 sions of larger and smaller power have been
 
 140 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 authorised, in England and Ireland, to in- 
 form the public of the true state of schools, 
 and their representations ill agree with 
 those of the proper functionaries of the 
 schools. The London Quarterly Journal 
 of Education, the Edinburgh Review, and 
 the English newspapers, have exposed the 
 general perversion, and inoperativeness of 
 many public schools, richly endowed; and 
 particularly of charity and National schools, 
 where instruction is a dead letter almost, and 
 where even the small assumed uses of the 
 schools come entirely short of their pre- 
 tended efficacy. 
 
 It cannot be believed by those who ex- 
 amine the subject at all, that in this country, 
 the popular education does perform its true 
 function. It does much, but not so much 
 as is presumed; not the thousandth part of 
 what it might do. Still the value of this 
 education to those who are in possession of 
 its benefits cannot be doubted for a moment. 
 The benefits of the common education now 
 enjoyed in New England, from the first 
 settlement of that country, have ever been
 
 IN PRUSSIA 141 
 
 suitably appreciated. In a convention held 
 in Massachusetts, in 1821, the uses of this 
 most excellent institution were most worth- 
 ily and eloquently set forth by Mr. Webster. 
 As the organ of the public sentiment, he 
 thus described them. *< For the purpose of 
 public instruction, we hold every man sub- 
 ject to taxation in proportion to his proper- 
 ty; and we look not to the question, wheth- 
 er he himself have, or have not children to 
 be benefitted by the education for which he 
 pays; we regard it as a wise and liberal 
 system of police, by which property and 
 life, and the peace of society, are secured. 
 We hope to excite a feeling of respectabili- 
 ty and a sense of character by enlarging the 
 capacities, and increasing the sphere of in- 
 tellectual enjoyment. By general instruc- 
 tion, we seek, so far as possible, to purify the 
 moral atmosphere; to keep good sentiments 
 uppermost, and to turn the strong current of 
 feeling and opinion, as well as the censures 
 of law, and the denunciations of religion, 
 against immorality and crime. We hope 
 for a security beyond the law and above the
 
 142 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 law, in the prevalence of enlightened and 
 well-principled moral sentiment. We hope 
 to continue and prolong the time, when, 
 in the villages and farm-houses of New 
 England, there may be undisturbed sleep 
 within unbarred doors. We do not indeed 
 expect all men to be philosophers or states- 
 men; but we confidently trust, that by the 
 diffusion of general knowledge and good 
 and virtuous sentiments, the political fabric 
 may be secure, as well against open violence 
 and overthrow, as against the slow but sure 
 undermining of licentiousness. We rejoice 
 that every man in this community may call 
 all property his own, so far as he has occa- 
 sion for it to furnish for himself and his 
 children the blessings of religious instruc- 
 tion and the elements of knowledge. This 
 celestial and this earthly light, he is entitled 
 to by the fundamental laws. It is every 
 poor man's undoubted birth-right; it is the 
 great blessing which this constitution has 
 secured to him; it is his solace in life; and 
 it may be his consolation in death, that his 
 country stands pledged, by the faith which
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 143 
 
 it has plighted to all its citizens, to protect 
 his children from ignorance, barbarity, and 
 vice." 
 
 This is a grand exhibition of the design 
 and objects of national education, and the 
 merit of it is, that it is not a project, but a 
 report in truth, from fact; an article of 
 moral statistics, as genuine as it is beautiful. 
 And yet, the very education which the 
 great statesman commends so much; in 
 which he believes so truly, which has been, 
 and is, and will be, so fraught with bless- 
 ings tc all those who come within its influ- 
 ences, does not accomplish the half of what 
 it assumes. It is infinitely better than no 
 education at all, but miserably inferior and 
 inoperative, compared with what a truly 
 rational system of public instruction, tho- 
 roughly put in practice might be. All that 
 can be truly said of it is, that it is good as 
 far as it goes, and that it includes all people 
 in its provisions. It is not so good as to 
 supply all wants of the popular mind. For 
 the opulent; for the preeminently gifted, 
 it is well and right to furnish extraordinary
 
 144 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 cultivation. The luxuries of intellect large- 
 ly imparted to him that can buy, does not 
 diminish the value of that which is " with- 
 out price" for him that has no money. 
 The patrimony of the poor man in knowl- 
 edge is not less, because that of the more fa- 
 voured is greater. In the accomplished, the 
 learned, the full-developed human being, he 
 to whom less is given beholds the human na- 
 ture illustrated; he feels his own kindred to 
 the man of genius, and the man of great at- 
 tainments; he respects himself the more for 
 the bond of brotherhood and affinity which 
 unites him to one more nobly endowed. 
 To provide this happiness for the least fa- 
 voured is surely the duty of the better en- 
 dowed. One of the great objects of a wise 
 popular education, is the harmony and 
 gradation it might establish in human So- 
 ciety; the feeling it might induce in the ex- 
 alted, that the less-favoured are born to be 
 served eminently through the radiation of 
 science and all truth from themselves; by 
 laws emanating from them, and by cares 
 that give effect to laws. And the cor-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 145 
 
 respondence of feeling in every class, that 
 shall exactly value themselves and others 
 according to the true dignity of human na- 
 ture, and the relative value of each individ- 
 ual. No popular system of education has 
 thoroughly accomplished all this. It is 
 maintained that the popular education of 
 New England does not produce any thing 
 like, this effect; else why should small pri- 
 vate schools, and charity schools exist at all; 
 and they do exist to great extent; for 
 though the public school is open to all 
 children, all children are not sent there; in 
 considerable towns, not more than a third 
 part of them; and very poor persons are 
 glad of feome other education for their 
 families when it offers. How happens 
 this? It may be explained in the following 
 representation of the true function and ob- 
 jects of education. 
 
 " No term in our language has been more 
 abused and misapplied than that of educa- 
 tion. By the great majority of persons in 
 civilised society it is considered as consist- 
 ing merely in the acquisition of pronuncia- 
 13
 
 146 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 tion, spelling and grammar; of writing, 
 casting accounts, and the knowledge of lan- 
 guages; and these acquisitions are generally 
 considered of value, chiefly as they prepare 
 the individual for enjoying certain secular 
 employments, and are instrumental in pro- 
 curing his subsistence." By some persons, 
 however, education is regarded as formation 
 of character, the discipline of intellect, and the 
 building up of moral principle, and of moral 
 power. In truth it is all these. Few ap- 
 prehend all this, particularly legislators, and 
 school-co ntroUers. 
 
 Now in place of such designs, at the pre- 
 sent time, we only look for the least and 
 lowest efficacy in the common school. 
 " The school is the place to teach science, 
 and not to teach morals," once said ^preach- 
 er of religion to the writer. — " It is not of 
 consequence what the book teaches parti- 
 cularly, which is used in school — it is in- 
 tended to teach to read^^ said the master of 
 a large boy's school, to the same individual. 
 These remarks explain the assertions of a 
 popular writer upon the subject. " Kfar-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 147 
 
 rago of words have been substituted in the 
 place of things; the elements of language 
 have been preferred to the elements of 
 thought; the key of knowledge has been 
 exhibited instead of knowledge itself; and 
 the youthful mind, at the termination of 
 the common process of instruction, is al- 
 most as destitute of ideas, as at its com- 
 mencement." And not only destitute of 
 ideas which might adorn conversation, but 
 of such as are right principles of human 
 action ; defences against animal propensities; 
 defences against " evil communications,'* 
 profligate examples and false counsel. Un- 
 der the present casual system no adequate 
 provision is made for the whole man. The 
 speculative, the reflective faculties, and the 
 active powers, or practical principle, are 
 left without virtuous habits. The mind 
 has never been taught, ^ri^^A above all things, 
 andythe rules of action that would be fur- 
 nished in the course of a wise education; 
 have not commenced the career of conduct 
 which makes the good citizen. 
 
 There is a feeling in the popular mind of
 
 148 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 all this, though the people do not perhaps 
 exactly understand it. '^ My child gets no 
 good at this school. He learns very little, 
 or he learns nothing, at the town school. 
 He does not like to go there. I would 
 send him to a private school, to a pay school, 
 if I could,'' is a very common declaration of 
 poor people, in respect to public schools 
 where they are established; and this dis- 
 content is founded in rational objections; in 
 the exceeding imperfection of the schools. 
 
 To remedy this, or to attempt a remedy, 
 is the aim of a public school establishment. 
 It is designed to act upon the whole of the 
 community, to raise up whole classes of men, 
 to make every person in the body politic fit 
 for his privileges and his place; to prevent 
 crime, to secure peace and order, and to 
 multiply and exalt the enjoyments of each 
 and every member of society. " Peace on 
 earth, and good will to men," are as much 
 in the spirit of such an institution, as they 
 are in the teachings of Christ; or in the legis- 
 lation of Penn; or in the counsels and servi- 
 ces of every philanthropist, from Socrates,
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 149 
 
 to the thousand minds that now teach every 
 where to " Honour all men/' It is very- 
 desirable that such an establishment should 
 exist in every free state; indeed in every 
 human community; and, that it should satis- 
 fy every body. In truth it would satisfy 
 al], if the experiment were thoroughly 
 made, as much as ripe harvests, and fruitful 
 fields satisfy them. Prejudices oppose un- 
 tried experiments, but not happy conse- 
 quences. The Dutch, at the Cape Colony, 
 refused English ploughs. — " Fader did not 
 use such a one," — but we never heard that 
 they refused the ingathering of the' corn; 
 neither would any people, ever so contented 
 in ignorance, refuse benefits of new intelli- 
 gence; of art lightening their toil; of sci- 
 ence opening their understandings; of litera- 
 ture adorning their social intercourse; of 
 morality exalting their pursuits. This truth 
 is so far realised by those that think and act 
 for the welfare of the whole, that in almost 
 all these states, the laws offer assistance and 
 inducements to the people to cultivate their 
 minds, and improve their condition, as in- 
 13*
 
 150 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 telligent beings. It is the design of this 
 little work, to show in some measure, the 
 direct means by which the popular education 
 may be exalted in kind, and by which it 
 may produce its genuine results. 
 
 According to the Prussian system, as has 
 been shown, an effective popular education 
 has three principal elements of power; wise 
 supervision, qualified teachers, and rational 
 books. 
 
 The qualified inspectors of schools must 
 form themselves. The professional and 
 educated men of the country, must be call- 
 ed into this service, by enlightened public 
 sentiment, and by the necessities of those 
 that need their direction; and a true pub- 
 lic spirit will dispose them to act, cheerful- 
 ly and faithfully in this vocation. 
 
 Teachers of suitable moral principles, ne- 
 cessary knowledge, and acquired skill in 
 teaching, must be educated and practised 
 in schools of discipline and experiment, be- 
 fore they can give any great effect to the 
 office of instruction. 
 
 Elementary books must come under a
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 151 
 
 special commission. Ill suited compends 
 must give place to works of other selection, 
 and wise adaptation. Morality, in addition to 
 what are called, common elements, must be 
 taught " line upon line and precept upon 
 precept;" by History written for a true 
 Tnoral use; and by such representations of 
 God, as physical science, demonstrated by 
 rational piety, shall hold up to the suscepti- 
 ble minds and hearts of the young. 
 
 Provision for the public instruction is 
 the unquestionable interest and duty of every 
 wise government; for the primary object of 
 every such government must be to increase 
 the true happiness of the people. The 
 highest quality of human happiness, is that 
 derived from the exalting of the intellect 
 and the purifying of the hearts of men, to 
 the end, that the aim of theid* ambition may 
 be worthy of rational beings, and their com- 
 mon intercourse be carried on with all the 
 satisfaction of mutual love, honour, and 
 trust. In proportion as they are enlighten- 
 ed in respect to their own moral value, and 
 their true interest, as men and members of
 
 152 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 society, the more must their manners and 
 actions be humanised by the principles of 
 justice, and charity. Thus the moral cul- 
 ture of the rising race, and a practical sys- 
 tem of advancing society by means of edu- 
 cation, must enter into true political science. 
 The knowledge of what is right, and the 
 cherished sense of self-dignity, of course 
 restrain men from crimes, and elevate them 
 to the love and pursuit of what is good. 
 
 The greater part of the evils which afflict 
 human society, have their origin in the gro- 
 velling state, in which the larger part of man- 
 kind are held by ignorance, and in the false 
 direction given to their energies. To teach 
 self-discipline, and the true object of life, is 
 the function of education. Not merely the 
 education of elect people, — of young gen- 
 tlemen and ladies, but of all people. 
 
 This obligation of the state, to the rising 
 generation of every degree, is certainly a 
 discovery of modern philanthropy; but the 
 reasonableness and practicableness of the 
 duty consequent to it, are now perfectly de- 
 monstrated, and every disinterested and up-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 153 
 
 right politician believes in it. To improve, 
 carry on, and perfect, as far as possible, the 
 education of the people is a direct result of 
 faith in the capabilities, and it may be 
 said, in the true destiny of man. The ac- 
 knowledgment of this obligation to society, 
 from those that minister in their own proper 
 vocation to its welfare, is beautiful. Mr. 
 Everett, the enlightened chief magistrate 
 of Massachusetts, says, in his recent inau- 
 gural speech, " Almost the only compul- 
 sion exercised towards the citizen, in his 
 private affairs, by the state, is that which 
 compels him to provide the means of edu- 
 cating his children. Left with the least 
 practical interference from the law, in all 
 other respects, he is obliged to support free 
 schools, by which the elements of useful 
 knowledge are brought within the use of 
 all, alike those who do and who do not, bear 
 a part of the burden." 
 
 And in the course of that excellent docu- 
 ment, in which this school obligation is 
 asserted as useful law — the protection of the 
 common intelligence and virtue, the speaker
 
 154 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 proceeds to enforce the true spirit of that 
 law as follows: 
 
 " While the contemplation of our nume- 
 rous political and social blessings is calculat- 
 ed to fill us with grateful emotions, it should 
 inspire us with the resolute purpose of dis- 
 charging the duty, which their possession 
 devolves upon us. It rests with us to take 
 care, that these privileges pass unimpaired 
 to our children. To this end, we must pre- 
 serve our institutions in their purity. We 
 must keep alive their spirit. We must see 
 that principles, which are in all time the 
 same, are embodied in laws and forms, that 
 keep pace with the increase of intelligence. 
 This will require us not merely to hold fast 
 to that which is good, but to introduce those 
 improvements and reforms, which may be 
 demanded by the growth of knowledge in 
 the science of government; by the eleva- 
 tion of the standard of public morality; 
 and, in general, by the lessons of experience. 
 The people of America should be the last 
 blindly to adhere to what is established, 
 merely as such; and it may sometimes be
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 155 
 
 our duty to imitate our forefathers, in the 
 great trait of their characters — the courage 
 of reform — rather than to bow implicitly to 
 their authority in matters, in which the hu- 
 man mind has made progress since their 
 day." 
 
 ^' The courage of reform'^ is at this mo- 
 ment needed in the institutions of learning, 
 which, being designed for the best ends, only 
 come short of them through the apathy and 
 inattention of those minds in the country, 
 to whom leisure and knowledge afford the 
 ability to remodel and elevate human so- 
 ciety. 
 
 At the present time, we have a multitude 
 of means for the improvement of the popu- 
 lar mind which fail of their proposed end, 
 for want of the elementary preparation 
 which common education ought to afford. 
 Mr. George Combe, the author of a valu- 
 able work on the Constitution of Man, has 
 shown in his lectures on Popular Education 
 that in Scotland and England, popular libra- 
 ries are little read; lectures not generally 
 attended; and cheap periodicals of small,
 
 156 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 or no use, to numbers that might profit by 
 them; and Mr. Combe, has also shown that 
 the inefficacy of these provisions is princi- 
 pally to be attributed to the deficiency of 
 primary and subsequent education, which, as 
 it is generally conducted, excites no curios- 
 ity; induces no perseverance; creates no 
 taste for literature and science, as recreation 
 of the mind; and fixes no moral principles 
 that determine the value of high things 
 over low ones — over low frivolous, or de- 
 basing gratifications, which the people 
 still prefer to intellectual. 
 
 Dr. Southey, in a late work on the Pros- 
 pects of Society, has this passage. " In a 
 Report of the Committee for enquiring into 
 the increase of Commitments, and Convic- 
 tions, in London and Middlesex, (1833,) 
 it states that notwithstanding all we hear of 
 schools, and the progress of education, ju- 
 venile depravity was never so unlimited in 
 degree, or desperate in character. Would 
 it not be possible to place this whole class 
 within the reach of moral and intellectual 
 gratifications, whereby they may be rendered
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 157 
 
 healthier, happier, and better in all respects, 
 an improvement which will not be more 
 beneficial to them as individuals, than to 
 the whole body of the commonwealth?" 
 
 "It is through literature and science,'^ 
 says Sir Humphrey Davy, "that we may 
 look forward with confidence to a state of 
 society, in which the diJ0ferent orders and 
 classes of men, will contribute more effect- 
 ually to the support of each other, than they 
 have hitherto done. Considering and hop- 
 ing, that the human species is capable of 
 becoming more enlightened and more hap- 
 py, we can only expect that the difierent 
 parts of the great whole of society, should 
 be more intimately united by means of 
 knowledge; that they should act as the 
 children of one great Parent, with one de- 
 termined end — the good of the whole; so 
 that no talent may be rendered useless, and 
 no exertion thrown away." 
 
 The corruptions of society no one doubts 
 the existence of — Vice, ignorance, and im- 
 morality, in forms more or less offensive 
 and injurious; in degrees of greater or less 
 14
 
 158 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 manifestation; in greater or less admixture 
 with counter principles of virtue and knowl- 
 edge, appear every where, in public and pri- 
 vate life; in the retired country, as '^ in 
 the city full." The same remedy is requir- 
 ed for the rich as the poor; better founda- 
 tions of character; more information; the 
 principles that furnish a resource of enjoy- 
 ment in the mind; and rules of conduct for 
 the ordering of life, and for the regulation 
 of judgment upon every question, concern- 
 ing right and wrong. Providence has given 
 every human creature, without any natural 
 exceptions, all human faculties, in different 
 measure it is true, for the use of each indi- 
 vidual, to be exercised, and assisted by care 
 and encouragement of others. Any system 
 of society — the aggrandisement of a few by 
 the degradation of the many; the prosperi- 
 ty of some, and the consequent cultivation 
 of their powers, to the loss and deteriora- 
 tion of others, by selfish neglect or oppres- 
 sive treatment of them — any such system, 
 in which the moral and intellectual powers 
 of any portion of a nation are left under-
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 159 
 
 valued and uncultivated, or receive a per- 
 verse direction, is plainly opposed to that 
 system of nature which is intimated by the 
 primitive equality of the human soul. In 
 other words such neglect, or misusage of 
 any members of society, is opposed to the 
 will of the universal father, who gives the 
 interests of one portion of his great family 
 in trust to others more favoured than they. 
 
 To those who love the young, who feel 
 their own responsibility to the rising race^ 
 and to society; who regard the welfare 
 of every part of the community as essen- 
 tial to the whole; who believe that much as 
 education now does for society, it may do 
 more; and that great as the benefits derived 
 from our provisions are, they may be great- 
 er — greater in kind, greater in degree, 
 greater in diffusion; to such persons we de- 
 clare yet once more, that a reformation in 
 elementary teaching, a better course of 
 study, and higher purposes in the teaching 
 of all classes of people, is absolutely called 
 for; and we earnestly commend to parents 
 and teachers to seek out and adopt means, of
 
 160 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 improvement. Improved school books must 
 be among the chief instruments of this 
 improvement They will help the teacher 
 as much as the learner. 
 
 In beginning to teach, we must, if we 
 would succeed, begin at the beginning pro- 
 perly. When we teach a child to ready we 
 must teach him to think also, and let hi& 
 first books describe what he knows,, or 
 might know. Look into Webster's Spell- 
 ing book, or almost any such elementary 
 book; you may possibly see on one: line>. 
 " The magnolia is the largest native tree of 
 Oeorgia;" and on the next maybe,. "AJl 
 sublunary things are transitory.'^ Here is- a: 
 mixture of physical fact and moral abstrac- 
 tion. Neither in such a form will da a child 
 any good, but will only stuff his memory 
 with words. Words, according to some 
 persons, constitute the chief matter of edu- 
 cation. What are words to such persons? 
 Letters, syllables, oral sounds — written and 
 printed characters. How are these words 
 to be applied? After certain rules laid 
 down in a book of grammar, these persons
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 161 
 
 would say. But, words to a philosophy 
 cal teacher are properly signs of ideas. 
 The sign, and that which it represents ought 
 not to be disjoined in the young learner's 
 mind; and it is the province of the educa- 
 tor to show the inseparable connection of 
 these signs and the things signified by 
 them. 
 
 A well constructed child's book is its 
 own interpreter. As soon as a child, or a 
 class of children, has learned letters, and ap- 
 prehends short words at sight, give the 
 young learner a book which describes what 
 he already knows, the simplest facts possi- 
 ble; " Paper is white," " A knife is sharp" 
 are specimens. In order to teach the 
 French language successfully. Professor 
 Ticknor, late of Harvard College, has given, 
 in a lecture upon that subject, some useful 
 directions that are of wider application than 
 his lecture. In teaching a child to read his 
 own vernacular tongue, we shall teach the 
 English language; but Mr. Ticknor's di- 
 rections, designed for the French, are ap- 
 propriate to us and our object. They belong 
 14*
 
 162 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 philosophically to the human mind, and to 
 the art of teaching generally. To teach 
 French, he says, " Take only such books, in 
 the beginning of instruction, as in their 
 subjects and ideas, their manner and their 
 tone, are below the age of the child to be 
 taught." We would say, proceed after this, 
 beginning with the first book and its con- 
 sequent series, from the familiar to the new. 
 " It is not well," Mr. Ticknor continues, 
 " to use collections and extract books. 
 They are not interesting to the learner; they 
 give no proper knowledge, but rather a 
 false impression of the literature they in- 
 tend to represent; and they are not well 
 adapted to teach even the language itself, be- 
 cause by changing the style and manner so 
 often, an opportunity is not aflforded to be- 
 come familiar and thorough in any one." 
 
 A familiar school book, which might be 
 a second or third, successive to the al- 
 phabetical lessons, and the first sentences in 
 monosyllables — which need not therefore be 
 foolish nor uninstructive — might teach the 
 child his duties. " Do to others as you
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 163 
 
 would have them do to you.'^ Thou shalt 
 not covet, nor kill, nor be aogry, nor take 
 another's property, may all be taught in 
 an infant's book. Teach in such a book, 
 that God created the world and all things 
 in it, giving at the same time lessons on the 
 different kingdoms of nature as parts of 
 creation. 
 
 A book may also teach a child the organs 
 and offices of his own senses, and he can 
 compare hislesisons with the parts of his body, 
 and their uses. The functions and operation 
 of the mind and body are demonstrated by 
 consciousness and experience. Give the child 
 in his book the language that explains his 
 feelings, and his own voluntary and invol- 
 untary acts, and you will not only enlarge 
 his vocabulary, you will multiply his ideas, 
 and increase his power of communicating 
 them. You do not wish to make a child 
 an anatomist or a metaphysician, you may 
 say. You cannot, if you would, make him 
 either. But you can most easily teach him 
 enough of the laws that are illustrated in 
 himself, to commence the study of human
 
 166 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 more general; History moral, and descrip- 
 tive of manners — full of anecdote and char- 
 acter, rather than of political negociation, 
 points of chronology, and statistical tables — 
 are the proper attractive and edifying geo- 
 graphy and history for the young. 
 
 Much more might be said of the defects 
 of our common elementary books, but it is 
 enough to show that they fail alike of the 
 adaptation and true objects of rational edu- 
 cation. The spirit and the method of that 
 education are indicated in the abstract 
 which forms the first part of this little vol- 
 ume; and the worth of our institutions for 
 education as they are, are, it is hoped, ap- 
 preciated in it as they deserve. To com- 
 mend their prospective value, and their 
 possible influence in accomplishing the best 
 good of this nation, is the only design of the 
 writer in offering the preceding views of 
 them to the public, and especially to influential 
 persons, in those parts of our country which 
 yet stand in need of institutions, enjoyed 
 and estimated in others. The design of this 
 little work will be accomplished, if it should,
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 167 
 
 in any measure, dispose, those who cherish 
 the common welfare and intelligence of this 
 people to equal and excel the provisions of 
 every other country, in their generous cares 
 for the moral advancement of this. 
 
 In page 97 mention was made of the ele- 
 mentary books used in the Prussian schools. 
 The books used in those schools, in the 
 Duchy of Saxe Weimar, and in general, 
 all over Germany, are books of adapta- 
 tion. The few common class books taught 
 in all the popular schools of Saxe Weimar 
 have been thus described : 
 
 <' The first class-book is designed for the 
 youngest children; it contains in regular 
 gradation, the alphabet, the composition of 
 syllables; punctuation, slight stories, sen- 
 tences or proverbs of one verse, &c, < These 
 sentences,' said the great French philoso- 
 pher. Cousin, ' struck me particularly; they 
 contain in the most agreeable shapes, the 
 most valuable lessons, which the author 
 classes under systematic titles — such as,
 
 168 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 our duty to ourselves; our duties to men; our 
 duties to God, and the knowledge of his 
 divine attributes — so that, in the germ of 
 literature, the infant receives also the germ 
 of religion and morals.' " 
 
 The second book is like the first in kind. 
 It does not contain pathetic, didactic, and 
 poetical scraps — it advances the moral, and 
 commences scientific instruction in strict 
 connection of parts. 
 
 " The second book for the use of children, 
 from eight to ten, is not only composed of 
 amusing sketches, the author touches upon 
 matters of general utility. He proceeds on 
 the just idea that the knowledge of the fa- 
 culties of the soul ought a little to precede 
 the more profound explanations of religion; 
 under the head of a dialogue between a 
 father and his children, the book treats, first, 
 of man and his physical qualities; secondly, 
 of the nature of the soul, and its faculties, 
 with some notions of our powers of pro- 
 gressive improvement, and our heritage of 
 immortality; and thirdly, it contains the
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 169 
 
 earliest and simplest elements of natural 
 history, botany, and mineralogy." 
 
 The third book is a continuation of the 
 second. It examines the rational nature of 
 man — the distinction between him and 
 brute animals; and thence deduces the mo- 
 ral obligations. It inquires. What am I? 
 What can I do? What ought I to do, and 
 avoid doing? The most intelligible terms 
 — a matter of infinite importance — and the 
 clearest illustrations are made use of to ex- 
 press and enforce the moral responsibilities. 
 The geography, and also the history of the 
 country in brief, are subjoined. 
 
 ^« The fourth book addresses itself to ad- 
 vanced pupils; it continues the subjects of 
 the preceding books, but amplifies them, and 
 explains the political structure of society; 
 *« it proceeds to conduct the boy, already 
 made rational as a being, to the duties of a 
 citizen. Such are the four class-books used 
 in the popular schools of Saxe Weimar. 
 Such is the foundation of the united, in- 
 tellectual, and lofty spirit of the subjects of 
 that principality." 
 15
 
 170 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 The highly moral and rational charac- 
 ter of these school books is clearly indicated 
 by the preceding statement. 
 
 Basedow, 
 
 Among the practical reformers of popu- 
 lar education in Germany, John Bernard 
 Basedow, is entitled to particular mention. 
 This man, the son of a wig-maker in Ham- 
 burg, suffered much in his early life, from 
 harsh treatment and neglected education, so 
 that he fled from the paternal roof, and en- 
 gaged for a year as a domestic servant, with 
 a physician in the province of Holstein. 
 His father afterwards persuaded him to re- 
 turn to his protection, and placed him in 
 the Gymnasium of his native city. There 
 he was suffered to give private tuition after 
 his sixteenth year, and thus supported him- 
 self. 
 
 In 1753, when Basedow had attained the 
 age of thirty, he was chosen professor of 
 moral philosophy and belles lettres in the
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 171 
 
 academy of Soroe in Denmark. His active 
 and enlarged mind could not limit itself to 
 the interests of mere learning, or of a single 
 institution. The improvement of education 
 in all its applications, formed, in his appre- 
 hension, the best enterprise that a true 
 philanthropist could engage in; and in or- 
 der to call general attention to this subject, 
 he published a work on the Morality of all 
 Conditions, v^rhich first expressed to the 
 world his views of a practical reform in 
 school education; and his lectures on mo- 
 rality and religion, which were attended by 
 many of the young nobility and their tu- 
 tors, also expressed opinions of the same 
 character. Basedow was afterwards remov- 
 ed to the Gymnasium at Altona. Wherever 
 he resided he made himself acquainted 
 with persons most eminent for learning and 
 influence, and he did not fail every where 
 to enlist their sympathies in his favourite 
 project. 
 
 In that he was happily encouraged by 
 
 his most enlightened friends. Count Bern- 
 
 ■ storf, the wise and excellent minister of
 
 172 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 Frederick V. of Denmark, was one of the 
 chief of these, and aided Basedow with his 
 best influence. Convinced that a country 
 however populous, and however abundant 
 in riches, cannot be happy without religion 
 and good morals, Bernstorf held that these 
 are best promoted by proper instruction. As 
 a direct means to promote this important 
 interest of society, he procured a release of 
 Basedow from Altona, and obtained for 
 him, from the king of Denmark, a pension 
 of ^800. This provision allowed him 
 liberty to proceed in the work of reforma- 
 tion which he had commenced. 
 
 In 1768, Basedow drew up a plan for 
 what he considered a practical reform of 
 popular education, which met with the ap- 
 probation of the enlightened Bernstorf. 
 The next year he published proposals to the 
 benevolent and wealthy, on schools and 
 study, with the plan of an " Elementary 
 Book of Knowledge,^^ and by an extract 
 from this work furnished a clear illustration 
 of his proposed mode of instruction. He 
 urgently insisted in the " Proposals" on the
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 17 3 
 
 necessity of altering from the beginning 
 the existing method of education, and re- 
 commended the immediate establishment of 
 a seminary for instruction of teachers in ra- 
 tional method, with a school of experiment 
 annexed, which might exercise the skill of 
 the teachers under discipline, and demon- 
 strate the principles assumed in the course 
 proposed. He also ofifered to prepare such 
 books of rudiments and progressive instruc- 
 tion as were indispensable to the new me- 
 thod. To defray the expense of publishing 
 these, he required adequate funds, and he 
 appealed to the benevolent and wealthy, to 
 furnish them. He addressed letters with 
 his plan to kings, princes, and men of 
 letters soliciting their concurrence; nor did 
 he ask in vain. Catherine H. read his 
 petition with approbation, sent him a 
 thousand rix-dollars, and invited him to 
 make her dominions the field of his opera- 
 tions. The king of Denmark, the heredi- 
 tary prince of Brunswick, and other of the 
 German princes, aided and encouraged him. 
 Klopstock, Lavater, and Mendelsohn, were 
 15*
 
 174 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 among his friends and patrons, and presents 
 and subscriptions flowed in from all quar- 
 ters; of these a considerable portion was 
 procured by the exertions of Lavater in 
 Switzerland. 
 
 Thus encouraged, Basedow, procured the 
 assistance of Mr. Wolke,a competent person, 
 to prepare books of mathematics, natural his- 
 tory, and technology. In 1770, he publish- 
 ed a " Methodical Book," for the use of 
 fathers and mothers of families, and of the 
 common classes of mankind, and soon after 
 an "Elementary Book,'^ illustrated with 
 copper plates. This work was soon trans- 
 lated into French and Latin, and came to 
 frequent republications. It met with the 
 fate of all works of theory and innovation; 
 was highly commended in some respectable 
 journals, and equally disparaged in others 
 as an attempt to supplant the established 
 system. In 1772, Basedow visited Leipsic, 
 Halle, and Berlin, where institutions of 
 Francke and his followers for educa- 
 tion of teachers were in operation. 
 He made this visit of observation that 
 he might derive from these institutions.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 175 
 
 every possible improvement to his own pre- 
 conceptions of a judicious school of Method. 
 The prince of Dessau, about that time, in- 
 vited him to settle in his capital, and pro- 
 mised him a pension. Already a pensioner 
 of the king of Denmark, but believing Des- 
 sau to be a favourable position for his exer- 
 tions, Basedow communicated his views to 
 the Danish sovereign, who consented readi- 
 ly to his removal, and generously continued 
 his pension, and at Dessau, the reformer of 
 schools afterwards took up his residence. 
 There he published, during a period of six 
 years, a series of Elementary Books which 
 were, like the former, illustrated with cop- 
 per-plates, and were of the same character; 
 books of positive ideas; such as agree with 
 the first observations and experience of the 
 young, and which were progressively accom- 
 modated to the enlargement of the wants 
 and powers of the intelligent being. 
 
 In 1774, Basedow, opened at Dessau his 
 Philanthropinum, or school for teachers, 
 &c. This school was continued but a few 
 years; at times with abundant patronage and
 
 176 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 satisfactory success, but not without inter- 
 mitted prosperity, so that at length the pro- 
 jector abandoned it; but the soundness of 
 the principles in which it was founded were 
 sufficiently proved by the experiment; the 
 partial results of which accorded in fact 
 with those more successfully carried out in 
 the schools of Halle, Berlin, &c. 
 
 Basedow, not disheartened by the failure 
 of his undertaking, never withdrew himself 
 from actual service in behalf of education; 
 nor did his influence upon its practical im- 
 provement ever diminish. His books were 
 operating upon young minds to considera- 
 ble extent; the principles he had promul- 
 gated, were germinating wherever they 
 had been diffused; and he was treated with 
 great respect every where for " his work's 
 sake'' — ^particularly in the city of Magde- 
 burg. In that city he spent his last days, 
 and employed himself in forming a plan by 
 which children were initiated in reading 
 with facility, pleasure, and profit. He 
 caused this plan to be extensively distribut- 
 ed, and introduced himself into the primary
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 177 
 
 schools of Magdeburg, where he laboured 
 gratuitously, three or four hours daily, and 
 had the pleasure at length of seeing his 
 system, not only successful, but generally 
 employed, and greatly approved. 
 
 For these unwearied services to the cause 
 of education, no profit accrued to himself; 
 generous princes supplied his moderate 
 wants, and society enjoyed the benefits of 
 his valuable labours. Another favourite 
 employment of this philanthropist, was the 
 examination of pure Christianity; and in 
 this investigation it is asserted that he prov- 
 ed himself to be a warm friend to truth, and 
 a strong advocate for religion and virtue. 
 He could not have laboured so long and 
 generously for society without the incen- 
 tive and consolation of Christian love. On 
 religious subjects, and upon the subject of 
 education he left upwards of fifty treatises. 
 Basedow died 1790, in the 67th year of his 
 age. 
 
 The example of this particular individual 
 as a benefactor of schools is selected for this 
 little work, 'as an exhibition of the spirit
 
 178 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 which ought to enter into this service, to 
 give effect to it, and also of the circumstan- 
 ces which render that spirit in an individual, 
 available to the community. Basedow num- 
 bered men powerful for wealth, for influence 
 upon public opinion, and for genius and vir- 
 tue among his direct encouragers and help- 
 ers. Learned himself, there was no pride 
 nor exclusion in that learning; he wished 
 not to admit a few only within his own halo, 
 where they could be seen and worshipped 
 afar off, by the ignorant sitting in darkness. 
 He desired that the most precious blessing 
 of his existence — enlarged intelligence — the 
 light of the mind, should be free as the light 
 of day; and in order to diffuse that pure 
 light he abandoned all personal advantages, 
 and gave himself entirely to a moral minis- 
 try for the benefit of others. But neither 
 his love of knowledge, nor of his fellow be- 
 ings; the wisdom of his designs; nor the 
 facility of their applications, would have 
 availed him for efficient execution, unless 
 the men of his age had been informed with 
 his spirit; unless they had appreciated him.
 
 IN PRUSSIA. 179 
 
 and his enterprise; unless the same regard 
 for the moral welfare of the young, and of 
 the people, had been cherished in their 
 hearts; and unless the same conception of 
 means, as well as the same estimation of re- 
 sults, had entered into their views. 
 
 In this country a more enlarged public 
 spirit, a more patient attention to detail, a 
 more generous encouragement to individual 
 effort than are now given to the subject, must 
 elevate our popular education, or it will not 
 be elevated. Practical men well informed, 
 and sincerely interested, must examine the 
 elementary works used in our schools; a 
 wise criticism must be exerted upon them 
 if they are expected to accomplish any great 
 good — which undoubtedly they might. The 
 superficial, ill adapted, inaccurate, and of- 
 tentimes exceedingly vulgar books, put into 
 the hands of children at school, by specula- 
 tors and compend makers, debase literature; 
 and make the true minister of things high and 
 holy — things lovely and of good report, the 
 very organ of belittleing the human soul; 
 of narrowing the province of intellect; ot
 
 ISO PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 adulterating the wine of life; of deteriora- 
 ting the bread that comes down from heaven 
 in the forms of science, of poetry, and of 
 true morality. that some generous spirit 
 would engage in this work, would declare 
 the censure of the sound mind upon unpro- 
 fitable teaching; would purge the infected 
 world of the foul abuse, daily and hourly 
 practised upon millions of the young; would 
 call out and encourage the labours of the 
 learned in behalf of little children; and 
 would not forbid any of them, how humbly 
 born soever, to come and drink freely at the 
 public fountain of sound knowledge, nor 
 suffer any to mistake false doctrine for 
 words of wisdom — for principles of right 
 action, of correct judgment, and of that 
 taste which is in harmony with both; which 
 is the grace and ornament of thought, of 
 art, and of human conduct; and which is 
 as much neglected, and as much vitiated in> 
 our popular education, as those faculties 
 which perform the more indispensable func- 
 tions of rational, and improvable beings!
 
 aa 
 
 in t 
 
 true i 
 
 would 
 
 the ceuL 
 
 fitable tt 
 
 world of 
 
 practised i. 
 
 call out anc 
 
 learned in L 
 
 would not fori 
 
 born soever, to t 
 
 public fountain l 
 
 suffer any to mist. 
 
 words of wisdom — fc 
 
 action, of correct judg 
 
 taste which is in harmony . 
 
 is the grace and ornament 
 
 art, and of human conduct; a. 
 
 as much neglected, and as much 
 
 our popular education, as those 
 
 which perform the more indispensab. 
 
 lions of rational, and improvable being.
 
 '^fJ^'ONA 
 
 mn^'^'^FAO:'r. 
 
 B 0000^^^^