PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN PRUSSIA.

IN looking- at a system of popular education, the questions which naturally suggest themselves are— Who is taught ? What is taught? How is it taught? As regards Prussia, replies are given to each of these questions, even upon the minutest detail, in the full Report of VICTOR COUSIN. We will proceed to lay an outline of the system before the readers of the Spectator; referring them for fuller information to Mrs. AUSTIN'S excellent translation of the Report. In Prussia, every body must be taught. It is imperative on

parents and pro-parents to send their children to school ; to a pri- vate one if they please, but if they have not the means, to a na- tional, or rather, a state one ; and the authorities are charged with the enforcement of the law. In its leading sections, public instruction is divided into three classes, — Primary Instruction; Instruction of the Second Degree, or Gymnasia; Higher Instruc- tion, or Universities. Primary instruction is subtlived into Ele- tnentary or Burgher Schools, The Elementary schools are in- tended for the children of what an Englishman would term the lower classes. The kind of instruction is always uniform, though the degree may vary according to circumstances ; and some practi- cal branches are modified by the nature of the localities. Keeping in view that the sexes are taught separately, that the girls are instructed in household-work, and that whatever may be attempted is to bc completely mastered, the following passage enumerates the objects of education.

Every complete elementary school necessarily comprehends the following objects. 1. Religious instruction, as a means of forming the moral character of children according to the positive truths of Christianity.

2. The German language, and, in provinces where a foreign language is spoken, the language of the country, in addition to the German. U. The elements of geometry, together with the general principles of drawing.

4. Calculation and practical arithmetic.

5. The elements of physics, geography, general history, and especially the history 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 which shall be given on 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 espc-. chilly that of sight. 8. The shun!, St manual labours, and some instructions in husbandry, accord- ing to the agriculture of the respective parts of the country.

The instructions its religion, reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing, are strictly indispensable in every school. No school shall be considered as a complete m i elementary school, unless t fulfil the whole scheme of instruction just marked out.

In every village throughout the kingdom, an Elementary school should be supported; butt in case of poverty or a scanty population, two adjoining villages may, under favourable circum- stances of position, &c. unite. In towns, where the middle classes are sufficiently numerous to support it, a Burgher school is established. The class of instruction here is similar in its heads to those of the Elementary schools; but it is more extensive and profound, and Latin " within certain limits" is superadded. Where the funds admit, the Burgher schools may advance some- what higher in their objects, so as to "prepare the boys for the learned professions, and qualify them to enter the Gymnasia im- mediately." They then take the title of Progymnasia. The

Gymnasium itself comes under the head of Secondary Instruction; and is described to be of a similar nature to our grammar schools, but more profound, more complete, and partaking much more of the spirit of the living world. The "Higher or University edu- cation" forms the third degree. Of these two last, only general information is given in the volume before us, as the Report re- lating to them was not translated; Mrs. AUSTIN'S object being to produce a cheap volume descriptive of "a living and working system" of National Education.

Though in Prussia any one is competent to he a teacher on giving proof of his competency, by producing certificates of cha-' racter and submitting to an examination as to his qualities, the greater number of masters are now supplied by Normal schools. In these excellent establishments, the pupils are not only taught in a more complete manner the knowledge which it is the object of the national schools to convey : they are trained in what is still more difficult, perhaps—the art of teaching ; and they are sub-

jected to a strict moral discipline. To the Normal school is attached a Primary school, where, in the last year of his pupil- age, the future master is practically exercised in exciting the at- tention, gaining the confidence, watching over and training up the minds, and forming the morals of the young. Nor is this all : except in special cases, the youthful teacher, when it is possible, first takes the station of second master at some of the larger schools, before he enters on what the Germans consider the im- portant task of forming the future characters of human creature's.. In all public undertakings, the ways and means form an impor-

tent consideration. The funds from which the parish (Commune) schoels of Prussia are supported, are various. Endowments for the purposes of education, where any exist, are of course applied to this object. Except in the case of " a poor's-school," the fees of scholars—always. moderate, and when necessary, partly reduced, or de facto almost abolished—form a source of income. If these sources are insufficient, a rate is levied on the householders of the 1111 mune for the support of the commune's school. In cases of nesessity, assistance is given from the public funds of the depart- ment,—atialogous, we imagine, to the English county rate. The Normal schools are supported partly by the State, and partly by the payments from the pupils—astoundingly low at their full mneent, but half or quarter purses (exhibitions) are frequently granted. The total expense, both national and parochial, of public insti uction in a kingdom containing a population of twelve mil- lions, is estimated at about 600,000/.; not half the amount, accord- ing to Lord Chancellor BROUGHA NI. of the charitable funds of England, whose population is very little more. In estimating the applieation of this sum to national education, regard must be had to the greater value of money in Prussia, and to the difference in our mode of living. It must also be remembered that the Prus- sian Government is rigorously economical. Its fundamental maxim is, that every one must work for his pay, and be paid in proportion

ti his work.

The course of instruction, the means of support, and the modes

of working the machinery of the schools, are defined by the ode- catiolial laws. The .managenteet is intrusted to local authorities ; who seem not very dissimilar to what a council composed of the minister and elders of the (Dissenting) churches, conjoined with the parisleoliicers, would be in England. These lesser stars are in some measure subordinate to the departmental authorities, as these again are under the provincial. The contro/ over all is vested iii the Minister of Instruction, assisted by a Council. An annual report must be made from every school ; the particulars it should embrace being strictly laid down. From the Normal Schools the reports are transmitted direct to the Minister. Except in special instances, the communications of the other seminaries are received through the authorities of the provinces. In case a charge of mismanagement or a graver accusatipn is made, or if a suspicion is raised in the mind of the Minister, one of his Council is despatched to the spot, with the authority if not with the name

of an I uspee tor- General. Such are the leading features of public instruction in Prussia.

The consistency, dependevey, and ceutralization of the while, is a work of very modern date (1819-1825); but in the older pro-

vinces, the grounthvoik of the system has been ill being since tile beginning of the last century. In Prussia Proper, the Govern. meta merely improved an old system and rendered it uniform ; iii the newly-acquired provinces, it had to introduce one. But the difficulties met with were few in number : schools of some kind were already founded; the advantage of the plan procured its willing reception; and the admirable instruments already formed in the Normal schools rendered its establishment easy.

It is to be hoped that this slight account of the Prussian system will not keep any reader from the volume; for the sketch is very general, and contains but a slender idea either of its excellence or its practice. Limited as we are to space, nothing but the leading outlines can be given; exceptions or qualifications must of neces- sity be omitted, and many points, as well as details, be altogether unnoticed. Above all, the lifb and beauty of the system must escape. The simplicity of heart, the deep religious feeling, the profouni veneration towards God, the benevolence towards man, the sympathy with the beautiful, the manly submission to poverty and hardship, the blended humility and self-respect, the good feeling and the good manners which it inculcates and produces, as may be gathered from the original documents inserted in the Report, evaporate in compressing. The loveliness of its religion

• (fur, though every individual's creed is left untouched, religious instruction is the basis of the whole scheme), is especially esti- mable. In the outpourings of the spirit among the Saints at home, the terms and the tone are often such as to offend even piety with pretensions to taste. The religious spirit of the German is profounder, more pervading, and as frequently intermingled with the notice of carnal things; but it is so evidently interwoven With his very being—is distinguished by such a guileless simpli- city, and absence of the hateful English vice cant—that even the sceptic, accustomed to scoff, would feel inclined to pray. Well m I Mrs. 'AUSTIN observe, in her admirable Preface- . It has been asserted by some persons, with an ignorance which, if it be sin- cere, is so shameless that it almost deserves to be confounded with dishonesty, that the tendency of the system recommended by M. Cousin is anti-religious. To this every page of the book is an answer. indeed, were I to express a fear on this head, it is that it is far too religious for this country ; that the lofty, un- worldly tone of feeling, the soil it of veneration, the blending of the love of God and of the Good and the Beautiful with all the practical business and the amusements of life, is what will hardly be understood here, where religion is so much more disjoined bah from the toils and from the gayeties of life. To me it appears that there is not a line of these enactments which is not profoundly religious. Nothing, it is true, is enjoined as to forms or creeds; but, as M. Cousin truly says, "time whole fabric rests on the sacred basis of Christian love." As the most affecting, and, I must say, sublime example of this spirit, I refer My readers—espeeially the humbler, and, as I hope, more numerous class of them—to the description of the little schools for training poor schoolmasters in such habits and with such feelings as shall fit them to be the useful and con- tented teachers of the humblest cottager* of the most miserable villages. (See pp. 171, 177.) Here is poverty to which that of many among our working classes is afflu- ence; and it is hopeless, for no idea is held out of advancement or change. Yet if ever poverty appeared on earth, serene, contented, lofty, beneficent, graceful —it is here. Here we see men in the vet y springtime of life, so far from being made—as we ate told men must be made—restless and envious and discontented by instruction, taking indigence and obscurity to their hearts for life ; raised above their poor neighbours in education, only that they may become the ser. vants 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.

I confess myself almost hopeless of the transplantation of such sentiments hither. Religion is made the theme of the fiercest and most implacable conten • tion ' • mixed up with newspaper squabbles and with legal discussions ; her bright and holy garments are seized and soiled by every angry and ambitious hand.

We again recommend this volume. The public mind has been for some time tending towards considering the propriety of National Education. There are signs abroad which ought to stimulate thought into action. The people—half instructed, or we:se, misinstructed—have become acquainted with their power, and the means of using it ; and though the exertions and com- bination of the other classes, and indeed the natural state of things, may prevent them from attaining their mischievous objects, yet constant contention is his from a healthy condition, not to mention the risks of a sudden outbreak. And the only way to reconcile them to irremediable evils, or to ensble them to re- move those which are capable of removal, is to teach them.