COUSIN ON EDUCATION IN HOLLAND.

Ma. HORNER has rendered an acceptable service to the friends el education, as well as to the reading public, by this translation of COUSIN'S Report. The volume is not only instructive for the In. formation it furnishes respecting the statistics and management of the public schools' of Holland, and for the Reporter's judicious

observations on the facts he has collected, but it is also a very agreeable book of travels, full of notices of men and things— of the features of the country, its treasures of art, and of the different marked persons with whom M. COUSIN'S objects brought him into contact. And, what is more important to the reader for mere amusement, the whole is animated by a graceful and lively man- ner of narration ; the very dryest statistical parts being dressed up with the (subdued) vivacity of a Frenchman.

Although some information is incidentally furnished respecting the higher class of Dutch schools, Mr. HORNIER has designedly limited his translation to that part of the original which relates to the Primary Schools,—that is, schools where the first elements of any study are taught. These are adapted to the nature of the so- ciety they profess to instruct, though somewhat varying in different localities, and may be arranged under three heads. 1. Schools for the poor; where the teaching is wholly gratuitous. 2. Inter- mediate schools ; where the education is of a similar kind to that of the first class, but further carried out, and where a small pay- ment is required from each pupil. 3. French schools ; intended for the children of the burghers, or, to use a phrase more expres- sive to English ears, for the lower section of the middle classes. Jo these establishments the French language is added to the other branches of education ; and the charge, though moderate, is still high enough to keep the pupils sufficiently " select."

It will thus be seen, that every child in Holland can be educated M a manner suitable to its condition; and the state takes care that want of means on the part of parents need not be an ex-

cuse for retaining youth in ignorance. The first class of primary schools is supported wholly by the public—sometimes from endowments or funds belonging to the school, and some- times by the parochial or municipal authorities ; assistance, when needed, being grunted to each class by the general go- vernment. For the intermediate schools a building is fur- nished by the authorities ; but they mostly repay their own educational expenses, sometimes leaving a surplus. The French schools of course maintain themselves. These primary schools are all regulated by law,or rather by regulations drawn up under the authority of a law. The Home Minister, assisted by a par- ticular functionary, is at the head of Public Instruction ; and be acts by means of district school-inspectors and boards of educa- tion; but the entire organization is under the control of the Grand Pensionary. No one is permitted to establish a primary school with- out authority : and no one is appointed without certificates of cha- racter and proofs of capacity, which, it would seem, will shortly be obtainable only by a regular course of training in a Normal School. And though the limited extent and small population of Holland may give peculiar facilities to the working of their system, yet its pi in- ciple is worthy of adoption everywhere. The Dutch method of teaching is the simultaneous, not the Lancasterian,—of which both the Hollanders and M. COUSIN entertain very mean ideas ;* and whenever a pupil discovers any aptitude for teaching, united with propriety of conduct, lie is employed in the business of the school as a " candidate." If he pass this test, lie may become an "apprentice ;" receiving pay for his services, and a more extended insti action during the intervals of the ordinary school hours. He next becomes a pupil of the normal school ; and if be go through this ordeal of educational and moral discipline successfully, he is sent forth as an under master, to become in due time a head mas- ter, with the prospect of rising to a sub or chief inspector. By this admirable process, the public teachers of the people are se- lected from the very elite of the people ; a natural aptitude for instruction is improved to the utmost, by instruction being made the business of their whole lives,—with this additional advantage, that at every step the teacher is elevating himself in the social scale whilst he has the prospect of eventually attaining a consider- able degree of competence and respectability. It is painful to turn from this state of public advancement amongst a nation whom we are accustomed to stigmatize as mere muckworms, to the condition of things at home, where there is no national educa- tion at all—no popular education worthLof the name of teaching— where the schoolmasters for the humbler classes are generally men who have failed in every other pursuit, those of the poor being mostly persons whose faculties are on the wane, and who take up teaching as the only resource to eke out the scanty pit- tance of a poor old ago. Referring the reader who is anxious for further information to the volume itself, we will, after this general outline of the system, proceed to take some quotations illustrative of its working, as well as of the kind of instruction given, and the mode of teaching. Here are accounts of the latter.

" The school.rooins are an elongated square. The desks and benches are placed in rows parallel to the side-walls, leaving a sufficient space between the wall and the first bench. By this arrangement, the children, when seated be- hind each other, have their faces turned towards the wall, upon which black boards are hung ; and on these, letters, writing-copies, and various exercises in language, arithmetic, and singing, are written with chalk.

" The school is divided into three classes: the first or lowest class is sub- divided into three forms, the second into two desks ; iu the lowest class there ate no desks, as they du not write. The following is a list of the things taught in the different classes and subdivisions.

" FIRST CLASS.

1st Form, letters and spelling. 2i1 Form, spelling and separating words into syllables. 3,1 Form, spelling, reacting,and punctuation ; numeration and the inultiplication.table.

• The Dutch say that this system may convey info-motion, but not lust rue. aim. They speak from experience; it having been tried and abandoned. " sri OND CLASS.

" 1st Desk reading, parts of speech, principles of writing, formation of ciphers, the first elements of arithmetic, singing. "2d Desk, reading, writing, arithmetic, mental arithmetic, declensions and conjugations, history of the Netherlands, sacred history from the Bible, singing. " In the THIRD CLASS, reading of a more advanced description, writing, arithmetic in its applications by the rule of three and higher rules, the grammar and syntax of the Dutch language, the history of the:Netherlands and of other countries, sacred history from the Bible, and singing.

"

Besides these several kinds of instruction, one hour a week is devoted to teaching the principles of religion. Upon each occasion, the pupils are ques- tioned upon the subject of the lesson, in order that they may fully comprehend what they have read. " The pupils never leave their seats during the lessons : every thing is done by example written with chalk upon the black boards on the walls, in writing, in the study of language, in arithmetic, in singing, &c. ; but they have also hooka for learning to spell and to read; they always write in copy-books, and never use slates except for arithmetic. " The letters of the alphabet are traced upon the hoard before the pupils, as well as diphthongs and if iphthonga, which they are taught to pronounce in one syllable; and they are also taught to unite consonants. and to pronounce them by one effort of the voice. The master of the beginners shows them, on the hoard, the simple letters, the double and compound consonants, and syllables of two and three vowels ; and after they have learned to pronounce them, they are made to find them out in their book ; and in this way they learn insensibly to spell ; so that, in general, in a very short time, there are no longer any of those who are styled the first form of the first clam."

POOR SCHOOL AT THE HAGUE.

At the Hague, there are four schools for the poor ; and Mr. Wynbeck took me to the largest of them. It contained a thousand children, from five to twelve years of age they pay absolutely nothing ; all that is required of them is, that they conic well combed, well washed, and as clean as their poverty will allow. These thousand children were collected in two large school-rooms, 700 on the ground floor and 300 above : without any distinction as to sex or reli- gion. It was one of those schools which made so great an impression on Cuvier, on his first arrival in Holland.

To satisfy me that in this school children of every religious denomination are received, which is also the caw in all other 'schools, air. Wynbeck passed along several of the benches, asking each child to tell him aloud to what con- gregation it belonged. There were on the same bench children of every Chris- ti in communion, with their various shades of difference,—Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, Remonstrants, and Anabaptists ; and Jews were mingled indiscri- minately with Christians. I had in this school an anticipation of what I should find throughout Holland, that entire toleration which pervades it in every part. Another peculiarity in this school is remarkable, viz. tire bringing together of boys and girls in the same room, and even allowing them sometimes to sit on the same bench. There are eleven masters, a herd-master, some under. masters, and several assistants, and, among the latter, some apprenticed assist- ants. The assistants are from fifteen to twenty years of age, the under-masters are somewhat older, and the headmaster is a grave personage of mature years. Having so large a number of masters, shows that the instruction is not mutual, but simultaneous : the system of l'estalozzi is gei.erally acted upon. I heard several of the children examined in the different divisions of this large school ; and I was particularly pleased with the manner in which those in the most advanced class sang a national hymn; which appeared to me of a simple and noble strain, and peculiarly appropriate in a school fur the lower orders. This school is iu very good order : nevertheless, 700 children in one room, although they may present a very gratifying sight, cannot easily he well go- verned ; and when one of the divisions is at work, it always disturbs the divi- sion next to it more or less. I should prefer a school that did not contain more than from three to four hundred, with a master for every hundred scholars. I learned with pleasure that the three other schools for the poor at the Hague are less numerous than this one.

The children of the indigent classes continue at these schools until they are twelve or thirteen years of age, when they are sent to a trade ; but they are not then lost sight of, for they are invited to continue their attendance in the evening, until they are sixteen; by which means, they not only keep rip but enlarge the store of knowledge they had acquired. I asked how many of those who had ceased to be day scholars attended the evening school; and I was told that nearly one-third do. These evening classes are, like our schools for adults, organized on a rational plan.

As the difficulties, or alleged difficulties, springing out of gious feelings, are held forth as one of the reasons why a system of national education cannot be organized in England, it may be well to see what the Dutch say on this matter. The extract also embraces an incidental view of the Normal School.

1. Subjects taught. There are three branches, viz. the art of teaching, properly so called, (pedvogie,) history, and mechanical philosophy ; which, being considered more difficult than the others, are taught by two separate courses during the normal curriculum. The other branches, such as natural history, geography, penmanship, drawing, singing, and mathematics, are taught by one course only, and in succession. The religious instruction is independent of any dogma or creed peculiar to this or that communion ; but Bible history, as the basis of the religion of every sect, is regularly taught, and the moral precepts which occur in the course of the reading are then inculcated. "No," said Mr. Prinsen, " we have not even any special instruction in morals. I can- not form an idea of lectures on morals, or on what is called natural religion, without necessarily entering the domain of metaphysics. But moral and reli- gious sentiments are unceasingly excited, cherished, and impressed upon the minds of the pupils by all the masters on all occasions. The subject of morals belongs alike to all the masters, but no one is specially appointed to teach it. We admit Catholics, Protestants, and even Jews; but the latter are present at the lessons on the Old Testament only. Those Jewish pupils become afterwards masters of schools, which are supported by Jews for the children of their own per- emion."

If we combine this statement of Mr. Prinsen with what Mr. Van den Endo said on the name subject, we shall have before us the great distinctive feature in the primary schools of Holland,—namely, the total absence of all special in. struction either in religion or in morals; and that too in the schools of a people that may fairly be classed among the most moral and the. most religious on the face of the earth. The practice in Germany is quite difierent ; and the differ- ence originates in the opposite natures of the excellent people of the two coun- tries. In Holland, every thing which is purely theoretical or speculative is studiously avoided as an unproductive luxury, especially in matters of education ; and they adhere to that which is real iu its nature,—that is, they devote them- selves to the acquisition of those habits which are the fruit of continued exer- cise. On the other hand, in Germany, where the genius of speculation is dominant, there is not a single elementary school in which the Christian truths, which were made fur the poor in spirit as well as ter the learned, are not taught in a manner the most simple and clear, in all their general doctrines and moral consequences, as the great fouudativu of morality both private and public. I

ken to the side of the Germans. I confess that the absolute separation of the school and the church is, to my mind, in no degree better than the undue inter-

ference of the one with tbesother would be. There is a happy medium in this matter, which Holland is far from being in any disposition to adopt. But I must go on with my description, and leave discussion to another time.

The Normal School of Haarlem is a day school ; unlike the leading establishment of Prussia, where the pupils are hoarded. The Dutch prefer their own plan, as better adapting the scholar to shift for himself when he enters the world. M. COUSIN leans to the Prussian system ; though he admits that sometimes youth who were exemplary under the discipline and control of the school, have committed acts of impropriety when left to themselves on leaving it. Here is the method practised at Haarlem; which, how- ever, is not adapted for large cities. The speaker is Mr. PRINSEN, the head master.

"I must begin with observing, that the pupils come here voluntarily and with the object of perfecting themselves in the profession they have chosen ; it is one therefore of the highest moment to them, and in which their whole future existence is deeply interested. They are thus predisposed of themselves to orderly conduct, and do not require the discipline of a boarding-school. Every one of them may be said to subject himself to the moral discipline which be maintains in the school ; and besides, any one who has not these rood dispositions, or does not acquire them in the first three months, is immediately sent away. Those who stand the test of that state of probation, know full well that the least fault will be severely punished ; that they depend entirely upon the good opinion of the head master ; and that dismissal will inevitably follow the least expression of discontent. They are prohi- bited from attending any public place ; and if found in a public-house, they are severely reprimanded for the first offence, and turned away for a second. They are not allowed to be absent one night from the town without leave from their head master. They are not at liberty to choose their place of abode; a lodging is found for them by the head master, and he settles their accounts. The families who board those pupils have a direct interest to enter into the views of the bead master : it is a mark of distinction, and a great advantage to a family in narrow circumstances, to get pupils of the normal school to live

with them ; and they are taken away upon the least suspicion of any thing being wrong. The pupils are not treated as strangers, but must conform to all

the rules and customs of the family ; and where they are every hour of the day must be known. The head master visits these boarding-houses once a fortnight at least ; and he is in communication with the officers of police, who are offi- cially bound to give him information of Pay thing concerning the pupils which comes to their knowledge."

The prefatory introduction, by Mr. HORNER, is a sort of essay on the necessity of national education being taken up by the Legislature, and on the best course to be pursued in regard to the subject at the present time. The absolute necessity of Par- liamentary authority to give unity and force to any plan of public instruction, is too plain to be made plainer by Mr. HORNER. His suggestions resolve themselves into a commission of inquiry : but it seems to us, that, so far as he is concerned, most of the prin- ciples are already settled by Mr. HORNER in his own mind, before the inquiry is begun.