The School System of Norway Part 10

_Cla.s.s III._ (Three hours.) Same Text. From "Charles V" to "The February Revolution." Review.

_Cla.s.s IV._ (Three hours.) Same Text. Reviewed in its entirety.

The course in history is very rich and its study is entered into with animation. The teacher is usually a master in the subject and he makes the work of great profit. A considerable amount of the cla.s.s period is devoted to a vivid and a.n.a.lytic introduction of the work to be done at the next meeting of the cla.s.s, preparation for which shall be made in the meantime. Problems are presented and purposes are indicated so that the preparatory study may be done with some definite end in view.

All facts of history are placed in appropriate settings and perspective, correlated into a unity, and given vital meaning. Maps, charts, and pictorial ill.u.s.trations are provided in abundance and used constantly.

Frequently historic scenes near at hand or known to the pupils are pointed out, minutely described, and visited.

Teachers appeal to the sentiment of pupils with the aim of begetting loyalty for the fatherland in the hearts and minds of the young. I have heard instructors grow eloquent as they warmed up on phases of Norway's history, and have noted the flushed cheeks and snapping eyes of the children that bespoke the national pride of the young hearts as familiar words, slogans, and songs of their heroes were quoted.

When given an opportunity--a common occurrence--the pupils enter into the rehearsal of historic events with enthusiasm. Every mind in the room is active. They are awake to the situations and are familiar with the scenes and literature connected with the several stages of development.

Replies given in response to questions from the teacher are nearly always in the form of narratives, sometimes occupying ten or fifteen minutes.

General history or history of any foreign country is entered into in a spirit similar to that characterizing the consideration of their own. On one occasion I listened to a review on American history. Among the characters taken up were Grant, Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Lincoln.

The pupils discussed Uncle Tom's Cabin with familiarity, Lee was considered as "The Napoleon of America," but Lincoln was the one to whom most of the cla.s.s period was devoted. At the close of the hour the teacher announced a lecture on "Abraham Lincoln" for the following Sunday evening in the Working-Men's College (_Arbeiderakademi_)[24] of which he was the director. This incident ill.u.s.trates the way in which they correlate the work of different educational organizations, and shows their interest in the important events connected with the history of other nations.

_Geography_

_Cla.s.s I._ (Two hours.) Arstal's Geography. Norway and Sweden. Review.

_Cla.s.s II._ (Two hours.) Arstal's Geography. From "The Central European Mountains and Rivers" to "Asia." Studied and reviewed.

_Cla.s.s III._ (Two hours.) Arstal's Geography. The foreign continents.

Studied and reviewed.

_Cla.s.s IV._ (Two hours.) Arstal's Geography. Repeated or reviewed in its entirety.

Two books are used in the study of this subject. One is made up entirely of well designed, carefully drawn, and thoroughly reliable maps, printed on a good quality of paper. The other is a text giving a good logical statement of what the course is calculated to include. The teacher must provide the major portion of the information by his own initiative and through cooperation of pupils. Ill.u.s.trative material (_Anskuelsesmidler_) is provided in great abundance and in diversified variety.

An effort is made to impart to the pupils a satisfactory appreciation of the conditions prevailing in the countries considered. Their colonization, commerce, products, topography, political subdivisions, cities, population, river and mountain systems, climate, etc., are all carefully studied. The course begins with the geography of Norway. Next foreign lands and conditions are taken up and compared to situations at home. When the various countries on the globe have been kept for a time before the eyes, a thorough review is given which occupies the greater portion of the last year in the middle school course.

_Mathematics_

_Cla.s.s I._ (Five hours.) Numbers resolved into factors. Fractions. Some Proportion.

_Cla.s.s II._ (Five hours.) Algebra: Bonnevie and Elia.s.sen's text. From beginning to division. Geometry: Bonnevie and Elia.s.sen's text. From beginning to right lines divided into equal parts. Arithmetic: Proportion and percentage.

_Cla.s.s III._ (Five hours.) Algebra: Bonnevie and Elia.s.sen's text. From division to equations with two unknowns. Geometry: Bonnevie's text. From parallelograms to Book IV. Drill in percentage and interest.

_Cla.s.s IV._ (Five hours.) Algebra: Bonnevie and Elia.s.sen's text. From equations with two unknowns to close of book. Geometry: Bonnevie's text.

From Book IV to close of text. Review of entire text. Drill in computing solids and other miscellaneous problems. A few hours devoted to bookkeeping.

One of the most favorable features of their instruction in mathematics is the intimate connection they make between the several phases of the subject. Arithmetic, algebra, and geometry are never wholly separated from each other. They are in reality interwoven and so definitely correlated that each contributes to the others. By constant use the several processes become familiar tools in the mental activities of the pupils. Mastery of the principles of the science and ability in their use are the ends to be attained. The outline of the course indicates the extent of the field receiving attention. It is sufficient to say that the topics are all made to appear plain, definite, and vital; and that they are a.s.similated, and do become parts of the growing life.

_Nature Study (Natural Science)_

_Cla.s.s I._ (Three hours.) Botany: Sorensen's text. Written descriptions of about twenty-five plant forms. Zoology: Vertebrates according to Sorensen's text.

_Cla.s.s II._ (Two hours.) Botany: Sorensen's text. From "The Sunflower Family" to "Plant Structure." Plant a.n.a.lysis. Zoology: Sorensen's text.

"Invertebrates." Review from treatise on insects to close of book.

_Cla.s.s III._ (Two hours.) Zoology and botany reviewed. Plant a.n.a.lysis.

Henrichsen's Physics. From beginning to "Properties of Air."

_Cla.s.s IV._ (Three hours.) Henrichsen's Physics studied through and reviewed with related laboratory work. Knudsen and Falch's The Human Body I studied and reviewed.

The plan of work, as noted, includes botany, zoology, physics, and human physiology. Each subject is taken up and pursued in a consistent manner.

In botany plant a.n.a.lysis and structure form the important part of the work. A herbarium is made by each pupil. The study is brought very definitely into the daily lives of the children with the intent of opening their eyes to the conditions in nature about them and of developing in them an appreciation of the almost unlimited provision made for man's welfare. Zoology and physiology are treated in a similar way. They are calculated to enrich the life of the individual by bringing him into more sympathetic relations with all living forms. In physics the child does some experimental work and thereby gets first hand experience to accompany, clarify, and a.s.sist in evaluating the elaborated instruction of the teacher regarding forces, phenomena, and laws.

It was interesting to note in a recitation chiefly devoted to experimental work that the language used in conversation was carefully scrutinized and that errors were corrected. Throughout the curriculum a very definite effort is made to utilize every phase of information possessed by the pupils.

IV. GYMNASIUM

_Religion_

_Cla.s.s I._ (One hour.) Selected hymns, and chapters from the prophet Isaiah.

_Cla.s.s II._ (One hour.) Short survey of church history. Brandrud's text used by some of the pupils.

_Cla.s.s III._ (Two hours.) Short presentation of the Christian faith and ethics, without text. Survey of designated portions of John's Gospel, the Epistle to the Romans, and Revelations.

The instruction in religion is commonly given by the city pastors. While all of these men are highly educated, many of them lack the ability to awaken the minds of the pupils to an active interest in the subject. No examination in religion is required in the gymnasium. As a result of the formality in this teaching and the lack of incentives generally, the members of the cla.s.ses are listless and inattentive. I insert a note that I made in reference to one cla.s.s in which I was a visitor. "Most of the cla.s.s was listless all of the time and all of them most of the time." I have on a few occasions heard short and irrelevant remarks made by pupils in response to direct questions by the instructor, and among the pupils it is accounted no reflection whatever if any of their number states that he knows nothing regarding the situation under discussion.

The work appears altogether void of interest and without profit.

It seems almost pathetic that a subject of such importance should have its richness of content dissipated and wasted through lack of incentives or by reason of unsuccessful methods of presentation. My observation of the work from the beginning of the primary school through all the cla.s.ses up to the completion of the gymnasium convinces me that the personal and concrete presentations in the lower grades are very successful but that the formal, authoritative work in the secondary schools is little more than failure.

_Norwegian_

_Cla.s.s I._ A and B (Four hours.) Pauss and La.s.sen's Reader IV. 1.

Njael's saga. Holberg's The Busybodies and Peter Paars. Part of Ohlenschlager's Aladdin. Baggesen's Noureddin to Aladdin. Hertz's Svend Dyring's House. Also in A, Ibsen's Vikings at Helgeland; in B, Ibsen's The Feast at Solhaug; Bjornson's Synnove Solbakken.

Landsmaal. Garborg and Mortensen's Reader for Higher Schools. About forty pages from Aasen, Janson, Sivle, etc.

Fourteen compositions in each cla.s.s. a.s.signed exercises: Impressions from the summer vacations; what do we learn from Njaal's saga regarding life and customs in Iceland about the year one thousand; a characteristic of the "Busybodies" by Holberg; Christiania as a city of manufacture and industry; a comparison between the east and west of Norway with references to nature and commerce; a painting I like; Norway as a tourist land; do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today; why could not the Persians conquer the Greeks; the dark sides of city life; what circ.u.mstances have combined in giving the Nors.e.m.e.n high ranking as seamen?

_Cla.s.s II._ R. G. (Five hours.) History of Literature through the literature of the North, folk songs, a collection of Danish and Norwegian ballads, selections from Asbjornsen, Moe, and Holberg. Romance poetry, some read minutely and the rest cursorily. Consideration of Aasen and the Landsmaal movement. Sixty pages of Garborg and Mortenson's Landsmaal. About twenty pages of Old Norse from Nygaard's beginner's book.

Written exercises, frequently on topics of interest. Besides all this each pupil must give a discussion on a self-selected theme before the cla.s.s.

_Cla.s.s II._ L-H. (Six and five hours.) Holberg's Erasmus Monta.n.u.s.

Wessel's _Kjaerlighed uden Stromper_ (Love without Stockings.) History of literature to about one thousand, eight hundred. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In the Landsmaal selections from Garborg and Mortenson's Reader (excepting folk songs.) Old Norse: Nygaard's beginner's book. Some pages from Thor to Utgard. Twelve written exercises on important literary, historical, and industrial subjects.

_Cla.s.s III._ R. G. (Four hours.) History of literature from Holberg down to the present. Read scrutinizingly selected writings of Holberg, Ohlenschlager, Wergeland, Welhaven, Asbjornsen and Ibsen. In the Landsmaal read from Garborg and Mortenson's Reader and the writings of Vinje. In the Old Norse read the remainder of Nygaard's beginner's book.