EDUCATION 421 sustaining ; an institute and schools for instruc- tion in maintaining and stocking forests ; in- dustrial and trade schools ; schools for drawing and designing ; navigation schools, and an insti- tute for ship building. The government grants aid to numerous scientific and art academies, a medical school, two veterinary institutes, a military, and a naval school. Since 1814, when Norway regained its independence, the system of education has received careful atten- tion, and the various reforms in it attest the democratic spirit which pervades the Norwe- gian institutions and constitutes their strength. Its educational institutions may be divided into five classes : 1, common schools ; 2, grammar and high schools ; 3, Latin schools, and com- bined Latin and high schools ; 4, the univer- sity ; 5, schools for special branches. The first class comprise common schools in the country and those in towns. The former include "lower schools," in which children belonging to a circle of the district receive instruction either voluntary or compulsory, and " higher schools," comprehending several circles or dis- tricts, in which the children receive a more complete education. The law requires that wherever there are 30 children, legally bound to attend school, living so near each other as to be able to attend the same school daily, a common school shall be established. In dis- tricts where a small population is scattered over a surface of several miles, " ambulatory schools " have been established. Where even these are impracticable, the law requires that instruction shall be provided in some other manner. The school committee is empowered to establish schools for children under the school age, which may be conducted by female teachers, and also sewing schools 'and other in- dustrial schools. Manufactories and other in- dustrial establishments are obliged to provide a school for the children of their workmen. The establishment of lower common schools is obligatory on the school districts, but that of the higher schools is optional. It is provided that there shall be at least one common school in every town. The branches of instruction in these are almost the same as in the rural schools, and embrace reading, knowledge of the Christian religion, selected parts of the reading book (which is published by the gov- ernment and is the same in all these schools), chiefly such as relate to history, geography, and knowledge of nature, singing, writing, arithmetic, gymnastics, and military exercises. Attendance on the common schools 12 weeks annually is obligatory for all children living in the country, from the 8th year (in the towns from the 7th year) till the time of their con- firmation, unless otherwise instructed, under penalty of fine and separation from their parents. The school committee, however, may allow the child to leave school at the age of 13, if sufficiently advanced in instruction. Once a year a public examination of the pupils in the common schools is held, in the presence of the pastor and other members of the school committee. All children above nine years of age who are bound to attend school must take part in it, even those receiving private instruc- tion corresponding to that of the common schools. As a rule the primary instruction is free. Each municipal district forms a school district, and has a school fund common to the several circles into which a district may be divided. The municipal council grants the money in all school matters, determines the amount of school expenditures, and apportions the school tax, which is sometimes distributed among all the families of the district, but gen- erally assessed on the residents in proportion to their fortune. All the school districts be- longing to the same province form together a higher school district and have a common fund. A normal school has been established by the government in each of the six dioceses. They are under the supervision of the government, and their teachers are appointed by the king. Connected with each normal school is a chil- dren's school to exercise the normal pupils as teachers. In addition to these, there are smaller institutes for teachers, either as paral- lel classes of a higher common school, or as a higher class of a public common school. The so-called higher or civic schools differ chiefly from the best arranged common schools in the addition of modern foreign languages, and in giving a fuller instruction in other branches. Some of these schools also prepare pupils for the university. They are supported by the municipalities, or at least guaranteed by the towns in case the pupils pay for their tuition. Most of them are exclusively for boys, some for both boys and girls, and two are exclusively for girls. Many of these schools are under the inspection of the superintendents of the dio- cese, and some are supported by the educa- tional fund, which now amounts to more than 3,000,000 specie dollars ($3,335,000). This fund owes its origin to the sale of large estates formerly bequeathed to the clergy and churches. The Latin schools and combined Latin and high civic schools are in the prin- cipal towns and belong to the state. They af- ford a higher general education, intended to prepare students by classical studies for the uni- versity, or by the study of natural sciences for practical life. The greater part of these schools are partly supported by contributions from the state and the town. The pupils pay for tuition in all of them. Until quite recently particular attention has been paid to the study of the classics, but public opinion has compelled a reduction in those studies and a proportionate increase in the study of modern languages and natural science ; and the old Norse tongue and English have been made obligatory studies. The highest instruction is afforded by the uni- versity in Christiania, which has the five faculties of theology, law, medicine, history and philosophy, and mathematics and natural science, with about 50 professors and 1,000
