of the people. Complaints are made from time to time of antiquated forms of administration and too close regard for traditional methods of instruction; the teachers' associations of the three Scandinavian countries are extremely active and agitate for greater freedom and better remuneration for the members of the profession. To a certain extent also there is opposition to the excess of clerical influences in the management of the schools.

CURRENT EVENTS.

The following notes pertaining to celebrations, investigations, and associations' meetings, or to isolated efforts for the improvement of schools, are taken from current educational journals of the countries referred to, from official correspondence, and consular reports.

DENMARK.

Centennial celebration.-Denmark is making preparation for a jubilee celebration to take place in 1914, commemorative of the great event 100 years ago, which not only affected the political destiny of Denmark, but also its public school system, the educational code of Frederick VI promulgated in 1814 being the foundation of the present school system of Denmark. In order to prepare for this celebration the teachers' association of Denmark has been holding meetings in Copenhagen, and has announced several important commemorative publications. Among these is a collection of descriptive and biographical sketches of a great number of well-known teachers and their work as authors, statesmen, etc., prepared with the assistance of Dr. Benthin, the distinguished archivist.

Child labor. From an investigation recently made in Denmark for the purpose of ascertaining to what extent school children are obliged to work for their living, it appears that of 370,000 children, 45,000 performed such work in their homes and 65,000 for strangers. In the country it was found that 5 per cent of the children of great farmers, 26 per cent of the children of small farmers, and 41 per cent of country laborers' children worked for strangers.

Some children began such work at 6 years of age, and nearly 14,000 were only 10 years or less. One-half of the children had a working day of 10 hours or more. The day's work began in certain cases at 4 a. m., and for 2,500 children it began at 5 to 5.30 a. m. and seldom ended before 10 p. m. The day's wage for 4,000 children was 10 cents each, together with food, and many received only 10 cents without food.

1 The journals consulted are: Svensk Läraretidning; Norsk Skoletidende; Folkskolans Vän.

NORWAY.

Child welfare. Several places in Norway are taking measures to promote the physical welfare of school children. The American consul at Stavanger reports that the city council has instituted a department for the examination and treatment of the school children. Two dental rooms have been fitted up, and, at the opening of the schools, August 17, 1912, were ready for use by the children. The council appropriated the sum of 3,000 crowns ($804) for dental instruments and apparatus to start with, and the sum of 5,700 crowns ($1,527.60) for maintenance for the first session of the school.

The consul notes that much of the dental equipment has been secured from America, and the dental surgeon selected to take charge of the work received his postgraduate dental course in the United States.1

The city of Bergen maintained an open-air school at Mjolfjell, to which 30 delicate school children from the city were sent for a month's recreation and instruction. They returned from their stay in the mountains strong, active, and greatly improved in health. The community appropriated 1,000 crowns ($268) for this experiment.

Improvement of teachers. In all the school programs prominent place is given to singing, but the teaching is far from satisfactory. A music committee appointed to investigate the subject expresses the opinion that the first requisite is better training for the teachers in this particular art, and advises that more time be given to the subject in the normal schools and under the direction of competent professors. It is recommended by this committee that in order to secure a position as teacher of music and singing in the training colleges the candidate should pass the organist examination prepared by the church department and should have completed a course at a conservatory of music. It was advised that $28 a week should be allowed for this branch in the training school.

A language course is offered in the school for teachers at Elverum. The course begins July 3, and is maintained 7 weeks. Instruction is given in reading, translation, grammar, conversation, and composition in two languages-English and German. Nineteen teachers received traveling scholarships for the school year 1913-14. The sum appropriated for this purpose was 10,000 crowns ($2,680).

The Norwegian Teachers' Domestic Science Training School received an appropriation from the Storthing of 56,400 crowns ($15,115.20); 10,180 crowns ($1,728.24) to be used as a revenue; 46,220 crowns ($12,386.96) for expenses. The salary for the superintendent was fixed at 1,800 crowns ($482.40); 1,200 crowns ($321.60) for the head instructor and for the teacher in cookery; and 900 crowns ($242.10) for an assistant instructor.

1 Communicated by P. Emerson Taylor, United States consul at Stavanger.

SWEDEN.

Church music conference.-The King of Sweden appropriated 500 crowns ($134) to cover the expenses of a general church music conference to be held in Linkoping in 1913.

Teachers' associations.-The importance of promoting more intimate relations between school and home was discussed at the May meeting of the Karlskoga teachers' association, one of the constituent societies of the general teachers' association of Sweden. It was advised that meetings of parents and teachers should be held to promote better understanding of their common interests.

At the same meeting the subject of textbooks in the primary schools was considered and a special committee was appointed to investigate this matter and report the results of their inquiries at the fall meeting. The annual meeting of domestic-science teachers was held in Gottenborg on August 16. From the report of a special committee presented at the meeting, it appears that continuation courses have been provided at different centers in washing and ironing, in baking, and in the preparation of food. Petitions were sent to the King concerning the regulation of the salaries of domestic-science teachers in the common schools and the changes in the requirements for receiv ing State aid for promoting instruction in the subject.

The manual training school at Naas.-The commencement exercises for the first summer courses at Naas were held on July 16. The total number of students was 230, of whom there were 101 students in sloyd, 75 in drawing and modeling, 29 in physical culture, 21 in domestic science, and 4 in gardening. Of these there were 5 students from Norway, 4 from Finland, 1 from England, 6 from Austria, 1 from Brazil, and 3 from South Africa; all the remaining students were Swedes.

The late summer courses in sloyd, physical culture, and gardening began on July 23. There were 226 students, and of these one was from Australia. Besides Sweden, 15 nations are represented.

The general association of teachers.-The fifteenth annual meeting of the association of common-school teachers in Sweden was held July 1-3 at Lund. Between 1,500 and 1,600 delegates attended the meeting, which was one of the largest school conferences that have taken place in Sweden. The discussion related to important phases of school work, viz, vocational training, child welfare, instruction in sloyd, language study, etc.

Particular interest was aroused by an address on continuation schools. The speaker, Per Borgh, described the present state of the continuation school in comparison with the common school, and then explained its aim and purpose. He said in part:

If the work in the common school is to bear fruit in the integrity, efficiency, and patriotism of the Swedish people, then the young people during the so-called transi

tion period must not be left without any influence from the school, but must continue to have the benefit of training and education.

As the continuation school is higher than the common school and not a substitute for it, its courses should be prepared for students who have finished the common school or have received an equivalent education, and they should be arranged according to local conditions, so as to train the student for the practical affairs of life. The course of the continuation school should cover at least two years. Since this instruction, as a rule, will be given by the common-school teachers, they should have an opportunity to study special continuation courses at the expense of a general fund.

Centennial celebration of Swedish gymnastics.-The one hundredth anniversary of the famous Ling system of Swedish gymnastics was celebrated May 5 of the present year. One hundred years ago the King of Sweden granted the inventor of the system, Per Henrik Ling, permission to teach gymnastics in Stockholm, and soon afterwards he founded and became the director of the Gymnastic Central Institute. Throughout the whole country the schools observed the anniversary, the chief celebration being the students' exhibition, which was held in the stadium at Stockholm. The participants were 1,500 young athletes, under the leadership of Capt. B. E. Littorin. The rapidity with which they obeyed the commands of their leader and the precision of their movements excited the greatest admiration. The universities and smaller schools celebrated the occasion with speeches and music. Several groups of young people decorated the grave of Ling as an expression of gratitude for what he had done for the physical health and strength of the people.

Grants to teachers.-For the year 1913 the King of Sweden granted the sum of 1,300 crowns ($571.80) for the study of domestic science in foreign countries. This sum will be distributed among three teachers, who will spend from four to six weeks in Denmark, Holland, and Germany. Each teacher must make a full report of her work within four months after her return to Sweden.

A scholarship of 500 crowns ($134) was granted to Mr. G. Bergh for the purpose of spending about four weeks in studying the school system and the instruction in the public schools of the United States. Mr. Bergh was the secretary of the committee to represent Sweden at the International Congress of School Hygiene in Buffalo.

Legislative acts.-By an act of May 23, 1913, the Swedish Parliament increased the total appropriation for the salaries of teachers in the common schools from 11,200,000 crowns ($3,001,600) to 11,700,000 crowns ($3,135,600); a few days later the Parliament unanimously decided to make an important change in the curriculum of the common schools. Among other subjects, instruction will be given in political economy and one foreign language, either German or English.

THE NETHERLANDS.

CURRENT EVENTS.

The present year closes a century of independence for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the event has been celebrated by many ceremonies and expositions. The latter included a navigation exposition at Amsterdam and an exposition significantly termed "The Woman," which was intended to illustrate the development in woman's status and work in the period 1813 to 1913. The idea was well sustained, and the novel exposition formed a center of interest during the international meeting of women held at The Hague in May.

The Kingdom holds high rank among European nations for the general diffusion of education and the low degree of illiteracy, although in the latter respect it is surpassed by the neighboring Scandinavian countries. Statistics for 1900 showed for the Netherlands 1.4 per cent of illiterates among the army recruits, against less than one-half of 1 per cent in Sweden and Denmark. The contrast in this respect was one of the causes of the support secured for the compulsory provision included in the education law of 1900. The law also gave some advantage to public secular schools, as compared with denominational schools; but this advantage was incidental to the main purpose of the provisions with regard to the teachers' salaries, an advantage that could not be extended to private schools without radical changes in existing laws. Private schools, however, were placed upon the same basis as public schools with respect to State subventions. The effect of the law, on the whole, has been to increase the number of denominational schools. According to statistics of 1911, on a total of 916,594 pupils, 353,547, or a little more than 38 per cent, were enrolled in schools under the control of the various religious bodies.

The Liberal Party in the Netherlands, as in other countries, are striving for the establishment of a free system of secular education under public control, and since their power has been greatly increased by recent elections, it is believed that an amendment to the school law looking to that final result will be submitted to the StatesGeneral.

Ample provision is made in the Kingdom, both by public and private agencies, for industrial and technical training. The industrial or technical schools of the lower order have always been regarded as complementary to the elementary schools, but the law of 1900 made the completion of the elementary grades an obligatory prerequisite for admission to the lower technical schools. This action reenforces the compulsory provision of the law, as parents are eager to secure the practical training for their children.