CHAPTER XVI. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. (1895-1890.) BY PROF. ALEXANDER OLDRINI. Scholse, ut recte procedant, praeceptoribus optimis opus est—et sana doctrina imbutis. Igitur, caveant consules, ne quid Rospublica detriment! capiat-. INTRODUCTION. Eppur si muove! The development of public education among the masses is not only the loftiest attainment of progress, in the perception of the intellec¬ tual of every civilized nation, as a means to surely raise their people to destinies marked with superiority and glory; but it is also a prob¬ lem the masses themselves nowadays begin to appreciate as the most powerful and objective means by which to foster their social and material redemption. So that, at the end of the wonderful century that heralded to humanity at large the conception that frontiers can no more exist between nations under the enlightenment and subsequent growing applications of science, education ceases to be the patrimony of the few, a literary tournament for the mind, but affirms itself as an accom¬ plishment of the first order for one and all in the competition for the betterment of life, and for the mastery,of nature’s eternal, creative forces. Italy, the atavitical “alma mater gentium,” could not, on the threshold of her third resurrection (1859) as a worldly power, fail to be strongly and immediately impressed with the truth that pervades t he modern world, and her first national parliament, led by such famed men as Count Cavour, the staunch supiiorter of the principle of the supremacy of the civil power for Italy, “a free church in a free state,” iH'omptly decreed the necessity of compulsory instruction. Then, so soon as the Peninsula, through the holocaust of 45,000 lives, lost all along the Via Crueis of her martyrdom, and the (for her) ruinous expense of $300,000,000, could proclaim her independence from for¬ eign rule, the first national census was ordered (1861). Although an initial measure, difficult therefore and inconrplete in its methods and results, that very first census brought to light the manifold moral and material evils of which the once glorious land had become a helpless victim. In certain districts of central and southern Italy it was then found that illiteracy had reached the average of two-thirds of the entire population, Reggio di Calabria and Catania furnishing the amazing proportion of 93 per cent of illiterates. Marquis Massimo d’Azeglio, one of modern Italy’s most brilliant 839 840 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. statesmen, artist and scholar, summed lip the abnormal situation thus revealed by the figures of the first Italian census of publicf instruction and other vital matters in these memorable words: “Italy is made: we must now make the Italians.” Following his call, amid the proverbial indifference of the Italian wealthy class, and almost without means, an elite of thinkers, legis¬ lators, and enlightened progressive citizens put themselves at once to the ungrateful task of stamping out ignorance, indolence, and super¬ stition, against the will of the seemingly degenerated Italian masses. Public men they were and humble pioneers of human progress, -work¬ ing together as a sacred phalanx to raise their historical country to the apprehension of modern civilization. That some results, although not thoroughly satisfactory, were obtained within the comparatively short period of forty years, is thus due practically to their action, of which the law Casati, enforc¬ ing public primary education (1859), was the first move in the right direction. Afterwards followed the law of 1877, that expelled sec¬ tarianism from national education, permitting the adoption by the communes of Italy of new programmes for primary schools more in touch with modern aspirations and the real wants of the Italian people. Under the law of 1877 compulsory education was enforced by requir¬ ing the appointment of teachers for children between G and 9 years of age as follows: First, in all communes of less than 5,000 inhabitants, one teacher of inferior class for each 1,000 inhabitants; second, in the communes having between 5,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, one teacher for every 1,200 inhabitants; third, in the communes having over 20,000 inhabitants, one teacher for every 1,500 inhabitants. At the end of 1896 all of the 8,2G0 communes of Italy had complied with the requirements of. this law. The nature of this sketch is such that the writer must refrain from quoting the names and the works of all the worthiest pioneers of edu¬ cational reform in modern Italy. However, with a view to offering all the necessary information with regard to the fundamental difficulties that still stand in the way of its systematic development, he will offer, besides the regular statistical figures by Prof. L. Bodio, the illustrious chief of the Italian department of statistics, a survey of the most recent official documents, such as laws and reports on public educa¬ tion, etc., and consider with special care the repoits for 1897 and 1898 of Prof. Francesco Torraca and Prof. Giuseppe Castelli, both superior officers in the department of public instruction, addressed to the present minister, Dr. Guido Baecelli, “pensatore e scienziato insigne,” the originator and the energetic center of the recent move¬ ment, that marks a turning point in the reform of the whole system of education, on the following lines of his programme: “Absolute autonomy in Italy in superior and special education; decentralization and specialization of secondary instruction; and public primary and normal schools under the permanent and immediate control of the State.” 1 1 For the full comprehension of the origin of the educational system in Italy, since the Casati law, the reader is respectfully referred to the information so intelligently collected for a. number of years by Miss Frances Graham French, the zealous specialist in the school systems of northern and eastern Europe; and, furthermore, to the three sketches successively prepared by Prof. Oldrini and Prof. Bodio, for 1890-91; Prof. B. A. Hinsdale, 1893-94; and Dr. E. Rossi, 1894-95, and published in the Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education for the years specified. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 841 I. Statistics. Italy: Area, 114,410 square miles. Administrative divisions, 69 provinces, 8,260 communes or boroughs. Population, 31,500,000 (January, 1899). Italians abroad estimated at 4,000,000, of whom about 1,500,000 are in the United States. Number of pupils in kindergartens and primary and normal schools in 1895-96, Pupils. Per 100,000 inhab¬ itants. Pupils. Schools. Kindergartens... 317.117 1,020 9 Public and primary schools._....._ 2,379,349 210,074 101,025 7,650 675 147 Private schools __ ___ _ _ . 29 Evening schools__ _ - .. ..- 325 9 Sunday schools.. .. _ .. ... .... 50,344 7,319 24,152 162 6 Superior female complementary schools .... 24 0.69 Normal schools..... .. 78 0.48 3,089,380 9,934 This number of pupils is about 10 per cent of the total population of Italy, besides 28,455 pupils in Italian schools abroad. KINDERGARTENS. Kindergartens have been instituted by the communes into which Italy is divided for purposes of administration, also by corporations, private societies, and citizens. There are 2,813 kindergartens in 1,888 communes, frequented by 317,117 children, of whom 160,185 are males and 156,632 females; or one kindergarten to each 708 children between 3 and 6 years of age, and 15.9 per cent of the children between those age limits attending kindergartens. Comparison for the last decade ( 1SS6-1S96 ). 1886. 1896. Increase. Kindergartens__ . ______ 1,489 252,763 5,603 2,813 317,117 6,884 1.324 64,354 1,281 Pupils .. .. .. ..... Teachers _ _ _ ____ In 992 kindergartens all the children were admitted free; in 1,208 only the children of the poor were admitted free; in 613 all children paid (of which 418 kindergartens were private and 195 public). Four hundred and seventy-eight kindergartens had adopted the method of Froebel, 135 that of Aporti, and 2,200 both methods. The expenditure for the year 1896 for all kindergartens appears to have been $1,332,000, this amount having been supplied by the state, the provinces, and the communes, as well as by donations, bequests, contributions, etc. Recently the kindergarten institution lias been brought under the control of the scholastic authorities, under the initiative of Minister liaccelli. 842 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. COMPULSORY PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. Teachers .-—The number of public-school teachers in 1896 was 51,505, or 1.65 to every 1,000 inhabitants—that is, 1.47 for primary courses and 0.18 for normal and superior female courses complementary of the former. Public day schools .—There were 50,526 opened in 8,247 communes; that is, 40,705 obligatory of the inferior degree and 4,798 of the supe¬ rior, besides 5,023 not obligatory, of which 4,046 were of the inferior and 977 of the superior degree. School buildings .—For the inferior degree there were 44,751 build¬ ings, with 44,431 teachers and 1,341 assistant teachers; for the supe¬ rior degree, 5,775 buildings, located in 1,831 communes, provided with 5,447 teachers and 286 assistants. Pupils .—The total number of pupils that attended public day schools of the inferior grade in 1896 was 2,212,325, of whom 139,577 were in private schools duly recognized by the Government. The primary inferior degree, divided into three courses, had 1,123,929 pupils for the first elementary year, 655,830 for the second, and 432,566 for the third. The number of pupils attending the primary superior course, a complementary course of the inferior, was 167,024, of whom 106,171 attended the fourth year’s course and 60,853 the fifth and last; in all, 167,024, of whom 21,560 belonged to private schools recognized by the Government as equal to the public ones. So that the grand total for the five classes constituting the inferior and superior complementary courses in primary public day instruc¬ tion was, including both public and private schools, in 1896, 2,212,325 plus 167,024—that is, 2,379,349, or 8.33 for every 100 inhabitants in 1896—whereas in 1872 the attendance was 6.43 per cent of children between 6 and 12 years of age. The full 100 per cent in attendance, under the obligation of the law relating to public elementary schools, was possible only in the northern provinces of Piedmont and Lombardy. The number of public school buildings regularly opened in 1896 averaged 1.62 for each 1,000 inhabitants. The pupils registered in each of them averaged 49 for the inferior three courses and 29 for the superior two courses. The number of private day classes in schools where there was no regular division between the inferior and the superior degree, as is the case in Government schools, reached 4,210; these were located in 9,000 buildings, with 9,565 teachers having a diploma and 1,088 with¬ out one. They were attended by 210,070 pupils (69,424 males, 140,650 females), divided as follows: 165,011 in the inferior three courses (51,114 males, 113,897 females) and 45,064 (18,310 males and 26,753 females) in the superior. The imoportion of private school buildings to the population was 0.29 per 1,000 inhabitants, the pupils attending them 6.73 per 1,000 inhabitants, or 23 pupils to each building and 1 teacher to every 22 pupils. There was, therefore, a total, both in public and private primary schools, of 59,526 buildings, 62,077 teachers, and 2,589,423 pupils, of whom 2,377,336 were in the three inferior and 212,087 in the two supe¬ rior grades, or 19 buildings per 10,000 inhabitants on an average and 83.26 pupils per 1,000 inhabitants, this latter proportion being iden¬ tical with the 8.33 per cent of the total population of Italy before PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 843 •mentioned. Evening, Sunday, female complementary, and normal pupils are not included in these figures. Enrollment .—The children subject bylaw to attend primary schools in 1896 numbered 2,353,165. There were actually found to be enrolled the following number: Inferior degree: Under 7 years of age_ From 6 to 9 years of age Over 9 years of age. Not classified.. Superior degree: Under 10 years of age __ From 10 to 12 years_ Over 12 years of age_ Not classified_ Grand total 72,225 1,558,977 726,968 19,166 - 2,377,330 31,391 117,427 62,442 827 -212,087 2,589,423 The excess of the actual inscriptions (2,589,423) over the obligatory (2,353,165) or 236,258, is to be attributed to the eventual admission to school of children under 6 and children over 12 years of age. Graduation .—The pupils of the three inferior classes of primary instruction, whether they come from public or private schools, obtain at the end of the third scholastic year after the examination a diploma that admits them to the two next superior classes. Those having graduated from the superior courses are admitted to the normal school or to the first class of secondary instruction, either classic education (ginnasio) or technical and commercial courses. A royal decree (April 26, 1896) prescribed that all pupils having received during the year a monthly average of seven-tenths points should not be required to undergo examination at the end of the scholastic year. This pro¬ vision seemed not to have proved practicable, however, in every case, since a subsequent decree (1898) reestablished the obligation of the examination for the pupils of the first, second, and fourth elementary classes. Results of the examinations for the year 1S95-9G . Male. Female. Percentage of Graduation. Male. Female. Three inferior courses: Examined..... 154, .526 107,113 16,203 11,556 121,063 88,928 8,339 6,478 Graduated . .. 09.32 73.46 Two superior courses: Examined __ Graduated....- 71.32 77.08 Night and Sunday schools .—With a view to complete the instruc¬ tion of children that have discontinued their studies after graduation from the third year of compulsory instruction the law of 1877 com¬ pelled them to attend night or Sunday schools for one year longer. However, the law has not made it compulsory upon the communes to keep night and Sunday schools, so that this kind of public instruc¬ tion can not give good results, lacking, as it does, proper direction and control. Adults are admitted in them from the fact that they 844 I ■ I EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. are public and free of charge and supported by the State and (vol¬ untarily) by the commune when not by private contributions. In 1896 night and Sunday schools were regularly opened in 1,969 communes only; that is, night schools in 1,059 communes and Sunday schools in 498, and night and Sunday mixed in 412. There were none open in 6,291 communes. The school buildings occupied numbered 4,687, 2,808 for night and 1,879 for Sunday schools. The attendance amounted to 151,369 pupils, 101,025 taking night and 50,344 Sunday courses (110,468 male and 40,901 female). Superior and complementary female schools .—The programmes for these schools are such as to correspond to preparatory courses for admission to normal schools. They include drawing, foreign lan¬ guages, bookkeeping, and other branches pertaining to both arts and professions. In some of these schools, especially if annexed to conservatories of music or private colleges, the pupil being prepared at once for the diploma of teacher, all the subjects are taken up according to the programme of normal schools, with the addition of pedagogy, mor¬ als, hygiene, and rights and duties of a citizen. The superior elementary female schools, however, have been insti¬ tuted with the main object of securing to girls, the majority of whom do not pursue special or higher instruction, a degree of instruction superior to the one imparted in the two elementary courses, with a view to enable them to enter at once upon practical bookkeeping, correspondence, etc., whether in a store or with a commercial firm, or to prepare them to make a living in other practical industrial fields, such as artificial flowers, gloves, hats, dresses etc., where young women are mostly desired. In 1895-96 there were 142 schools complementary to the elementary courses, and 72 schools so complementary and also preparatory to the examinations for the diploma of admission to normal schools. These schools had in all 1,765 teachers and 7,319 girls. The majority of them were private, that is, there were 137 private to 77 public. Of the public schools, 45 were supported by bequests and public donations, 24 by the funds of the commune, and 8 directly by the Government. Normal schools i—In 1895-96 there were 148 normal schools, of which 138 were for superior instruction (32 for males and 106 for females) and 10 for inferior instruction. The new law, promulgated in 1896, reduced them to a uniform basis, with three courses, at the end of which the pupil receives a diploma of teacher for the two degrees of primary or elementary instruction. The majority of the normal schools, 117 out of 148 (34 for males and 83 for females) are now under the control of the Government; the remaining 31, not following the official programme, are free, and are divided into 2 schools for males and 29 for females, with a total of 2,253 pupils. The total number of pupils in Italy’s normal schools in 1895-96 was 24,152 (1,836 males and 22,316 females), averaging 163 pupils to each school, of whom 161 were females and 2 only males. Of the total imputation, 4.76 per million were normal pupils. The disproportion between the attendance at normal schools of young men and young women really indicates the increasing tendency of the latter to control the teaching in the field of primary education throughout the country, while the male element, as will be explained later on, pursues almost exclusively its way toward secondary, special, PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 845 and superior instruction. It is gratifying to be able to state at this juncture that the standard of efficiency of female teachers for primary instruction is considered by competent authorities such as to insure continued progress in the efficiency of the elementary schools them¬ selves, considered .as a whole. The attendance of the two sexes at normal schools will be better appreciated by comparison with the statistical figures of the last decade. 1885-86. 1896. Normal schools . . ........ 133 1,287 9,255 12 88 118 1,836 22,316 8 92 Male pupils__ _ _ _ __ ___ _ _ _•. Female pupils. ... .. _... Percentage of males _ . ....... ..- Percentage of females... .. __ _.. In 1895-06 the examinations in normal schools for teachers’ certifi- « cates were attended by 7,681 pupils, of whom 5,183 were admitted; 52 per cent being males and 74 per cent females. Italian schools abroad .—It may be interesting to learn of the efforts made by the Italians, under the intellectual initiative of the National Literary Society Dante Alighieri, for the preservation of the national language in foreign countries. In Turkey, Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, Tunis, and Tripoli elemen¬ tary instruction is given in 33 schools for males, and 22 for females, attended by 4,945 boys and 3,145 girls—or, for 55 schools for primary instruction, 11,087 pupils, besides 11 kindergartens with 1,786 children. There are, moreover, Italian schools in a number of European States, as well as in South America and in the United States, with an attendance of 11,215 pupils of both sexes, and a number of parochial schools having about 6,053 pwpils. These figures, published by the Italian department of foreign affairs, have been prepared by the consular authorities in the above- mentioned countries, and are for the year 1898. EXPENDITURE FOR PRIMARY AND NORMAL PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. The communes of Itaty are compelled by law to support, out of their income, a number of public elementary schools proportional to the population; to pay all salaries to teachers, clerks, and school employees; to contribute to their pension funds, and to provide for all rentals and furniture, including gymnastic apparatus. The minimum yearly salary for teachers paid by them is determined t>y law as follows: Teachers of the superior degree: Cities, males___ Cities, females___ Country, males_ Country, females__ Teachers of the inferior degree: Cities, males ... Cities, females.. Country, males ... Country, females. ... $200 to $204 160 to 211 160 to 180 130 to 144 180 to 200 144 to 160 140 to 150 112 to 130 These salaries are increased by one-tenth every six years of unin¬ terrupted service, and four times in a period of twenty-four years of service. 846 EDUCATION REPORT, 1888-90. The communes, however, without obligation under the law, pay also for kindergartens, evening and Sunday schools, and a number of primary schools beyond the obligatory ones, as well as for special nor¬ mal schools and colleges thereto annexed, for which they furnish the buildings and the furniture and eventually grant a certain amount of purses for poor pupils. The total expenditure of the communes for 1895-96 was about $12,150,000 of which almost a third was for salaries paid to teachers. Of that amount $880,000 constituted a voluntary contribution by the communes for the aforesaid purposes, thus affording an average of $1.05 for each pupil attending day (primary and normal) schools, and $1.01 for those attending night or Sunday schools or kindergartens. Considering the total-population of Italy, this expenditure amounted to 39 cents per inhabitant. The 69 provinces contributed to the same end the amount of $150,000 only. The State contribution for primary and normal education for the year 1896-97 was about $1,200,000, covering particularly the expenses of the two special superior normal institutes for females of Rome and Florence, and of a number of female colleges, besides special subsi¬ dies to deaf-and-dumb institutes, to sick teachers and their widows, to special didactic publications, libraries, for the purchase of scien¬ tific instruments, etc. THE TEACHERS’ PENSION FUND. At the end of 189G the pension fund for the benefit of elementary teachers, their widows and orphans, amounted to $11,899,132. The annual dues from the communes to the fund, being equal to the 5 per cent of the salaries paid and that of the teachers themselves to 4 per cent of their salaries, amounted to $497,550, while the State has contributed annually since the year 1878 to said fund the sum of $50,000. This contribution is expected, however, to come to an end in 1900. The full pension is due to a teacher after twenty-five years of regu¬ lar teaching, on the basis of the average of his salary, provided that the amount does not exceed the average of his salary of the last three years. In case of his death the widow and orphans are admitted to the benefit of his pension in proportion to his already acquired rights, but in no case shall the pension thus revertible to the widow and orphans exceed two-thirds of the pension enjoyed or that the teacher pre¬ viously was entitled to at the time of liis demise. The number of communes obliged by law to contribute to the teachers’ pension fund in 1896 was 8,133. The kindergartens and schools subject by law to contribute to the pension fund numbered 40,462, besides 404 other special institutions. The number of teachers likewise compelled by law to contribute to it was 39,708 in primary schools and 462 in kindergartens and other educational institutions. ILLITERACY. The grand totakof illiterates between 6 and 20 years of age amounted in 1888 to 61.94 per cent (64.09 between 6 and 12 and 54.30 between 6 and 20), proportionally divided as follows: Northern Italy.......40.86 Central Italy. 64.61 Southern Italy. 83.52 Insular Italy ...80.92 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 8-17 The progress thus realized in public elementary instruction in Italy between 1881 and 1890 is shown by the present percentage of 55.24 of illiterates (08.04 male and 47.43 female) or a decrease of 0.70 per cent in the number of illiterates in fifteen years. V II. Report for 1895-90 of Prof. F. Torraca, Director of Pri¬ mary and Normal Instruction, to the Minister of Public Education. Says the director: “To courageously face the reality, however sad and painful it may be, means spurring the people to the realization of much different ideals.” He starts by stating that the 227 scholastic inspectors of Italy, whose annual reports are gathered by him through the 09 provincial “provveditori,” upon whose authority the inspectors directly depend, did not perhaps perform their inspection according to the expectation of the department. “ When, ” writes Professor Tor¬ raca, “once for all I decided to know the whole truth about the real condition of public, primary, and normal instruction of the country, and began to read and compare said reports, rather tardily and with difficulty obtained from our inspectors, I found that some abounded in detail, others offered only scanty and incomplete information, while the remainder were only empty rhetorical generalities.” Even in tlie matter of statistical data “ some reports offered only a small amount, and others none at all.” Whenever statistics were given in sufficient quantity, he found that they Avere prepared on no uniform basis, either with regard to matter or method. This criticism of the director had the real merit of spurring public opinion and determining the movement of reform, of which an account will be given further on. One of the main points of Professor Tor- raca’s criticism is that in which he particularly reflects on the inspect¬ ors’ zeal; but it must be said in their defense that the law did not yet arm public inspectors enough to successfully fight the wayward policy of many communal authorities, especially with regard to questions of hygiene, buildings, teachers’ qualifications, pupils’ attendance, etc.; and, furthermore, that to overcome the evils and the incompatibilities blocking the onward march of public instruction many an inspector (“whose chief duty is to indicate to the Government how to force a new' life into the national system of education”) made some fearless, at least, if not very methodical, expositions of the real state of things as they found it, as appears from the following quotations: From a letter of the “provveditore” of Campobasso (southern Italy), accompanying the report of the inspector of his province: “The laws of 1878 and 1888, providing for the construction of new buildings suitable for schools and for the repair of existing ones, found the communal authorities of this province reluctant. The commune of Casa Calenda only (and there are 133 communes in the province) has built a good schoolhouse. Many of the buildings that are now m use for school purposes should be absolutely given up, hygiene, pedagogy, and morals imperiously requiring it.” A special law seems to be necessary to that end, as in the rural communes “there is not a single case of decent premises that could contain fifty to seventy pupils;” and this, in certain instances, notwithstanding the good disposition of the municipalities themselves. The inspectors of Oristano (Sardinia): “In most of our communes the schools are in unhealthy hamlets, are without a ceiling or a floor,” and are “badly 848 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. protected with out-of-joint windows.” That of Sanremo (Liguria): “Low garrets, without air, light, space, and toilet rooms.” That of Pallanza (Lombardy): “So badly built and located that no child can assuredly learn propriety or cleanliness there.” That of Susa (Pied¬ mont) : “The nonclassified school buildings are in fact stables, where the noise of the animals there gathered, such as oxen, donkeys, sheep, chickens, etc., constitutes a great distraction.” “I felt repugnance,” says the courageous inspector, “on entering, and as the air that one breathes in them is highly vitiated, I coukl not endure to stay long, so that my visit did not amount to much. The municipal administra¬ tion, however, holds that the pupils, being for generations used to stable schools, do not suffer by them.” Such a state of things, deplorable in itself, but which, however, seems to be an exception with the rural schools of northern Italy, assumes a more general character in the southern provinces: “In almost all rural schools in the district of Isernia there are no toilet rooms.” In the district of Avellino, “seven communes excepted” out of 66, “the school buildings are small, dirty, without light or air, or even toilet closets.” The same observation holds good for the dis¬ tricts of Alghero and Ozieri, “with only four exceptions.” The inspector of the district of Calfanisetta (Sicily) writes of “schools that are real prisons, not temples of morality and teaching, where the children suffer so much that they hate to go there; where, besides, they can not find room enough,” etc. The inspector of the district of Clusone reports that “the atmosphere of the schools is so corrupt from the miasma of the water-closets that they constitute practical centers of infection.” In the commune of Carife “the second and third courses of male primary schools are located in the building of an old cemetery, in the rear room of which there is still a pile of bones,” etc. An inspector from Sicily concludes, after the darkest picture of his own district, and almost in despair, that “veritas odium parit.” The main cause for this incredible state of things, affecting the rural districts, is given by Professor Torraca in these words: “It appears that the buildings rented for school purposes, in most cases, are not what they ought to be, because they are selected by either incompetent or interested people. Inspectors report that in a number of communes the school buildings are selected, however unfit and at a rental of two or three times their value, simply because the owners of them are aldermen.” He then adds: “Whenever the department of public instruction saw its way clear to act, the communes have duly been recalled to the fulfillment of their duty.” However, after so detailed and open an exposure of facts he finds grounds to praise many communes of northern Italy and Tuscany, and a few of southern Italy for the progress realized in school buildings, which, as one naturally anticipates, are generally up to expectation in the largest cities of Italy. The logical conclusion of the director’s report on the subject is that, “in order to eradicate such evils, the inspector ought to be given full authority with regard to the choice of school buildings; enough power, in fact, to cancel if necessary the rental contracts made by the commune, even when they have the approval of the local board of health.” But, as is urged by many an inspector, “the only radical measure that would bring a remedy in a short time to the school-buildings evil, would be a law compelling every commune to build outright a school at its own expense or with the helj) of the subsidies and loans for that purpose granted by the Government to PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 849 the communes in pursuance of the above-quoted laws of 1878 and 1888.” School furniture .—Inspectors report in a general way that the furniture has been found good in 16,129 schools, deficient in 20,403 and bad in 13,497. To quote the statistics furnished by the inspector of Koto, it appears that in 1895-96 in his district, “ 6,952 children being under legal obligation to attend school, 4,371 of them were actually inscribed on the school rolls, but only 3,943 could be accom¬ modated.” Other inspectors complain also of the quality of the accommodations: “Contrary to hygiene and discipline,” says the inspector of Gallipoli, although “the school furniture prescribed by the scholastic by-laws, aiming only at the strictly necessary, should come within the means of every commune.” It is reported, however, that in many instances ‘ 6 no regular inventory of the scholastic fur¬ niture is ever made, and that consequently there is no regular deliv¬ ery made to the teachers;” so that “they do not take proper care of it, with the result that even new furniture, bought with the subsidies of the Government, becomes in a few years useless. The apparatus and material used in instruction, “of which many communal officials fail even to appreciate the usefulness,” have been found to be in very much the same condition as the furniture, viz, good in 15,790 schools, insufficient in 19,560, and less than that in 16,679; so that, observes the much dissatisfied director, “from the land where the orange tree is in blossom our thoughts turn with melancholy to the northern countries of Europe, where the schools have benches ration¬ ally made; where the teacher’s chair is respected; the cabinets for collection of objects plentiful; the library of a good size; the wall maps and the models for manual training efficient; where there is to to be found a musical instrument to accompany the singing of moral songs, of psalms, or of patriotic hymns; * * * because in those countries not only the Government or the municipal authorities look out for.the schools, but also the family itself.” However there has been some progress realized on this point, as well as toward the organization and circulation among the people of scholastic and popular libraries. As to the important question regarding the heating and cleaning of the schools, there are still very many complaints, especially on account of unhealthy stoves, the lack of proper water, and cleanliness of the halls and of the pupils themselves. At Fondri, Itri, and in other communes, reports the inspector of Gaeta, “I found the pupils to be dirty in their persons and wearing dirty clothing; the heads of many of them being covered with sores that infected the atmosphere, so that I had to order ’them out of the schools, although the official of the local board of health assumed that they were not contagious.” These evils are due in part to the scarcity of school janitors, and to the lack of authority and energy of some teachers. The second part of Professor Torraca’s report bears on the following important subjects: The teachers and their teaching in general, the national language, arithmetic, history, geography, rights and duties of a citizen, penmanship, gymnastics, drawing, singing, female edu¬ cation, elements of agriculture, manual training for males, etc. He states that almost all the inspectors report to him that, as a whole, the teachers’ education, both moral and intellectual, which is the most important point, is generally reputed to be good; that they have ed 99-54 850 - EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. dignity and that they conscientiously perform their duties; so that during the year 1895-96 the scholastic authorities very seldom have had occasion to summon, to reprimand, or to punish them. In the year 1895-96, out of 50,048 teachers, 18,773 were considered very good and efficient, 23,995 tolerably good, while 7,280 were teach¬ ers whose education and training proved to be below the require¬ ments. Female teachers are in general more appreciated than males and their instruction more efficient. Some inspectors charged teach¬ ers with indolence, with discouragement, with giving up the studies that would enable them to keep in touch with progress. Especially was this the case in the rural districts, where many also are blamed for taking up after school hours other occupations, sometimes very inconsistent with their purely moral mission. “But,” observes one inspector, “how could the teacher and his family live, if he has one, with the meager pittance, for instance, of 35 cents per day, that the rural teacher of the third course earns?” “ In fact,” says another inspector, “the State contribution is not sucli as the straightened circumstances of the teachers require, since, for the 69 provinces, this year the State only contributed the pitiful amount of $342,113, dis¬ tributed among 6,741 communes, to help rural teachers out of their distress.” As to the efficiency of the teaching itself, as imparted throughout the country in rural districts, the director could not gather sufficient information from the inspectors’ reports to form a definite opinion; but, while one may say that it is still lacking, and probably very much so from the point of view of new didactic methods and concep¬ tions of what teaching should be to prove effectual, yet some progress has been realized of late, and besides the subject is being taken up with increasing attention and intelligence every day, and for this pur¬ pose all inspectors urge ‘ ‘ the organization of local school committees to serve as a permanent and active bond between the schools and themselves and as a constant spur for the teacher to perform his duty, keeping in touch with progress and new methods. ” How, it may be permitted to the writer of this sketch to say, after this rapid survey of Professor Torraca’s report, that by his candid and dispassionate statements, although with a tinge of pessimism, of the real condition of primary and normal instruction in Italy on the basis of the most reliable information he could secure, he lias power¬ fully contributed to a reform of education in Italy and rendered the cause of public education a signal service; in fact, the greatest serv¬ ice that an official in his high capacity could render by proving to be “Amicus Plato, sed magis veritas.” Hon. G. L. Pecile, in a speech before the Italian Senate, in July, 1897, summed up the whole situation in these words: “Out of 8,253 communes, only 1,800 have an elementary superior course, 6,453 hav¬ ing only the first course of three classes. Of the 2,166,497 registered pupils, only 412,000 reach the third year; that is, one-fifth, and of these only 176,351 (according to the statistics for 1893-94), or 8 per cent, graduate.” It appears natural, therefore, that from the category of non graduates come almost all the 40 per cent of illiterates at the time of their enlistment in the army, or 20 per cent in northern Italy, and 57 up to 63 per cent in the islands of Sardinia and Sicily; and, as delinquency and illiteracy go together, this last island lias the record for both in Italy. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 851 III. The Reform and the Reformer. [Extracts and survey of the report of Prof. G. Castelli, director chief of division of the depart¬ ment of public instruction for the year 1898.] Nothing could give a clearer and more exact idea of the progress of the reform going on in the system of public education in Italy the last two years under the guidance of Dr. Guido Baccelli than the recent report of Professor Castelli on the most important matters already added to the program of primary and normal schools, viz, agricul¬ tural instruction and manual training, which are destined to dispose and keep the Italian people in a closer and more effective connection with the schools than before. Professor Castelli, one of the foremost and most intellectual leaders in the field of public education, and a staunch supporter of agricul¬ tural instruction and manual training since the beginning of the agi¬ tation for their adoption, in his report states that the present Minister Guido Baccelli’s efforts since 1881 toward the reform of the administration, discipline, and teaching in the public schools have awakened emulation for new attainment, ‘ ‘ both with the family, the teachers, the pupils, and municipal authorities.” “A happy change this in public opinion; the teachers being now more appreciated and cared for than in the past, and all discrimination having ceased to exist between them and the authorities, while they are animated with a greater faith in their mission.” Whereupon the director announces that the school, with its course of study enlarged by the addition of practical agriculture and manual training, is no longer the traditional place where spelling, ciphering, and grammar rules were taught only with a view to preparation of the pupils for secondary instruction, at the highest, but “it has become a self-relying institution, provided with sufficient resources, and realizing the great moral ideal involved in the duties and rights of a modern State toward public education.” And this, however, without assuming that everything is done; since two laws are still most necessary for the attainment of the end aimed at by the minister in these words: “To impart sufficient instruction to the masses, and to morally educate them as far as it is possible;” that is to say, (1) a law for the betterment of the condition of the schools (with regard to hygiene, discipline, attendance, etc.), and of their teachers (professional training, salary, and authority); and (2) a law regarding complementary schools for the education of youth in the three years that precede their compulsory enlistment for military service; and these laws were ready, b ut general questions kept the Parliament from voting them as urged and expected by Minister Baccelli this year. As to agricultural instruction, this subject was added, in fact, to the branches taught in the normal schools some twelve years ago— elements of agriculture for male schools, and of horticulture and silk-worm culture for the female ones—but this verbal teaching of the elements never amounted to much indeed, because not supported by their practical application. Dr. Baccelli sought the means of attaining such a desirable end; and for that purpose he addressed a warm and patriotic appeal in July, 1898, to the provincial authorities, to the communes, to all char¬ itable and benevolent organizations and corporations, as well as to merchants and the rich at large, urging that “each and every rural 852 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. scliool be freely provided with a farming ground (‘campicello’) in which the modest rural teacher, personally benefited by the proceeds of its crops, might practically teach the land-tiller’s son intelligent farming together with the elementary branches.” “From that very farming ground,” concluded the learned and noble minister, “upward through secondary instruction and special courses, let the Yirgilian doctrine of the blessings of agriculture raise the people to the height of the Atheneum, where the enlightenment of science and the experi¬ mental synthesis will be associated in a lofty work of justice and national redemption.” Numberless expressions of approval from every class of citizens, inspired by a patriotic and a social idea, answered this public call for a piece of land for the village school, “thus,” writes Professor Castelli, “attesting that, without distinction of class or political lines, when duly consulted, the Italian nation can show how passionately it has education at heart; no less in fact than order, peace, dignity, and the integrity itself of the country.” During the exposition of Turin in 1898 the National Congress of Farmers, and many other congresses there held, took up for immediate consideration Dr. Baccelli’s circular, and passed in effect the follow¬ ing resolutions on the subject: That the department of public instruction should develop the teaching of agricultural science in national schools (03 schools existed in 1896 in which agriculture was regularly taught, while the next year none were to be without it), and in all secondary technical schools there should be established sections of agriculture and land surveying; that also chairs of agri¬ culture be established in all those universities having already the two faculties of mathematics and physical sciences; that complementary courses to the primary degree and manual training be instituted in all the rural communes having none; that in order to multiply the number of agricultural schools the Government should inaugurate winter itinerant courses for adult peasantry. At the end of 1897 the elements of agriculture were theoretically taught in 471 primary schools, but as they were considered by the inspector as very inefficient and far from the mark, especially on account of the teachers’ shortcomings, Dr. Baccelli, taking advantage of the meeting of 117 teachers, delegates at the opening of the Tenth National Course of Manual Training at Ripatransone (of which men¬ tion will be made further on), ordered a series of theoretical practical lectures on agriculture to be delivered then and there by Prof. A. Rossi, the rector of the practical school of agriculture at Ascoli Piceno, authorizing in the meantime the “ proveditore ” of that province to deliver certificates of attendance to all the teachers who should have attended that entire course of lectures. This example was immediately taken up by other provinces, where lectures on agriculture were delivered by the most capable professors belonging to the universities, superior schools of agriculture, tech¬ nical institutes, practical schools, and itinerant classes of agricul¬ ture, with the aim of determining v/hat the teachers should know in order to usefully teach agriculture in their school. The result was that 184 chairs of lectures on agriculture were established, securing the attendance of about 12,000 teachers, “a fact, this,”says Professor Castelli, “worthy of the highest consideration, as it represents an imposing spontaneous contribution to that work in all the sections of the cotuitry by the most learned and experienced men.” This was a PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 853 new start indeed for the Latin nation, so habituated to the principle of centralization inherited from the Roman world, therefore so depend¬ ent at times for everything upon the central authority, “and one,” argues Professor Castelli in his patriotic enthusiasm, “showing that self-government is not an endowment of the Anglo-Saxon alone.” Row, to offer proofs of this assertion, that “there are in Italy latent forces making self-help a possibility with the masses,” he adds: “Very deserving citizens began teaching silkworm culture in many schools, leaving the profit of the sale of cocoons to pupils and teachers; others took up rational bee farming, practical cheese making, aquiculture, rural hygiene, and zoology.” Many a society for the development of industrial manufacturing stood ready to subsidize the schools for the training of children in small household industries. Some offered implements or fertilizers, others periodicals, technical books, didactic material, etc. Concurring with this unprecedented outburst of individual initia¬ tive toward public education, the department opened a competition for a practical treatise on agriculture for the normal schools, granting a prize of $1,500 for the best ones. “While it is still impossible,” says the report, “ owing to the continued progress of this movement, to offer positive statistics of the number of ‘ school fields 5 now being cultivated, we know already of 2,257 fields, the size of which varies from that of a 4 small orchard ’ to that of a real important ‘ prop¬ erty,’ and of 8,000 rural schools where agricultural instruction was given in 1898; so that Italy has practically covered in a few months the ground that it took France many years to cover. ” IV. Il Lavoro Educativo (Manual Training). As in preceding sketches of education in Italy this important sub¬ ject has only been hinted at, I think it useful to state here more at length, and on the authority of the chief of the department of public instruction, how the subject has been taken into practical considera¬ tion, briefly noting the different steps toward its adoption in Italy, viz: (1) A circular (1885) of former Minister Coppino opening the door to the teaching of positive pedagogy by recommending the addition of a kindergarten course to the courses for normal preparation; the study of drawing in two superior courses; the transformation of the elementary courses in the large cities into popular schools with manual training. (2) A report of former Minister Villari (1898), now president of the Rational Society Dante Alighieri, on the schools for manual and professional training visited by him in Switzerland, Ger¬ many, Denmark, Sweden, Rorway, and Belgium. (3) The reports of Professors Zaglia, Agostini, Cavazzuti, and Castelli on the special courses at Ripatransone. (4) A circular embodying the programme for elementary and normal schools in 1894. (5) The debates and resolutions of several congresses on pedagogy and manual training (1897); but above all, (6) the famous ringing circular of Dr. Baccelli (July, 1898), reasserting the Roman motto, “Ron scholse sed vitas discere,” that raised at last the problem of agricultural and manual training in Italy out of the field of unfruitful discussion, closely fol¬ lowed by a circular thus determining the sphere of action for primary instruction henceforth: “For each rural school a field (campicello); for each urban school the experimental industrial shop; and for females training in female occupations and domestic economy.” A school 854 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. with a held and shop, to bring a new activity into primary instruc¬ tion; a popular school, that in time will make up “ in tenui labor ” for the didactic and pedagogical inadequacy of the present Italian primary instruction, due, above all, to the brevity of the period of compulsory attendance at school. The history of the rapid and successful pedagogical crusade in Italy for manual and professional training is well worth being shortly recounted here, owing to the very important results already realized. On former Minister Coppino’s initiative, a committee of 14 dis¬ tinguished Italian teachers was sent (1897) to Naas to study practi¬ cally manual training as a means of education in “the free alphabet of industrial arts” in the seminary of the illustrious Swedish philan¬ thropist, August Abrahamson. On their return, after a visit to Ger¬ man, Danish, and Swiss training schools, a system of manual training was devised especially for Italian pupils, based on the “marvelous unity of pedagogical intuitions.” Prof. Emidio Consorti, of Ripa- transone, has been recognized by all as the pioneer and the intellec¬ tual leader of the new scholastic innovation, in promoting which he is considered a master “for practical common sense, firmness of pur¬ pose, and vigor of action.” The fundamental principles of his peda¬ gogical system may be summed up as follows: The natural activity of the child; his spontaneous impulse to work; his freedom of action; the pleasure of observation; the sentiment of individuality. The characteristics of his experimental methods are these: Ration¬ ality, science, naturalness, and modernity; having for elements: Observation, experimentation, induction, and deduction, to be didac¬ tically developed as follows: To show the child the object, with a brief description of the same. To make the analysis and the sketch of the object. To proceeed to its synthesis and complete its design upon a plane and in relief. The school of Ripatransone, owing to the merits of Professor Con¬ sorti, its founder, has recently been raised by Dr. Baccelli to the rank of State normal institution, and has already prepared 2,500 teachers for manual and professional teaching in primary and normal schools through an annual course extending over fifty days, to which, besides teachers of both sexes of kindergartens and of primary and normal schools, are admitted, as well school directors and district inspectors. Its programmes include: Elements of agriculture; domestic econ¬ omy; female industries, and work in" paper, pasteboard, straw, willow ware, clay, wire, tin, cloth, wood, etc.; household employments and small rural industries; design. As an appropriate conclusion to this chapter, and with the object of illustrating the spirit of reform now spreading in the educational world of Italy with regard to the philosophy of pedagogy, I think it pertinent to quote from a recent study by Miss Alessandrina Gari- boldi, one of the worthiest pupils of Professor Consorti, a few char¬ acteristic observations on manual training: Work is a social law. In its triumph over nature, humanity owes everything to work. Work may eventually spur, convince, persuade, but its practice alone can impart to man those energies and aptitudes and habits that render work at once necessary and pleasant, as w T ell as useful, active, and skillful. The child is happy only when he plays; and when he plays so that he can exert all his energies and activities, muscles and intelligence, senses, heart, and will power, he really works. Surely, everything that comes to his hand—paper, clay, PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 855 wood, stone, iron, etc.—he inexorably modifies, changes, breaks, destroys; but through that cutting, shaping, constructing, or copying objects and forms, he finds out and creates; thus unconsciously revealing and actually practicing the universal law of analysis and synthesis. Y. Secondary Education. “GINNASII” AND “LICEl” (CLASSIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS). Pending the Parliamentary debates on the reform, Hon. Senise, in his somewhat pessimistic but splendid survey of the whole educa¬ tional field of Italy, sarcastically alluded to the “plebeians” invading the secondary schools of the country, especially the “licei,” to be turned by these, an indigestible mass of students, into the universi¬ ties and superior and special institutes, which in turn they overcrowd, and of which they are the actual curse; urging for such a national evil a remedy, and a radical one. Since then something has already been undertaken in that direction by the introduction of a reformed curriculum involving a reduction of hours in purely scientific matters and in the Greek language, and introducing in their stead mathematics and one modern language. This experiment has been undertaken in six “licei”: at Rome, Milan, Turin, Florence, Venice,'and Palermo. Thus, the ensemble of measures and new conceptions for the reform of primary and normal and secondary technical and classic instruc¬ tion is expected to rationally transform in a few years public educa¬ tion in Italy, and to prepare for university and superior special instruction qualitatively better elements in such a degree only as the country lias use for; and as to the quantity, more rationally distributed with regard to an agricultural training’s increase. The abnormality of the educational system of instruction in Italy . is clearly illustrated by statistics showing the existing proportions between the different types of schools and their object, as follows (for 1898): N umber of students. Universities...... 23,285 Superior and special institutes... 3,166 Industrial and commercial schools.. 30,398 56, 849 There were only 1,137 students in practical and 112 in the superior schools of agriculture. The reform is expected to correct such disproportion in favor of agriculture, ‘ ‘ one of the most important features of the new educa¬ tional policy,” says Prof. G. Gorrini in his biography of Dr. Baccelli, “as the increase in the study of agrarian matters and laws will restore to healthy conditions the masses of the urban populations by directing them to the conquest of the uncultivated national lands, still unredeemed from ignorance and the latifundia,” the curse of the Roman Empire and of modern Italy still. STATISTICS OF “GINNASIl” (5 YEARS COURSE) AND ^LICEl” (3 YEARS COURSE) for 1895-96. The Ginnasii .—In 1895-96 there were 708 ginnasii, of which 183 were State institutions, 83 equaled in rank the State ones (57 sup- ported by the communes, 24 by bequests, 1 by the clergy, and 1 by 856 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. donations), and 442 did not equal the State ones (1 supported by a province, 31 by communes, 24 by bequests, 257 by religious corpora¬ tions, and 129 by donations). The number of ginnasii, compared to those of 1893-94, has been augmented by 3 in the Venice Province, 3 in Sicily, 3 in Sardinia, 2 in Liguria, 1 in Piedmont, 1 in the Cam¬ pania, and has been decreased by 2 in the Province of Umbria, 2 in Calabria, 1 in Abruzzi, 1 in the Puglie, and 1 in the Basilicata, making a net gain of 6. Their total number of students was 54,137 in 1893-94, and 55,515 in 1895-96, or 1,378 more. In 1893-94 the number of girl pupils reg¬ istered for classic education was 732, and 912 in 1895-96, an increase of 180. Examinations for promotion .—In the first four courses of the gin¬ nasii 46,542 pupils were present at the end of 1895-96, of whom 6,217 were promoted, without examination, for merit, and 3,147 passed their examination for admission to a superior class; 8,773 were refused promotion, and 1,405 did not attend examination. In 1893-94, in the first four gymnasial courses, of each 100 pupils 16 were promoted without examination, 63 were promoted after exam¬ ination, 17 were refused promotion, and 4 did not take the examina¬ tion. The corresponding proportions for 1895-96 are as follows: 13, 65, 19, 3. The examination for admission to the licei was given for 1895-96 in 280 ginnasii, and the number of those promoted amounted to 6,686 (including 130 girls) out of 9,668 candidates, as against 9,221 candi¬ dates and 6,268 promoted in 1893-94. The professors in the ginnasii for 1895-96 numbered 4,739, not including 333 directors without a chair and 328 gymnastic teachers. Of the given total, however, 847 held courses also in another insti¬ tute. In 1893-94 there were 4,468 jirofessors, of whom 759 taught as w T eil in another institute, besides 258 directors and 294 gymnastic- teachers. The licei .—During 1895-96 there w r ere open 332 licei (116 State institutions, 29 ranked as equal to State ones, and 187 not thus ranked). Of these last, 3 were supported by the commune, 3 by bequests, 136 by religious corporations, and 45 by private donations. The total number was 21 greater than in 1893-94. The following classification may be made of the licei and the students registered in them for 1893-94 a # nd 1895-96: Licei supported "by— 1893-94. 1895-96. Licei. Students. Licei. Students. The State. 113 10,£92 116 10,945 Communes, ranked.. 18 1,100 19 1,195 Beouests, ranked. .. 9 447 10 587 Communes, not ranked... 3 49 3 82 Bequests, not ranked.... 4 103 3 67 Religious corporations, not ranked.. 117 3,083 136 3,461 Private fundSi not racked. 47 1,3G0 45 1,349 311 16,414 332 17,689 The table shows an increase of 1,275 students in the two years; among the students in 1895-96 there were 216 girls, as against only 111 in 1893-94. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 857 Examination for promotion from the first two of the three lyceal courses to the 'third and last (giving number of students): 1893-94. 1895-96. Promoted without examination.-... 1.581 7,373 1,817 483 1,533 7,689 2,113 616 Promoted after examination,... . _ Not promoted........... N ot examined....... Per cent promoted in 1894, 79.57; per cent promoted in 1896, 77.16; or 13 per cent promoted without examination, 64 per cent after exami¬ nation, 18 per cent not promoted, and 5 per cent not examined. Examination at the close of the third course for admission to the University or to a superior institute, for 1895-96: Students examined, 6,600, of whom 4,252 passed. In 1893-94 there were 5,933 examined, of whom 3,788 passed. Per cent of students examined, promoted to the university or to a superior institute, from each class of licei: Percentage from State licei, 85.68; jiareggiate or ranked as State, 72.87. Isot ranked: Com¬ munal, 29.31; endowed, 60.00; corporations, 78.87; private, 44.14. Among those promoted for 1896 there were 44 girl students. Teaching force. Year. Licei. Profes¬ sors. Direct¬ ors. Gymnas¬ tic teachers. 1893-94.....- 311 332 1,806 1,852 141 135 1895-96 .... 167 156 The number of students seeking admission to and instruction in licei is such that a number of “ licei annexes” have sprung into existence in late years. SECONDARY INSTRUCTION: AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, INDUS¬ TRIAL, AND NAUTICAL. When one realizes that for success in life, besides the ethical object of instruction, to wit, the training of the intellect and of the heart, there must immediately follow the consideration of the usefulness of some practical training, he has grasped the full purport of secondary instruction, in that department especially in which it prepares youth for agricultural, industrial, and commercial pursuits. It takes, indeed, a man of good ethical and practical education to make of commerce not only a mere matter of business, but a congenial pur¬ suit leading to the welfare of a given country, in the expectation that this twofold moral and practical training may one day blend the nat¬ ural law of “love and hunger,” of which wrote the immortal Goethe, into a by-law of fraternity of all nations. I think that in the modern effort of bringing nations into closer contact, the Anglo-Saxon race, the most powerful one to-day, owing to the spirit of reform of the Middle Ages that revolutionized her life, deserves the greatest part of the merit. Because, if it is true that the Italian genius of Colum¬ bus, Polo, Amerigo, Cabot, etc., leading humanity across mysterious and dreaded seas, marked the highest triumph of the Latin race, and 858 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. that Latins and Anglo-Saxons alike followed in the wake of the dis¬ coverers to conquer and populate this continent, hoisting their flag here and there, the first result was that there, where the Anglo-Saxon settled, a new civilization, symbolized by moral, civil, and Religious liberty and equity among men, spread over land and sea. No wonder, therefore, that to-day, a consequence of yesterday, the Anglo-Saxon commercial schools, based on the most improved peda¬ gogical methods, know how to efficiently train youth for the world’s competitive arena of trade and commerce. Italian secondary instruction lias made of late a marked progress; but when its programmes are compared with those of other nations, they still appear to be far below the training of the German and Eng¬ lish or American schools. Nothing short of the full carrying out of the reform now going on in this branch of education in Itaty will, eventually, arm the Italians in a fitting manner to stand a chance in the markets of the world. Hon. G. Baccelli, in planning his reform for secondary instruction, has distinguished three types of technical schools, to wit, the agricul¬ tural the industrial, and the commercial, to correspond to the local wants of the different sections of Italy, the programme for the first type of school being farming and natural sciences; for the second, practical and theoretic industrial technology, experiments in mechan¬ ics, and the like; for the third, a general education, equipping youth especially for home business, but as well for international commer¬ cial affairs, adding to it that ethical training, by which “blighting egotism,” so easily engendered by the study of commercial branches, shall not prevent a young merchant from becoming a good and a refined citizen. It is understood, however, remarks Professor Chiarini, director of secondary instruction, in his quite recent report, that the reform bearing on the three described types of schools for secondary instruc¬ tion preserves to them the character of “schools of general culture,” therefore they are not to be confused with the “practical schools of agriculture,” the “schools of application” or “arti e mestieri,” the “special schools of commerce,” and the “industrial schools” now under the direction of the department of agriculture and commerce. At the beginning of this year 19 state secondary schools had already been re-formed to the new type—G agrarian, 2 industrial, and 11 commercial—and many others were in process of reformation. That Italy, a maritime nation “par excellence,” situated by nature on the sea, in a unique association with three continents, Europe, Africa, and Asia, may through its re-formed commercial educational methods gain in time a respectable rank in international commerce, will be easily conceded, owing to its marvelous faculty of assimilat¬ ing the perfected methods and sciences of other nations; and also to the recent awakening of her maritime genius, that once, before the growth of the English genius for commercial conquest, had made of the Republics of Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi, for centuries, the queens of the sea. STATISTICS OF TECHNICAL SCHOOLS OF GENERAL CULTURE AND COLLEGES (CONVITTl). The technical school has a three-years’ course, leading to the tech¬ nical superior institute of a two-years’ course. In 1895-96 there were 381 technical schools, with a registration of 36,654 pupils, reduced at PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 859 tlic end of the year to 33,351, as against 32,775 for 1393-94, follows: as Class of technical school. Number of schools. Students. 1893-94. 1895-90. State..... 181 20,430 257 21,591 Provincial, ranked...... 2 187 Communal, ranked... 80* 7,001 495 7,715 Endowed, ranked.... . 9 35 515 Communal, not ranked. ..... 1,451 555 90 1,139 578 Endowed, not ranked______ 12 Reliedous eornoration. not ranked _ __ _ _ _ 2 86 Private, not ranked... 05 1,890 1,540 Free attendance... 387 32,775 180 33,351 390 Total students.. ... 32,901 33,741 Girl students for 1893-94, 1,963; for 1895-96, 2,818. Examination for promotion from the first to the second class .—In 1895-96 there were 25,533 students examined, of whom 1,131 (276 girls) were promoted without examination, 14,017 (1,404 girls) after examination, 8,661 (430 girls) were not promoted, and 1,721 (84 girls) were absent at the time of the examination. Out of the total attendance for 1895-96 on the two first courses, 4 per cent were promoted without examination, 55 per cent after exam¬ ination, 34 per cent were not promoted, and 7 per cent were not present, as against the corresponding percentages of 4, 57, 32, and 7 for 1893-94. The results of the examination of “licenza” (1895-96), admitting to the superior technical institute (two years’ course), in 286 technical schools, were as follows: Class of school. Examined. Passed. Number. Per cent. 4,729 2,151 201 3,624 1,590 128 76.63 Ranked . ____-...-.. 73.82 Provincial, not ranked....... 63.68 Endowed, not ranked_ 101 66 65.35 Corporation, not ranked________ 5 3 60.00 Private, Tint, ra.nked. _ _ ___ _ _ _ 583 292 50.08 Family instruction. 671 305 45.45 Total _ ______ 8,444 6,608 Passed examination...-.. 470 Passed after first examination.....2,8l3 Passed fall reexamination..... 2,725 The total number promoted for 1895-96 was 6,008 (484 girls), as against 5,941 for 1893-94. Teaching force. Year. Profess¬ ors. Directors. Gymnastic teachers. 1893-94 .... 2,825 2,755 115 276 1895-90 . 125 323 860 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. TECHNICAL INSTITUTES. The following table shows the number of technical institutes and students attending them for the two years specified: Year. Number of insti¬ tutes. Stu¬ dents. Special students. 1893-94......... 72 74 8,259 9,144 930 263 1895-96.. Or an increase of 1,027 registered students in 1896 and a decrease of 84-9 special students, owing to a decision of the department of pub¬ lic education (1895) denying to all nonpromoted or not-admitted out¬ side students inscription as “ special” in the class to which they aspired, or to a superior one. The attendance for 1895-96 in the 74 institutes was as follows: Common year_________3,342 Physico-mathematical section______1,581 Surveying section___1, 504 Agricultural section__ 18 Commerce and accounts section..... 2, 576 Industrial section. 123 9,144 Special. _____ 263 Making a total of 9,407. Included in this number were 50 girls, as against 23 for 1893-94. At the examination for promotion to the secpnd year 69 per cent were promoted, 20 per cent not promoted, and 3 per cent were absen¬ tees; 550 were without examination. Examination of “licenza” in 69 institutes: Out of 2,304 pupils (in¬ cluding 4 girls) of the second year course, 1,543 passed, or 66.97 per cent of the candidates, as against 1,521 licensed, or 68.79 per cent, in 1893-94, as follows: 1893-94. 1895-96. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Physico-mathematical section. 481 67.27 441 67.25 Surveying section ..... 393 64.85 442 65.97 Agricultural section_.•... 5 62. 50 12 60.00 Commerce and accounts section .. 613 72. 46 618 67.17 Industrial. 29 80.18 30 78.95 1,521 68.79 1,543 66.97 The lowered percentage of the “licensed” in 1895-96 is due to the participation in the examination of students prepared by private instructors or private institutes; the licensed students of State courses amounted to 83.81 per cent of the candidates. The number of instructors in technical institutes was as follows: Year. Number of insti¬ tutes. Profess¬ ors. Presidi. Profess¬ ors of gymna¬ sium. 1893-94 ... 72 1,290 1,314 10 65 1895-96 ... 74 10 64 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 861 NAUTICAL INSTITUTES. In 1895-06 there were 21 nautical institutes, of which 19 were State schools, 1 communal, and 1 private, with 550 attending students, 44 special students, and 309 registered for the two years of the prepara¬ tory course. The attendance on the various sections was as follows: 1393-94. 1895-96. Sea captains .. 45 33 4 Naval constructors of second class.... . 5 Machinists of second class._... .. 15 4 Captains of high seas. _... ... 256 157 Constructors of first class.-._ .. _ .._. 23 14 Machinists of first class.. 410 306 Preparatory course - ..-... 781 132 550 309 Special .. . ... .. 75 50 In the examination for promotion, out of 336 students attending the different sections (excepting the last year, when the examination for letters patent follows), 21 were promoted without examination, 214 after examination, 83 were not promoted, and 18 were absent; or, out of each 100 students having attended courses, 70 were promoted, 25 not promoted, and 5 were absentees. In the examination of “licenza” in 18 institutes there were 419 candidates, of whom 285 passed, or 68 per cent, as against 461, 280, and 61 per cent in 1893-94. Of the 285 in 1895-96, 141 passed at the first examination and 145 at the fall reexamination; 5 received letters patent of sea captains, 4 of naval constructors of second class, 7 of machinists of second class, 69 of high-seas captains, 6 of naval constructors of first class, and 194 of machinists of first class. Of the 285 naval students thus licensed, 173 belonged to State, 6 to nonranked, and 4 to private institutes, while 102 studied privately for preparation. Number of professors in twenty-one nautical institutes: In 1893-94, professors, 181; presidi, 6; professors of gymnasium, 19. In 1895-96, professors, 183; presidi, 7; professors of gymnasium, 18. STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. The following table shows the changes that have taken place in fifteen years (1881-1896): Class of schools. Year. Number of schools. Students registered. Graduates (licenza). Ginnasii. 1881 701 41,124 4,820 1896 708 59,578 6,686 Licei..... ... 1881 298 11.133 2,981 1896 332 17,689 4,272 Technical schools. 1881 383 22,120 3,233 1896 381 36,054 6,008 Technical institutes... 1881 79 6,878 1,098 1896 74 9,943 1,543 Nautical institutes. 1881 26 816 £40 1896 21 907 285 862 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. Tims it is shown that while the number of schools for secondary instruction is about the same in 1896 as in 1881, except the nautical institutes, all branches of instruction have an increased number of students, the increase being 45 per cent for the ginnasii, 67 per cent for the licei, and 67 per cent for the technical schools. The following is a summary of the latest figures on secondary instruction, from advance sheets of the reports for 1896-97 and 1897-98: State ginnasii -. Ginnasii ranked as State. Total....... State licei... Licei ranked as State.. Total. State technical schools.. Technical schools ranked as State Total.. State technical institutes_ Technical institutes ranked as State Total.. Naval institutes, State .. Naval institutes, private. Total...... 1S9? '-98. 1896-97.- Pupils. Number of schools. Pupils. Pupils. Increase. De¬ crease. 183 25,551 81 8,095 264 33,646 34,357 711 116 10,675 29 1,744 145 12,419 12,432 13 184 24, (549 95 9,914 279 34,563 33,875 688 10,382 1,353 11,735 11,880 145 18 926 1 20 19 946 918 28 Increase of pupils between 1896-97 and 1897-98,1,218. Since 1888 the statistics of the convitti have included also the insti¬ tutions for the blind and the deaf and dumb, but the convitti annexed to the practical schools of agriculture and to the agricultural schools, and also the convitti attached to exclusively professional schools, are not included. In 1895-96 there were 919 convitti for males, 50 of which were State schools, 15 provincial, 62 communal, 220 endowed, 297 supported by religious corporations, and 275 private, being an increase of 6 over 1894. As to attendance, in 1893-94 there were 60,105 male pupils in all the convitti (86 per cent in the schools annexed to the convitto itself). In 1895-96 there were only 58,839, or a decrease of 1,266 pupils from the previous year. In 915 out of the 919 convitti in 1895-96 there were 915 directors, of whom 557 were priests. In 255 convitti the teachers were all priests, in 240 partly priests and partly civilians, and in 100 there were no teachers besides the director. As in preceding years, “secular priests,” viz, those not inscribed in any religious order, constituted the majority. As to the annual contributions of the pupils, the following figures were gathered by the general director of statistics (915 convitti fur¬ nished in season their figures): In 120 convitti all the inmates were admitted gratuitously, in 473 on payment, and in 322 partly on payment and partly gratuitously. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 8G3 CONVITTI FOR FEMALES. Iii 1893-01 there were 1392 convitti for females, with 50,162 pupils, and in 1895-96 there were 1,456, with 49,367 pupils. Of these convitti; 11 were State schools, 25 provincial, 47 communal, 718 endowed, and 665 private. The number of girls attending “special schools” of singing, music, embroidery, etc., was 4,629; normal schools, 4,620; elementary or complementary and superior schools, 40,118; total, 49,367, as against 35,54.3 in 1885, or an increase in ten years of 13,824 female pupils. Out of the 1,456 directors, male and female, of the female convitti, 917 were priests and 539 civilians. The instructors were divided as follows: 665 priests, 462 civilians, and 236 unclassified. Of the female convitti, 436 were free, 592 admitted pupils on full payment, and 415 admitted part, free and part on payment. “In the female convitti,” states the director of statistics, “instruc¬ tion is, as a rule, given by nuns,” thus making evident that in Italy the education of girls, outside of those attending State schools, is still almost exclusively in the hands of the clergy, to the extent of at least about 50,000 girls. The same thing can be said of male convitti enrolling 58,839 students. OTHER INSTITUTIONS. Of the 8 special schools of agriculture founded between 1879 and 1898, 5 are devoted to vine culture, .! to olive culture and oil making, 1 to pomology and horticulture, and 1 to zootechny and cheese making. In 1897-98 these 8 schools had 90 instructors and assistants and 410 students; in 1898-99, 496 students. There were 89 diplomas granted for 1897-98. There are 28 jiractical schools of agriculture, having 112 teachers and assistants; number of students in 1897-98, 951; in 1898-99, 1,085. There were 201 diplomas granted in 1897-98. There are thus in all 36 agricultural schools, which had in 1898-99 a total of 202 teachers and 1,581 students. The 4 schools of mines had 14 teachers and 42 pupils, and issued 6 diplomas in 1897-98. Industrial and commercial schools. Kind of schools. Schools. Pupils. Superior schools of art applied to industry. 6 65 105 12 14 174 847 14,417 11.256 1,004 4.908 12.256 Schools of arts and trades"...-.... .. Schools of art applied to industry___ _ .. _____ Special schools for males...... ... .. Professional schools for females...... Schools of design and plastic art...... Total.... .... 376 44, 778 These last schools are located in the 69 provinces. There are also 26 academies and institutes of the fine arts, of which 13 are national and 13 private. These had in 1897-98 230 teachers and 3,886 pupils. The Institute of Fine Arts, at Florence, dates from 1350, the Academy of Carrara from 1769, the Academy of Milan from 1776, the Institute of Modena from 1786, and the Institute of Parma from 1756. The others have been established during the present century. 864 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. Italy lias G national institutes and conservatories of music, which had 145 teachers and 875 pupils in 1897-98. Of the pupils, 555 were males and 320 females. The College of Music, at Naples, the oldest of them, dates from 1806. There are also in Italy a great number of private institutes, and conservatories of music; among these 5 musical lyceums and 40 pri¬ vate or municipal conservatories and musical institutes attain to the standard of the national institutions. Normal schools of choral singing are attached to the conservatories of Naples and Parma. Their two years’ courses embrace, beside the theory and practice and the art of singing, elementally harmony and practice on the keys of an instrument; also anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and their applications to singing. There are in Italy 11 military institutes and superior schools. The Military Academy of Turin, dating from 1669, teaches the art of war, the use of artillery, engineering, and military sanitation. There is also a normal school of infantry and another of cavalry. In 1897-98 the 11 institutes had 299 instructors and 1,616 pupils, and 988 pupils were promoted at the end of their courses of study. The Naval Academy, at Leghorn, founded in 1881, and the School of Pupil Machinists, ad Venice, founded in 1862, taken together had 79 instructors and 301 students, of whom 116 were promoted. Of the 32 State libraries the largest is the national library at Naples. This and two others contain more tJian 100,000 volumes each. The total number of books and manuscripts in 1897-98 was 1,690,825, of which 12,711 were manuscripts. The number of readers was 1,294,869. One library dates from the sixteenth century, 3 from the seventeenth, 7 from the eighteenth, and 2 are of this century. The libraries of Italy may be grouped into the following 11 classes: 1. National libraries: Autonomous .. 17 University .....15 National, properly so called 12 2. Libraries of superior institutes_ 3. Provincial and communal libraries. 4. Primary and secondary school libraries.-. 5. Libraries of military institutes and academies... 6. Archives and departmental Gov¬ ernment libraries. No. of libraries. No. of libraries, 44 9 7. Libraries of academies, scientific institutes, and chambers of com¬ merce __ _ 8. Libraries of private or moral bodies, foundations, mutual ben¬ efit societies, reading cabinets 172 418 open to the public _ .._ 478 378 9. Religious seminary libraries . 10. Libraries of hospitals, congrega¬ tions, and benevolent societies... 175 26 45 11. Private (most important ones)... 40 46 Grand total. ... 1,831 VI. Statistics of Special Superior Instruction. The following list gives the names and locations of the 11 superior special schools, with the dates of their foundation: Bari: Superior School of Commerce, 188G. Florence: School of Social Science, 1875. Florence: Superior Institute of Work for Women, 1882. Genoa: Superior School of Commerce, 1884. Genoa: Superior Naval School, 1870. Milan: Superior School of Agriculture, 1870. Portici: Superior School of Agriculture, 1872. Rome: Superior Institute of Work for Women, 1882. Turin: Museum of Italian Industry, 1862. Vallombroso: Institute of Forestry, 1869. Venice; Superior School of Commerce, 1868. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 8G5 These schools had, in 1895-9G, 137 professors, 748 students, Go audi¬ tors, and granted 97 diplomas. The following courses are taught in them, among others: Social sciences, jurisprudence, courses for pub¬ lic notaries (who in Italy correspond to public registers and recorders), consular courses, superior courses of commerce, of normal economy, of statistics, of public law for accountants and computers, of foreign languages, of chemical and mechanical industries, of ornamentation, of electrotechnic science for civil engineers, of customs and tariffs, of naval mechanics and hydrography, of agrarian sciences, and of forestry. t/ VII. Superior Instruction—Universities. Superior instruction in Italy is given in 17 State universities and 4 independent ones, twenty-one in all. The State universities are located at Turin, Pavia, Padua, and Genoa, in northern Italy; Bologna, Pisa, Pome, Modena, Parma, Siena, and Macerata, in central Italy; Naples, in southern Italy; Palermo and Catania, in Sicily, and Cagliari and Sassari, in Sardinia. The 4 independent universities are located in central Italy at Camerino, Ferrara, Perugia, and Urbino. In southern Italy there are also university courses attached to the lieei of Aquila and Bari, as well as at Catanzaro, in Sicily. There are besides in Italy 13 superior institutes, viz: Four autonomous schools of applied engineering, at Bologna, Naples, Pome, and Turin; 1 supe¬ rior technical institute, at Milan; 3 superior schools of veterinary medi¬ cine, at Milan, Napdes, and Turin; 1 institute for superior studies, at Florence; 1 scientific and literary academy, at Milan; 1 superior normal school, at Pisa, and 2 superior normal female institutes, at Florence and Pome. There are, besides the above, 2 schools of applied engineering con¬ nected with the universities of Padua and Palermo, 3 more connected with the universities of Genoa, Pavia, and Pisa, with one single course, and 4 schools of veterinary medicine connected with the universities of Bologna, Modena, Parma, and Pisa. All of the above-mentioned institutes are under the direction of the department of public education. A list will be given farther on of other superior schools controlled by other departments, such as special superior schools of agriculture, military and naval colleges and academies, and superior schools of antiquities, cartography, oriental languages, art, singing, music, etc. The students registered in the 21 Italian universities and the 3 university courses numbered 21,813, besides 34G free students. There were included in this total 132 female students. 1 1 The young women students were divided among the different faculties as follows: J urisprudence. 4 Medicine and surgery......... 18 Mathematics, physics, and natural sciences___^ __ 30 Philosophy and letters. 72 Pharmacy. 8 Total.......132 ED 99-55 806 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. Tlio division of students by faculties was as follows: 1895-96. 1S96-97. ,T ur ispr udence __-...-_______ 6,096 6,516 2,155 1,355 676 ' 6,376 6,634 2,595 1,357 656 Medicine and surgery._ _._ _.. Mathematics, physics, and natural sciences. Philosophy and letters____ Solicitors and noteries public....... Political, administrative, and consular courses 1 ... . .. 8 School of pharmacy for the “laurea”. ....... £56 278 School of pharmacy for the diploma of practice.... 2,352 299 2,384 598 School of veterinary medicine.......... School of obstetrics.......... 1,580 352 1,332 857 School of applied engineering...-___ School of agricultural sciences__ 168 Free students.. 345 G rand total______ 22,158 2 23,285 1 Nineteen students for those subjects, besides following the jurisprudence courses. 2 Showing an increase in one year alone of 1,137 students in Italian universities, besides an increase of 1,498 in thirteen superior institutes, making a total increase in superior instruction between 1890 and 1898 of 2,635 students—a cause this of the reform in this branch of public edu¬ cation, as will be shown farther on, since, according to the latest statistics quoted by Hon. Senise in the parliamentary debates on the reform referred to, there are turned out 1,200 laureates in excess of the national want every year. The results of the examination for the “laurea” and the diploma of practice in 1895-96 were as follows: In the 17 State universities .... .. 3,972 In the 4 independent universities______ 116 In the 8 university courses attached to Licei... 54 In the 13 superior institutes ..... 504 Total..........4,736 Out of this total 4,557 secured, according to the use, one of the three degrees of doctor’s “laurea,” diploma, or simple “certificate” of admission to practice. Eighteen “laurea” have been obtained by female students, and 58 of them secured also the diploma of superior magisterium. Students and courses in the superior institutes , 1895-96. Stu¬ dents. Bologna___......._..._ 114 ^years’ course for civil engineers; 3 years’ course for architects. Milau ___ . ___ 432 2 years’ course, preparatory; 3 years’ course for civil engineers; 3 years’ course for industrial engineers; 3 years’ course for architects; 4 years’ course in normal natural sciences;"! years’ course in physics; 4 years’ course in chemistry. Naples . . _ 237 "3 years’ course for civil engineers; 3 years’ course for architects. Rome. ............ 172 3 years’ course for civil engineers; 3 years’ course for architects; 2 years’ course in scientific architecture for students of fine arts schools. Turin....._ _..... 381 3 years’ course for civil engineers; 3 years’ course for industrial engineers; 3 years’ course for architects. ldg 4 years’ course in veterinary medicine. Naples.......... 177 4 years’ course in veterinary medicine. Turin. ....... 88 4 years’ course in veterinary medicine. Florence... . .-.. 587 4 years’ course in philosophy and letters; 4 years’ course in physics and natural sciences; 6 years’ course in medicine and surgery; 5 years’ course in chemistry and pharmacy; 4 years’ course for diploma of pharmacy; 2 years’ course for mid wives’ diplomas. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 867 Students and courses in the superior institutes, 1805-06 —-Continued. Stu¬ dents. Milan. 4 years’ course in philosophy and letters; 4 years’ course in modern languages. Pisa ........ 4 years’ course in philosophy and philology; 4 years’ course in natural and physical sciences. Florence...-.-.-. 2 years’ course in foreign languages and literature; 2 years’ course in history, geog¬ raphy, pedagogy, and sciences. Rome.... 2 years’ course in foreign languages and literature; 2 years’ course in history, geog¬ raphy, pedagogy, and sciences. Total for 1895-96.. Total for 1896-97.. Total for 1897-98 * 1 ......... Showing an increase in two years of about one-fifth. 114 39 127 98 2,668 2,935 3,166 1 Tho division by institutes was in 1897-98 as follows: Students in 11 superior institutes...2,589 Students in 2 female normal institutes...... 280 Students in 3 university “licei ” courses......... 259 Students in 1 institute for oriental languages. 38 Total......... 3,166 THE UNIVERSITIES. One of tlie greatest problems for the next century to solve with regard to superior instruction in every civilized country, although from different points of view, is to reach a conclusion on the much- debated point of the minimum and the maximum of superior educa¬ tion conducive to a nation’s usefulness, and that not only with a view to keeping a permanent rational balance of instruction between the classes in which society is divided, but also to avoiding causes of personal distress among the learned classes. A most dangerous ele¬ ment of social disturbance this the more the distressed individual is put, by his superior education, in a position to analyze the right and the wrong of life and of society. The far-sighted remarks of C. P. Huntington on “Overeducation of the masses,” deeply criticised of late because in tho United States there seems to be rather a necessity for superior education than other¬ wise, had a broad counterpart in Europe, at Home, pending the most important parliamentary debate that has taken place there (in 1883-84 and last year) on university and superior education; there, and as will eventually be the case everywhere else in Europe and in America, I would like to be permitted to say, since the field covered by a score of learned university orators, with a view to comparison, indeed embraced the history of superior instruction the civilized world over. From the circumstance that in Italy also, the very land of classicism, as in France and German 3 r , the legislator should have been brought to consider as a necessity “the limiting of the extension of superior and university education,” one may find a suitable explanation in the far-sighted purpose of “timely protecting new generations from the mania of graduation for the purpose of ofiiee-seeking only;” a destroyer—this tendency—of ambition, and a disorganizer of the energy and spirit of initiative of youth, so precious to nations, in the field of scientific farming, manufacturing, mechanics, commerce, etc. The idea of barring in part the inflow to the university seemed, of course, a sacrilegious attempt to many an Italian sabean of the “alma 868 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. mater;” yet, on the one hand, the invasion of science into every realm of life, revolutionizing old truths and methods, thereby render¬ ing new educational conceptions and new boundaries unavoidable, and the fact, on the other hand, that within the last twenty-five years the rate of gain in graduates from the 21 Italian universities has been seven times the corresponding rate of increase of the Italian popula¬ tion, were such a statistical indication as could not pass without attracting the deepest attention and calling for a remedy. Hence the reform, with the final result that the legislators, whether in favor of or opposed to the bill presented by Hon. G. Baccelli in 1898, agree at least on these points as being demanded by the future welfare of their country: First. That all allowance being made for the national hereditary tendency of the Italians to high and classic education, the modern rush for it is such as to justify the conviction that besides that noble tradition the crowding of universities and superior institutes is rather a run for the 4 4 laurea ” than anything else, since this parch¬ ment and the diplomas open the doors to all public offices. Second. On the absolute necessity of a 44 State examination,” after the attainment by the student of the 44 laurea ” and 44 diploma;” and tins with the double view of keeping high the standard of superior education and of affording protection to society itself from certain consequences of a wholesale free practice of all professions, as well as preserving unimpared the many and important moral and material rights that such documents secure to their recipients. Third. On the much debated point of free teaching by profes¬ sors, 4 4 libera docenza” being considered the proper counterpart of the “liberta di studiare”—a free curriculum of studies. THE BILL FOR THE REFORM OF SUPERIOR EDUCATION IN ITALY. Presented to the Parliament July 4, 1898, by Hon. G. Baccelli, minister of public instruction (for the third time) of Italy. In introducing his bill the minister compared 4 4 superior instruc¬ tion to an arm of precision in the struggle of nations.” Although Italian science, which has generally originated in the university, he said, has kept on of late in the admirable work of assimilation of the science of ot 4 lier countries, as well as in advancing capitally on its own lines, especially as regards the biological sciences, the scholastic curriculum in existence did by no means favor such a result. It handicapped it rather, owing to the rigidity of its old and new by-laws alike, and to obligatory courses—a real burden to students, steriliz¬ ing superior instruction. Hence the necessity of a new law destined to pour, through freedom of teaching and learning, a modern life into the university, as he had already advocated some fourteen years ago, and he presented such a law to-day for adoption. The first article will give the reader the measure of the reform, viz: The 17 State universities and 12 superior institutes, as per list annexed, are granted a juridical personality, and didactic, admin¬ istrative, and disciplinary autonomy under the supervision of the State, through a representative. The by-laws of each faculty will be obligatory upon both professors and pupils. Article 2, as modified or completed by the Parliamentary commis- PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ITALY AND ITS REFORM. 869 sion, determines the rule for the direction of the university. The rector, appointed by the Crown on the nomination of the college of professors, is to represent the university, and govern it together with the academic bodies. The representative of the State to see to it that the administration of the university’s own patrimony and the scholastic one be carried on according to the law and the by-laws; and that the discipline be duly maintained. Article 3 provides that for the nomination of “ordinary” and “extraordinary” professors, and the promotion of the latter to “ordi¬ nary,” the right of nomination is vested in the faculties, the sections of superior institutes and the schools of superior instruction, the appointment being made by royal decree. Article 5 establishes the right of the universities and any of the institutes exclusively to confer the title of “doctor” (laurea); and secures to the State the right of granting admission to practice a profession, after a State examination. Article 8 provides that the students’ contributions toward superior instruction are to be for the f olio wing: For registration, for admission to the universities, registration for special courses, examination of maturity, of laurea or diploma, and State examination. Also contri¬ bution for admission to the position of professor, ordinary or extraor¬ dinary, and for “libera docenza” of independent teachers. This bill, owing to the Parliamentary debate that followed the uprising at Milan and other cities of Italy in May, 1898, failed to pass, but is expected to become a law in the fall session of this year (1899). By it, according to the explanations of Hon. G. Baccelli, university independence is asserted with regard to determining the limits and the duties of each facult}^; and the opportunity is offered of creating eventually new faculties, such as the proposed “superior faculty of philosophy,” aiming at a closer union between the exact and the speculative sciences; a “ polytechnic faculty, ” for the positive sciences and their applications; an “agrarian scientific faculty;” and, in a word, all those didactic experiences that the academic body of the university shall deem useful, pursuant to the progress of science, to adopt; all this being based on the principal of freedom of teaching for the professors, and of studying on a personally chosen curriculum for the students. I think it useful to quote here what—in the course of the Parliamentary debate (March 10, 1899) pending the comparison of the methods adopted by each nation regarding the problem of superior education—the Hon. He Marinis, speaking in favor of the reform, had to say of the United States: I shall remember the type of university in the United States, where of the 370 universities or colleges, previous to 1885 only 35 had been created by States hold¬ ing some sort of control on them, without proving, however, better for that. * * * Yet that is the most advanced type of autonomy. * * * In the United States there is no department of public instruction, the United States Bureau of Education of Washington being mostly a bureau of statistics, very different from, and undoubtedly much more useful than our own scholastic bureaucracy. No department proves more useful to the branch it supervises than this central office at Washington, that does not dare to upset the functions of the university organisms, but on the contrary shows them ways and means to progress and to explicate their own initiative. There, in the United States, the political power is so cognizant of the right of superior schools to independence that in case, according to the aspiration of Washington, his successors should create a national university, this very university would still enhance the importance of the free and autonomous type of the modern atheueums of America. 870 EDUCATION REPORT, 1898-99. The “jus erigendi academias,” it was stated as a conclusion, claimed three centuries ago on one side by the church and on the other by the state in continental Europe, when the foundations of the modern States were being laid, has foundered in the subsequent transforma¬ tion of modern social organisms, and has become a tradition of the past. The school of to-day must be independent, not only and capitally of the church, but even of the State itself, which, however progressive, has no claim on and no right to the control of science. The learned of the United States will undoubtedly hail with favor the triumph of the reform so energetically prosecuted, although scarcely yet assured for Italy, under the enlightened leadership of lion, Guido Baccelli and his colaborers.