Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

music-room, where a dance could be enjoyed, showed that the amenities of life were not forgotten.

Russia a manufac turing

country.

CHAPTER III

IN RUSSIAN POLAND.

On leaving Posen I journeyed on to the frontier town of Thorn, the whole district round being Polish in speech. At Thorn, the picturesque town on the broad Vistula, I found but one school that interested me from the technical education point of view, and that was the Lehrling or apprentices' school, which was held in one of the ordinary school buildings. Here I found the apprentices attended in the evenings, and on Sundays from 7 to 10 a.m.; the custom of coming in the afternoons, as at Posen, had been given up. But I happened to arrive in Thorn upon a public fête day, and my information was not from an authoritative source, as I found all the professors away, so I continued my journey onwards, across the Russian frontier at Alexandrovo towards Warsaw.

Knowing the great advance that Russia had made of late in manufactures, and having read the numerous and varied rumours of the changes about to be made in the education of the masses in Russia, I was anxious, being on the frontier, to see if England had aught to learn from new Russian systems.

Rumour had announced that much money was to be spent, not only on general education in every village in Russia, but on technical education, and as she has no old systems to sweep away. for her people are uneducated, I was eager to learn what she was doing, for I knew that her manufacturing of goods, formerly obtained from England, was forging ahead with marvellous rapidity, and the chief centre of these manufactures was in Poland, so on I went to Warsaw.

At the office of Captain Murray, our Consul General in Warsaw, I found letters awaiting me from the Russian Minister of Instruction, giving me authority to visit the schools, and stating that letters had been sent to the heads of educational establishments advising them of my intended visit.

My first aim was to see what advance had been made towards educating the general masses of the people, and it was curious to note how the crossing of the tiny stream at the frontier had wholly changed the life of the people. In all the German Polish towns one only has to ask who is the head of the Gewerbe, the trade or technical schools, or, still more, the simple question where are the Volksschulen, and at once the direction is given: but here in Warsaw it was an immense task to find out who was at the head of affairs, and no one knew where a Volksschule was situated.

There were plenty of private schools, but no public schools of the type I was seeking, it appeared; so at last 1 drove to the University, but here I found it had been closed, and many of the students had been forced to quit Warsaw at twenty-four hours' notice, owing to trouble with University students generally all through Russia, but the Secretary kindly showed me part of the building, and especially the library of 300,000 volumes, remarkably well arranged in an iron building, with iron open floors thoroughly fire-proof. There are 1,200 students here, but this was not the class of school I was seeking, and I was given the name of a director who probably would assist me. I found then he dwelt in the same block of buildings as Captain Murray, a curious proof how little the educational heads are known in Warsaw, as I had held a long consultation with the consul as to the best people to visit. The director, I found, only spoke Russian, but his wife kindly acted as interpreter through French, and I obtained the directions of certain technical schools, but the director knew nothing, or so it seemed, of any. primary schools.

I wanted to prove the truth of the news paragraphs that Russia was educating her masses, and also to see the steppingstones to the higher technical training. But my inquiries for a Volks or Board or any Government primary school seemed futile, no one knew of such a thing, but I obtained the aid of a friend who is the editor of a literary Warsaw journal, and who speaks English and most European tongues. He asked the hotel proprietor, and he telephoned and enquired the whereabouts of such a school, but to no purpose, so together we drove out on this hunt for a primary school, and we asked policemen, who directed us to what they thought we wanted, but we found their schools were private ventures, up on third floors of small houses; but, at last, a peasant whom my friend addressed as "father" gave us some directions, and, after a very wild drive, we were shown to an open space, and there, in a hollow amidst some trees, was a little low wooden house, and on descending into it we found it was a school, and some little ones were hurriedly dressing.

The small schoolroom with rough old desks was to accommodate Primitive twenty children, and three lived wholly here and were main- schools. tained. Reading, writing, and the first four rules of arithmetic were all that were taught, and even this institution, although called a Government school, was supported by the Red Cross Charity. The teacher, a woman, showed us their copybooks; little ones of six doing capitals and figures; but everything was of the poorest, although, when I saw them all assembled with their teacher outside the little low hut, they looked a fairly bright little group. But this primary school hunt and final find led me easily to understand the statement that there is but one school to 4,070 inhabitants, and that in all this city of 638,000 inhabitants there are but 150 private so-called Government schools and 3 artisan schools. For 2,000 children in Warsaw there is no room, and for 9,000 apprentices no room in the Sunday schools. The pay of

Russian teachers is not a tempting one. In a town primary school a teacher would get £40, in villages the pay would only be £15 10s. a year, or for men £35 to £40; but again I was told primary schools were being opened all over the country, whereas another informant said this was but rumour.

Expenditure But if I found so little was being done for primary education, on technical I learnt that the Government was beginning in earnest upon education. technical education, and had established a large polytechnic. This, at present, I found housed in an old tobacco factory, but the new building was just beginning to be built, and a sum of not less than four million roubles (£400,000) is to be expended on the school and fittings, so that Warsaw should soon have a polytechnic quite abreast of the times, and private energy is already doing a great deal to educate the well-to-do Pole in commercial and manufacturing matters.

I found my coming had been announced by the Minister of Instruction to many of these schools, which were of the type we should term private venture schools, and were only classed as Government schools because they were under the rule of the Minister in the matter of curriculum, &c., but they receive no assistance from the Government. One of the first of this type of schools I visited was the commercial school of Herr Laskus, a three-class school in which French and German were obligatory. Two hundred and seventy-seven pupils were being educated here in a suite of rooms on the third floor of a building over some shops. There were a few of Leutemann's German natural history pictures on the walls. I was shown the so-called laboratory, where a few bottles were arranged on benches. Some examples for object lessons, as the oak and cotton, and a few plaster models, seemed to be the material for the school work. The library was contained in a small cupboard, and a map of Africa, and a by no means modern large atlas, were shown me with some pr de. The pupils all wear a semi-military uniform, and pay 125 roubles (£12 10s.) a year, and ten roubles for the laboratory, and five for English. There is a holiday of three months in the sumuner, fifteen days at Christmas, and twenty-one days at Easter. The length of the holidays, especially at Easter, is enforced by the fact that the Government compel holidays at the Russo-Greek fête of Easter, and as the Poles are mostly Catholics, they require it for their Easter, and the two dates being often a fortnight or more apart, the holidays have to meet this exigency.

All the professors have to be authorised by the Government. The curriculum included, beyond arithmetic; algebra, French, and German in the second class; a knowledge of commercial products, chemistry and mineralogy, political economy, commercial correspondence in four languages, and commercial law and office work, but the building and material were pitifully deficient as compared with those of the German Polish schools. From this youths' school I passed on to a Ladies' Commercial commercial School, kept by Madame Smolikowska, where also I found His Excellency the Minister had forewarned them of my intended visit.

Girls'

school.

This again was on the third floor, a handsome suite of rooms for a hundred pupils of the well-to-do Burgher class. These pay 100 roubles (£10) a year, and French and German are taught, but no English. The rooms were in excellent order, with good dual desks. The pupils are all required to have gone through the six classes in the gymnasium or high-school. A well-arranged little museum of geology and minerals, and examples of commercial wares, and a fair little library spoke of intelligent work; and the manageress told me the idea of such a school to educate girls for commercial life occurred to her about three years ago and she applied to the Government for permission to establish it, and that permission was graciously given; and her pupils had already taken places at 100 roubles a month.

Another commercial school for lads was for 420 pupils with two preparatory and five upper classes. I saw that at least from Warsaw we can scarcely gain any hints on commercial or technical education, but I learnt the reason why the Government have started the Polytechnic. In future, it is understood, no Russian or Pole educated abroad will be allowed to be the manager of a manufactory unless he has finished his education at this school; so that, I have heard it said (with what truth I cannot say), one idea in starting this school is to stop the Russian going to Germany or England for his education. But the Poles are glad that such an advance in education is allowed them. Here, as in Germany, the leverage of freedom from five or three years in the army is of use to the Professor. After passing the 6th class, the student can become a one-year service man, and where there is only one son in a family he is not compelled to serve. As a fact, I was told by Mr. Kimens, our Vice-Consul n Warsaw, that there are a limited number of primary schools in towns and villages which are free, but after our hunting for a primary school I easily believed the statement I had from a large employer of labour, that 90 per cent. of his work people were totally illiterate.

I passed on from Warsaw to the swiftly developing town of Lodz, where immense factories tower up in vast square masses of enormous size-factories where 10,000, 6,000, and 5,000 hands are employed a town that is beating the American cities for the swiftness of its marvellous increase. I see by reference to an article in "Our Foreign Competitors," written in 1886, it is mentioned as an astonishing fact, that a factory here has as many as 1,000 hands in it. Where did the intelligence come from to create this business? I felt there must be education in such a town; for in the last fifteen years Lodz has grown from 120,000 Rapid inhabitants to nearly 400,000, and its houses and streets from growth of little, low, wooden shanty-like houses to vast stone edifices and cities. wide, well paved, and asphalted streets, with electric trams and every up-to-date arrangement.

My editor friend at Warsaw, Dr. Drzewiecki, had given me introductions that led me to Director Garschine, who is the head of the Lodz Merchants' School, and under his guidance I soon saw there was great activity in commercial and technical educa

Vigorous development.

tion here, in spite of what appeared to be somewhat restrictive regulations from St. Petersburg.

Let me take the school over which Director Garschine presides first. This was founded last year by the Lodz Merchants' Guild, and is now housed in a spacious temporary building; but a site has been chosen, and permission obtained from the Government, and a school is to be built. The State gives nothing, but exacts the right to inspect, and allows the pupils the same rights here, i.e., with regard to military service, &c., as in the Government Gymnasium. There are 400 scholars, the sons of merchants and officials. In the three preparatory classes the fees are 60 roubles (£6) a year, and in the seven upper classes about 100 roubles, or £10 a year. Five per cent. of the pupils are clever poor students, who are admitted without payment.

The Government requires that the plan of the studies arranged by the professors should be submitted to the Minister of Instruction, and fixes considerable restrictions upon the work, but Director Garschine, although an orthodox Russian, as required by the Government, has made friends with the Catholic Poles, which speaks volumes for his tact and good feeling. The hours of study in this school are from 9 to 12 a.m., and from 1.15 to 3 p.m., with lessons of 50 minutes' duration, and from three to four lessons in conversation.

A great difficulty in Poland arises from the varied religions. Here the priest of each denomination comes twice a week for 50 minutes, and instructs the pupils in their faith, be they Catholics or Protestants, Jews or Orthodox; and Czar Nicholas has given permission to the Catholics to "pronounce their prayers"; so each cult goes to its class-room before commencing, there says its prayers, and then begins the general work; and, although against the Russian observance, this broad-minded director allows a crucifix in each class-room.

The languages taught here are Russian, German, French, and next year English is to be taken up.

The class-rooms were all bright and well fitted and hung with object lesson pictures and good maps, and a museum on which 5,000 roubles is to be spent was just begun. A curious instance of Government restriction was shown in the fact that the Director at the fifth class stopped the learning of commercial arithmetic as the pupils got practice in the book-keeping classes; but the Minister said no, they must go on with the arithmetic. Another rule was that Polish is not allowed to be spoken in the school. I am not sure how far this rule is successfully enforced. Promotion in the classes is given by the report and work done, and not by examination, "as that loses time."

Here in Lodz I was able to see a Government Elementary School so called; for, although organised by the State, it is kept up by the town taxes: the citizens pay a tax, which may be as low as a rouble per year, according to their income, the merchants pay one per cent. of their income, for the school rate, and to the sum collected the town adds 15,000 roubles (£1,500). This elementary school was a one-class school in two parts with 117 pupils;

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »