PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN AUSTRIA.

II.—SECONDARY INSTRUCTION IN THE NON-HUNGARIAN PROVINCES.

I. HISTORY OF GYMNASIUMS.

Up to the time of the Empress Maria Theresa, under whom the present system of secondary instruction was inaugurated, the subjects and methods of teaching in the Latin schools of Austria, as in the schools of the Jesuits everywhere, bore the impress of the "Ratio et Institutio Studiorum" of Aquaviva.* In Bohemia and Moravia, under Rudolph II, (15771612,) there flourished some thirty Protestant schools, based upon Melancthon's system of classical study,† and under the direction of the University at Prague. Great zeal was shown by the cities of the provinces in sustaining these institutions, and the rectors of the University, from time to time, prescribed the course of study that should be followed. The most noted of these regulations were the “Schola Zatecensis” of the learned Jacobus Strabo (1575), the " Ordo Studiorum" of Petrus Codicillus (1586), and the rules of 1609, which established five classes and prescribed the grammar of Philip Ramêe, the dialogues of Castalian and Vives, the epistles and select orations of Cicero, Ovid's Tristia, Virgil's Æneid, selections from Horace, Buchanan, and the Greek Testament, with Plutarch and some other historians.

At the abolition of the order of Jesuits there were thirty-seven gymnasiums under their direction in the provinces then belonging to the Empire, of which the oldest was that at Innsbruck. As characteristic of these schools it is scarcely necessary to mention the divison of the course into three "grammar" classes, devoted to "the rudiments," "grammar," and "syntax," with some times a preparatory class-two "humanity" classes, for "poetry" and "rhetoric"-and a two or three years' "philosophical" course, in "logic,” “physics" and "metaphysics"; the almost exclusive use of the Latin language in both speaking and writing; and the only occasional introduction of "real" instruction in the lower classes, while it was totally neglected in the higher. Great stress has been laid by the defenders of the system of the Jesuits upon the prominence given in the selection of candidates to the order, to their efficiency as teachers; upon the general use and extended study of the Latin tongue; upon the requirement that each member of the order, after two years of university † Am. Jous of Ed., Vol. iv., p. 749.

Am. Jour. of Ed., Vol. xiv., p. 462.

study, should become the teacher of a grammar class, thus supplementing the zeal and devotion of youth to the more mature experience and wisdom of the prefects and masters of the higher classes; upon the usual requirement of three years of service in the instruction of the higher classes before the completion of the theological course; and upon the advantages resulting from the wealth and full endowment of their schools. On the other hand it is asserted that less worthy considerations often governed in the selection of members and in the management of the schools; that "Jesuits' Latin" bore an ill repute among the lovers of pure Latinity, while more accordance was given to the practical use of that language than accords with the spirit of more recent times; that the rules which regulated the removal and change of teachers were such as to make thorough instruction impossible, especially in the philosophical classes; that in these classes the classics and applied mathematics were wholly neglected, and other instruction given only by dictation; and that the amount of instruction was greatly limited by the length of the vacations and the number of holidays. It may at least be asserted, without injustice, that while their schools for a long period answered fully the demands of the times, and were the admiration of even their opponents, yet the stubbornness with which they clung to the forms of scholasticism and humanism, in which their system of instruction originated, showed itself at length unfavorably in the want of originality of thought, in an exclusive fostering of a mere fluency in the use of language, in an utter indifference to the national tongue and to popular enlightenment and culture, and in a fondness for abstract, barren speculation, and a proneness to dogmatism. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Piarists also gradually extended their schools from Bohemia into the other provinces, and in 1773 they numbered twenty-four gymnasiums. They were not strictly bound to the plan of instruction adopted by their founder and followed in general the method of the Jesuits, but giving more attention to Greek, German, history, geography, mathematics, and physics. The candidates, after two years' training, were obliged to teach six or eight years in the common schools before a position could be obtained in a gymnasium. It is to the credit of this order that their schools rivaled in efficiency and reputation the institutions of the far more wealthy and powerful order of the Jesuits. There were also a score of schools of a similar grade under the charge of the Benedictine and other religious orders, including one at Roveredo, conducted by lay teachers, and a single Protestant gymnasium, founded at Teschen in 1709.

The attempt to reform the Jesuit system may be said to have commenced with the eighteenth century, under Joseph I., who, in 1711, called the attention of the rector of the University to the condition of the philosophical course. A commissioner was appointed by the emperor Charles VI. to propose a plan of reform for the entire University, before whom the Jesuits defended their system as in every respect unexceptionable. The commission made no report, but in 1735 the Emperor issued a decree which for the first

time placed their educational operations under government control, and was intended to promote the introduction of a more judicious and better regulated course of study. The attention of Maria Theresa was drawn to the subject long before her efforts for the improvement of the common schools, and Gerhard van Swieten, previously of Leyden, was selected to guide the reform, who was keen in detecting faults and prompt in applying remedies, but unlike some of his successors, willingly recognized and retained whatever was of value in the existing system. Even during the war of the Austrian succession, (which made more evident than ever before the unity of interest of the several provinces,) the Empress instituted inquiries into the condition of instruction, especially in the Protestant gymnasiums of Bohemia, and as a consequence, in 1747, required that greater attention should be everywhere given to history, Greek, and arithmetic, and to the gradual introduction of German grammar. The vacations were to be shortened, much useless instruction was done away with, and in the philosophical course the study of ethics, politics, and applied mathematics was required. Serfs were to be admitted to the schools only with the consent of their lords, and to still further assure the benefits of the schools to those best able to improve them, scholars of proven incapacity were to be immediately removed. At the same time the attainment of an academical degree was made necessary before entrance upon theological or medical study.

This reform was extended by the more general decrees of 1752, which made the course of study still more prescribed, permitted instruction in the prescribed branches only in the authorized gymnasiums, provided a system of inspection and examination, with semi-annual reports to the imperial government, and required the preparation and use of improved text-books. In 1760, a State Board was formed for the supervision of education and text-books, consisting of Swieten and Archbishop Migazzi, while subordinate boards were formed in the several provinces. These changes were introduced but imperfectly and with great difficulty, though the books for instruction, in the languages especially, were revised and improved. Some of the forms of superintendence were never carried into effect. The provincial boards appointed were at first composed entirely of Jesuits, but the war upon the order by the State, the secular clergy, and many of the other religious orders, had now commenced in earnest, their places were soon filled by others, and their influence at the Universities was rapidly and greatly diminished. Finally, in 1772, the order was entirely abolished, and, as a consequence, the whole subject of gymnasial reform assumed a new aspect. The extensive possessions of the order were appropriated by the State, and the larger portion shortly afterwards was devoted to educational uses, and has since constituted what has been usually styled the "Educational Fund." The gymnasiums of the Jesuits thus became endowed State institutions. But the Empress deemed it advisable that their number should be somewhat diminished,

both on account of the want of teachers, which could not otherwise be remedied but by the appointment of ex-Jesuits, and for the purpose of procuring means, even at the expense of the gymnasiums, for the improvement of the common schools. Another prominent motive was the fear lest agriculture, trade and commerce should suffer if the facilities for entering upon literary pursuits were too great. A number of the more incomplete and poorly endowed institutions were accordingly gradually suppressed, amounting in all to thirty-two, and embracing some that had not belonged to the Jesuits.

The necessity, however, for a more complete and uniform organization of the schools that remained was no less urgent than before. The State Board of Education, temporarily suspended in 1772, upon the death of Swieten and resignation of the Archbishop, who was opposed to many of the proposed changes, was revived in 1774, with Kressel as president, and required to report a plan of reform for all the educational institutions of the Empire, including common schools, gymnasiums, convent schools, academies, and universities, and giving special consideration to the question of the general use of the German language in instruction. A partial report, giving a plan of study for the "philosophical" course, drawn up by Martini, was made, and received the approval of the Empress during the same year, and provision was made for the introduction of the revised course in the University at Vienna, and as soon as possible in the other universities and convent schools. The question of gymnasial reform, however, was not so easily decided, and occasioned hot dispute between two opposing parties-the one favoring the system of the Jesuits, the other desiring to introduce a course and method similar to those which years of trial in the more advanced German States, especially in Prussia and Saxony, had proven so excellent and advantageous. Prominent among the plans proposed by the latter party was one advanced by Prof. Hess, of the Vienna University, which regarding the gymnasiums as institutions chiefly for general instruction, preparatory to higher scientific study, still retained Latin as the principal branch, but added to it a judicious and somewhat extended course of Greek and German study, mathematics, history, and natural science-the whole wrought out with much minuteness of detail. Martini recognized its many excellencies and warmly recommended it to the approval of the State Board, and after being modified by Hess in some of its wider deviations from the existing system, it was reported by them to the Empress, and by her referred to her principal ministers for their opinions. But the idea that a gymasium should not have an exclusively philological character had not yet gained general favor, and while many experienced schoolmen received and sustained the projected change with enthusiasm, many others prominent in the government were as violently opposed to it. The Empress finally appealed to Gratian Marx, then principal of the Savoy Ritter Academy, who laid before a special Educational Board a plan which was approved by

them, and shortly afterwards, (October, 1775,) received the imperial

sanction.

This system of Marx was fashioned upon the model of the Piarist institutions, in which, through the concerted action of the principals, various changes and reforms had been made as early as 1763. But beyond stricter regulations respecting the qualifications for admission, the semi-annual examinations and classification of the students and the removal of such as were found incompetent, the requirement of a thorough knowledge of Latin and its use in both speaking and writing on the part of all students intended for the university, and special provision for the supervi sion of the gymnasiums in the several provinces, the changes in the course of study were made only gradually as proper text-books were prepared, and were still incomplete at the death of the Empress in 1780. In the three grammar classes, the principal aim was still to speak Latin with correctness, to which was added a slight knowledge of Greek and some instruction in arithmetic, geography, and history, with the catechism. In the two humanity classes, all the instruction in the languages was given wholly in Latin, and admission and promotion depended upon the proficiency of the scholars in its use. Additional teachers were here provided for instruction in Greek, and though the standing of the students was not effected by their proficiency in this language, no premiums could be gained without satisfactory progress in it. Increased attention was to be given to mathematics, history, and geography, and as was previously the case, admission to the philosophical course depended upon the result of an examination in the studies of the gymnasium. No children of the class of serfs could be admitted to these classes, even so late as 1804, without permission from the public authorities.

But Joseph II., notwithstanding all that was done by him for the benefit of the common schools, had but little sympathy with many of the plans of gymnasial reform. The idea of Hess, that the gymnasiums should be made institutions for laying the ground-work of a general education, seemed a dream that was impossible to be realized. Their proper aim appeared to him rather to be the education of capable civil officers, the inculcation of “morality,"* and the imparting of such instruction as was most immediately and practically useful. The legislation of his reign was chiefly confined to general instructions to directors and teachers in relation to text-books, and a single ordinance upon the subject of instruction and discipline. The practical acquisition of the Latin language was made the principal object, the secondary branches being left in a great measure to the pleasure of the individual teachers. The course and amount of instruction were carefully regulated and none but the prescribed textbooks were permitted, to the exclusion of the many manuscript works in

The term "morality," as often used in this connection, does not convey at once to the American mind its true, prominent idea, implying, as it does, a habit of obedience to constituted authority, and compliance with law, which makes its inculcation a matter of supreme political importance.