The School System of Norway

by David Allen Anderson

The buildings are divided into rooms in such a manner that the daylight nearly always enters from the left or the rear of the pupils when they are seated at their desks. This rule is disregarded only in rare cases. During the short days of winter it is essential to provide artificial light. In cities and large towns they use electricity for lighting the school buildings; in the country or in small towns, where the municipalities do not maintain any central lighting plant, various devices are installed. Sometimes gasoline is used and again ordinary oil lamps are common. An abundance of light of the best procurable quality is generally provided.

Besides admitting light the outside windows are of use in providing ventilation for the school rooms. They are opened wide during intermissions between classes, so that when the children come in from their exercise on the play grounds they enter an atmosphere nearly as pure and fresh as that out of doors. In addition, many schoolhouses, especially those built recently, have regular ventilating devices.

The class room furniture in Norway, like that used in many other European schools, is about as primitive in design and lacking in attractiveness as anything found in the whole country. Its evolution surely has been greatly retarded. In each room there is a small platform high enough to enable the instructor to see all his pupils with ease. On this platform is a desk and a high chair in which the teacher sits most of the time while giving instruction.

The pupils' seats and desks are made of heavy lumber and attached to a common base. This makes them clumsy, and they appear very queer to one accustomed to the better designs now in use in some countries. Those of recent make are for but one pupil, though older ones, some of which are still in use, accommodate three or four. In construction the seat is generally a solid flat bench with a low back. The desk has a slightly sloping top, a small inconvenient shelf for books, and a receptacle for pencils, pens, rulers, and other articles used by school children. The Norwegians deserve commendation for the care exercised in the arrangement of seats and desks. The distance and proportion between them are regulated according to scientific principles looking to the physical welfare of the occupants. The bodily posture of children in school determines in large measure what it will be out of school. Far too little attention has been given the physical side of education, and one of the important problems in connection therewith is the proper construction of schoolroom furniture.

In the smaller buildings, classrooms have commodious cupboards for apparatus (maps, charts, globes, plates, etc.), and various things with which the children work (sewing materials, exercise books, etc.). While they have a liberal supply of excellent illustrative material and teaching apparatus and the best of facilities for storing it, mechanical appliances for its display and devices for its convenient use are woefully lacking. Maps and charts are held in the hand or hung on a nail or other fixture in the room; while globes and the like are placed on chairs or improvised stands. In general the apparatus is awkward to manipulate and as a result much of its value is lost.

Blackboards of proper size are very rare in the schools of Norway. As a rule the board is about three by five feet in size and fastened to a clumsy easel which elevates it so high that it is out of reach of the pupils. To enable the children to use such a board a small platform is provided. The child mounts the platform by means of a few steps and there stands and does his blackboard work. In only one instance did the writer during his visits to the schools find what appeared to him to be an adequate amount of blackboard space. This exceptional condition was in one of the primary schools where special equipment was installed for the instruction of children below normal intelligence. The ample provision of blackboard here is proof of a recognition of its value, and the situation may also be regarded as an indictment against the prevalent neglect in this line.

School room decorations are not as prominent as might be expected. Despite the facts that the whole of Norway is picturesque, that her artists are quite numerous, and that the masses of her people are more than ordinarily appreciative of the finer phases of life, very few paintings or pieces of sculpture adorn her schools. True, exceptions as to this rule of scant provision of the artistic may be found; but, as in all countries, they quite generally fail to appreciate the educative values of art.

While, traditionally at least, the study and recitation rooms have been considered of prime and greatest importance in school buildings, there are others, accessory to them, which in their effects are productive of quite as good results. Among them may be mentioned: offices, teachers' rooms, libraries, laboratories, and other rooms for special purposes. Some of these are not provided in all schools, but commonly all of them are found in the city school buildings.

The offices for rectors, inspectors, head masters, etc., are admirably arranged and handsomely appointed. They are provided with desks, cabinets, chairs, settees, tables, and other furnishings which add to convenience and comfort. The rooms for teachers are equipped and furnished in a way just as suitable to their purpose. In these they spend their vacant periods in study, reading, or in leisure, according to their choice. Here, too, officers and teachers are served with luncheons in the middle of forenoon and afternoon sessions.

There are libraries in nearly all school buildings. While many of them are small some are of large consequence. The one in the Christiania Cathedral School numbers thirty thousand volumes. This is one of the oldest and perhaps the largest library in any school of the country, and it is regarded with considerable justifiable pride.