The laboratories are furnished in harmony with their traditional plan of instruction. Instead of having a supply of apparatus so that most or all of the pupils may be occupied simultaneously in laboratory experimentation, they have but one set of instruments. However, they do furnish liberal quantities of materials for laboratory experimentation. The teacher is the chief operator, one or two pupils assist in the work, and the other members of the class are onlookers.
Where domestic arts are taught, rooms are fitted up especially for the purpose. Stoves, cooking utensils, and many other necessary articles are at hand ready for use. The efficiency of the work is in no wise hindered by lack of supplies. In many instances teachers go themselves to the markets and purchase provisions needed for the day. An earnest effort is made to combine theory and practice in proportions suitable to obtaining the best possible results.
Some of the larger buildings have special rooms for the storing of apparatus and illustrative materials (Anskuelsesmidler). Racks, cupboards, cabinets, drawers, cases, and the like provide convenient means for preserving these supplies and of rendering them easily accessible. Gymnastic halls and lunch rooms will be discussed in another section.
The playgrounds are generally small, but some of the schools have, in addition to the grounds immediately surrounding the buildings, athletic parks of considerable proportions. The grounds about the school buildings are arranged with a view of securing from them maximum returns. They are enclosed by high board or wire fence, or by stone or brick and cement walls. A heavy coating of gravel is usually placed on the ground in order to avoid the growth of vegetation or an accumulation of dust. "Keep off the grass" signs are not in evidence, for rarely do they attempt to have grassy lawns.
They recognize the need and value of physical exercise in the open, and provide means for it in connection with every school. It is specifically required that all pupils go on to the playgrounds during the intermissions (fri Krarterer) which come between all lessons. While the children are at play one or more of the teachers are detailed to supervise the grounds, while others are to patrol the hallways. Large roofs are put up under which the children play when the weather is not favorable to being in the open. On rare occasions when the weather is bitter, pupils may be permitted to remain indoors. Children whose health is extremely delicate are dealt with in leniency, and some of them are permitted to remain inside regularly.
Near to the school buildings, generally on a corner of the grounds, homes are provided for the head master or principal and the janitor (Vagtmester). Sometimes the janitor and his family live in an apartment in the school building. Generally, however, a double house is erected, one part for the principal and the other for the janitor. These homes are furnished rent free to these men.
Teachers in rural districts, as a rule, are supplied with a house and sufficient ground for garden and the pasturage of two or three cows. These provisions materially reduce living expenses, and, in a way, recompense for the low salaries received. In one rural school the writer found three hundred and fifty pupils taught in two divisions—forenoon and afternoon sessions—by six teachers. The principal had been in charge of the school forty-three years. One portion of the school building provided a residence for him and his family. They had a small garden; a fruit orchard; a few acres of land for pasturage and hay; and a barn and sheds for cow, pig, and chickens. There are many similar situations throughout the country. This particular one lay just outside a small city, and this fact accounts in part for the large number of pupils in attendance.
As a rule the homes for rural school teachers compare very favorably with the better class of homes in the surrounding neighborhood. They have sufficient room, are comfortable, and generally satisfy the occupants. The majority of rural teachers have such homes provided, though only a few city teachers enjoy this favor. In 1905, two thousand, eight hundred and twenty-six rural teachers had homes furnished them free of cost.
VII. GENERAL FEATURES OF INNER ORGANIZATION
Most of the teachers in the rural primary schools are men, while the majority of them in the city are women. During the year 1907 there were four thousand, one hundred and twenty-three male and one thousand, four hundred and seven female teachers occupying regular positions in the rural schools, and in the city their numbers were respectively eight hundred and twenty-eight and one thousand, six hundred and six. Although the law makes no requirements as to sex, except that in city schools there must be at least one master and one governess, there are certain forces operative which almost equal edicts of law. Traditionally, teachers in the rural schools are men and, as previously stated, homes are provided for them and their families. Appointments to teaching positions are permanent. Teachers remain in their places until death removes them or until they choose to retire on pension, which is, all too often, long after they pass the time of their efficiency. It is difficult to break with the old customs and hence the entrance of women teachers into the rural school positions has been slow. In the cities the conditions are different. There only a small percentage of the teachers have homes furnished them, the number of teaching positions without supervising responsibility is large, and the salaries paid to women are lower than those paid to men. As a consequence the female teachers have found easy entrance into the city schools, and at present they outnumber the men two to one. Women have been teaching since 1869, and the people are convinced that their ability as teachers is equal to that of the sterner sex.