The School System of Norway

by David Allen Anderson

The life of the teacher is one of service, calling for an expenditure of the self to an extent perhaps greater than any other profession. Among the Norse, however, it is not as strenuous as that experienced in American schools. The Norwegian teachers have more time than we for recreation, self-improvement, or any of the activities opened up by leisure hours. Life generally is set at a more moderate pace with the Norsemen than with the rushing Americans, and the schoolmen enjoy the attendant advantages along with those in other professions or occupations.

While leisure among certain classes leads to idleness and corruption, it has quite opposite results among the better class of citizens. Windelband says that "The cultured man is he who in his leisure does not become a mere idler." The cultured men of the past have in their leisure developed science, art, literature, and philosophy. They have had reserve energy after the performance of their regular labors to use in fruitful, self-selected activities. There are always innumerable avenues through any one of which an earnest servant of the state may bring great gain to its people.

There is no nobler profession than that devoted to the development of youth; neither is there any occupation which brings more satisfying recompenses. The child is the most precious asset of the nation and deserves the maximum service possible for teachers to render. To perform the most efficient service the teacher should have health, vigor, and time for recreation in addition to scholastic and professional qualifications. When school authorities make conditions conducive to these ends, the results will be of such character that teachers, pupils, patrons, and community will all obtain greater profits.

Where school activities are not overtaxing, the teacher has opportunity to build up his physical being, increase the buoyancy of his spirits so as to enthuse his pupils to a greater extent, or improve his educational qualifications. One may concentrate his efforts along some given line of research and from day to day give the pupils under his tuition the benefits derived from these specialized efforts. An individual by persistent study may become the discoverer of new laws or truths which reach the ends of the earth and profoundly influence human affairs. Whatever the particular activity, leisure consecrated to the uplift of mankind is sure to result in great good.

When institutions drive their servants to the limit of their powers they must inevitably be the losers in the long run. They extinguish the light of ambition, reduce to machines the individuals who should be contributors to human progress, and make legion "the man with the hoe." Such practice in our schools results in waste of energy, depletion of our teaching force, and irretrievable loss in many ways.

It is my candid opinion that the rapidity of the evolution of the Norwegian school system, its excellencies, and the highly satisfactory results coming from it are in large measure due to the fact that it does not overtax the powers of its teachers and educational leaders, but on the contrary allows them opportunity for the exercise of initiative and encourages a professional attitude towards their work.

THE CURRICULUM

The course of instruction in the primary and secondary schools of Norway is uniform for all pupils except in the second and third years of the gymnasium where diverse lines of study are offered. The arrangement is unfortunate in that the individual is sometimes required to pursue subjects of study for which he has no adaptability and in which he can develop no interest. Teachers in Norway tell me that this requirement is a great handicap; retarding the progress of the class, demoralizing the individual, and increasing the burden of the teacher. More flexibility in this regard would doubtless be an advantage. The elective system, so common in our own schools, when rightly supervised preserves sufficient coherence between the studies taken up and gives opportunity for more perfect adjustment.

Not only in the course of study but also in organization, plans of instruction, and equipment, the schools of Norway are too uniform to result in the freest development of the intellect, the richest growth of individuality, or the greatest conservation of time, energy, or money. There are a few variations from their regular routine but these are not sufficiently numerous.