Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

the students are qualified to enter upon their particular trade. The iron work is specialized into forging, fitting, turning, and locksmithing. Boys aged from 13 to 16 may enter, and they must have attended for one year at least the highest class in a primary school.

This institution is equipped with one 12-horse power engine, fifty-five vises, six lathes (iron), one Whitworth plane, six forges, two ventilating fans, one ribbon saw, three power lathes for wood work, and forty-five complete sets of carpenters' tools. It is the intention to add immediately other important machinery and tools, and to make the school the equal of any of its kind on the continent.

Twenty-five pupils attended when the classes were first opened; in 1890, 85 followed the course; in 1892 every place was filled, and appli. cants were turned away. A committee of twelve influential men has a general oversight of the school shops and assists in securing for graduates positions in some one of the many large industrial establishments of Ghent. Indeed, employers find the trade school boys very valuable workmen. The average pay they receive at first, in wood working shops, is 1 franc 60 centimes (31 cents) a day, and in iron works they get about 1 franc 80 centimes (35 cents) a day-considerably more than youths of the same age earn who have not had the advantages of the trade school.

The teaching staff consists of a director, a subdirector, instructors, and foremen. The annual budget amounts to 27,060 francs ($5,222.58), the state granting a subsidy of 6,000 francs ($1,158), and the province 2,000 francs ($386).

NATIONAL SCHOOL OF WATCHMAKING, ELECTRICITY, AND APPLIED MECHANICS, BRUSSELS.

The National School of Watchmaking, Electricity, and Applied Mechanics at Brussels was founded in 1886 by private enterprise aided by the state, the province, and the city, with the design of furnishing young men the means of acquiring necessary theoretical and practical knowledge of all the branches of watchmaking, of the applications of mechanical principles to the construction of instruments of precision, and of electricity.

The school is exclusively technical without the least reference to the commercial value of its products; but, nevertheless, a commission is authorized to sell the objects made by the pupils. The studies cover four years, beginning August 1 and ending July 1, each year. Both the theoretical and the practical courses are strictly obligatory.

The practical instruction includes preparatory education and preliminary work common to all branches of mechanical precision; the complete construction of a watch; the making of the movements; the setting up of all the parts of watches, old and new; electric clocks; chronometry; telegraphy; telephony; electric signals; the making of

instruments of precision; the construction of apparatus for purposes of demonstration in the school museum, etc.

The theoretical course includes mathematics, physics, chemistry, cosmography, mechanics, elements of bookkeeping and accounts, French, and industrial economy.

Certificates are conferred after examination on pupils who have completed their four years' apprenticeship. A travelling scholarship is granted to the pupil who finishes his studies with the highest credit, on the condition that he will report, within the year, on the visits he may make to trade schools abroad.

For admission pupils must be at least 14 years of age, and possess, as a minimum, the education covered by the primary school course. The tuition is fixed at 250 francs ($48.25) a year, but the administration gives scholarships or half scholarships free. Pupils serve a three months' probation. The annual budget of the watchmakers' school amounts to upwards of 15,000 francs ($2,895). The number of pupils varies from 20 to 25.

COURSE FOR STEAM ENGINEERS, NAMUR.

A course of instruction in locomotive driving and management of steam boilers (cours de manœuvre et d'entretien des machines à vapeur) was established by the state at Namur in 1876. The teaching is conducted on Sundays, is public and free, and the state railroads allow a reduction in fare to those attending. Certificates are delivered at the end of a year to pupils who possess sufficient knowledge of the branches taught.

SCHOOL FOR FISHERMEN, OSTEND.

At Ostend a practical training school for fishermen was established in 1885 at the suggestion of M. Charles Janssens, who charged M. Defever, director of a free primary school, to draw up a special plan of studies for pupils destined for the occupation of fishermen. In 1887 the fishing school was divided into two (higher and lower) departments.

With the third year of primary studies in this school begins the technical instruction, which includes naval construction, navigation, the compass, exercises in finding one's latitude and longitude, the North Sea, principal food fishes of the North Sea, places and seasons for fishing, implements for catching fish, preparation and curing of fish, etc.

In the fourth year the same studies are more extensively specialized. The variations of the compass are accounted for, and the corrections necessary for determining the true course are explained. Then the ocean currents are studied, the ebb and flow of the tides, high and low tides, the winds, their action on the sails, the water, sea charts, lati

tude and longitude, calculation of distances, determination of routes, etc. The coast lines are modelled and made familiar, viz., the Belgian coast, and those of Holland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and England. The formation of the shore of the North Sea, fishing stations, situation, distance and depth of the waters are also taught. Instruction is given in the laws and international conventions concerning fisheries, in all the arts of marine fishing, and in the repairing of apparatus. In the fourth year a course in English is followed, with special reference to the use of the chief nautical terms.

During the year 1890-'91, 188 pupils attended this school, as follows: First year pupils, 60; second year, 50; third year, 42; fourth year, 36. The budget for 1890-'91 amounted to 2,400 francs ($463.20). The state, the province, and the commune pay, each, 800 francs ($154.40). Since the founding of this department 100 pupils, having completed the studies of the school, have secured places on fishing vessels.

The free school of Ostend, another establishment for the training of the sons of fishermen, was opened in 1890. The course requires two years for its completion, and 68 pupils were enrolled during the first year. The total cost of the school aggregates 4,000 francs ($772). The state subsidy is 1,500 francs ($289.50); the provincial, 500 francs ($96.50). The deficit is covered by special subscriptions.

SCHOOL FOR FISHERMEN, BLANKENBERGHE,

In 1890 a free fishing school of lower rank was opened at Blankenberghe, near Ostend. The instruction is given in winter, when the fishermen are at home, and on Sundays. The course is well arranged, and is sufficient for acquainting fishermen with all the ordinary duties pertaining to their craft.

The law of May 27, 1890, making it obligatory upon any one sailing in the capacity of master of a fishing vessel to possess a certificate of qualification, has had a salutary influence on the attendance at the fishing schools of Belgium.

Bertiaux says, too, that Holland, having enjoyed this special form of instruction for twelve years, has derived great advantage from it, not only in the matter of her fishery interests, but in the development of her merchant marine. In Holland it has been long understood that maritime fishing is the best possible apprenticeship for the formation of good sailors.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

The aim of the Belgian industrial schools, says a government report, May 7, 1886, on the Condition of Industrial and Trade Instruction in Belgium (Rapport sur la Situation de l'Enseignement Industriel et Professionnel en Belgique), is to give a workman scientific instruction bear

ing on his trade which he can not acquire in the shop; to develop his intelligence by acquainting him with the general laws of matter; and to free him from the tyranny of routine, enabling him to increase his economic value and thus better his material condition.

These institutions are essentially communal; perfect autonomy of management is left to the province or commune. The commune or municipality appoints teachers, prepares the expense budgets, arranges programmes and rules, in fact, administers the schools. The government reserves only the right to approve and inspect with a view to control the general management of these institutions by virtue of its subsidy bestowed, and to aid in their development and improvement. At the close of 1889 there were fifty-four industrial schools in Belgium, some founded by private initiative, some by the state, with a total of 14,947 pupils, of whom 1,304 were girls.

In 1892 thirty-five of the most important of these establishments are described by Bertiaux in his book on technical education. These schools are located as follows: Anderlecht, Antwerp, Arlon, Ath, Bruges, Brussels, Charleroi, Châtelet, Courtrai, Fontaine l'Evêque, Furnes, Ghent, Gosselies, Hasselt, Houdeng-Aimeries, Huy, Jamioulx, Jemmapes, Jumet, La Louvière, Liege, Louvain, Marchiennes au Pont, Morlanwelz, Namur, Nivelles, Ostend, Pâturages, Saint-Ghislain, Seraing, Soignies, Tournay, Verviers, Vilvoorden, Ypres. Certain special courses, as photography at Brussels and steam engineering at Namur, are included.

In 1888 subsidies for the support of the industrial schools proper were granted to the amount of $50,809 from the state, $18,371 from the provinces, and $44,155 from the communes; aggregating, with receipts from other sources, $138,336. The special schools and courses also receive liberal subsidies.

The value of these institutions to the laboring classes can hardly be overestimated. They meet the needs of various kinds of wage earners. Workingmen's children, who become bread winners as soon as the factory laws allow, and even before, find in night study at the industrial schools the instruction which otherwise they would never have leisure to secure. Older men, moreover, discovering at the shop what they lack in efficiency, what hinderances bar their advancement, what influences must be counteracted, start in, even late in life, to supply the want by systematic training, which may be had absolutely without cost. Laborers 50 years old are not ashamed to seize such tardy opportunities; and numbers of workingmen assert that they were fathers of large families before the chance occurred to enter on this coveted instruction.

More and more value attaches each year to certificates from the industrial schools, and many foremen and superintendents make it a point, in engaging or promoting workers, to require this test of capacity.

Employers in general are strongly in favor of such practical industrial training, and some of them aid the schools financially. A few employers, however, object that the tendency is to overeducate the laborer, so that all workingmen expect to be captains of industry and none are willing to perform the duties of a private.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, ANTWERP.

Many Belgian schools, to which reference will be made, have been inspected by a British royal commission. The following statement concerning the Antwerp Industrial School is quoted from the report of this commission:

The Antwerp Industrial School is an evening school for workmen, who go through a definite course of instruction, having lessons in geometry, elementary science, and in drawing in its special application to various trades. The teaching is free, and is given in the Flemish language. In addition to the general course of instruction, which all the students of this school, as of other similar schools in Belgium, are expected to follow, the commissioners found classes in which workmen are taught various special trades, such as wood graining and painting in imitation of marble; these being industries carried on in the city of Antwerp. Twenty-seven pupils were at work in this class. The school contains 150 pupils in five classes. They enter at the age of 14 and upwards, and remain four or five years. By a special ministerial decree children from the primary schools, who can satisfy the conditions of entrance, are admitted at the early age of 12 years. Most of the pupils, however, have already spent more or less time in the workshop, and have, therefore, gained some familiarity with the practical details of their trade. The lessons take place between the hours of 6 and 9 every evening. Here, as in almost all other schools in Belgium which the commissioners visited, special attention is paid to drawing.

It is worthy of notice in connection with this school, as well as with other schools in Belgium, that the pupils are expected to go through a complete course of instruction as laid down in the programme for each year, and do not select such subjects as they themselves may consider to be more especially applicable to their own work. There is a preparatory course for young men who are not sufficiently advanced to enter the school. The annual cost of the establishment is $4,379.85, part of which is contributed by the town and part by the province and by the

state.

The criticism of the commission with regard to the rigidity of the programme of study is hardly applicable at the present time. Students take up one or more branches of the course as time and capacity allow; or they pursue some branches one year, others the next, until the whole plan of instruction is compassed.

The Industrial School at Antwerp was founded in 1860, and reorganized in 1866. The instruction, given in the Flemish language, comprises drawing lessons and the following scientific branches: Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, bookkeeping, hygiene, industrial legislation and economy, physics, chemistry, mechanics, and steam engines, with special courses for stationary engineers and in the materials of construction.

« AnteriorContinuar »