Page 52 - 1916 February - To Dragma

TO DRAG MA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 131

T w o marked differences between their schools and ours are the
separate classes f o r the boys and girls, and the prevalence of men
teachers even i n the lower grades. Men are considered more i n -
tellectual than women and are deemed necessary, at least f o r the boys.

O n two occasions we d i d have the chance to see something of
what the public school l i f e is like,—once when we were invited to
attend a Christmas program in one of the grade schools, and again
when we visited a village school house.

T h e Christmas celebration was interesting, because i t resembled the
strict old-fashioned schools one finds described i n books. T h e pro-
gram, conducted by the long coated school masters, was very long
and heavy. The profound oratorical style of the many recitations
and dialogues, made us smile as we thought of the "sing-songy"
way we spoke pieces as children.

But the time we visited the village school house was even more
interesting. I t was i n Udligenschevil, a village on the stage route
in the hills. Our German tutor, Fraulein Annemarie Klmiger Pfyffer,
was looking a f t e r the education of the village youngsters, while the
school master was on duty protecting the boundary of his tiny
Switzerland. T h e village was composed o f a half dozen peasant
houses, the hotel, the church, one l i t t l e shop and the low, brown, u n -
painted school house. T h e broad low doorway of the latter ad-
mitted us into a hallway whose unfinished wooden floors, walls and
ceiling were worn to a polish with scrubbing and wear. A f t e r the
heavy wooden shutters had been opened, we saw a schoolroom such
as we never had seen before. The long, low, worm-eaten benches,
worn shiny w i t h age, and the high p l a t f o r m f o r the teacher's desk,
gave the atmosphere of "spare the rod and spoil the child." Eriiu-
lein Elmiger showed us some of the newspaper covered composition
books with their perfect copy-book style of writing.

But the aristocratic children, those of the old families, do not
usually go to the public schools. They have tutors f r o m the time
they begin to talk until they are g r o w n ; even then such men and
women of leisure often continue the private lessons. T h e boys o f
these families are more apt to go to the public schools f r o m high
school age up, but the education of the average aristocratic g i r l
is finished i n a private school or a Catholic convent when she is
about fifteen. A t least a year away f r o m home is considered neces-
sary. There are girls of the middle class, or of fortuneless aristo-
cracy who continue their education i n order to teach. This studying
ttay also be done w i t h private teachers, a f t e r which the state ex-
aminations are taken. T h e rank of a teacher does not depend upon