CULTURE FOR ALL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 211, 20 August 1934, Page 11

CULTURE FOR ALL

System in Danish Schools

Folk high schools of Denmark, which are supported but not controlled by the State, are endeavouring to prove that culture should not be merely lor the rich, said Prof, Peter Manniche, principal of the International People’s College, Elsinore, Denmark, in a recent address under the direction of the National Council of Education at Aurora, Ont. He is returning to Denmark after a lecture tour in India, China and Japan. These schools, of which there are now 51 in the country, successfully protested against a suggestion to give them a curriculum and examinations, he pointed out, and kept their freedom. One fourth of the population has attended these schools, which have been of great value in the fight for economic and cultural emancipation.

The radical redistribution of the land in Denmark was described by the speaker, who explained that now the country is a land of many small landowners. There are 5000 owners with more than 120 acres, 65,000 with between 20 and 120, and 135,000 have less than 20 acres. Under a system of government loans the peasants have been enabled to establish themselves on small farms of 20 or 30 acres.

In a short time they were abje to repay those loans to the Government, become “freeholders," and able to educate their children. Since 1899 some 16,000 small holdings were established under this system. In 1915, under a now law, a man no longer became owner of the land, but became tenant and the State owner. The land is revalued every three years and the holder pays interest. The establishment of a farmer’s culture at the same time as economic emancipation made co-operation possible, said Professor Manniche. By co-operation between large and small farmers, and the elimination of the middleman, the farmers now receive the benefits of large-scale production. The Danish farmer buys and sells by co-operative methods, and "0 per cent, of his household requirements are bought from co-operative stores