THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS AT THE EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 26, 17 October 1884, Page 20

THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS AT THE EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITION.

IH the course of an article on the Educational Exhibition, from tho pen off Mr. W. Lant Carpenter, Nature has the following reference to ,tne Educational System of the Brothers of the Christian schools :— • « r ° er ? J? one society which merits more than a passing notice, .since its collective exhibit is not merely"one of the most remarkable and interesting in the Educational Exhibition, but is also one from IT iS-f %i is i° be learnf> Jfc U cosmopolitan in its aims, and exhibits the results of its schools in Belgium, France, England the United States, Canada, Egypt and India, although its headquarters are in Paris. Ihe institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was founded in 680 by the Venerable Dr. J.B. De La Balls, who was the nrst to establish primary education in France, and also training colleges for teachers. At present the institute has nearly 12,000 .Brothers, distributed over thirteen countries, and 1200 schools, with an attendance of about 330,000 pupils, who, we regret to say, are all Doys, the toothers not concerning themselves in any way with the education of girls. The Brothers everywhere follow the same general methods of teaching, while they modify the details accordingto the customs of the country in which they are, varying their programmes also to meet local requirements and the wants of the times ; for example, m their United State* schools, where all the boys stay till about sixteen, every boy in the first class learns (1) shorthand writing, SL ?? + u US f*u f th e .type- writer, (3) the Morse alphabet since without these requirements the Brothers are unable to set Situations for their pupils. The rooms in the Technical Institute as well as the space in the Belgian and French Courts devoted to the results 2-f, r T*? rk '? nll ! ?ell repay very careful examination, since only their most leading features can be here indicated. Foremost among these, and bearing distinctly upon a subject recently discussed both «nH o?T 33 ° ara f l a .u d th ? ss P ectatt > r > *s their system of models, maps, UttedbTaZth he . Bcie^fi« teaching of geography, which aree^ r^Z t % ?? r other Alexis. These maps were the first hypsometrical £*£/ 8 5 ed *? Fre ? ch ' and we believe the fi «tof the kind publisned anywhere for school use, and are intended to give, by a suit. Sfte ll T. nient . of Coloura ' clear notio °Bof the real configuration ?«ri«« ♦ i 8 ™l &Ce ' ** introd «ction to their study is afforded by arf m^rfciT' "wt * *S r .n. nn * nia bottom ' c P oa whi <* contour lines XT ar s : Whe ? tbis is fiUed t0 various depths with water the anS tff^ r ha . ngeß m the relative levelo£ and sea are clearly w>, ? • T l l dea «> Q strated. This demonstrative or objective SmSS. 1 keynote to the system of instruction adopted by the SfiSfJS?? 8 CffeCtiß Se?nia many i° B tances-notably in the Cf museums of Annecy (Savoy), Beauvais, Rome, and aS^S2Sr^ Wh il eh tbe B P e «mens are all collected by the pupUs, Sd ffidKrift the jnartaw; in the apparatus employed in scientific th«rptnil / vf- a u hing; aQd intheir astern of teaching drawipg, entirel? tl^ 'M i ust ™ted by the enormous series of design! Xf nn y f tb ? work , of P u P ll8 » are almost incredible. The lithographed Series of SSS fT ß^ l^^ the P u P il8 ' and tbe c^ ensi ye bvtha J«S and other text-books written in various languages oy tne Brothers, all deserve close inspection.