The examinations they went through in mental arithmetic were
very remarkable, and the questions put to the boys of the intermediate
class, who were generally from eleven to thirteen years old, were
answered in a very creditable manner.
In the high school, the teaching is carried on till the pupils reach the
age of sixteen or seventeen, and even eighteen, after which they either
leave school altogether or go to college. They are generally the
children of artisans or mechanics, but boys of all ranks are admitted,
and are moved on from one grade to another. The schools are entirely
free, and girls are admitted as well as boys, and in about equal
numbers. The girls and boys are taught, for the most part, in separate
rooms, but repeat their lessons and are examined together, so that there
is a constant passing in and out from one class-room to another, but
still great order is preserved. This assembling together, however, of
large numbers of boys and girls, for so considerable a portion of the
day, did not strike us as so desirable as it is there said to be. The
advocates of the system say it refines the rough manners of the boys;
but it is more than questionable if the characters of the girls are
improved by it, and if the practice, in its general results, can be
beneficial.
The subjects taught to both boys and girls are invariably the same; and
it was curious to hear girls translating Cicero into excellent English,
and parsing most complicated sentences, just like the boys, and very
often in better style, for they often answered when the boys could not.
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