and all peasants in the riksdag, although their wives are never
invited.[h]




CHAPTER IX

PUBLIC EDUCATION


There are few countries in which education is as free as in Sweden.
From the grammar school to the university in all its stages, the cost
is defrayed entirely by the state or the parish. Education is thus not
a privilege of the wealthy, but a benefit common to all.

In Norway you are scarcely ever out of sight of a schoolhouse, and
Professor Nielsen, of the university, on being asked concerning the
ratio of the illiterates, looked surprised and replied that he was not
aware of any illiterates; that he did not recollect having seen any
statistics on the subject, and ventured to assert that anybody in
Norway could both read and write.

Education is free throughout the entire primary system, a course of
seven years, between the ages of seven and fourteen, when the law
prohibits the employment of children in any occupation, and requires
them to attend school at least thirty hours a week for twelve weeks
each year in the country and fifteen weeks in the cities. The maximum
term is forty weeks in both city and country districts. There are in
the kingdom 5,923 school districts, governed by _Skolestyret_--boards