The Gymnasium succeeds and builds directly upon the work of the middle school. Its function is to provide a liberal culture and education suited to the needs and desires of those who become in large part the leaders in all phases of political, professional, or other social careers. Thus we note that the succeeding steps taken in the educational ladder are in harmony with and dependent upon preceding work. While only a correspondingly small number pass to the summit, all the people enjoy the advantages of the broad fundamentals and generalizations which lie at the base of their educational system and equip very well for the common walks and vocations of life. In our discussion we shall separate the work of the three sections and consider them one at a time. It seems advisable to handle them in this way, and we believe that a more adequate conception of the work as a whole will be obtained by offering first the part affecting all the people and dealing with the primary schools. II. THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS The primary schools are of two kinds,--those specially designed for the rural sections of the country and others provided for the towns and cities, the latter being somewhat richer in curricula, more complete in organization, and more thorough in operation than the former. Considering the fact that such uniformity characterizes the courses of study in the various schools, it will be necessary to present but one outline for each class of schools. An effort has been made to select courses that are representative and which clearly set forth typical conditions. Table VIII gives the program of work offered in one of the rural communes, and shows the number of hours per week devoted to each branch of study for the seven years in the course. Just after the legislative act of 1889, the Department sent out a "normal plan" which served as a guide in arranging the time-tables for rural municipalities. As a result great uniformity exists. TABLE VIII Table Showing the Number of Hours per Week for Each Branch of Instruction in the Course of Study in Fredrikvaern Commune.[21] Year I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. Total Religion 7 7 5 6 6 6 6 43 Norwegian 10 8 8 8 8 6 6 54 Mathematics 6 5 4 6 4 6 6 37 Geography 2 2 3 3 3 13 History 2 2 3 3 3 13 Nature Study 2 3 1 2 2 2 2 14 Writing 5 5 4 4 2 2 2 24 Drawing 1 2 2 2 2 9 Vocal Music 2 1 2 2 2 2 11 Manual Training 2 2 4 6 6 20 Gymnastics 2 2 2 2 8 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Total 30 30 30 38 38 40 40 246