610 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



There is still much distrust of this apparently very reasonable proced- 

 ure. Every one feels that the momentous decision of the character of 

 the education ought to be made at an age when the individual differ- 

 ences show more clearly than in the first years of school life, but the 

 friends of the traditional Gymnasium are still convinced that a 

 thorough classical training in accordance with the old German ideals 

 ought to shape the mind of the youth in the characteristic way from a 

 tender age. There the German school men still stand in the midst of 

 passionate discussions. 



But the intense pedagogical forward movement of the German 

 people must not be studied only in the programs of the official schools. 

 After all they represent the conservative aspect. The most progressive 

 changes which would upset the traditions altogether are expressed in 

 private institutions, usually the creations of enthusiastic idealists. They 

 feel that there is a deep-lying antagonism between the claims of the 

 official school and hundreds of thousands of hopes. Undoubtedly a 

 large part of the nation is convinced that the whole school system is 

 antiquated and too little adjusted to the needs of the new Germany. 

 The schools still carry with them too much of that Germany which lived 

 and thought but which was politically powerless and in the practical 

 world helpless. The new German who does not look into the clouds 

 but prefers to stand with both feet firm on the ground wants knowledge 

 of natural science instead of languages, wants development toward 

 national patriotism instead of religion in school, and wants civics in- 

 stead of archeology. The center of it all is the firm demand that the 

 youth be prepared for the national life with its social demands and its 

 realistic energies. The character is to be developed still more than the 

 intellect, and the mind is to be schooled for a time which overstrains a 

 man unless he is trained for concentration. Of course much super- 

 ficiality and pedagogical amateurishness are in play there. Especially 

 the educational value of the natural sciences is still a very doubtful 

 claim in the eyes of those who have really watched the outcome. But 

 in this point too the serious reformers propose a fundamental change. 

 They say that natural sciences are indeed without fundamental signifi- 

 cance for the mind of the youth if the instruction means only a heaping 

 up of information. In these days of rapid naturalistic progress the 

 temptation is always great to bring the boy in contact with as many 

 fields of positive knowledge as possible. But there is too much kaleido- 

 scopic unrest in this superficial excitement of the intellect to bring any 

 lasting gain. The new leaders therefore wish that knowledge be con- 

 sidered as unimportant and that the mastery of method and of nat- 

 uralistic thinking alone be emphasized. The boys are to learn how to 

 learn from nature. And in a corresponding way these groups of re- 

 formers wish to change the teaching of history. The children are not 



