z 9 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



these two systems of education, and, having weighed both in the "bal- 

 ance, they have found the modern system wanting to such a degree 

 that they have concluded to discard it forever. There seems to be 

 wide-spread misconception about this German experiment, and the 

 conclusions drawn from it are so unwarrantable that a review of the 

 main features of the case may be useful in correcting erroneous im- 

 pressions. 



As is well known, there are two classes of schools in Germany 

 which prepare boys for the university the Gymnasien (gymnasia) 

 and the Mealschulen (real schools). The former are the classical 

 schools, whose curriculum consists in the main of Latin, Greek, and 

 mathematics, and graduation from which confers the right to enter 

 any department of the university. The real schools are institutions 

 whose course of study embraces less Latin than the former, and no 

 Greek, the place of the latter being represented partly by more of 

 the modern languages and partly by natural science. The gymnasia 

 are old schools, being the legitimate successors of the schools which 

 dated from the revival of letters. The real schools are products of 

 the modern spirit, and, although dating from about 1740, they did 

 not acquire a recognized standing until late in this century. The 

 earliest of these schools were the answer to the demand for " prac- 

 tical " education in the narrowest sense of that term. It was not 

 until 1859 that the Government of Prussia fully recognized them. 

 In that year, the schools passing under that name were classified, ac- 

 cording to length of course, into first, second, and third class. The 

 course of the first class was made of the same length as that of the 

 gymnasium that of the other classes was shorter. From that year 

 the friends of the real schools demanded that graduates of schools 

 of the first class should be admitted to the universities. Their claims 

 excited at first only a smile of derision, but so vigorously did they 

 push matters that the Government, in 1869, was persuaded to take the 

 first move in the case by asking the faculties of the various Prussian 

 universities for their opinions on the subject. This called out a series 

 of reports which were very strong against admission. It is curious 

 that in this series of reports language was used from which we might 

 infer that the universities had already tried the experiment ; as when 

 it is asserted in one report that the gymnasium students soon overtake 

 real-school students even in natural science that at a time when real- 

 school graduates were not admitted to the universities. The Gov- 

 ernment decided, however, to admit the real-school students to certain 

 branches, which it did by the order of December 7, 1870. 



Until 1871, then, the graduates of real schools were not admitted 

 to any department of the universities in Prussia as candidates for a 

 degree. In that year they were allowed to matriculate in the univer- 

 sity for the study of modern languages, mathematics, and natural sci- 

 ence. After an experience of about eight years, on the 18th of De- 



