20 Pnissia and the German System of Education* 



The German universities maintain the principle of 



universal admission both for those who wish totem-h and 

 for 1 lmsr who wish to learn, on the sole condition of 

 intellectual capacity. There are no sectarian or religious 

 disabilities, as at Oxford and Cambridge, except for the 

 professorship of the theological faculty. Thus you tind 

 amongthe students Lutherans, lie formed, Roman Catholics, 

 Greeks and even Jews, and many foreigners from all 

 countries of Europe and America. Here they enter an 

 unlimited field of independent study, where they may for 

 four or more years conduct their education and acquire, on 

 examination, an academic degree. 



The students have generally passed their eighteenth or 

 twentieth year when they leave the dull routine of the 

 gymnasium.- Their sojourn in the university is an era of 

 perfect intellectual freedom, such as they never enjoy in 

 subsequent life. They choose their profession, their 

 professors and the lectures; they may attend them with 

 scrupulous regularity or waste their precious time in 

 idleness and dissipation. They arc supposed to possess 

 full intellectual and moral maturity except in politics. 

 The only compulsion to study are the examinations 

 requisite for the Doctor's diploma or for the active service 

 of church and state. But the strongest stimulus is sup- 

 posed to be an enthusiasm for science and the highest 

 culture. 



The universities arc not training schools, like the 

 gymnasia and our American colleges, but they represent 

 the unity and universality of scientific knowledge, the 

 field for the presentation and dissemination of truth ; and 

 they afford unlimited opportunity for original study and self 

 development. To many a youth, this academical freedom 

 proves disastrous; bul the German student is proverbial 

 for his plodding disposition and his unwearying toil. It 

 must be confessed that drinking, duelling (although the 



