April 21, 19 10] 



NATURE 



235 



were left in utter ignorance. Younger sons gave 



■Ives with increasing frequency to the studies of good 



:ig, though those who inherited their fathers' estates 



'■I ■ usually of the familiar type. The daughters of the 



pper classes were not infrequently educated by the Church, 



ut the fact remains that the provision made for education 



I religious houses, and in the grammar schools that were 

 3unded in the twelfth century, was in the main intended 

 Dr the poor citizen's and ploughman's children. Win- 

 hester (founded in 1373) was probably the only school 

 hat did anything before 1450 for the education of the 

 [entry. Even there the numbef of poor to paying scholars 

 ,'as as seven to one. 



Yet England was, so far as education is concerned, the 

 eading nation of Europe at this time. Progress was 

 teady, and the respect for learning, starting among the 

 3wer classes, gradually forced its way upwards. The 

 evival of learning in Italy, and in Europe generally, facili- 

 ated the progress of education in England, and disposed 

 f the contempt originally felt for scholarship by the 

 ristocracy ; but while the introduction of the study of 

 rreek enhanced the value of education, the recognition of 

 iterary culture by the upper classes of society began to 

 lake it the privilege of the rich, to the exclusion of the 

 oorer scholars, whose monopoly it had originally been. 



he great principle upon which the Church had built up its 

 ystem was abandoned. Rich men's sons were turning poor 

 len out of the endowments meant only for the poor. 

 ' hes gros poissons mangeut les menus." " Poore men 

 re supplanted by the rich, the weake by the strong, the 

 leane by the mighty." 



But the fatal event was the dissolution of the monas- 

 eries, and the final destruction of the Church's system of 

 ducation, which had raised Englishmen to a height of 

 ulture to which the other nations of Europe could not 

 ttain. The effects were immediate and disastrous ; by' 

 ne blow the whole English educational system was 

 rippled and almost destroyed ; until the end of the nine- 

 eenth century the effects of that fatal step were still felt, 

 nd it is only recently that efforts have been made to re- 

 rganise and restore what at that time was destroyed. 



The Reformation, which was the ultimate cause of the 

 ownfall of the English system of education, was in 

 iermany the decisive influence which lejj to the establish- 

 ng of education upon a broad and stable basis. Up to 

 hat time education had been dominated by the Church, 

 nd had existed, in the first place, for the Church, and 

 he results had not been so satisfactory as in England. 

 >ince then tfie State, the municipal authorities, and, above 

 II, the parents, have taken an ever-increasing interest in 

 he education of children. 



The leader of this great movement was Martin Luther. 



n his " Epistle to the Burgomasters and Councillors of 



<undry Cities in German Lands," written in 1524, he 



' "'"""d it to be the dutv of cities, and of secular authori- 



general, to provide good schools and to encourage 



tance ; and, at a later date (1530), in his " discourse 



II the duty of keeping children at school." he urged the 

 uthorities, even, if necessary, at the public exoense and 

 i.'ith the aid of compulsory measures, to draw clever boys 

 o the pursuit of learning in order to provide competent 

 n^n to fill the public offices. 



The outcome of this movement in favour of general 

 ^ucation for all, and the pursuit of advanced studies by 

 *iftpd scholars, is to be seen in the foundation of a lar^e 

 mmber of grammar schools, in the reform of the universi- 

 ips. and in the establishment of elementary schools in 

 vhich reading, writing, catechism, and singing were 

 aught. 



In spite of various set-backs, such as the thirty years' 

 v»r. this system of education survived in its main outlines 

 intil the end of the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth 

 entury it was dev-eloped by the introduction of modern 

 ciences, modern languages, and their literatures, as com- 

 mlsory subjects in secondary schools, and by their 

 admission into the curriculum of the universities ; but the 

 •resent svstem in Germanv has evolved, under the com- 

 "ned influences of Humanism and the Reformation, from 

 hat which was established as a result of Martin Luther's 

 n-'vement. 



1 he importance of France in the history of education is 

 XO. 2 II 2, VOL. 83] 



mainly conrined to its influence upon higher education. 

 The failure of the Reformation left the educational system 

 of the Church very much as it was ; but in university 

 education France took a leading position in the Middle 

 -Ages. The University of Paris, which attracted, even in 

 the twelfth century, many students from all countries in 

 Europe, became the prototype of German universities 

 founded in the following century ; but elementary educa- 

 tion in that country has remained in a deplorable con- 

 dition. In 1866 24 per cent, of the recruits could neither 

 read nor write, and twenty years later a similar percentage 

 of those who were married were unable to sign the 

 register. 



The new era in the political, economic, and educational 

 history of the world may be said to begin with the year 

 1870. The history of education in the three countries 

 since that date is so familiar to you that I may proceed 

 at once to the present state of affairs, first of all in 

 Germany. In elementary education Germany had a start 

 of more than a century as compared with England. For 

 rich and poor alike attendance at the elementary school 

 had been compulsory in every German State for more than 

 a hundred years before the Forster Act became law. The 

 system is of long standing, and experience has shown that 

 the organisation and working of the arrangement are 

 practically perfect. 



The curriculum in German elementary schools is of the 

 simplest. Originalh' the three R's, religious knowledge, 

 and singing were the only subjects taught ; to these have 

 been added at various times the elements of geography and 

 history to stimulate interest and encourage patriotism, 

 and, for pupils of the upper standards, a certain amount 

 of natural history. The compulsory school age is from 

 six to fourteen, and although there is some diversity in 

 the excellence of the school buildings, they are, for the 

 most part, airy and good. 



In Germany the State does not exist for the individual : 

 the individual exists for the State, and the State considers 

 that it is to its own advantage to have, above all things, 

 a high average level of knowledge and ability. This the 

 Germans have certainly succeeded in attaining in 

 elementary education, and it is in this high average that 

 their great superiority in elementary education consists. 



Let us now turn to the German secondary schools. The 

 organisation is as complete as in the case of elementary 

 schools, and the principle is again the same. Individual 

 prominence must be sacrificed to raise the common 

 average : and to this must be added another principle, 

 equally important and similar in its effects, that all sub- 

 jects are taught in form ; this applies to every school and 

 to every boy from the first to the last day of his career. 



The education of a boy in secondary schools may proceed 

 uDon any one of three lines. It mav be classical, semi- 

 classical, or modern. For centuries Germany clung to a 

 belief in the classical system for higher schools, but the 

 force of circumstances eventuallv necessitated the formation 

 of two new types of school, each designed to give a liberal 

 education of a different kind. Yet the classical Gymnasium 

 still holds its own (although there is no longer anv very 

 close attention paid to composition in Latin and Greek), 

 for in 1008, of the freshmen who matriculated at Prussian 

 universities, 77 per cent, came from Gymnasien, or classical 

 schools. 



The Realgvmnasium, or semi-classical school, is 

 differentiated from the Gvmnasium by the fact that, while 

 Greek is not taught at all. modern languages, mathematics, 

 and science receive greater attention. The Oberrealschule 

 is purely modern in its curriculum, and excludes both 

 Latin and Greek. .All three types have a nine years' 

 course, usually begun at the age of ten, preceded by three 

 or four years at an elementarv- or prenaratory school, which 

 is often attached to the college. All these schools are 

 established bv the State or bv the State in conjunction 

 with the municipality ; their fees range between 5/. and 

 61. per annum. 



Th^re are some to whom the principle upon which these 

 schools are founded will ^ooear to be radically false, how- 

 ever good may be the discipline and the orsjanisation in 

 its execution. As the main intention is to make it possible 

 for a high percentage of the puoils to pass the leaving 

 examination, practically the whole form has to be pro- 



