December 24, 1886.] 



SCIENCE, 



597 



eight days after the end of the month, all punish- 

 able absences to the notice of the magistrate, if he 

 has not previously brought the parents to their 

 duty by an admonition, or had the child fetched 

 to school by the school beadle, to whom a small 

 fee is due from the parent for his trouble. If, 

 however, the matter goes before the magistrate, 

 this functionary inflicts a fine, which may go as 

 high as 30s. , and if the fine is not paid the penalty 

 is changed to one of imprisonment. In Saxony 

 the law prescribes that the number of scholars in 

 a class shall not exceed 60, and that the number 

 of scholars to one teacher shall not exceed 120. 

 In schools with from 60 to 120 children, therefore, 

 if the commune is not rich enough to do more 

 in the way of providing teachers than the law 

 actually requires, two classes are formed, and a 

 reduction of school time takes place for each, in 

 order to allow the one master to conduct them 

 separately." 



The rural population greatly prefer the half-day 

 school, as it is called, because they thus have the 

 older children at their disposal for half the day. 



Mr. Arnold concludes his valuable paper with 

 three comments : 1. The retention of school fees 

 is not a very important matter ; something can be 

 said for and against it, but the weight is in favor 

 of their retention : 2. Keep iraproving our schools 

 and studying the systems of other countries ; 3. 

 Organize the secondary instruction not only 

 in the interest of that instruction itself, but in 

 the interest of popular instruction. This last 

 remark applies with peculiar force to education in 

 the United States. 



Mr. Arnold's report is free from official dryness, 

 and reads more like an essay than a government 

 document. 



THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF 

 PRUSSIA. 



Despite all that has been said and written in 

 this country during the past few years concerning 

 the respective merits of the gymnasium and the 

 realschule, there are very few educators who are 

 able to describe accurately the character and rel- 

 ative status of the various educational institutions 

 of Prussia. Therefore the following summary will 

 be of value. 



At the head of the education department in 

 Prussia is the minister of education, whose duty 

 it is to look after the administration of church 

 matters as well. In each of the twelve provinces 

 of Prussia is a provinzial-schul-collegium, having 

 charge of the secondary schools. The elementary 

 or primary schools are under the supervision of 

 district boards, of which there are from two to 



five in each province. Every commune is com- 

 pelled by law to build and support a number of 

 elementary schools sufficient to provide primary 

 instruction for all the children of the community. 

 Where the means are not sufficient, a grant is 

 allowed by the central government. The assist- 

 ance of this sort given in the year 1885 amounted 

 to nearly 21,500,000 marks. The inspection of 

 these elementary schools is very thorough ; and 

 every teacher, no matter what his grade, must 

 have passed a government examination. In the 

 towns a rector is placed over the teachers ; in the 

 country a local school inspector, usually a clergy- 

 man, acts in the same capacity. These rectors 

 and local inspectors are under the smrveillance of 

 district inspectors. Gradually laymen are super- 

 seding clergymen as incumbents of these district- 

 inspectorships. The district inspectors report to 

 the district boards, and these themselves not in- 

 frequently overlook the inspectors' work. In the 

 eye of the law, all schools, no matter what they 

 teach, that have no herechtigung, — a term used 

 to express the privilege of preparing students for 

 an examination the passing of which shall absolve 

 from part of the full period of military service, — 

 are elementary schools. All schools having he- 

 rechtigung are classed as high schools, and are 

 under the administration of the above-mentioned 

 provinzial-schul-collegien ; and in this way the 

 high schools are very closely connected with the 

 military system. After 1812, military service was 

 made compulsory for every Prussian. The period 

 of service in the standing army is tliree years ; 

 but those who have received a higher education 

 have the privilege of serving one year only, if they 

 apply to the authorities at the proper time. These 

 are the so-called ' one-year volunteers ' {einjdJirige 

 freiwilliger). They receive no pay, and must keep 

 themselves. In order to increase the intellectual 

 standard of the army, and also to reduce expenses, 

 the high schools have the right (berechtigung) to 

 grant certificates for one-year volunteers. 



These high schools are of various kinds, and in- 

 clude, 1° , the gymnasien ; 2°, the pro-gymnasien , 

 3°, the real-gymnasien (formerly known as real- 

 schulen of the first class) ; 4°, the real-pro-gymna- 

 sien; ^° , the ober-realscliulen ; 6°, the realschulen ; 

 1°, the higher-burgher schools, and a few industrial 

 and agricultural schools. 



The pro- gymnasium is merely a gymnasium, 

 without the highest class, and the real-pro-gymna- 

 sium and the realschule stand in similar relation 

 to the real- gymnasium and the ober-realschule. 

 Those students who have satisfactorily attended 

 for one year the second class of a gymnasium, 

 real-gymnasitim, or an ober-realschule, or the first 

 class of a pro-gymnasium, a real-pro-gymnasium, 



