14 Professor James A. Lindsay on 



that this latter function had not been handed over to Academies — 

 as in France, or to Societies, such as the Royal Society or the 

 British Association — as had happened to a certain extent in the 

 British Islands. 



The leading feature of German education was the systematisation 

 of the various departments. The primary school, the secondary 

 school, the high school, and the university had a definite relation 

 to each other ; they subserved certain clearly-defined ends, they 

 were links in a chain, they were graduated steps in the ladder of 

 learning, they did not overlap or leave mischievous lacunae. In 

 a German town the number of schools was accurately apportioned 

 to the number of scholars and their educational needs, not to the 

 private opinions or sectarian prejudices of the parents. Large 

 schools were favoured, as being more economical, more efficient, 

 more likely to be capably manned and vigorously administered 

 than small schools. In Wiesbaden, a town with about 100,000 

 inhabitants, there were 16 schools — five high schools, three 

 middle-grade schools, and eight elementary schools — i.e., one 

 school to every 6,200 inhabitants. Belfast had about 320 schools 

 for a population of about 380,000 inhabitants — i.e., one school to 

 every 1,200 people. This meant undue multiplication of schools, 

 unhealthy competition, weak administration, and inefficiency. 

 Many of the Belfast schools were small, badly built, badly 

 ventilated, imperfectly provided with class-rooms, playgrounds, 

 and sanitary requisites, weakly manned, and either sparsely- 

 attended or over-crowded. 



Germany differentiated schools as regards their aims and scope 

 on a fixed principle. The same school did not attempt to 

 compass divergent educational ends, as was so often attempted, 

 with indifferent success, in this country. These were the follow- 

 ing types of school, viz. — 



(1) The Gymnasium, where Latin and Greek were the main 

 subjects. 



(2) The Real-Gymnasium, where Greek disappeared in favour 

 of English and a more liberal course of science. 



(3) The Reform Real-Gymnasium, in which language teaching 

 began with French. 



