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fittotraiiotral (BmiKtian S>nm 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 WILLIAM T. HARRIS, A.M., LL. D. 
 
 . Volume LIV 
 
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 
 
 12mo, cloth, uniform binding. 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES was projected for the pur- 
 pose of bringing together in orderly arrangement the best writings, new and 
 old, upon educational subjects, and presenting a complete course of reading and 
 training for teachers generally. It is edited by William T. Harris, LL. D., 
 United States Commissioner of Education, who has contributed for the different 
 volumes in the way of introduction, analysis, and commentary. 
 
 1. The Philosophy of Education. By Johann K. F. Rosenkranz, Doc- 
 
 tor of Theology and Professor of Philosophy, University of Konigsberg. 
 Translated by Anna C. Brackett. Second edition, revised, with Com- 
 mentary and complete Analysis. $1.50. 
 
 2. A History of Education. By F. V. N. Painter, A.M., Professor of 
 
 Modern Languages and Literature, Roanoke College, Va. $1.50. 
 
 3. The Rise and Early Constitution of Universities. With a Sur- 
 
 vey of Medlevai, Education. By S. S. Laurie, LL. D., Prof essor of 
 the Institutes and History of Education, University of Edinburgh. $1.50. 
 
 4. The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings. By Gilbert 
 
 B. Morrison, Teacher of Physics and Chemistry, Kansas City High School. 
 $1.00. 
 
 5. The Education of Man. By Friedrich Froebel. Translated and an- 
 
 notated by W. N. Hailmann, A.M., Superintendent of Public Schools, 
 La Porte, Ind. $1.50. 
 
 6. Elementary Psychology and Education. By Joseph Baldwin, 
 
 A. M., LL. D., author of "The Art of School Management.' 1 $1.50. 
 
 7. The Senses and the Will. (Part I of "The Mind of the Child. ") 
 
 By W. Preter, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Translated by H. W. 
 Brown, Teacher in the State Normal School at Worcester, Mass. $1.50. 
 
 8. Memory: What it is and How to Improve it. By David Kay, 
 
 F. R. G. S., author of " Education and Educators," etc. $1.50. 
 
 9. The Development of the Intellect. (Part II of " The Mind of the 
 
 Child.' 1 ) By W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Translated by 
 H. W. Brown. $1.50. 
 
 10. How to Study Geography. A Practical Exposition of Methods and 
 
 Devices in Teaching Geography which apply the Principles and Plans of 
 Ritter and Guyot. By Francis W. Parker, Principal of the Cook County 
 (Illinois) Normal School. $1.50. 
 
 11. Education in the United States : Its History from the Earliest 
 
 Settlements. By Richard G. Boone, A.M., Professor of Pedagogy, 
 Indiana University. $1.50. 
 
 12. European Schools ; or, What I Saw in the Schools of Germany, 
 
 France, Austria, and Switzerland. By L. R. Klemm, Ph. D., Principal 
 of the Cincinnati Technical School. Fullyillustrated. $2.00. 
 
 13. Practical Hints for the Teachers of Puhlic Schools. By George 
 
 Howland, Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools. $1.00. 
 
 14. Pestalozzi : His Life and Work. By Roger de Guimps. Authorized 
 
 Translation from the second French edition, by J. Russell, B. A. With an 
 Introduction by Rev. R. H. Quick, M. A. $1.50. 
 
 15. School Supervision. By J. L. Pickard, LL. D. $1.00. 
 
 16. Higher Education of Women in Europe. By Helene Lange, Berlin. 
 
 Translated and accompanied by comparative statistics by L.R. Klemm. $1.00. 
 1?. Essays on Educational Reformers. By Robert Herbert Quick, 
 M. A., Trinity College, Cambridge. Only authorized edition of the work as 
 rewritten in 1890. $1.50. 
 
 18. A Text-Book in Psychology. By Johann Friedrich Herbart. Trans- 
 
 lated by Margaret K. Smith. $1.00. 
 
 19. Psychology Applied to the Art of Teaching. By Joseph Baldwin. 
 
 A.M., LL.D. $1.50. 
 
THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES.— (Continued.-) 
 
 20. Rousseau's Emile ; or, Treatise on Education. Translated and an- 
 
 notated by W. H. Payne, Ph. D., LL. D. $1.50. 
 
 21. The Moral Instruction of Children. By Felix Adler. $1.50. 
 
 22. English Education in the Elementary and Secondary Schools. 
 
 By Isaac Sharpless, LL. D., President of Haverford College. $1.00. 
 
 23. Education froni a National Standpoint. By Alfred Fouillee. $1.50. 
 
 24. Mental Development of the Child. By W. Peeyer, Professor of 
 
 Physiology in Jena. Translated by H. W. Brown. $1.00. 
 
 25. How to Study and Teach History. By B. A. Hinsdale, Ph. D., LL. D., 
 
 University ot Michigan. $1.50. 
 
 26. Symbolic Education. A Commentary on Froebel's " Mother-Plat. 1 ' 
 
 By Susan E. Blow. $1.50. 
 
 27. Systematic Science Teaching. By Edward G^rdnier Howe. $1.50'. 
 
 28. The Education of the Greek People. By Thomas Davidson. $1.50. 
 
 29. The Evolution of the Massachusetts Public-School System. By 
 
 G. H. Martin, A. M. $1.50. 
 
 30. Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. By Friedrich Froebel. $1.50. 
 81. The Mottoes and Commentaries of Friedrich Eroebel's Mother- 
 Play. By Susan E. Blow and Henrietta R. Eliot. $1.50. * 
 
 32. The Songs and Music of Eroebel's Mother-Play. By Susan E. 
 
 Blow. $1.50. 
 33 The Psychology of Number. By James A. McLellan, A.M., and 
 
 John Dewey, Ph. D. $1.50. 
 34. Teaching the Language- Arts. By B. A. Hinsdale, LL. D. $1.00. 
 
 35 The Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child. Part I. 
 
 By Gabriel Compayre. Translated by Mary E. Wilson. $1.50. 
 
 36 Herbart's ABCof Sense-Perception, and Introductory Works. 
 
 By William J. Eckoff, Pd. D., Ph. D. $1.50. 
 
 37 Psychologic Foundations of Education. By William T. Harris, 
 
 A.M., LL.D. $1.50. 
 
 38 The School System of Ontario. By the Hon. George W. Ross, LL. D., 
 
 Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario. $1.00. 
 39. Principles and Practice of Teaching. By James Johonnot. $1.50. 
 40*. School Management and Methods. By Joseph Baldwin. $1.50. 
 41 FroebePs Educational laws for all Teachers. By James L. 
 
 Hughes, Inspector of Schools, Toronto. $1.50. 
 
 42. Bibliography of Education. By Will S. Monroe, A. B. $2.00. 
 
 43. The Study of the Child. By A. R. Taylor, Ph. D. $1.50. 
 
 44. Education by Development. By Friedrich Froebel. Translated by 
 
 Josephine Jarvis. $1.50. 
 
 45 tetters to a Mother. By Susan E. Blow. $1.50. 
 
 46 Montaigne's The Education of Children. Translated by L. E. Rec- 
 
 tor, Ph. D. $1.00. 
 
 47. The Secondary School System of Germany. By Frederick E. 
 
 Bolton. $1.50. 
 
 48. Advanced Elementary Science. By Edward G. Howe. $1.50. 
 
 49. Dickens as an Educator. By James L. Hughes. $1.50. 
 
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 By James M. Greenwood. $1.00. 
 
 other volumes ln preparation. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION 8 ERIE 8 
 
 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 TRADE AND INDUSTRY 
 
 BY 
 
 FABIAN WAKE 
 
 AUTHOR OP EDUCATIONAL REFORM— THE TASK 
 OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, ETC. 
 
 "... and then as to her manner ; upon my word I think 
 it is particularly graceful, considering she never had the 
 least education : for you know her mother was a Welsh 
 milliner and her father a sugar-baker at Bristol." 
 
 School for Scandal, act ii, sc. 2 
 
 i , ■ , , > } 
 
 ' ■ ' ' ' I ■ > > > 
 
 , ' i J, 5 »>' ',3 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1901 
 
u 
 
 /OBI 
 
 THE U8SA#Y OP 
 CONGRESS 
 
 Two Copies Receives 
 
 jan. 2 n 
 
 OOPVWtGHT 6NTW 
 
 CLASS iSL ' XXC, *o.| 
 Z 5 / <T^ 
 
 Copyright, 1901, 
 By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
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 « •■ II * C » t> r < (1 « O < 
 
 
 t ' « * .. ; " '« ? • ; ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
TO MY WIFE 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 The publishers take pleasure in offering to the 
 public the present volume of the International 
 Education Series. It is written by an English 
 scholar who has made a reputation for his philo- 
 sophic insight into the aims and purposes of the 
 chief national systems of education at present in 
 operation upon the continent of Europe. In the 
 light of his broad general studies, Mr. Ware dis- 
 cusses the situation in Great Britain, and throws 
 light upon home questions that are pressing for 
 a solution. To those readers of educational 
 treatises of a generation ago which served up 
 only an inventory of national differences and 
 peculiarities without tracing these to a com- 
 mon principle or any fundamental process, the 
 writings of Mr. Ware are in the nature of a 
 revelation. They afford enlightenment to the 
 seeker after wisdom, while the mere inventory 
 has a tendency to obscure one's vision by divid- 
 ing and subdividing his attention upon a mul- 
 titude of details without unity, and thereby 
 laming his will or his power to act. 
 
 The philosophic study of education traces the 
 dead results — the facts or products of a system 
 of education — into the processes which have pro- 
 duced it. In the next place it discovers the aims 
 
 vii 
 
Editor's Preface. 
 
 and purposes which have impelled and guided 
 the processes and formed their methods. Ar- 
 rived at an insight into purposes and aims, one is 
 able to compare intelligently the system of one 
 nation with that of another. It is only in the 
 light of the national aim and purpose that the 
 methods and results of an educational system can 
 be criticised. The philosophical view, of course, 
 examines and compares national purposes and 
 aims in view of the status of the people of a 
 country and the direction of progress which 
 their civilization is taking. In the present book 
 it is believed by the publishers that Mr. Ware 
 has presented in a clear and convincing style a 
 series of reflections upon his theme, namely, 
 upon the " Educational Foundations of Trade 
 and Industry," which will prove quite as en- 
 lightening to readers in America as in England. 
 To see the systematic and efficient efforts of the 
 French, and especially of the Germans, as viewed 
 from the standpoint of an intelligent English- 
 man, will prove helpful to us, who are beginning 
 to make earnest efforts to re-enforce our indus- 
 tries by school education. 
 
 It is hoped that the present work will meet 
 a cordial reception from the directors of edu- 
 cation, and from all who are interested in meet- 
 ing a national want by schools for trade and 
 industry. 
 
 W. T. Harris. 
 
 Washington, D. C, December 7, iqoi. 
 
 viii 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE following pages have been written with the 
 intention of placing before the English public an 
 accurate, though necessarily far from complete, 
 account of the educational foundations of foreign 
 trade and industry. As need for educational re- 
 form is generally expressed in England in terms 
 of foreign commercial or industrial success, I may 
 be justified in thinking that many persons in this 
 country will be interested to know, or to complete 
 their knowledge of, what our foremost rivals are 
 really doing in their schools. This book originated 
 in a suggestion of Professor H. L. Withers, of 
 Owens College, Manchester, that I should write 
 on the subject of foreign trade and foreign educa- 
 tion. I am not qualified to discuss the question 
 from an industrial or commercial point of view ; 
 I have therefore confined my attempts to showing 
 the educational intentions of Germany, France, 
 and the United States of America, and the way 
 in which these intentions are put into practice in 
 
 ix 
 
Preface. 
 
 their schools. The relation between their educa- 
 tion and their success in commerce and industry 
 is now generally recognized in England ; but it 
 is not for an educationist to express any opinion 
 on this matter. The following plan of a complete 
 national system of education will explain most of 
 the technical terms which I have been obliged to 
 use in the following pages. The dotted lines and 
 arrows show the principal passages from one 
 division of the system to the other. The two 
 divisions are distinct in most countries, the great 
 exception being America. 
 
 Universities ..^_v Technical High Schools 
 
 I !t±— | 
 
 Secondary Schools . Lower Technical Schools 
 
 ...^-- «-----5!§L | 
 
 "*v Higher Primary Schools * 
 
 ^^ - | 
 
 Preparatory Schools Primary (or Elementary Schools) 
 
 The only direct assistance in my undertaking 
 which I have to acknowledge is that of my wife. 
 To her judgment and practical help I am greatly 
 indebted, and to her I have dedicated my book. 
 
 I must, however, take this opportunity of publicly 
 admitting how much I owe to the writings of Mr. 
 Spenser Wilkinson and Mr. Michael E. Sadler. 
 All students of National Education are under a 
 heavy debt to these two gentlemen ; my obliga- 
 tion to them is particularly great, as I have had 
 
 * Called in England " Higher Grade Schools." 
 X 
 
Preface. 
 
 many opportunities during recent years of dis- 
 cussing personally with them matters of common 
 interest. 
 
 Among the chief works which I have consulted, 
 and from which I have quoted, I may mention, 
 " Special Reports on Educational Subjects " of the 
 English Board of Education, the volumes pub- 
 lished in connection with the Paris Exhibition of 
 1900 by the French Ministry of Public Instruction 
 and Ministry of Commerce, the Annual Reports 
 of the United States Commissioner of Education, 
 and the admirable " Monographs on Education in 
 the United States," published in connection with 
 the American Educational Section of the Paris 
 Exhibition of 1900. 
 
 F W. 
 
 Hampstead, 
 
 June Sth, 1 90 1, 
 
 XI 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 K>— 
 
 GHAPTBH PAGS 
 
 I. The Growth of National Systems of Educa- 
 tion i 
 
 II. Voluntary Efforts in England to lay Educa- 
 tional Foundations 14 
 
 III. The Attempts of the English Government 
 
 to lay Educational Foundations ... 29 
 
 IV. The Foundations laid by German Government 57 
 
 V. The Foundations laid in France . . . 147 
 VI. The Foundations laid in America . , . 226 
 
 VII. Conclusions 286 
 
 Index • • - . . . . „ ~ 295 
 
 xm 
 
EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF 
 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GROWTH OF NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 Whatever may be considered the most remark- 
 able achievement of the nineteenth century, there 
 can be little doubt that the national education 
 systems which it has founded will be held respon- 
 sible by future generations for much of the pro- 
 sperity which they may enjoy, and many of the woes 
 which they will suffer. It is true that, in all ages of 
 civilization, much attention has been paid to the 
 education of the ruling classes. From time to time 
 charitable persons have endeavoured to extend the 
 benefits of education to the children of the poor, 
 and in England, at any rate, there has never been 
 wanting a recognition of the right of the talented 
 child to enter through the school into the aris- 
 tocracy of intellect. But it was only during the 
 
 I 
 
Universal Need of Education. 
 
 last century that the civilized world awoke to the 
 full realization of the fact that no man is qualified 
 to fill the position, however humble it may be, 
 which his country has assigned to him without 
 having been educated in the school ; that is to say, 
 developed mentally, morally and physically, through 
 a systematic course of instruction, to such a pitch 
 as will enable him to contend successfully against 
 the difficulties and complexities of modern life, not 
 only those difficulties and complexities which enter 
 into the common environment, but also those which 
 he must encounter in his own special sphere of 
 activity. The realization of this fact led to the 
 creation of national systems of education, that is to 
 say, systems which provide education for the whole 
 people of a nation, not as if they were divided into 
 distinct and independent classes, but, even where 
 social barriers are most firmly established, as 
 united in a common purpose, and possessed of 
 common modes of thought and action. 
 
 It is no mere coincidence that the realization of 
 this fact has originated with the commencement, 
 and has kept pace with the growth, of that great 
 industrial development which has undermined the 
 foundations of the old social and economic order, 
 and seems destined to work changes even in the 
 physical aspect of our world. The marvellous 
 scientific discoveries of the last century and of the 
 closing years of its predecessor, which produced in 
 
 2 
 
Results of Scientific Progress. 
 
 one direction the Industrial Revolution, gave us 
 in another a deeper insight into the activities and 
 possibilities of the human mind ; they threw such 
 light on the workings of the human intelligence, 
 and of the development of the human body, that 
 laws were discovered for the training of both, which 
 if they were not altogether unknown to our an- 
 cestors, had only been advanced hitherto in a timid 
 and uncertain manner, New views were thus 
 acquired as to the value and the power of educa- 
 tion. For centuries, one might almost say since 
 the moment when Greek civilization reached its 
 zenith, the schools of Europe had devoted them- 
 selves almost exclusively to the training of scholars. 
 Their one aim had become the pursuit of learning 
 and the achievement of scholarly culture through 
 contact with the thoughts and writings of the past. 
 The interdependence of mind and soul and body, 
 pointing to the concurrent training of this human 
 trinity into a sound and fully developed living 
 organism, capable of conquering the actual sur- 
 roundings in the midst of which it had to exist, 
 had been lost sight of, and was not restored to the 
 world until rediscovered by modern science, and 
 expressed in new formulas with added truth. 
 
 At the same time the Industrial Revolution 
 brought with it the demand for increased knowledge 
 on the part of those workers whose duty it was to 
 control the new forces applied to industry. Neither 
 
 3 
 
Destruction of Self-dependence. 
 
 must the changes which it introduced into the condi- 
 tions of labour be ignored. New responsibilities 
 were thrust upon nations with regard to that 
 large class of workers, for whom the marvels of 
 machinery meant but the destruction of inde- 
 pendent work and the earning of a living by- 
 mechanical labour, subversive of that "self-de- 
 pendent power " which Goldsmith rightly held to 
 be the true source of a nation's strength, and the 
 destruction of which from other causes he deplored 
 even in his time. Every addition to labour-saving 
 appliances confirmed the truth of Adam Smith's 
 assertion as to the mental, moral, and physical 
 effects of the progress of the division of labour on 
 the majority of the population. In this progress, 
 he said, " the employment of the far greater part of 
 those who live by labour, that is, of the great body 
 of the people, comes to be confined to a few very 
 simple operations ; frequently to one or two. . . . 
 The man whose whole life is spent in performing a 
 few simple operations, of which the effects too are 
 perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, 
 has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to 
 exercise his invention, in finding out expedients 
 for removing difficulties which never occur. He 
 naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, 
 and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it 
 is possible for a human creature to become. . . . 
 His dexterity at his own particular trade seems, in 
 
 4 
 
Effects of the Industrial Revolution — 
 
 this manner, to be acquired at the expense of his 
 intellectual, social, and martial virtues. But in 
 every improved and civilized society, this is the 
 state into which the labouring poor, that is, the 
 great body of the people, must necessarily fall, un- 
 less Government takes some pains to prevent it." 
 And so deeply did the great economist feel the 
 dangers to which the nation was thus exposed that, 
 in spite of his objection to public institutions for 
 education, he was convinced that Government alone 
 could prevent these dangers by providing elemen- 
 tary instruction for the inferior ranks of the people. 
 The poet Wordsworth expressed the same view 
 some thirty-five years later in his "earnest wish 
 expressed for a system of national education 
 established universally by Government," in which 
 he pleads that none be forced 
 
 " To drudge through weary life without the aid 
 Of intellectual implements and tools." 
 
 Such were some of the views expressed by men in 
 our own land as to those tendencies which had to 
 be counteracted by education, but which were con- 
 firmed by the new industrial development. 
 
 We may say, therefore, that the growth of 
 national systems of education during the nine- 
 teenth century was due to two main causes. As 
 we shall see later, these causes were not productive 
 of as great effect in England as elsewhere ; but 
 
 5 
 
And the New Conditions of Labour. 
 
 they were clearly perceived by those of our leading 
 thinkers whose attention was not absorbed by 
 problems which appeared at the time to be of a 
 more pressing nature. Briefly, these two causes 
 may be stated as follows. On the one hand, the 
 new conditions of labour threatened the destruc- 
 tion of that " self-dependent power " which may be 
 regarded as one of the chief sources of a nation's 
 strength ; secondly, the application of the new 
 discoveries of science to industry necessitated 
 greater intelligence and wider knowledge than had 
 hitherto sufficed for those at the head of industrial 
 undertakings. The first of these, it may at once be 
 noted, points to the general education of all classes 
 of the people ; the second to the special educa- 
 tion of those who, by fortune or by merit, rise to a 
 position of greater responsibility than their fellows. 
 It may appear a somewhat remarkable fact that 
 England, the birth-place of modern industry, is 
 the last of the great nations to build up its educa- 
 tional system. The close of the eighteenth century 
 saw public provision made for schools in Wiirtem- 
 berg, Saxony, and Prussia. The opening of the 
 nineteenth witnessed the creation of a complete 
 system of education of all grades in France, under 
 the direction of Napoleon. It was not until 1870 
 that our parliament established elementary schools, 
 insuring the primary education of all children in 
 the land ; and we are still to-day behind all other 
 
 6 
 
Causes of England's Backwardness. 
 
 great nations in making public provision for the 
 higher branches of education. 
 
 We often hear it said that this is due to the 
 natural conservatism of the English character. If 
 another country introduces changes which we 
 hesitate to adopt, clinging apparently to the older 
 order of things, there is certainly some justification 
 for the statement that we are more conservative 
 than the people of that country. But it is very 
 necessary, in making such an assertion, to guard 
 carefully against any confusion of cause and effect. 
 Before the fact can be established beyond all doubt 
 that the natural character of the English people is 
 more conservative than that of another people, 
 not only must the actual achievements of both 
 peoples in every branch of activity be compared 
 with minute accuracy, but due allowance must be 
 made for the external influences which may have 
 modified the natural action of their characters. 
 Without plunging into the depths of such a very 
 complicated question, we can, nevertheless, find a 
 more immediate cause than the conservatism of the 
 English character, for our failure to establish a 
 national system of education as early as Germany 
 and France. 
 
 By a national system is meant one which, among 
 other things, meets all the varied needs of the 
 nation, and is representative of a common national 
 purpose. This common purpose can only be 
 
 7 
 
Causes of England's Backwardness — 
 
 insured if the system is controlled — to what 
 extent need not now be discussed — by the State. 
 Before arriving at a definite conclusion as to the 
 cause of our failure to establish such a system 
 during the nineteenth century, we must, there- 
 fore, consider the nature of our government during 
 this period. 
 
 In England the greater part of the last century 
 has been occupied in remodelling our government 
 on a democratic basis. In 1770, Burke voiced the 
 determination of the English people to oppose 
 any attempt to establish a government possessing 
 despotic elements when he deplored the tendency 
 shown by the House of Commons to exercise 
 control upon the people, whereas " it was designed 
 as a control for the people." These words may be 
 regarded as marking the close of the defensive 
 attitude of the democratic forces ; they were hence- 
 forth to assume an entirely offensive role, and for 
 nearly three-quarters of the nineteenth century we 
 were consciously occupied in the pursuits of that 
 form of constitutional government, which would 
 be thoroughly representative of all classes of 
 the people, and would at the same time allow 
 the greatest freedom possible to the individual. 
 During this period our government was, therefore, 
 in a stage of transition ; and at every moment the 
 existing form, backed by the forces of conservatism, 
 was fighting for its preservation rather than, with an 
 
 8 
 
compared with Germany — - 
 
 assurance of its permanency, attending to its legisla- 
 tive and executive duties. But unless govern- 
 ment possess confidence in its own permanency, 
 providing as it does a sense of stability, national 
 action becomes impossible. 
 
 Even where democratic forces are at work, dis- 
 integrating the older forms of government, national 
 unity, productive of national action, is, however, 
 possible when internal differences are outweighed 
 by common needs in face of external opposition. 
 At the beginning of last century we were full of 
 that nation^ 1 pride which, in the " Old World," 
 according to Lowell, " feeds itself with the record 
 of battles and conquest " ; and, had this pride in 
 our national achievements been coupled with the 
 ever-present consciousness of the need of unity for 
 defence against external interference, national 
 action might have become possible without entirely 
 checking the progress of constitutional reform. 
 But when once the Napoleonic wars were termi- 
 nated, the external opposition to Great Britain 
 seemed to us to be reduced to a negligible 
 quantity, and consequently national unity was not 
 an imperative need. This explains our delay in 
 establishing a national system of education. 
 
 Germany, however, spent the same period in 
 uniting in the face of external opposition into 
 one nation. Prussia, crushed under the iron heel 
 of Napoleon, rose again with a vigour and a 
 
 9 
 
And with France. 
 
 determination which, by their strength, ultimately 
 drew the other States into a united Empire, over 
 which she presided. One of the first results of her 
 revival was the establishment of a national system 
 of education to which the systems of the other 
 States have now closely assimilated themselves. 
 Germany has never allowed democratic aspira- 
 tions to interfere with that national unity which 
 external opposition rendered essential. 
 
 France, on the other hand, has, during this 
 period, suffered many vicissitudes. At least five 
 times she has radically changed her form of 
 government. But for the very reason that these 
 changes were revolutionary and unforeseen, each 
 successive form of government possessed stability 
 owing to the fact that the people believed in its 
 permanency. There was not, at any rate in 
 France, that certainty of change which was always 
 with us in our conscious evolution towards demo- 
 cracy. And not only so ; whatever may have been 
 the disintegrating forces at work under the different 
 forms of government, national unity, productive of 
 national action, was ever necessary — though at 
 moments this necessity may have been lost sight 
 of to the disadvantage of France. Consequently 
 the national system of education founded by 
 Napoleon was continued and developed. It is true 
 that it was modified from time to time in favour 
 of that class of the people on which the existing 
 
 10 
 
Democracy established in England. 
 
 form of government depended for support ; but 
 events invariably restored the national aim. 
 
 Viewed in the light of these facts, it is a bold 
 assertion to say that it is owing to a greater con- 
 servatism of character that we have failed to found 
 a national system of education at as early a date 
 as Germany and France. And, whatever may be 
 the characteristic want of foresight of which we 
 are accused by some of our best friends, it is to 
 our credit that we perceived that, in the circum- 
 stances in which we were placed, the constitutional 
 struggle had to be decided before our government 
 would be justified in taking any measures of a per- 
 manent and far-reaching effect. It was not until 
 the Act of 1867 had settled, once and for all, that 
 our government should assume the democratic type 
 that sufficient stability in the form of government 
 was acquired to allow a system of education to be 
 imposed on the people. And even then it was not 
 a national system ; for the Act of 1870 dealt with 
 elementary education alone. In a sense this Act 
 was a democratic measure ; and in this connection 
 it is interesting to notice that the Government did 
 not venture to compel the people to send their 
 children to the elementary school, preferring to 
 leave the question of compulsion to the Local 
 Authorities — the School Boards — to decide. There 
 was thus initiated, under the new form of govern- 
 ment, that policy of allowing the English people 
 
 11 
 
Democracy and Education in America. 
 
 even greater freedom of educational control than 
 was insured by a thoroughly representative form 
 of central or national government. 
 
 At this point, while considering democratic as 
 opposed to national tendencies in the organization 
 of education, our thoughts naturally turn to the 
 United States of America. Daniel Webster, in 
 his Plymouth oration of 1822, remarked : " On the 
 diffusion of education among the people rests the 
 preservation and perpetuation of our free institu- 
 tions. I apprehend no danger to our country from 
 a foreign foe. . . . Our destruction, should it come 
 at all, will be from another quarter. From the 
 inattention of the people to the concerns of the 
 Government, from their carelessness and negligence, 
 I confess I do apprehend some danger. I fear 
 that they may place too implicit confidence in 
 their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize 
 their conduct ; that in this way they may be the 
 dupes of designing men and become the instru- 
 ments of their undoing. . . . Make them intelligent 
 and they will be vigilant ; give them the means 
 of detecting the wrong and they will apply the 
 remedy." This perception of the need of educa- 
 tion to ensure the success of democracy when once 
 firmly established is not strange. In commenting 
 on these words of Daniel Webster, one of the lead- 
 ing educators of America recently observed : "We 
 are making the experiment of self-government — 
 
 12 
 
Democracy and Education in America. 
 
 a government of the people by the people — and 
 it has seemed a logical conclusion to all nations 
 of all times that the rulers of the people should 
 have the best education attainable. Then, of 
 course, it follows that the entire people of a 
 democracy should be educated, for they are the 
 rulers." With this it is interesting to compare the 
 opinion expressed by Robert Lowe. After the 
 passing of the Reform Act of 1867, by which the 
 working-men living in small houses and forming a 
 majority of the population were enfranchised, he 
 exclaimed, " We must now at least educate our 
 new masters." 
 
 The original absence, in the education of the 
 United States, of a national aim — of the kind 
 which is forced upon a people by external opposi- 
 tion — is clearly shown by Daniel Webster's proud 
 boast : " I apprehend no danger to our country 
 from a foreign foe." Well might Englishmen have 
 uttered the same boast after the battle of Waterloo ; 
 but fifty years of internal struggles were necessary 
 before we arrived at Webster's views as to the need 
 of education for the people. How far democracy 
 has proved itself capable in America of building up 
 a national system of education will be shown in a 
 subsequent chapter. It will then be seen that in 
 possessing such a system the United States also 
 have stolen a march upon us. 
 
 13 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 VOLUNTARY EFFORTS IN ENGLAND TO LAY 
 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 Of the three countries which we have considered, 
 it is seen that England has been the last to recog- 
 nize the responsibility of the nation in face of the 
 new conditions of labour, threatening the destruc- 
 tion of" self-dependent power" — the responsibility, 
 that is to say, of counteracting by education the 
 deadening influences of mechanical labour for those 
 whose fate it is to earn their living among the 
 lowest ranks of the workers. And when England 
 did at last recognize this responsibility it was on 
 account of the establishment of democracy, demand- 
 ing, as this form of government must demand, a 
 certain minimum of enlightenment on the part of 
 all those who have a share in the government. 
 There were many men in England who, even then, 
 would rather have adopted Adam Smith's view, 
 and admitted the claims of education on the 
 grounds that "in free countries, where the safety 
 
 14 
 
Want of National Aim in England. 
 
 of government depends very much on the favour- 
 able judgment which the people may form of its 
 conduct," it is an advantage to the State that the 
 people be instructed, for then " they are more dis- 
 posed to examine, and more capable of seeing 
 through, the interested complaints of faction and 
 sedition." Generally speaking, however, it may be 
 said that we were ultimately guided by the same 
 democratic motives as the Americans, and, to a 
 certain extent, the French ; but we were in no way 
 convinced, as the French and Germans were, and 
 still are, of the dependence of national prosperity 
 on national education. We were not urged, and 
 have not yet been compelled, to found a national 
 system of education by the second of the two causes 
 named above : the need, in international com- 
 petition, of greater intelligence and wider know- 
 ledge on the part of those of our people who have 
 to control the new forces introduced into industry 
 by the discoveries of science. 
 
 But the absence of a national system does not 
 imply the total want in the country of means of 
 meeting rfational needs ; though it does neces- 
 sarily represent an incomplete and disorganized 
 provision for such needs. For instance, great 
 voluntary efforts had been made in England to 
 bring elementary education within the reach of 
 all classes of the people before the interference of 
 the State in 1870. In the same way, though on a 
 
 15 
 
Dr. Birkbeck's Efforts — - 
 
 much smaller scale, something had been done by 
 voluntary effort to increase the intelligence and 
 knowledge of those who had to control the new 
 forces which science had brought to bear upon 
 industry. 
 
 The pioneer in this movement was Dr. George 
 Birkbeck. The son of Quaker parents, he was born 
 in Yorkshire, in 1776. When a student at Edinburgh 
 University he formed a friendship with several men 
 destined to become eminent, among whom may be 
 noticed particularly Henry Brougham. While en- 
 gaged as professor of Natural and Experimental 
 Philosophy at the Andersonian Institution in Glas- 
 gow, Birkbeck was obliged to employ ordinary 
 workmen to make his scientific apparatus, for there 
 was no specialist in this branch of work in the town. 
 On one occasion he employed a tinman to construct 
 a model of a centrifugal pump. It was in the cellar 
 which was the tinman's workshop that, surrounded 
 by the workmen who were making the pump, he 
 was struck with their ignorance as to its uses, and at 
 the same time with their desire to obtain enlighten- 
 ment. It was here that he first conceived the 
 idea of giving a course of gratuitous lectures for 
 the scientific instruction of the working classes. 
 In the programme for this course which he drew up 
 shortly after, he announced his intention of estab- 
 lishing classes " solely for persons engaged in the 
 practical exercise of the mechanical arts, men whose 
 
 16 
 
Philanthropic in Intention — 
 
 education early in life had precluded even the 
 possibility of acquiring the smallest portion of 
 scientific knowledge." And he added that "greater 
 satisfaction in the execution of machinery must be 
 experienced when the uses to which it may be ap- 
 plied, and the principles upon which it operates, are 
 well understood, than when the manual part alone 
 is known, the artist remaining entirely ignorant of 
 everything besides." 
 
 As may be judged from the words just quoted, 
 Dr. Birkbeck's object was excellent ; but he failed, 
 as many a philanthropist fails, owing to a very 
 natural impatience to achieve his end. It is this 
 impatience that so often causes the philan- 
 thropist to attempt to circumvent the laws of 
 progress which are inflexible in their insistence 
 on a slow and gradual process of evolution — 
 laws which can least of all be violated in educa- 
 tion. 
 
 We have seen earlier in the preceding pages 
 that the industrial revolution made it necessary 
 that education should provide increased knowledge 
 among those workers who had to control the new 
 forces which scientific discoveries had introduced 
 into the processes of manufacture ; and, above all, 
 that education should counteract the evils arising 
 from the destruction of self-dependent power 
 among those workmen for whom these improve- 
 ments meant but the earning of a living by 
 
 17 
 
But doomed to Failure — 
 
 mechanical labour, offering no stimulus to healthy 
 physical or mental development. And it was 
 stated that these two needs pointed respectively 
 to the general education of all classes of workers, 
 and to the special education of those who, by 
 fortune or merit, rise to a position of greater 
 responsibility than their fellows. As the dis- 
 tinction here drawn has continually been ignored in 
 England, and as it really affects the very basis of a 
 national system of education, it demands particular 
 attention. 
 
 Dr. Birkbeck appears to have attached chief 
 importance to the need of workmen to understand 
 the uses to which machinery may be applied, and 
 the principles upon which it operates. To teach 
 them this, he offered a course of lectures, in which 
 he promised that he would study "simplicity of 
 expression and familiarity of illustration." In other 
 words, he attempted to teach science in such a way 
 that its principles could be grasped by persons 
 who had had no preparatory education — who were, 
 in fact, entirely ignorant. In criticizing the some- 
 what narrow aim which he placed before himself, 
 due account must be made for the spirit of the 
 times in which he lived. The great efforts of Bell 
 and Lancaster — of the National Society for the 
 Education of the Poor in the Principles of the 
 Established Church, and the British and Foreign 
 School Society, which sprang respectively from 
 
 18 
 
for want of a Proper Foundation. 
 
 the work of these two pioneers, had not had time 
 to produce important results when Birkbeck 
 started his classes. Moreover, the nation had at 
 that time no general appreciation of its moral 
 obligation as to the education of the people ; 
 and the government being in the hands of the 
 upper classes, there were no such motives to pro- 
 vide schools for the lower classes as those which 
 produced the Act of 1870, when they had become 
 the " masters." So that whatever may be said of 
 Birkbeck's aim, it had, at least, the merit of placing 
 before the country a very practical object to be 
 attained by the instruction of the working-classes. 
 But as we look back on his work after the event, 
 and with our greater educational knowledge, 
 gained from practice as well as supported by 
 modern theory, we are ready to prophesy its 
 failure ; knowing, as we do, that the elemen- 
 tary principles of science cannot be acquired by 
 those who have had no preliminary intellectual 
 training, who possess no elementary knowledge, and 
 who are for the most part unable to read, and are 
 ignorant of the rudimentary principles of arithmetic. 
 So that we are prepared to say that Birkbeck 
 was neither giving special training to those who 
 would have themselves to apply the discoveries of 
 science to industry, nor was he attempting to 
 give that kind of education which was best cal- 
 culated to counteract the deadening and mechanical 
 3 19 
 
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 
 
 influences of constant contact with the monotony 
 of machinery. 
 
 To excite interest in machinery itself may in- 
 deed have been one means of counteracting these 
 influences ; but even if such interest could be 
 maintained, without that basis of education which 
 can alone provide a foundation for a progressive 
 study of the principles of science, this means can 
 only affect one side of the question. The views of 
 those who shared Birkbeck's opinion are well 
 carried out in Brougham's discourse " On the 
 Objects, Pleasures, and Advantages of Science," 
 one of the first publications of the " Society for the 
 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," founded in 1827. 
 As we now read this discourse, explaining as it 
 does with " simplicity of expression and familiarity 
 of illustration," such matters as the method of 
 logarithms, the different mathematical curves, the 
 laws of motion, the principles of astronomy, optics, 
 and electricity — in fact, resuming in summary all 
 that was then known in science — we must feel that 
 the uneducated workman may, on first reading 
 this discourse, have been interested in all the 
 marvels displayed before his eyes ; but he must 
 speedily have discovered that he was unable to 
 pursue their study with any chance of fathoming 
 their mysteries, and he must have been reduced 
 to that state, with regard to which it may truly be 
 said, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. 
 
 20 
 
 
Mechanics' Institutions — 
 
 Birkbeck's classes at the Andersonian Institution 
 offered all the appearances of success at the outset. 
 The first of his lectures was attended by seventy- 
 five persons ; the second, by two hundred ; at the 
 third, more than three hundred workmen were 
 present ; and at the fourth, above five hundred. 
 He soon turned his attention to England, with no 
 less success. Between 1815 and 1825, Mechanics' 
 Institutions were founded in all parts of the land. 
 In the year 1841, in which Birkbeck died, there 
 were no less than two hundred and twenty of these 
 Institutions, about thirty-six of which were in 
 London and the suburbs. A large number of 
 these failed to achieve the object for which they 
 were created. Sir Philip Magnus, in a lecture 
 which he delivered at the Cambridge Summer 
 Meeting of 1900, summarized their history in the 
 following words : — " The history of most of these 
 institutions is very similar. Some of them, such 
 as the institutes of Manchester, Huddersfield, and 
 Leeds, kept alive long enough to be converted into 
 Technical Schools. Others, however, led a lan- 
 guishing existence, and degenerated into clubs, or 
 changed the character of their work, or ceased to 
 exist. Very few succeeded to the extent expected 
 by their founders, and yet their failure was in no 
 way due to any fault in their conception nor in their 
 objects. It was due, in the first place, to the want 
 of adequate funds, and secondly, and equally, to 
 
 21 
 
Their Failure — 
 
 the absence among the workmen, whom they were 
 intended to benefit, of the rudiments of primary 
 education." 
 
 From the failure of the Mechanics' Institutions, 
 we may learn another lesson. It teaches us the 
 impossibility of building up any general system of 
 education without looking far ahead into the future, 
 and foreseeing the ultimate meeting and harmony 
 of efforts starting from points widely apart in the 
 present. Birkbeck wished to teach his uneducated 
 workmen the scientific principles underlying the 
 construction of the new machinery and the pro- 
 cesses of manufacture with which they had to deal. 
 The benevolent and philanthropic can never con- 
 template with resignation the inexorable laws of 
 nature, which condemn a large number of indi- 
 viduals to the backwaters of the stream of 
 progress ; and in the struggle which they wage 
 against these laws they not infrequently neglect 
 the opportunities for promoting in the surest and 
 most natural way the future development of man- 
 kind. The education of ignorant adults can at 
 best be regarded as a benevolent palliative for 
 existing wrongs. That the workmen in Birkbeck's 
 time were ignorant and incapable of appreciating 
 the application of the discoveries of science to the 
 processes of manufacture undoubtedly exposed 
 the nation's neglect of its own interests, and of 
 its duty to the lower classes, on whose labour its 
 
 22 
 
and its Causes. 
 
 very existence depended. But the only way of 
 remedying this, so as to ensure the future prosperity 
 of the nation, was by educating the rising genera- 
 tion. 
 
 Some educational philanthropists are, however, 
 like the man in the fable, who was in charge of 
 a lighthouse, and who gave to the people, starving 
 in the huts around it, the oil from the lamps, with 
 the result that the ships which were bringing 
 them food were wrecked on the rocks for want 
 of a guiding light. Such philanthropists are too 
 prone to use the resources at their command as 
 palliatives of present distress rather than as safe- 
 guards against future disaster. Others, again, are 
 anxious to gather the ripe fruits of their work in 
 their lifetime, and to this end promote growth 
 by artificial means, which are bound ultimately 
 to destroy by their unnatural strain the very 
 sources of productiveness. It may, indeed, be said 
 that in the beginning of the nineteenth century 
 many voluntary efforts, and, as we shall see later 
 on, a number of the efforts of the State as well, 
 took the form of a series of experiments, one after 
 the other of which proved abortive, to arrive at 
 a given educational end by a shorter route than 
 that which conforms to the directions of nature. 
 
 For reasons which have already been pointed 
 out, the nation, as represented by the central 
 government, has never, during the last century, 
 
 23 
 
Educational Needs of Industrial Classes. 
 
 seriously thought out the whole question of a 
 national system of education as Germany and 
 France have done. Otherwise the failure of Birk- 
 beck's experiment would have led them immedi- 
 ately to provide proper elementary education for 
 the working-classes. This, as we have seen, was 
 not done until 1870. In the mean time, however, 
 the great efforts of the National and the British 
 and Foreign Society had been doing all that 
 voluntary effort could do to provide elementary 
 education for the children of the poor. Thus, when 
 the State first interfered in the special interests of 
 the education of the industrial workers, there was 
 some sort of foundation on which it might build. 
 It was, therefore, able to start its work under more 
 favourable conditions than those which Dr. Birk- 
 beck had to face. But, before considering this 
 work of the State, we must refer again for one 
 moment to the two classes of persons who were 
 chiefly affected by the application of the dis- 
 coveries of science to the processes of manufac- 
 ture. 
 
 In the first place, as we have already remarked, 
 there were those who were destined to continue 
 among the lower ranks of mechanics, and who were 
 thus affected by the destruction in great measure 
 of their independence. For them, education in 
 its broadest sense was necessary ; an education of 
 which the first duty was to counteract the mental, 
 
 24 
 
Educational Needs of Industrial Classes. 
 
 moral, and physical evils of the new conditions of 
 labour ; in short, what is generally understood by 
 elementary education. If these people could com- 
 plete their elementary education by some instruc- 
 tion in the principles of science, so much the better. 
 But for them, the first thing essential was not a 
 knowledge of the principles of science, to say 
 nothing of the fact that such a knowledge cannot 
 be acquired, as was proved by the failure of Dr. 
 Birkbeck's experiment, without the preliminary 
 training afforded by the elementary school. 
 
 But, in the second place, there was that class of 
 persons who would be called upon to control the 
 new forces introduced into industry. This class 
 may be divided roughly into two divisions : those 
 who, in their capacity of masters or managers, are 
 the leaders of industry, and the heads of great 
 enterprises, and those who occupy a position 
 corresponding to that of a foreman. The know- 
 ledge required by the former is evidently much 
 greater than that necessary for the latter. In fact, 
 while the leaders must have had the best scientific 
 training possible, and have mastered all the higher 
 branches of science bearing on the manufacture or 
 industry with which they will be concerned, the 
 latter cannot be expected to afford that expendi- 
 ture in time and money demanded by so arduous 
 a course of studies. It is certainly more difficult 
 to decide what should be the education of the 
 
 25 
 
Educational Needs of Industrial Classes. 
 
 latter class than what kind is best suited to the 
 requirements of the former. 
 
 It is the custom to select a foreman from the 
 best of the workmen, in much the same way as a 
 noncommissioned officer is selected in the army. 
 His position is not always one which requires 
 superior knowledge so much as a certain natural 
 talent for managing and directing his fellows. If, 
 therefore, it is essential that he should rise from 
 the ranks, it is difficult to see how he is to be 
 provided at the outset with a better education 
 than the ordinary workman. If opportunities are 
 within his reach for continuing his education 
 in his spare time, after he has begun to earn his 
 living, he will be sure to take advantage of 
 them if he intends to rise. His need of special 
 knowledge beyond that of the ordinary workman 
 is so slight that it can hardly be worth the nation's 
 while to provide special day-schools, directly in 
 continuation of the elementary school, to complete 
 his education. And, it is hardly necessary to add, 
 no education will ever bestow the qualities of 
 command. 
 
 It must be remembered that it is to the nation's 
 interest to give every opportunity to talent to 
 reach its natural high-water mark ; there is cer- 
 tainly no reason, or at any rate, no justification, 
 for its spending money in checking the rise of 
 talent by premature specialization. In this 
 
 26 
 
The Preservation of Talent. 
 
 connection the fact is sometimes overlooked that, 
 although the science of education is still very 
 largely based on hypotheses which have not been 
 finally proved, it is beyond doubt that the pro- 
 cess of education must conform to the course 
 of the pupil's natural development. Starting from 
 a broad basis, it gradually narrows its limits until, 
 to use, for the sake of illustration, a geometrical 
 figure, it closes in upon, and finally proceeds along, 
 a line of specialization, naturally selected by the 
 pupil. It generally happens that the greater the 
 talent, the longer is the point of specialization 
 delayed ; and consequently the broader is the 
 sphere of general culture which the course of 
 development embraces. If education can have any 
 effect whatever on this development— and that it 
 has a very great effect can hardly be denied — 
 it can certainly stunt it by forcing a pupil to 
 specialize before he has selected his natural line. 
 And, if existing social and economic conditions 
 make it impossible for all talented children of the 
 poorer classes to receive the highest education for 
 which they are fitted, we can at least bring some 
 redress by refusing to sanction any attempt to kill 
 talent by an artificial stunting of natural develop- 
 ment through education ; we can at least offer a 
 broad, general elementary education for the child 
 who is compelled to earn his living at the age of 
 thirteen or fourteen, and allow him to continue this 
 
 27 
 
The Preservation of Talent. 
 
 education in the evening school according to his 
 natural taste. To attempt to supplement his 
 elementary education by a course of specialized 
 training, extending over two or three years, so as 
 to fit him for the duties of a foreman, is morally 
 wrong, a financial extravagance, and will incur an 
 ultimate loss of talent to the nation. 
 
 How this has been done in France as a check on 
 social aspirations will be seen in a later chapter ; 
 in England, with our present social organization, 
 such a check is unnecessary. If any education 
 higher than elementary is to be provided for those 
 children who can afford to stay at school until the 
 age of sixteen, but not later, it should be of such a 
 kind as will promote and not retard the general 
 development of talented pupils. The technical 
 day school for children between the ages of thirteen 
 and sixteen has, therefore, no place in a system 
 of national education which is built up with due 
 regard to natural laws and national economy. 
 And yet the English Government attempted to 
 provide such schools alone, when it did at last 
 begin to consider the educational foundations of 
 trade and industry. 
 
 23 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ATTEMPTS OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT 
 TO LAY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 When the struggle between oligarchy and demo- 
 cracy was at its height, an event happened which 
 warned the English people of the existence of 
 other nations competing with them in trade and 
 industry. In 185 1 the first International Ex- 
 hibition was held in Hyde Park. To this ex- 
 hibition foreign countries brought the products 
 of their industry, and we were able to compare 
 them with our own. The effect of this com- 
 parison seems to have been to warn us that the 
 taste and training of our manufacturers was 
 sadly deficient. Owing to the influence of the 
 Prince Consort — who, when all is known, will 
 probably be found to have seen deeper into our 
 educational needs than any one else of his time — 
 the profits from this Exhibition, amounting to 
 ;£i 86,436, together with a parliamentary grant of 
 £150,000, were devoted to the purchase of land in 
 South Kensington. The Prince Consort, in a letter 
 
 29 
 
The International Exhibition of 1851. 
 
 to Lord Playfair, propounded, in connection with 
 the use to which this land should be put, a scheme 
 of "instruction for those engaged in the prosecu- 
 tion of arts and manufactures." As a direct 
 consequence of his efforts, the Science and Art 
 Department was formally established in 1853. 
 This does not, however, represent the first recog- 
 nition by the State of its duties with regard to the 
 education of the industrial classes. In 1837 the 
 Committee of Trade (now known as the Board of 
 Trade) extorted a sum of ^"1500 from the Treasury 
 for the creation of a central Government School 
 of Design, and in 1841 provincial schools of design 
 were started with the aid of Government grants. 
 
 To the influence of the Prince Consort is due the 
 gathering together and focussing at South Ken- 
 sington of the scattered forces then existing,* so 
 that one department of the Government might be 
 able to control all industrial education. This was 
 the result of the warning to the nation as to foreign 
 competition sounded by the International Ex- 
 hibition of 185 [. That this warning did not bring 
 about the establishment of a national system of 
 education, in which the Government controlled or 
 supervised schools of all types, was due, as we have 
 
 * Note also the foundation of the Royal College of Science under 
 a different title in 1851. It was not, however, until more than 
 twenty years later that this institution was transferred to South 
 Kensington. 
 
 30 
 
Creation of Science and Art Department. 
 
 already seen, to the fact that the people had not 
 yet carried out that change in the form of govern- 
 ment on which they were bent. Until this change 
 was accomplished, the Government could not 
 command their confidence, and thus itself acquire 
 that sense of permanency without which it could 
 not attempt to adopt a consistent and far-reaching 
 policy. 
 
 The Science and Art Department was created 
 to control and organize industrial education. 
 Before we consider the work which it has done in 
 England, it is necessary to have some idea of the 
 difficulties which it had to face at the outset. Dr. 
 Birkbeck's experiment had proved — for those to 
 whom it needed proving — the impossibility of im- 
 parting scientific knowledge to adults who had 
 received no general elementary education. The 
 Science and Art Department, therefore, recognized 
 that elementary education must form the founda- 
 tion of its work. Not only was all such education, 
 however, provided at that time by voluntary effort, 
 but it was not until three years later that the Educa- 
 tion Department was appointed to exercise some 
 sort of State supervision over these efforts. And so 
 hopelessly did the voluntary schools fail to meet 
 the national demand that, even in 1870, when the 
 great Education Act was passed, it was discovered 
 that although in London, with an estimated popu- 
 lation of 3,258,000, there were, according to the 
 
State of Elementary Education. 
 
 Government's method of calculating, 543,000 
 children requiring education, there was actually 
 accommodation for 373,314 only. Further, when 
 the Government inspectors came to investigate this 
 accommodation, they discovered that it only pro- 
 vided for 275,136 children in efficient schools. 
 From this it may be judged what was the state of 
 affairs over the whole of England ; and it must be 
 remembered that these figures represent what was 
 being done nearly twenty years after the creation 
 of the Science and Art Department, although the 
 interval had witnessed extraordinary efforts on 
 the part of voluntary societies to make proper 
 provision for elementary education in England. 
 What chance had a Government Office to build up 
 a system of education on such a foundation as this ? 
 In 1856, when the Education Department was 
 created, it seems to have occurred to the Govern- 
 ment that it would be advantageous to the educa- 
 tion of the working-classes if the State control of 
 all their schools were centred in one body. Con- 
 sequently the Science and Art Department was 
 removed from the Board of Trade to the new 
 Education Department, which thus included 
 branches for the control of primary as well as 
 industrial education. After the Act of 1870, when 
 the primary branch had received a mandate from 
 the people to insist on the provision of primary 
 schools in sufficient number to meet all national 
 
 32 
 
Blunder of Government. 
 
 needs, there must have appeared to the educational 
 enthusiast of the day a very excellent chance for 
 the two united branches to build up a national 
 system of education — in so far as the lower working- 
 classes were concerned. But in 1884 the Science 
 and Art Department was separated from the 
 primary branch, which was henceforth known 
 by the distinctive appellation of the Education 
 Department. This was, undoubtedly, a great 
 mistake, and shows how far the Government still 
 was from any idea of a national system of educa- 
 tion. The quite unnecessary rivalry, which was 
 thus created between these two branches, led to 
 much extravagance and much waste of energy ; 
 indeed, it took a good many years for the Educa- 
 tion Department to wrest from the Science and 
 Art Department certain powers over primary 
 schools which it had acquired. 
 
 If other countries had made the same blunders, 
 we might feel inclined to say that only experi- 
 ence can prove that it is impossible, by starting 
 from the bottom and ignoring all that is actually 
 being done in the higher spheres, to build up a 
 national system of education, or even a satisfactory 
 system for the working-classes. But other countries 
 have not made the same blunders, a fact which such 
 authorities as Matthew Arnold never ceased to 
 point out. When reporting in 1886 on elementary 
 education in Germany, Switzerland, and France, 
 
 33 
 
Matthew Arnold's Warning. 
 
 Matthew Arnold closed with these memorable 
 words — 
 
 " And this brings me, thirdly and finally, to the 
 point raised at the end of my first remark, and 
 urged by me so often and so vainly ever since my 
 mission abroad in 1859; our need to organize our 
 secondary instruction. This is desirable in the 
 interest of our higher and secondary instruction, of 
 course, principally ; bat it is desirable, I may say 
 it is indispensable, in the interest of our popular 
 instruction also. Every one now admits that 
 popular instruction is a matter for public insti- 
 tution and supervision ; but so long as public 
 institution and supervision stop there, and no 
 contact and correlation are established between 
 our popular instruction and the instruction above 
 it, so long the condition of our popular instruction 
 itself will and must be unsatisfactory." 
 
 It seems, however, to have been decreed that only 
 the experience of failure should bring home this 
 apparently self-evident truth to the minds of the 
 English people. The disastrous effects of attempt- 
 ing to build up an educational system, while 
 ignoring what was being done in higher spheres, 
 soon made themselves felt. An educational system, 
 like most other things possessing vitality, has a 
 tendency to grow upwards. The primary school 
 naturally presses up into the secondary sphere, and 
 the secondary school into the university sphere. 
 
 34 
 
Secondary Schools and Universities. 
 
 If each of these higher spheres present insuperable 
 obstacles to the natural growth of these schools, 
 the lower branches of the system will be diverted 
 from their natural course and develop along a 
 line of their own. We have only to look at the 
 proceedings of nature on all sides to perceive that 
 this is a general law governing the course of all 
 progressive forces. The chief aim of human 
 economy is to assist all forces to attain their 
 ultimate aim with the least waste of energy, and, 
 therefore, to derive from them the maximum of 
 benefit. This is generally achieved by the removal 
 of obstacles and the lessening of friction — in other 
 words, by organization. Before coming to any 
 conclusion as to how this organization can best be 
 carried out so as to meet the needs of our indus- 
 trial and commercial classes, the conditions which 
 have characterized the development of our higher 
 educational system in the past must be taken into 
 account. 
 
 At the beginning of the nineteenth century there 
 was in England only one kind of education at the 
 disposal of those who were in so fortunate a 
 position as not to be obliged to place any limit on 
 the expense or duration of their school career. 
 Our secondary schools and universities alike pro- 
 vided a classical course of studies alone. Their 
 object was, and for long had been, to educate 
 gentlemen and scholars. If the gentleman had the 
 
 4 35 
 
Education of Gentlemen and Scholars. 
 
 makings of a scholar in him, so much the better ; 
 if not, his education was conducted on the lines 
 which it had followed since the days of the 
 Renaissance. Skill in various sports, and some 
 acquaintance with classical languages and litera- 
 tures, were considered indispensable to his culture. 
 Such an education cost money, and, fortunately or 
 unfortunately, proved a great attraction in the 
 days of sharp social distinctions to any man who, 
 having risen through trade to a position of wealth, 
 found himself able to procure it for his sons. At 
 the beginning of the century, however, obstacles 
 were thrown in the way of all Nonconformists, 
 practically precluding them from this education, 
 and it was not until after a hard fight that their 
 disabilities at the universities were removed. So 
 that, in the early days of the industrial revolution, 
 a very large number of our manufacturers and 
 commercial men regarded the traditional education 
 of an English gentleman as something associated 
 with a religious faith which they abhorred. But 
 once the disabilities were removed we find that 
 such men were quick to avail themselves of their 
 new privileges, and that the attendance of their 
 sons at the universities rapidly increased. 
 
 As every gentleman who did not enter the Navy 
 or Army considered residence, at a university as an 
 essential part of his preparation for life, our uni- 
 versities were obliged to provide education for 
 
 36 
 
Classical Education. 
 
 men with brains and men with a very ordinary 
 mental capacity, two classes which are, on the 
 whole, fairly represented to-day at Oxford and 
 Cambridge by what are popularly known as 
 Honours men and Pass men. The man with- 
 out brains was not educated in a different way to 
 the man who was fortunate enough to possess 
 them — the difference was one of quantity rather 
 than of quality or method. All received a classical 
 education which, in those days, when the horizon 
 of knowledge was infinitely more restricted than 
 at present, was all that was considered worthy 
 of the scholar. And our secondary schools pre- 
 pared for the universities, and were supposed to 
 offer but a more elementary course of the same 
 classical studies. 
 
 So long had classics held undisputed sway of 
 the field, that teachers had arrived at peculiar 
 skill in adapting what now seems to us the 
 limited material at their disposal to the demands 
 of education. So carefully had they thought out 
 the particular mental training which was provided 
 by the different sections of these studies, that it 
 must have been exceedingly difficult for them to 
 find a place for new instruments of culture in their 
 complete schemes, without destroying the whole 
 balance of the education which they furnished. 
 This explains their not unnatural opposition to 
 the new branches of learning, which rushed into 
 
 37 
 
Conservatism of Universities. 
 
 the field of human knowledge following the rapid 
 discoveries of science. Moreover, it must be re- 
 membered that the idea of utility had never entered 
 into their calculations. Having only to consider 
 the needs of scholars, whose first object was not 
 merely to earn a living, and of those gentlemen 
 who could not hope to rise to the intellectual 
 heights of scholars, but who rarely had to look 
 forward to the necessity of gaining their own 
 livelihood, it had never occurred to teachers and 
 professors that it was part of their duty to pre- 
 pare students to meet the more practical demands 
 of life. Had they been obliged to do so we might 
 not now be behind other nations in the education 
 which we offer to our industrial leaders. 
 
 It is exceedingly important, in view of the 
 present difficulties which we experience in or- 
 ganizing our educational system, to recognize at 
 the outset these two objections on the part of the 
 universities to the introduction of new studies into 
 their curricula. For we find to-day that the 
 scholar is too often not less conservative and not 
 less prejudiced against any departure from tra- 
 dition than those who base their claims to social 
 superiority — and it may even be to political prefer- 
 ment — on their inheritance from the past rather 
 than on their own personal merit. This, coupled 
 with the not unnatural dread of upsetting a care- 
 fully balanced scheme of studies, perfected by three 
 
 38 
 
German Universities and National Life. 
 
 hundred years of experience, is at root the cause 
 of the strife which is waged hardly less bitterly 
 to-day between classical and modern studies. 
 
 There was only one thing which could have 
 forced the universities to widen their course of 
 studies so as to keep pace with the marvellous 
 scientific progress of the first half of the century. 
 Had there been any strong external opposition, 
 such as we have seen would have compelled the 
 people to build up a national system of education, 
 the universities might have been led to consider 
 what they could do through education to assist 
 the nation in its struggle. But, as we have seen, 
 this did not exist, and the country was busy with 
 internal reforms, with which conservative univer- 
 sities could, as a whole, have but little sympathy. 
 Indeed, generally speaking, it may be said that in 
 England the university authorities have never 
 taken that interest in the affairs of the nation 
 which is to be found in those countries where the 
 national instincts have been aroused by the shock 
 of foreign opposition. In Germany, for instance, 
 the university professor is ever watching the trend 
 of national affairs, and is always considering how 
 his work can best be made to serve the national 
 cause. He is not a mere scholar, cut off by the 
 walls of his cloisters from the great movements 
 which are disturbing and trying the strength of the 
 people outside. There are, certainly, disadvantages 
 
 39 
 
Scientific Education. 
 
 in allowing the teaching world to be affected by- 
 political influences. But nobody who has had 
 an opportunity of comparing the German univer- 
 sities with our own can deny that there is a very 
 distinct advantage when professors, and all those 
 who determine the destinies of universities, are 
 imbued with a keen sense of the importance of the 
 various forces on which national welfare depends. 
 None of these forces are to be despised, even if 
 they are directed towards the promotion of occu- 
 pations from which by tradition the upper classes 
 held aloof. Indeed, it is owing entirely to Ger- 
 many's national difficulties, as we shall see later 
 on, that an educational policy arose which opened 
 a path by which talent in all ranks of society 
 might attain to the highest culture, and which 
 endeavoured to provide the kind of school most 
 suitable as a preparation for the different classes 
 of occupations. It is not until the German nation 
 had established itself firmly, and that the dread 
 of foreign attacks was diminished, that we find 
 social prejudices as to the different courses of 
 instruction again in evidence. 
 
 Jt was not until 185 1 that an honours examina- 
 tion in natural science was created at Cambridge. 
 Two years later Oxford followed the example of 
 Cambridge. We may take these dates as marking 
 the first serious attempt in England to place 
 science on a level with the classical languages as 
 
 40 
 
Utilitarianism and Idealism. 
 
 a subject of instruction and a means of intellectual 
 discipline. Thus, at last, was some special oppor- 
 tunity given to the leaders of industry to acquire 
 that theoretical knowledge of scientific principles 
 which was necessitated by the revolution which 
 had taken place in the processes of manufacture. 
 The secondary schools were naturally followed by 
 the universities ; but the modernizing of these 
 curricula was only carried out in accordance with 
 the proportion existing between the classical and 
 science scholarships offered by the universities. 
 
 The director of a German technical school, which 
 played a leading part in the development of tech- 
 nical education in his country, has remarked : 
 "Technical education designed exclusively to 
 meet the demands of a special occupation would 
 isolate the technicist from civic life by which he 
 is surrounded, and would alienate him from the 
 ideal interests of society." So prevalent has this 
 view been in Germany, that great emphasis has 
 always been laid on the acquisition of general 
 culture in the technical high schools. These institu- 
 tions have indeed adopted the highest educational 
 aims of the university ; and so far have they 
 succeeded, that in some cases candidates for the 
 teaching profession in secondary schools are 
 allowed by the authorities to prepare in them to 
 teach mathematics and natural science. 
 
 It can hardly be denied that our leaders in 
 
 4i 
 
Utilitarianism and Idealism. 
 
 commerce and industry can as ill afford to be 
 strangers to the ideals of the human race as other 
 members of society. The development of our 
 technical schools in England, and, it may be said, 
 of all the special education of our industrial classes, 
 has so far been dominated by that spirit of realism 
 which owes its power in this country to the hopes 
 that were raised in the human mind by the dawn 
 of the great age of scientific discovery. There 
 have not been wanting in all countries philosophers 
 to preach the advent in the near future of such 
 discoveries as would enable us to explain the 
 motive of all human action. With the new ex- 
 ample of machinery ever before their eyes, con- 
 forming with mathematical precision to certain 
 inexorable laws of force, people readily believed 
 that all mysteries would soon be explained, and 
 that human action, in its individual, social, and 
 international aspects, must also conform to certain 
 fixed laws which ignored the eccentricities of 
 idealism. Such laws, it was hoped, would remove 
 all need of the controlling influence of those mys- 
 terious aspirations on which have been based in 
 the past the distinction between right and wrong. 
 According to an eminent contemporary French- 
 man,* the return to idealism is a consequence of 
 the bankruptcy of science ; for those of us who 
 
 * M. Ferdinand Brunetiere. Cf. "La Renaissance de l'ldeal- 
 isme." 1S96. 
 
 42 
 
Utilitarianism and Idealism. 
 
 have not, as he has, an extreme cause to defend, it 
 is rather due to the return of the human mind to 
 a normal temperature, after the feverish excitement 
 of the years in which science first placed super- 
 human forces under the control of man. The old 
 moral code has again resumed that supremacy 
 from which the doctrine of self-interest had for a 
 short time ousted it. All but a few sturdy un- 
 believers now recognize that society depends for 
 its existence on the cohesive force supplied by the 
 old moral and aesthetic aspirations. 
 
 The doctrine of self-interest found a congenial 
 atmosphere in the England of the latter half of the 
 nineteenth century. The stern struggle for indi- 
 vidual liberty against the stubbornly yielding 
 forces of conservatism, tends to throw men back 
 upon their own individual resources, and to lead 
 them to believe that individual interests offer the 
 highest aim to human wishes. On the other hand, 
 history teaches us that, where ideals are strongest 
 — not necessarily the highest — nationalism is most 
 potent. And, in a certain sense, the converse is 
 also true. Where we find unity forced upon a 
 nation in face of external opposition, there we also 
 find idealism prevailing over realistic doctrines. A 
 contemporary author, who has probably done more 
 than any one else to reawaken the sentiment of 
 nationhood in England, has remarked : — 
 
 " Prussia deserved the position at the head of 
 
 43 
 
" True Hearts and Clear Heads." 
 
 Germany which she won in 1866, and maintained 
 in 1870. It had been her peculiar distinction that, 
 in the days of her misfortunes, . . . her patriots 
 sought and found the path of national regeneration. 
 They thought that the way to make Germany a 
 great nation was to create in the Germans the 
 qualities that produce national greatness. True 
 hearts and clear heads were the great requisite." . . .* 
 
 In industrial England, the tendency has been to 
 consider in our education clear heads alone. A 
 consequence of this one-sided striving after a 
 sharpening of the individual intellect, has been a 
 neglect of due attention to those common ideals 
 which constitute the basis of national life. The 
 philosophical reasons here suggested may explain 
 the rise of that utilitarian spirit which has led to 
 premature specialization in education. A more 
 immediate cause may be found in the political 
 conditions to which we have already referred. 
 
 The Exhibition of 185 1 did, indeed, open the 
 eyes of the people to the need of the better educa- 
 tion of our industrial classes. On the advice of 
 the Prince Consort, the Society of Arts organized 
 a series of lectures on the results of the Exhibi- 
 tion. Mr. (afterwards Lord) Playfair delivered one 
 of these lectures on " The Chemical Principles 
 involved in the Manufactures of the Exhibition as 
 indicating the Necessity of Industrial Instruction." 
 
 * Mr. Spenser Wilkinson, " The Great Alternative," p. 72. 1894. 
 
 44 
 
" The Horses or the Harness." 
 
 In this lecture he insisted on the fact that "it is 
 abstract and not practical Science that is the life 
 and soul of Industry." And from many passages 
 which are well worth reading to-day, the following 
 may be quoted in continuation of the foregoing 
 assertion : — " The cultivators of abstract Science, 
 the searchers after truth, for eternal truth's owri 
 sake, are — to borrow a simile, I believe, of Canning 
 — the horses of the chariot of industry ; those who 
 usefully apply the truths, are the harness by which 
 the motion is communicated to the chariot. But 
 is the chariot drawn by the horses or the harness ? 
 Truth to say, in this country of ours — and, mark 
 you well, in no other country in Europe — we 
 honour the harness, but neglect the horses. . . . 
 The cause would appear to be that we chiefly 
 honour those who are useful in our time and gene- 
 ration ; that our eyes are too eagerly bent upon 
 the golden prize, for which we are all running ; 
 and that we can only afford to throw a kind of 
 theoretical squint of recognition on those men 
 who are looking for sublime truths, careless as to 
 whether they will have any immediate effect on 
 industrial progress. And yet it is these very men 
 that give strength to the sinews of a future genera- 
 tion, enabling it to keep its place in the industrial 
 struggle of nations." These words were spoken 
 fifty years ago, and since then the nation has 
 learned to appreciate at their true value our 
 
 45 
 
" Bricks without Straw." 
 
 greatest men of science ; but we have not yet 
 learned the need of the highest kind of scientific 
 training for our leaders of industry. To con- 
 tinue the above simile : we now feed the horses, 
 but we pay little attention to the quality of the 
 harness. 
 
 The Science and Art Department, when it began 
 its work as the official organizer and controller of 
 industrial education, experienced, in a higher sphere, 
 precisely the same difficulties as led to the failure 
 of Dr. Birkbeck's efforts. This would have been 
 foreseen by the Government — as it was foreseen 
 by all thoughtful men of the period — if external 
 opposition had obliged the people to consider the 
 whole question of education from a general national 
 point of view. But, as we have seen, this was not 
 the case ; and the Science and Art Department 
 was commissioned by the State to do the best it 
 could to build up an important part of the national 
 system on insecure foundations. The Government 
 of Egypt, when it set the children of Israel the 
 task of making bricks without straw, did so with a 
 distinct purpose, in that it wished to increase their 
 burden by throwing upon them the responsibility 
 of finding straw for themselves. Our Government 
 threw the same responsibility upon the Science 
 and Art Department, but it did it in ignorance 
 of the fact that straw was necessary for its bricks. 
 The Department consequently spent a great part 
 
 46 
 
Government and Secondary Education. 
 
 of its time and energies in an attempt to find 
 straw, and has only succeeded in the making of 
 bricks when, like the children of Israel, it has used 
 stubble in its stead. 
 
 When once, by the Act of 1870, the Science and 
 Art Department was at last furnished with a proper 
 basis of elementary education, it still found that the 
 secondary schools provided little more than the 
 old-fashioned and one-sided classical education. 
 The persistence of these schools * in maintaining 
 this type of education has unfortunately strength- 
 ened the hand of those who hold an extreme 
 view, and would altogether banish classical studies 
 from the secondary education of boys who are 
 destined to promote the trade and industry of our 
 country. Indeed, this persistence has brought all 
 literary studies, modern as well as classical, into 
 disrepute among a certain class of people. 
 
 The Science and Art Department, which was 
 commissioned by the nation to build up a system 
 of industrial education, now found the duty thrust 
 upon it of remodelling the classical secondary 
 schools, so that they might offer a proper founda- 
 tion on which it could build. But this was a task 
 which it was in no way qualified to undertake. 
 The more satisfactorily it was constituted to build 
 up a system of instruction in science and art, the 
 less was it fitted to determine the general course 
 
 * As influenced by the universities ; cf. p. 35 et sqq. 
 
 47 
 
Premature Specialization. 
 
 of studies which must not only form a foundation 
 for its own special designs, but must also satisfy- 
 other far different conditions affecting national 
 prosperity. For it is through secondary education 
 that a man is trained not only to learn his future 
 bread-winning occupation, but also to fulfil his 
 wider duties as a citizen. And as we have already 
 seen, from an educational point of view, there is a 
 period in the course of general development which 
 is occupied with the general adaptation — intellec- 
 tual, moral, and physical — to all that composes the 
 modern environment. Secondary education covers 
 the greater part of this period. The " special " 
 idea, associated with future bread-winning occupa- 
 tions, belongs to a later stage. 
 
 We shall see below that the whole strength of 
 the German system, the prime cause of its suc- 
 cessful providing of true hearts and clear heads, is 
 to be found in the determined efforts which have 
 been made to adapt secondary education to the 
 requirements of the natural development of the 
 pupil. Looking at the time-tables of the three 
 different kinds of German secondary schools, one 
 would conclude that the framers of these had 
 argued in somewhat the following manner : " A 
 man has to spend his life in certain intellectual 
 and moral surroundings. From these surroundings 
 he must, to a very large extent, derive his mental 
 and moral sustenance, and at the same time he 
 
 4 8 
 
Premature Specialization. 
 
 must be able to conquer all influences in them 
 which are detrimental to his mental and moral 
 well-being. It is, therefore, essential that he 
 should be so educated that he may be as thoroughly- 
 adapted, mentally and morally, to these surround- 
 ings, as he must needs be physically. His mental 
 and moral development must, therefore, follow those 
 lines which will lead him into contact, under the 
 guidance of the educator, with all the influences 
 of his future surroundings. Let us, therefore, con- 
 sider in what these influences consist, and what 
 branches of knowledge correspond to them. All 
 of these branches must be represented in the 
 secondary schools, where he spends not the least 
 important portion of that period during which 
 general development takes place. If in future life 
 he is .destined to be a scholar, and to dwell in 
 surroundings impregnated with the thoughts and 
 learning of the ancients, he will not on that account 
 be cut off from the influences of science and of 
 modern thought. The secondary school must not, 
 therefore, teach him classical languages and litera- 
 ture alone. If, on the other hand, he is destined 
 to spend his life in the surroundings of modern 
 industry, where science reigns supreme, he will not 
 on that account be cut off from the influences of 
 literature, of art, and of religion. The secondary 
 school must not, therefore, provide him merely 
 with instruction in science." The Germans have, 
 
 49 
 
Premature Specialization. 
 
 consequently, weighed the respective values of the 
 different branches of knowledge, and determined 
 the influence which must be allowed to each in 
 secondary studies. But it is doubtful whether 
 they would ever have arrived at this appreciation 
 of the common features in the surroundings of 
 different classes of men, if they had not first been 
 forced to recognize the common duties imposed 
 by nationality. America, as will be shown later 
 on, has led in a remarkable degree to the same 
 result by very different causes. 
 
 By adhering steadily to such principles — though 
 they may not represent the final truth of the 
 science of education— blunders such as we have 
 made may be avoided. In our modern secondary 
 schools science has been allowed to oust other 
 subjects, on the plea that they will not be " useful " 
 in industrial occupations. Religion has been the 
 first to go, and in many secondary " Schools of 
 Science," under the direction of the Science and 
 Art Department, it is not taught at all. Men who 
 have been trained in such schools must find them- 
 selves strangely out of touch with their surround- 
 ings, unless their parents have undertaken to make 
 good the deficiencies of their education. Again, 
 insufficient time has been given to modern lan- 
 guages ; therefore the men who have been brought 
 up in these schools, have not only been isolated 
 from the thoughts of foreign countries, but have 
 
 50 
 
Premature Specialization. 
 
 found themselves seriously handicapped if engaged 
 in commercial pursuits. 
 
 When it is said that the Science and Art Depart- 
 ment is responsible for the cardinal error of our 
 education, namely, premature specialization, it is 
 not intended to suggest that the fault is altogether 
 to be laid at the door of that office. It has all 
 along acted up to its lights ; the fault lies much 
 more with the people and the Governments who 
 have entrusted the organization of our modern 
 education to a body created with one special 
 object, and with one special mission in no way 
 directly concerned with secondary education. 
 Again we are brought back to the common root 
 of all such errors — the want of a national feeling 
 which can alone produce a national system of 
 education. Had there not been this want, even 
 the doctrine of "utility," which has found no 
 little favour in English educational circles, might 
 have saved us from many of the faults which we 
 have committed. 
 
 A careful consideration of the educational 
 foundations of trade and industry provided by 
 i foreign countries will lead to the conviction that, 
 in those very countries which are supposed by us 
 to owe their success to their schools, considerations 
 of the future occupation of a boy have not been 
 allowed to weigh so much as in England with 
 regard to the choice of subjects for his secondary 
 5 51 ' 
 
Premature Specialization. 
 
 education. It would, therefore, appear that we are 
 wrong in asserting that Germany, for example, is 
 every year becoming a more formidable rival for 
 us in trade and industry because of her technical 
 education. This is but a partial truth. We have 
 directed quite as much attention to the provision 
 of special education for industry as Germany, but 
 with this difference. We have allowed this special 
 education to commence in the secondary school, 
 whereas Germany has endeavoured to postpone it 
 till after the completion of secondary education, 
 and has succeeded in so far as that national system 
 is concerned which she has built up under the 
 control of the central Government. We, on the 
 other hand, have allowed and encouraged our 
 Government to transform the modern "sides" of 
 our secondary schools into technical schools of a 
 more or less specialized type. A large number of 
 our old grammar schools found themselves, in the 
 latter half of the century, without those financial 
 resources which would enable them to meet the 
 demands for secondary education of a modern, in 
 contrast to the classical, kind. The Government 
 decided — with the consent of the people un- 
 doubtedly, because it was now democratic in its 
 form — that financial aid should only be given to 
 these schools by, or under the regulations of, the 
 Science and Art Department. But this Depart- 
 ment was only permitted by law to aid technical 
 
 52 
 
" Higher Grade " Schools. 
 
 education ; consequently it could only give financial 
 assistance to the grammar schools in consideration 
 of the technical education which they provided. 
 Unless we are ready to admit that the people and 
 their representatives in Parliament are strangely 
 ignorant of the laws which have been made by 
 Parliament, we must conclude that this transforma- 
 tion of the modern sides of our grammar schools 
 into technical schools was undertaken deliberately 
 by the nation. 
 
 But while the people and their representatives 
 in Parliament thus infringed the fundamental 
 principles of education, the offices to whom were 
 entrusted the administration of the Education 
 Acts were allowed to make confusion worse con- 
 founded. These offices encouraged school boards 
 to create, illegally as it has recently been decided, 
 " higher grade " schools * which offered technical 
 education of precisely the same kind as that pro- 
 vided by the " modern sides " of the grammar 
 schools. As a consequence there ensued a bitter 
 rivalry between those grammar schools and higher 
 grade schools which both conformed to the regu- 
 lations of the Science and Art Department — a 
 rivalry which did not tend to promote the interests 
 
 * This is not the place to discuss the "illegality" of evening 
 continuation schools supported by the public rates. Their 
 "illegality" is a fact which can no longer be disputed; but it 
 points to the extraordinary neglect of Parliament to provide for all 
 necessary kinds of education. 
 
 53 
 
Reform. 
 
 of education. For these two types of school com- 
 peted for public favour — as represented by the 
 grants of money for technical instruction — by 
 offering the greatest quantity of technical education 
 possible. This, in short, has been the only work 
 of the Government in support of English secondary 
 education. 
 
 We are now, however, entering upon a period 
 of reform. In face of external opposition, a 
 national feeling is slowly but surely springing 
 into existence. The popular appreciation of the 
 need for a national system of education was recently 
 expressed in the passing of the Board of Education 
 Act, which aimed at creating an educational 
 Ministry with branches to preside over primary, 
 secondary, and technical schools. All our energies 
 must now be directed towards the organization of 
 our secondary education. Until we provide in 
 the secondary sphere a broad general basis of 
 instruction, we cannot expect to train our com- 
 mercial and industrial leaders so that they shall 
 be equal to those of our foremost foreign rivals. 
 Our older universities have had the opportunity 
 of reforming our secondary schools, and have 
 refused it. The task must now be undertaken 
 by the people themselves, represented by local 
 authorities under the guidance of an enlightened 
 central government. It will probably be by 
 pressure from below that the universities will be 
 
 54 
 
Foreign Educational Systems — 
 
 compelled to recognize that a spirit of conservatism, 
 ever lagging behind in the march of progress, 
 cannot offer a healthy educational influence for 
 those who have to contend against the modern, 
 culture of foreign nations. Already there is a 
 widespread feeling that Oxford and Cambridge 
 bring influences to bear on the sons of the men 
 of industry and commerce which disqualify them 
 for the occupations of their fathers. Such men, 
 therefore, turn to the newer universities which are 
 springing up in different parts of the land. The 
 great danger is that these may go to the other 
 extreme, and ignore that spirit of culture which 
 proceeds from the moral and aesthetic ideals of the 
 human race. Will it also be pressure from below 
 which will come to save these newer universities 
 from these dangers which beset them ? 
 
 The increasing attention which is paid in this 
 country to foreign systems of education, must give 
 rise to some misgiving, though, on the other hand, 
 it may be regarded as a hopeful sign. How com- 
 plicated is the study of foreign systems, is shown 
 by the fact that our system of technical education 
 was professedly designed in imitation of that of 
 Germany ; and yet no two systems could be more 
 utterly different. To such an extent have we been 
 misled by those who have pretended to a knowledge 
 of German education. Among these many of the 
 Germans themselves who are our welcome guests, 
 
 55 . 
 
And their Exponents. 
 
 are most to be mistrusted. Often they ingenuously 
 describe to us the systems of their youth, forgetting 
 that the Fatherland has also grown older and 
 wiser since they left its shores. Many earnest 
 members of school boards, speaking little French 
 and less German, after a too short visit to foreign 
 countries, have returned to extol the virtues of 
 foreign schools to their admiring fellow-citizens. 
 But imitation of foreign countries will never help 
 us to build up a national system of education. 
 The first thing we learn from a careful comparative 
 study of foreign schools is that each nation must 
 build up the educational system best suited to its 
 own requirements, and best adapted to the natural 
 genius of its people. When once this fact has 
 been firmly grasped, we may learn much if we 
 ponder the causes which have produced sharp 
 contrasts or striking similarities among the systems 
 of the four great nations in the van of modern 
 civilization. The succeeding chapters have been 
 written in the hope that they may throw some 
 light on this phase of the subject. 
 
 56 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FOUNDATIONS LAID BY GERMAN 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It has been remarked, in a preceding chapter, 
 that the Prussian organization of education has 
 been the model for most of the other German 
 States, whose systems have been, during the last 
 century, and still appear to be, assimilating them- 
 selves to that of Prussia. To thoroughly appre- 
 ciate this fact, it is necessary to understand the 
 causes which have led Germany to accept Prussia 
 as her head and leader. No more than a very 
 brief outline of these causes can be given here. 
 
 By the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, the dis- 
 union of Germany was formally consecrated for 
 the benefit of France, who henceforth became the 
 dominant power in Europe. The old Empire now 
 became a medley of States under independent rulers, 
 owing, nominally, allegiance to an Emperor who 
 was in reality nothing more than the head of the 
 Austrian Monarchy. The rulers of these States, 
 who revelled in their independence, were encouraged 
 by France to accept her protection against all 
 
 57 
 
The Making of Modern Germany. 
 
 interference from their nominal head. We have, 
 therefore, on the one hand, Austria, endeavouring 
 to bring these States into an Empire which should 
 be more than a mere name, and over which she 
 should preside ; on the other, France, who, having 
 by her clever diplomacy and the assistance of her 
 arms brought about the disruption of the old 
 Empire, was determined that it should not be al- 
 lowed again to become an obstacle to her ambitions 
 as arbiter of the destinies of Europe. 
 
 About this time a rival to Austria began to rise 
 into prominence : the Prussian Monarchy now 
 commenced to extend its borders, and to aspire 
 to the headship of Germany. Prussia had, indeed, 
 one advantage which Austria did not possess, for 
 she was exclusively German in her interests, while 
 Austria was composed of peoples only a part of 
 whom were German. The situation was, therefore, 
 briefly this. Prussia, with a better claim than 
 Austria, was attempting to build up a new German 
 Empire under her direction. Austria naturally 
 opposed this attempt. France naturally found it 
 to her interest to resist any endeavour to restore 
 German unity, whether under Prussia or Austria. 
 Besides these three parties in the game, there is 
 also a fourth to be considered, namely, the inde- 
 pendent German States, whose rulers were anxious 
 to maintain their independence at all costs and by 
 whatever means. 
 
 58 
 
The Making of Modern Germany. 
 
 At the beginning of the nineteenth century 
 France, under the leadership of Napoleon, subdued 
 the three other parties — Austria, Prussia, and the 
 independent States. In the struggle that followed, 
 so great was the mutual distrust of Prussia and Aus- 
 tria, that they were unable to co-operate against the 
 common enemy ; and it was not until the Prussian 
 people revolted against the indignities heaped upon 
 them by the French, that Prussia threw in her lot 
 with the enemies of Napoleon. The present Prus- 
 sian system of education may be said to be popular, 
 in that its foundations were laid in the national 
 feeling which was aroused at this time by French 
 opposition. It was at this moment, when the 
 Prussian people were aroused to the need of 
 national reconstruction, and statesmen worthy in 
 every way to give practical effect to the popular 
 will had arisen, that the value of national education 
 was for the first time properly appreciated. The 
 spirit which was then breathed into the Prussian 
 system of education is not yet dead, for later events 
 have tended to keep it alive. 
 
 When Napoleon was finally overthrown, the 
 hostility between Austria and Prussia again ap- 
 peared at the Congress of Vienna, which met to 
 restore the balance of Europe. The rulers of the 
 independent States, who had for the most part 
 fought on the side of Napoleon, were still opposed 
 to any restoration of the German Empire. France 
 
 59 
 
The Making of Modern Germany. 
 
 and Austria, taking advantage of this feeling, and 
 also of the inability of the King of Prussia to 
 appreciate the aims and ideals of the Prussian 
 patriots, now again succeeded in throwing in- 
 superable obstacles in the way of German unity 
 under the leadership of Prussia. 
 
 When the people of Germany realized how their 
 wishes had been disregarded by their rulers, and 
 how the great wars had merely resulted in a new 
 assertion of prerogatives and a fresh ignoring of 
 their rights, a strong tendency towards liberalism 
 set in among them. In 1848, when the great revo- 
 lutionary wave swept over Europe, this feeling took 
 practical effect. " The Germans of those days might 
 have called themselves Liberal-Unionists. They 
 were Liberals because they had been overdosed with 
 divine rights, and Unionists because they wanted 
 to be a nation. There were between thirty 
 and forty divine rights in the country, each of 
 them endued with authority, or, as it was called, 
 sovereignty, over a region large or small, the 
 largest being the kingdom of Prussia, and the 
 others of various sizes down to little duchies 
 like Saxe-Coburg-Gotha." * The first national 
 Parliament of Germany assembled at Frankfort 
 in response to this outburst of feeling. This Parlia- 
 ment made a constitution, settled the boundaries 
 of the proposed Empire — leaving Austria outside — ■ 
 
 * Spenser Wilkinson, "The Great Alternative," p. 53. 
 
 60 
 
The Making of Modern Germany. 
 
 and elected as Emperor, Frederick William IV., 
 King of Prussia. Austria being joined by Russia 
 in her opposition to this scheme, Prussia declined 
 the dangerous honour of presiding over the sug- 
 gested constitutional Empire. 
 
 This Parliament did, however, achieve some- 
 thing, in that it formally pointed to Prussia as the 
 natural leader of the German nation. Thus had 
 the people, who at the beginning of the century 
 had recognized only an intellectual and aesthetic 
 metropolis, now at last come to perceive the 
 necessity of a political capital where would be 
 centred all the forces proceeding from the common 
 national sympathies and antipathies. Weimar, 
 where Goethe and Schiller had presided over the 
 consolidation of the intellectual Empire of Ger- 
 many, was now to be replaced by Berlin, where 
 Bismarck was, by his diplomacy, directing all 
 political tendencies towards one definite aim. 
 
 The overthrow of Austria, and of the rulers of in- 
 dependent German States who were still opposed 
 to unity, in 1866, left France as the only enemy to 
 the establishment of a German Empire. The war 
 of 1870 not only destroyed the opposition of 
 France, but further consolidated German unity by 
 restoring to the newly founded Empire territories 
 which had been stolen by the French in time of 
 peace. 
 
 It was such success as this which first recom- 
 
 61 
 
The Making of Modern Germany. 
 
 mended the educational system of Prussia to the 
 rest of Germany. An English writer has already 
 been quoted as stating that Prussia deserved the 
 position at the head of Germany, which she won 
 in 1866, and maintained in 1870; for she had 
 learnt that the requisites to national regeneration 
 were true hearts and clear heads. And, con- 
 tinuing, he says — 
 
 "An army under the command of genuine 
 leaders is a good school of duty ; and, in the hand 
 of Scharnhorst and his companions, the Prussian 
 army taught one generation of Germans to obey, 
 to endure, and to die. Stein and Hardenberg re- 
 shaped a number of institutions with a view to 
 bind rich and poor together in the bonds of a 
 common welfare. Fichte, W. Humboldt, Niebuhr, 
 and their fellows strengthened the foundations of 
 that part of education which is given by the school 
 and the university. The aim was not to give every 
 man the whole of knowledge, but to give each man 
 the particular knowledge necessary to enable him 
 to do his particular life's work, as well as the 
 general knowledge required to make a good 
 citizen. 
 
 " From this ideal resulted a public school system 
 which, in spite of faults, made the Prussians the 
 people among whom the general knowledge con- 
 veyed by primary and secondary instruction was 
 most widely spread and most fully developed. . . . 
 The system aimed at quality, not quantity. Each 
 student was trained to spontaneous effort, and 
 taught a method, and he became himself an active 
 searcher, seeking to enlarge the bounds of know- 
 ledge in the particular region which he had 
 
 62 
 
The Making of Modern Germany. 
 
 entered. Thus, for every career in which know- 
 ledge is an element of success, there were Prussians 
 better equipped than most of their competitors in 
 other countries. In the army and all branches of 
 the public service the professional knowledge 
 gradually came to be the indispensable condition 
 of advancement. The universities became genuine 
 fountains of knowledge, corporations organized to 
 acquire and to spread a deeper insight into nature 
 and human life than had existed before. A 
 generation of German teachers became the teachers 
 of their class all over the world. Until a few years 
 ago, university professors outside Germany were 
 little more than the channels through which the 
 teaching of the German masters found its way 
 more or less diluted, to the pupils." 
 
 There are two points which are particularly 
 worthy of notice in connection with the reorganiza- 
 tion of Prussian education between 1808 and 181 8. 
 The first is that W. von Humboldt, who was the 
 first head of the reorganized education department, 
 was a man who had formerly been strongly opposed 
 to all State interference in education. Events had 
 taught him, however, as only such events as he 
 had witnessed can teach, that the State must 
 undertake to provide proper schools, suitable in- 
 struction, and, what is still more difficult, effective 
 methods of education for the people. And this 
 brings us to the second point. It was not know- 
 ledge alone that was necessary to make the people 
 who had been defeated at Jena into a nation, 
 strong to resist one of the most powerful foes 
 
 63 
 
The Making of Modern Germany. 
 
 which the world had seen, and able to recover from 
 the state to which they had been reduced. 
 
 Something, it is true, could be done by political 
 enactments, freeing the people from burdens and 
 restrictions imposed on them in the interests of the 
 ruling classes. But more than this was necessary. 
 The Government had in the past been merely an 
 institution for maintaining the ruling dynasty and 
 the officials dependent upon it. From the people 
 it demanded obedience and a mechanical per- 
 formance of duty. The shock with the armies of 
 Napoleon taught Prussia that even in war the 
 strength of the conqueror does not consist merely 
 in the obedience of the forces which he commands. 
 Military writers are inclined to overlook the fact 
 that the genius of Napoleon could not have 
 defeated the greatest armies of Europe, had it 
 not been served by the spirit of freedom and the 
 enthusiasm of individual responsibility which the 
 French Revolution had sown in the breasts of his 
 soldiers. The Prussian statesmen of that time, 
 however, perceived this fact ; and the greatest of 
 them, Stein, recognized that the work of education, 
 which had now to be undertaken by the State, must 
 not be directed towards the inculcation of passive 
 obedience, but rather towards the fostering of self- 
 activity and self-reliance among the people to 
 whom they looked for the regeneration of the 
 nation. So that, at what may be considered the 
 
 6 4 
 
Pestalozzi. 
 
 initiation of the State control of the modern 
 German educational system, considerations of 
 method — of the meaning and aim of education 
 itself, rather than of its outward form or the field 
 of knowledge which it was to command — were 
 forced upon the officials to whom this control was 
 committed. This is a necessity to which such 
 officials have never yet been reduced in England. 
 
 The method of education needed was ready to 
 the hand of the organizers of the Prussian system. 
 Amidst the din of battles and the fall of kingdoms, 
 the son of a Zurich doctor had been trying educa- 
 tional experiments, one after the other of which 
 had proved a financial failure. An unpractical 
 idealist he seemed to many ; and yet his loving 
 devotion to the poor and oppressed, his persever- 
 ance in spite of failure and innumerable disappoint- 
 ments, won for him ultimately such worship from 
 all classes of society as is rarely vouchsafed to 
 man. The most distinguished people of the time 
 travelled far to see him, and to express their 
 admiration for all he had done to educate the 
 destitute and helpless. The one person who is 
 said to have turned from Pestalozzi with the remark 
 that there were more important things than the 
 learning of the A.B.C., was Napoleon. And yet 
 there was probably no man who did more to 
 remove the traces of Napoleon's work in Germany 
 than Pestalozzi. 
 
 65 
 
Pestalozzi. 
 
 The whole of Pestalozzi's life was spent in an 
 active protest against all that was dead and 
 mechanical in the educational methods of his 
 time — methods which are unfortunately still too 
 common. The mere teaching of words, as opposed 
 to things ; the presenting to the child of " a crowd 
 of ready-made judgments, which he may hold in 
 his memory, but which leave his power of thinking 
 inactive, and tend even to paralyze it"; that 
 instruction which is based on the passive obedience 
 of the pupil, and commands his acceptance on 
 authority of what he cannot understand, this it 
 was that Pestalozzi considered most harmful in the 
 existing methods of education. To him the child 
 was a living, active being, whose development, 
 whether physical, mental, or moral, followed a 
 certain natural course. " Man develops the fun- 
 damental elements of life, i.e. his love and faith, by 
 the exercise of love and faith ; those of his intel- 
 lectual life, that is his thought, by the exercise of 
 his thought ; those of his practical or industrial life, 
 that is the power of his organs and his muscles, by 
 the exercise of this power. Man is urged by the 
 very nature of the forces within him to employ 
 them, exercise them, give them all the develop- 
 ment, all the perfection, of which they are capable." 
 And it is this self-activity which, according to him, 
 should form the basis of all education. 
 
 Pestalozzi may be said to have founded technical 
 
 66 
 
Pestalozzi. 
 
 education, in that he insisted that practical skill was 
 one of the necessary acquirements of education. He 
 maintained, however, that practical skill presup- 
 posed intellectual training, without which it could 
 not be successful. Above all, what he sought to 
 form, were men fully developed ; free, and worthy 
 to enjoy freedom ; self-active, and employing their 
 self-activity in the realization of their own highest 
 capacities, for the good of themselves and those 
 fellow-citizens to whom they were united by the 
 bonds of love and a common responsibility to their 
 country. Such, in brief, was the theory of educa- 
 tion which the founders of the modern German 
 system found ready to their hands. They adopted 
 it, and, thanks to it, they built up a nation of self- 
 dependent men strong in their self-activity. 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the benefit it was 
 to Prussia to be obliged, at the outset, to consider 
 methods rather than the outward form of education. 
 Had it not been for national disaster this might 
 never have been necessary. It may be said that 
 the effects of this are still felt, and in every 
 German school, in every meeting of German 
 teachers, there is an appreciation of the higher 
 aims and purposes of education which we do not 
 commonly find in England. When we first estab- 
 lished a system of education for the children of the 
 poorer classes, we were not urged on by any need 
 for national regeneration ; we were not reduced to 
 6 67 
 
Quality before Quantity. 
 
 a position where it was imperative that we should 
 reconsider the foundations of our national strength, 
 and use every means in our power to restore 
 it to heights from which it had been cast down. 
 We were merely forced by the final establishment 
 of democracy, as our form of government, to see 
 that the lower classes learned to read and to write, 
 and to calculate. And it must be admitted — not 
 without feelings of humiliation — that until the end 
 of last century in England the State was chiefly 
 occupied in providing a sufficient quantity of 
 education, a sufficient number of "school places," 
 and paid but little attention to the quality of its 
 education, regarding methods of instruction and 
 educational theories as fit only for the contempla- 
 tion of faddists or enthusiasts. 
 
 The science of education founded by Pestalozzi 
 was not certainly complete or final, and it was not 
 accepted as such by the educational reformers 
 whom Prussia employed at the beginning of the 
 century to restore her fallen fortunes. But it was 
 a science, and it did offer a basis on which might 
 be gradually built up the true science. It ensured, 
 therefore, methodical progress : not the mere 
 haphazard adoption of methods or subjects of 
 instruction in obedience to a passing whim or an 
 ephemeral need, but the thoughtful fitting in of 
 subjects into a well-organized scheme, and the 
 careful readaptation of methods of teaching to the 
 
 6$ 
 
Quality before Quantity. 
 
 ever-new discoveries of educational science. And 
 it is a remarkable fact, in connection with the State 
 control of education in Prussia, that, as that control 
 has increased, there has at the same time been an 
 increasing tendency on the part of the State to 
 demand the best expert opinion on proposed 
 changes. Each far-reaching and important change 
 has been preceded by a conference of experts, 
 representative of all shades of opinion. In short, 
 we may say that educational progress in Prussia 
 has been evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, 
 in the strictest sense of the term ; whereas the 
 best defence that can be made for corresponding 
 progress in England is to be found in the fact 
 that it has followed a process of broadening 
 down from precedent to precedent, a formula 
 which is conveniently adaptable to any course of 
 progress, however irregular, and however defective, 
 so long as it is not marked by any extraordinary 
 energy or vitality, and never gives evidence of 
 revolutionary tendencies. 
 
 Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the fact 
 that Pestalozzi ignored social distinctions in his 
 educational system. Consequently, in such a 
 country as Germany, his opinions might not have 
 had great weight had he not had the good fortune 
 to preach in a time of national adversity.* 
 
 * Though the work of Herbart, which may be said to have 
 supplemented that of Pestalozzi, cannot be considered here, its 
 importance cannot be overrated. 
 
 69 
 
Social Prejudices. 
 
 Educational reformers find their strongest 
 opponents in those classes of society who owe 
 their position and their raison d'etre to tradition. 
 And it is always to these classes that the sup- 
 porters of old-fashioned and discredited educational 
 theories turn for support. In England, we know 
 how cleverly social prejudices have been pressed 
 into the service of educational conservatism. Often 
 the question of classical versus modern education 
 has been fought out on the argument that Latin 
 is essential to the education of a gentleman ; and 
 thus infinite damage has been done to the cause 
 of classical education itself, by leading the most 
 influential persons to overlook the true issues 
 at stake. We find somewhat the same thing 
 happening in Germany, whenever the external 
 pressure from other nations has temporarily 
 subsided, and the national aim has no longer 
 overshadowed all others. But, fortunately for 
 Prussia, this was not the case during the years 
 devoted to the foundation of her educational 
 system. 
 
 Nothing can be more instructive for the purpose 
 in hand — that of a comparative study of the 
 education of the men of industry and commerce 
 in different countries — than to glance at the 
 development of the Prussian Realschulen, the 
 schools that now fill the place which our modern 
 secondary schools are supposed to occupy in our 
 
 70 
 
The Realschulen. 
 
 own educational system. At the end of the seven- 
 teenth century Francke remarked : u The man who 
 does not take up classical studies has, nevertheless, 
 a need of knowing the principles of astronomy, 
 geography, physics, and history, and of everything 
 connected with the government of his country, if 
 he wishes to become an intelligent man, and of 
 use to the Commonwealth." In 1706, Christoph 
 Semler opened a mathematical and mechanical 
 Realschule in Halle. His object was not the 
 same as that by which Dr. Birkbeck was guided 
 nearly one hundred years later ; he did not 
 propose to instruct uneducated adults in the 
 scientific principles underlying trade or industry. 
 In this school a teacher explained to poor children, 
 for an hour every afternoon, the principles of 
 handicraft and manufacture. In 1738, the school 
 was restarted on a wider basis, and some slight 
 opportunities were given to the children of the 
 upper classes also to attend these lessons. In 
 1747, Julius Hecker started a Realschule in Berlin, 
 which may, from its objects and its organization, 
 be regarded as the true parent of all schools of 
 the same type. He had for long been occupied 
 with attempts to improve the elementary schools 
 in his district ; he then turned his attention to 
 the foundation of a secondary school for the 
 children of the cultivated middle classes. His 
 foremost idea seems to have been to provide 
 
 71 
 
The Realschulen. 
 
 general culture, and the technical training which 
 his school offered seems to have occupied quite 
 a secondary place. The subjects of instruction 
 were : Religion, German, Latin, French, Writing, 
 Arithmetic, Drawing, History, Geography, Moral 
 Instruction, and the Elements of Geometry, Me- 
 chanics, and Architecture. The success of the 
 school surpassed all expectations. In 1762, the 
 number of pupils attending the institution was 
 1095, of whom 91 were boarders and 300 free 
 scholars. Perhaps the most important part which 
 it played in the promotion of the Realschule idea 
 was by the establishment of a training college for 
 village teachers, which received the royal patron- 
 age and a Government subsidy, and from which 
 a number of trained teachers went forth to spread 
 the new idea. Frederick II. built up his Royal 
 Realschule on the private and voluntary efforts 
 of Hecker and his successor. A number of similar 
 schools were soon established in different parts 
 of Prussia and Germany. 
 
 It is impossible here to trace through all its 
 vicissitudes the history of the Realschulen.* These 
 schools appear to have appealed particularly to 
 those classes of the people whose interests seemed 
 to clash with those of the higher ranks of society. 
 So that, in 1848, when the revolutionary and 
 
 * I have used the German forms Realschulen, Gymnasien, etc., 
 rather than Anglicized plurals of German words. 
 
 72 
 
The Realschulen. 
 
 democratic wave sweeping over Europe spread to 
 Prussia, we find considerable efforts being made 
 to procure for this modern type of school the 
 same privileges as were possessed by the classical 
 Gymnasium. But, as we have seen in the brief 
 review of the history of Prussia, the effect of the 
 revolutionary feeling of this epoch was to create 
 a desire in Germany for unity on a liberal and 
 constitutional basis under the leadership of Prussia. 
 When, however, Prussia hesitated to accept the 
 leadership on the liberal conditions imposed by 
 the rest of Germany the whole scheme broke 
 down, and for a time a natural reaction followed. 
 During this period the Realschulen fared ill. It 
 was not until Prince William (afterwards the first 
 Emperor of the new Germany) became Regent 
 in 1858 that Prussia again placed national con- 
 siderations before all others. 
 
 In 1859 the State definitely assumed responsi- 
 bility for the Realschulen, and official programmes 
 were published. Three grades of these schools 
 were recognized, the first having an eight years' 
 course with Latin, the second a seven years' course 
 without Latin, and the third a six years' course 
 without Latin. The programme of the schools of 
 the first grade was as follows : — 
 
 73 
 
The Realschulen. 
 
 Religion 
 
 Mother tongue 
 
 Latin 
 
 French 
 
 English 
 
 Geography and History 
 
 Natural Science 
 
 Mathematics and Arithmetic 
 
 Writing 
 
 Drawing- 
 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 III. 
 
 II.* 
 
 I.* 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 O 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 n 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 b 
 
 b 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 3i 
 
 2 
 32 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 The lowest grade of these schools, with only a 
 six years' course, and without Latin, seems origi- 
 nally to have been intended to be a sort of higher 
 primary school. It is interesting to observe that 
 all three grades were declared officially " to possess 
 a common aim — that of assuring a general scien- 
 tific preparation for those vocations for which 
 university studies were not requisite." It is also 
 worthy of notice that Latin was retained in the 
 highest of these three grades, " not only because 
 of its importance as leading to a knowledge of 
 the relations between modern civilization and an- 
 tiquity, but, above all, for its undeniable utility in 
 the study of modern languages, which can only be 
 
 * Two years were spent in each of these classes. It may be 
 mentioned here, once for all, that in practically all foreign schools 
 one year is spent in each class. The advantage of this arrangement 
 over that common in England is self-evident. 
 
 74 
 
The Realschulen. 
 
 learned superficially unless supplemented by the 
 study of Latin." And, further, as showing the 
 kind of educational spirit by which the Prussian 
 Government was moved, the following words may 
 be noted, offering an official explanation of the 
 lines on which the new programmes had been 
 designed : " To insure thoroughness and a proper 
 assimilation of knowledge, it is essential that one's 
 efforts should be confined within certain fixed 
 limits. The science of education is always rein- 
 forcing the truth of this experience : that when seed 
 is sown too thickly the field is less productive." But 
 it must not be imagined that when the Realschulen 
 were once finally established by Government the 
 fight was won. This event merely marked the 
 commencement of an organized agitation in favour 
 of granting the same privileges to the new educa- 
 tion as were already possessed by the old. Pupils 
 obtaining the leaving certificate of a gymnasium 
 were admitted to the universities and all higher 
 institutions ; those holding a similar certificate 
 from the Realschulen obtained little more than a 
 reduction of the years of compulsory military 
 service. In 1869, the ministry of education con- 
 sulted the universities as to whether they would 
 grant full privileges to the pupils of the Real- 
 schulen ; when they replied in the negative, the 
 Government took the matter into its own hands, 
 and threw open to the pupils of the highest grade 
 
 75 
 
The Realschulen. 
 
 of Realschulen * the philosophical faculty of the 
 university, and admitted them to the examinations 
 for teachers of mathematics, natural science, and 
 modern languages. 
 
 The next great reform took place in 1882. The 
 programmes for the classical Gymnasien under- 
 went considerable modification in a modern direc- 
 tion. The hours devoted to Latin and Greek were 
 reduced, and greater time was allotted to French, 
 mathematics, history, and science. The system of 
 Realschulen was remodelled : the highest grade, in 
 which Latin was taught, now received the name of 
 Real-gymnasium, and its course was lengthened to 
 nine years. The lower grade was combined with 
 an existing type of technical school to form what 
 was called the Ober-Realschule, a modern secon- 
 dary school, also with a nine years' course, but with- 
 out Latin. The Realschule with the six years' 
 course now finally became a secondary school, 
 and threw off all higher primary tendencies. It 
 was considered not as a crowning to the primary 
 system, but as providing the irreducible minimum 
 of secondary education for those who could not 
 afford a nine years' course. It adopted the pro- 
 gramme of the lower classes of the Ober-Real- 
 schule, and thus formed an integral part of the 
 secondary system. Too much emphasis cannot 
 
 * Corresponding to the present Realgymnasium as described in 
 the succeeding paragraph. 
 
 76 
 
Conference of Experts. 
 
 be laid on this principle, which should be com- 
 pared with that guiding the development of the 
 higher primary schools of France (cf. p. 162 et sqq.). 
 
 The next great reform took place in 1892. The 
 present Emperor stated, in a Royal proclamation 
 issued in 1889, that he had for a long time been 
 occupied with the problem of how to make the 
 school useful for the purpose of counteracting the 
 spread of socialistic and communistic ideas. In the 
 same year a decree was issued directing modifica- 
 tions in the historical teaching in the State schools. 
 In 1890, a conference was summoned to consider 
 certain changes, mostly of a modernizing and anti- 
 classical nature, which the Emperor advocated for 
 Prussian secondary schools. The composition of 
 this conference is instructive. Of the forty-three 
 members summoned, two were factory owners, one 
 was a medical man, and five were representatives 
 of the clergy ; thirty-six were actually engaged in 
 teaching, or held 'public educational positions, 
 proving that they had formerly distinguished them- 
 selves in the scholastic profession. The Emperor 
 opened this conference in a characteristic speech, 
 in which he dealt with the important questions to be 
 decided. The conclusions of this conference were 
 ultimately embodied in the official " curricula and 
 programmes for the secondary schools of Prussia." 
 
 Before entering into any details as to the changes 
 which were now made, a few considerations may 
 
 77 
 
The Kaiser and the Schools. 
 
 not be out of place as to the methods adopted 
 on this occasion by the Prussian Government 
 for reforming the schools under its control. 
 There is a prevalent idea in England that the 
 schools are used in Prussia for the inculcation 
 of those principles which are favoured by the 
 Government. This is often advanced in support 
 of arguments against the State control of schools 
 in England. It is, no doubt, true that the present 
 Emperor has made an attempt to direct the 
 teaching of the secondary schools against certain 
 doctrines which he has believed to be harmful to 
 national unity and strength. But it is impossible 
 for such an attempt to succeed unless only those 
 teachers are appointed who hold precisely the 
 same views as the Emperor ; for no man can be 
 forced to teach history in such a way as will 
 support views in which he does not himself 
 believe. It is, however, impossible to select 
 teachers for the Prussian secondary schools on any 
 such principle, the supply in the training seminaries 
 being, if anything, below the actual demand. 
 Whatever may have been the Emperor's intentions, 
 he was bound to fail in any attempt to impose 
 his will in this or other respects on the whole 
 teaching body. 
 
 The action of the Prussian Government, when it 
 thinks it necessary to reform its schools, is indeed 
 in marked contrast to that of our own under 
 
 73 
 
The Influence of Experts. 
 
 similar circumstances. Our Government permits 
 its officials to make what changes they like for the 
 benefit of the schools under its control. Such 
 changes are made by the officials — hardly any of 
 whom have had educational experience beyond 
 that of their own boyhood — generally without 
 consulting experts or even the Government in- 
 spectors. The autocrat King of Prussia, on the 
 other hand, calls to his assistance the most en- 
 lightened representatives of the teaching pro- 
 fession. It is likewise significant that, while our 
 Government takes little or no interest in the 
 question of secondary education, the Kaiser thinks 
 it of such importance to the nation that he himself 
 opens the conference which is to decide important 
 reforms in its organization, and even places before 
 it his own carefully thought out and original views 
 as to its aims. 
 
 The system of secondary education in Prussia, 
 as remodelled by the Congress of 1890, will be 
 seen from the following official time-tables.* 
 
 * I have adopted the translation of these tables made by Mr. 
 W. G. Lipscomb ("Special Reports" of the Education Depart- 
 ment, vol. 3). Boys generally enter this secondary school when 
 they are nine years old. Where hours are bracketed together it 
 signifies that one teacher should be entrusted with the subjects to 
 which they relate, and that the hours may be divided between these 
 subjects as the school authorities desire. The normal time-table 
 of the Realschule is the same as that for the first six classes, or years, 
 of the Oberrealschule. But this may be changed according to the 
 requirements of special districts. Such changes have been carried 
 out in table D. 
 
 79 
 
Prussian System of Secondary Schools. 
 
 A. — Time-table for Gymnasien (Classical Schools). 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 ^ 3 
 3) 
 
 4| 
 i J \ 
 
 8) 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 V 
 
 1- 
 
 2 
 25 
 
 V. 
 
 2 
 
 8) 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 IV. 
 2 
 
 ;i 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 IIlB. 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 IIIa. 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 IlB. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 3 
 2 
 1 
 
 4 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 IIa. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 6 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 2 
 28 
 
 IB. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 6 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 2 
 28 
 
 Ia. 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 2 
 28 
 
 Total. 
 
 Compared 
 
 with 
 formerly. 
 
 German and 
 Historical 
 
 Narration . . 
 
 History and 
 Geography . 
 
 Arithmetic 
 
 and Algebra 
 Natural His- 
 
 Physics, Ele- 
 ments of Che- 
 mistry, and 
 Mineralogy . 
 
 Drawing .... 
 
 19 
 26 
 
 62 
 36 
 19 
 26 
 
 34 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 8 
 
 + O 
 
 + 5 
 
 — i5 
 
 — 4 
 
 — 2 
 
 — 2 
 
 (See 
 
 German). 
 
 + 
 
 — 2 
 
 + 2 
 
 + 
 
 + 2 
 
 
 28 
 
 30 
 
 252 
 
 - 16 
 
 B. — Time-table for Realgymnasien (Modern Schools with 
 
 Latin). 
 
 Compared 
 
 with 
 formerly. 
 
 Religion 
 
 German and 
 Historical 
 Narration. . . 
 
 Latin 
 
 French ...... 
 
 English 
 
 History and 
 Geography . . 
 
 Arithmetic 
 and Algebra 
 
 VI. 
 
 v. 
 
 IV. 
 2 
 
 IIIb. 
 
 2 
 
 IIIa. 
 2 
 
 IlB. 
 2 
 
 IIa. 
 2 
 
 Ib. 
 2 
 
 Ia. 
 
 Total. 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 3| 
 
 2) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 l 4 l 
 
 3| 
 
 3 I 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 1) > 
 
 1) > 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8) 
 
 8) 
 
 7) 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 43 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 3i 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 }* 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 V 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 42 
 
 + o 
 
 + I 
 
 — II 
 
 — 3 
 
 — 2 
 
 — 2 
 (See 
 
 German). 
 
 — 2 
 
 80 
 
Prussian System of Secondary Schools. 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 IIIb. 
 
 IIIa. 
 
 IIb. 
 
 1 
 
 IlA. IB. 
 
 Ia. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Compared 
 
 with 
 
 formerly. 
 
 Natural His- 
 tory. 
 
 Chemistry and 
 Mineralogy . 
 
 Writing 
 
 Drawing .... 
 
 2 
 
 }- 
 
 2 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 3} 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 ~ 3 } 
 
 2) 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 12 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 16 
 
 ± O 
 
 ± O 
 
 ± O 
 
 ± O 
 — 2 
 
 
 259 
 
 — 21 
 
 C. — Time-table for Oberrealschulen (Modern Schools 
 without Latin). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,, ! 
 
 
 
 
 Compared 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 111b. 
 
 111a. 
 
 IIb. IIa. 
 
 1b. 
 
 Ia. 
 
 Total. 
 
 with 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 formerly. 
 
 Religion .... 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 ± O 
 
 German and 
 
 4| 
 
 3| 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Historical 
 
 51 
 
 4] 
 
 4) 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 34 
 
 + 4 
 
 Narration . . 
 
 1) > 
 
 1) > 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6) 
 
 6) 
 
 61 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 47 
 
 - 9 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 25 
 
 — 1 
 
 History and 
 Geography . 
 
 }* 
 
 I* 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 — 2 
 
 (See 
 
 Arithmetic 
 
 }s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 German). 
 
 and Algebra 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 47 
 
 — 2 
 
 Natural His- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tory 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1} 
 
 2 ) 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 — I 
 
 Physics 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 3| 
 
 3| 
 
 3| 
 
 13 
 
 — I 
 
 Chemistry and 
 
 }- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mineralogy . 
 
 
 
 
 
 2) 
 
 3) 
 
 3) 
 
 3) 
 
 11 
 
 + 2 
 
 Writing 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ± O 
 
 Freehand 
 
 }- 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Drawing . . . 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 16 
 258 
 
 — 8 
 
 Total 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 - 18 
 
 81 
 
Prussian System of Secondary Schools. 
 
 D. — Specimen of Time-table of Realschule adapted to the 
 Requirements of a Special District (see note, p. 79). 
 
 Religion 
 
 German and His- 
 torical Narration 
 
 French 
 
 English 
 
 History and Geo- 
 graphy 
 
 Arithmetic and 
 Mathematics .... 
 
 Natural History . . 
 
 Natural Philosophy 
 
 Writing 
 
 Freehand Drawing 
 
 Total 
 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 in. 
 
 11. 
 
 1. 
 
 Total. 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 *3 
 
 6) 
 
 6) 
 
 n 
 
 6/ 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 31 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 }* 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 }< 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 ]} 
 
 5 
 
 IO 
 
 g 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 29 
 
 166 
 
 Compared 
 
 with 
 formerly. 
 
 ± O 
 
 + 7 
 
 - 9 
 
 ± o 
 
 - 3 
 
 — 1 
 
 - 3 
 ± 
 
 — 2 
 
 — 2 
 
 - 13 
 
 To appreciate the full purpose of this system, a 
 knowledge is necessary of the different privileges 
 bestowed by the various courses of study. At the 
 end of each school course an examination is held, 
 under the supervision of a Government commis- 
 sioner, by the teachers attached to the highest class 
 of the school The pupils who pass this examina- 
 tion receive a certificate of maturity, as it is called. 
 There are also lower certificates given, as will be 
 seen from the following list. This list shows the 
 chief privileges bestowed by the various certificates. 
 
 Classical Gymnasium. — The certificate of ma- 
 turity admits to the University for the study of 
 
 82 
 
" Privileges " of Secondary Education. 
 
 Philosophy, History, Classical Philology, Law 
 Theology, Political and Economic Science and 
 Medicine ; the Military Medical School at Berlin : 
 the examination for the Teaching Profession.* 
 
 Classical Gymnasium or Realgymnasium. — The 
 certificate of maturity admits to the examination 
 for the Teaching Profession (Mathematics, Natural 
 Science, Geography and Modern Language) ; 
 entrance examination for the Schools of Forestry 
 (age limit 25) ; higher Military and Naval services 
 (without special examination ; age limit 17 to 23). 
 
 Gymnasium, Realgymnasium, and Oberrealschule. 
 — The certificate of maturity admits to the Uni- 
 versity for the study of Mathematics and Natural 
 Science ; examinations for the Teaching Profes- 
 sion (Mathematics and Natural Science) ; special 
 examinations for Government Architects, Engineers 
 (civil, constructive, machine, mining, marine) ; 
 Woods and Forests Department and entrance ex- 
 aminations to the Schools of Forestry ; higher 
 appointments in the Post-office, Telegraph Service 
 and Imperial Bank ; the Academic High School 
 of Church Music. 
 
 Gymnasium or Realgymnasium. — Seventh-year 
 certificate f admits to Government Survey De- 
 
 * The teaching profession referred to in this list is that of the 
 secondary schools. 
 
 t Certificates delivered on result of examination held at the end 
 of the seventh year, and not at the end of the full course as in the 
 case of certificates of maturity. 
 
 7 S3 
 
" Privileges " of Secondary Education. 
 
 partment (also obtained by the sixth-year certifi- 
 cate with an additional course of study in special 
 schools), dentists' examinations ; civil and military 
 veterinary examinations ; higher Military and 
 Naval services (supplemented by a special ex- 
 amination — for this privilege " honours " must 
 have been obtained in English at the certificate 
 examination). 
 
 Gymnasium,, Realgymnasuim, Oberrealschule* — 
 Sixth-year certificate (or certificate of maturity of 
 a Realschule) admits to one year's voluntary service 
 in the Army or Navy ; examination for the Teach- 
 ing Profession (drawing and gymnastics) ; High 
 Schools of Art and of Music ; to the lower ranks 
 of the Civil Service and Administration of State 
 Railways (but not without special examination to 
 posts demanding technical knowledge) ; the Royal 
 Horticultural Institute at Potsdam (evidence of 
 a certain knowledge of Latin required) ; Agri- 
 cultural Schools at Berlin and Poppelsdorf; Phar- 
 maceutical examination (additional knowledge of 
 Latin demanded) ; Paymaster in the Army or 
 Navy. 
 
 It is, of course, a mistake to imagine that 
 a nation is ever guided by one single aim in 
 the development of its educational system. In 
 
 * Certificates delivered on result of examination held at the end 
 of the sixth year, and not at the end of the full course as in the case 
 of certificates of maturity. 
 
 8 4 
 
The National Aim. 
 
 Germany, as much as in any other country, many 
 and complex forces have been at work perfecting 
 the growth of the schools. But one aim may be 
 said to have dominated all others, and the nation 
 has marched towards one fixed goal, however 
 devious the paths it has followed, and however 
 strong the attraction of side interests. As we have 
 seen, this resultant singleness of purpose would 
 have been impossible had it not been for the 
 external pressure of foreign rivalry. Indeed, we 
 find in the history of the movement that whenever 
 this pressure has diminished, subordinate forces 
 have invariably exerted a stronger influence. It 
 is particularly interesting to notice how at such 
 times social prejudices have gathered round the 
 traditional classical education, and for the moment 
 threatened, even if they have not definitely 
 achieved, a retrograde movement. And yet, through- 
 out the nineteenth century, we may trace in Prussia 
 the slow and consistent development of the educa- 
 tional system along lines which, from our distant 
 standpoint, appear to have led straight and true 
 towards the present consummation. Having pro- 
 vided compulsory elementary education up to the 
 age of fourteen for all children who were destined 
 for the lower occupations of life, Prussia has at the 
 same time brought the collective energy and 
 wisdom of the State to bear on the education of 
 those whose duty it is, in one capacity or another, 
 
 8 5 
 
The Science of Education — 
 
 to guide and direct the work of these lower classes. 
 With deep respect for the results achieved by the 
 experiments of such great educators as Pestalozzi, 
 and of the scientific researches of such philosophers 
 as Fichte and Herbart, her statesmen have been led 
 to regard education as a scientific process, rather 
 than as a mere privilege to be doled out to people 
 in proportion to rights based on considerations of 
 wealth or social position. The question has, there- 
 fore, been : Which is the best kind of education 
 that can be given ? and not, what is the greatest 
 amount of education that can be allowed ? Having 
 disposed, by the assistance of scholarships for free 
 education, of the difficulties in the way of the 
 education of the talented child of the poorest 
 classes, it remained to provide the best kind of 
 education for the two classes into which the rest 
 of the population naturally divided itself. 
 
 First, there were those who could afford to keep 
 their children at school for an indefinite length of 
 time ; secondly, there were those who were obliged 
 to put their children to work at the age of six- 
 teen or seventeen. Again, from another point of 
 view — from that of their occupation in life — -this 
 section of the population might be divided into 
 the two following classes : those following the 
 learned professions and those pursuing industrial, 
 agricultural, or commercial pursuits. 
 
 If education is a scientific process, it must 
 
 86 
 
based on Natural Laws — 
 
 conform to certain laws of nature. And the 
 German scientists and philosophers have discovered 
 — as, indeed, have the scientists and philosophers in 
 every other country — that there are natural laws 
 which rule the mental, moral, and physical develop- 
 ment of man. When a nation has decided that 
 its very existence depends on the education of the 
 people, by which must be promoted their self- 
 activity and self-responsibility, it will, in its con- 
 siderations of education, view man as man, and 
 not merely as a producer, a thinker, or a fighter. 
 It will, therefore, as far as possible, insist that its 
 education shall conform to the natural laws regu- 
 lating the development of man. 
 
 These natural laws may be expressed somewhat 
 as follows. In the case of man, the period of 
 physical infancy — that is to say, of dependence 
 upon others — is much longer than in the case of 
 other animals. And mentally and morally there 
 is a period of infancy peculiar to man as distinct 
 from the other animals. This infancy, depen- 
 dence, or helplessness is due to the fact that nature 
 demands that every organism shall be adjusted to 
 its environment before it can live alone. The 
 adjustment or fitting to the environment must, 
 therefore, be watched over and guided by those 
 on whom it depends. The watching over and 
 guiding of this process of adjustment is the work 
 of education. Nature alone determines what the 
 
 «7 
 
Which must be obeyed — 
 
 fully developed organism is to be, and by what 
 steps it shall arrive at the final result. It is true 
 that those on whom it depends during the period 
 of infancy may interfere with this development ; 
 they may have their own views as to the destinies 
 of the organism, and they may prevent its proper 
 adjustment to its environment, and hence its full 
 capability of living alone in self-dependence and 
 self-activity. The commonest way of thus inter- 
 fering is to insist on special training for some 
 future occupation before the organism has satis- 
 factorily completed its natural development. The 
 adjustment of man to his environment on the 
 mental side, for instance, depends on his being 
 fitted to live in the moral and intellectual sur- 
 roundings of modern civilization. These surround- 
 ings are formed by our religion, our art, our 
 science, and our literature. To each of these the 
 child must be introduced by those on whom it 
 depends. If, therefore, it is decided that, before 
 its adjustment to this environment is as complete 
 as nature demands, the child shall be introduced 
 by those on whom it depends to one section at 
 the expense of the others, it will never become a 
 fully developed man, self-dependent and self-active. 
 Now, though in this argument principles have 
 been touched on which relate to more or less 
 modern discoveries of science, yet it illustrates 
 truths which on the whole the German educators 
 
 88 
 
and are obeyed in Germany — 
 
 have fully recognized in building up their system 
 of education. We do not find in Prussia the 
 attempt which we find in England and France ; 
 the State does not increase the quantity of the 
 education of a child who has left the elementary 
 school by forcing him through a course of special 
 training before his general natural development is 
 completed. On the contrary, it is held in Prussia 
 that this natural development must be continued 
 along general lines. If, for economic reasons, it 
 cannot be continued as far as nature would demand, 
 at any rate it is carried on as far as is possible 
 under the circumstances. The State refuses to be a 
 party to any spending of the resources of the nation 
 on an education which breaks the laws of nature. 
 
 It is on this account that we find the higher 
 primary school gradually being transformed into 
 or replaced by the Realschule — a secondary 
 school for those boys whose parents can only 
 afford to maintain them in a position of com- 
 plete dependence up to the age of sixteen or 
 seventeen. This school provides a similar educa- 
 tion to that offered by the lower classes of the 
 higher modern secondary school (Oberrealschule) 
 for boys leaving at the age of eighteen or nine- 
 teen. It is only necessary to study the time- 
 tables of the Realschulen to see how carefully 
 the principle of general development is observed 
 for those boys who will not enter the learned 
 
 8 9 
 
In Secondary Education. 
 
 professions. And at the same time a glance at the 
 time-tables of the classical schools will show that 
 Prussia insists that even members of the learned 
 professions shall have passed through a natural 
 course of development ; for it is evident that they 
 also must be adjusted to the surroundings of 
 modern civilization in which they will be obliged 
 to live. 
 
 It may seem strange, to those who are familiar 
 with the part that Germany has played in classical 
 research, that her classical secondary schools should 
 pay greater attention to modern studies than those 
 of England. 
 
 In a little book which has recently appeared in 
 France,* the following testimony is borne to the 
 German system of secondary education : — 
 
 "Among the circumstances which favour German 
 secondary education, should be noted the length ot 
 time over which the studies are spread (nine years, 
 starting from the sixth class) ; the almost entire 
 absence of boarding schools, which thus frees the 
 State from a mission for which it is scarcely fitted ; 
 the decentralization, carried as far as possible, of 
 administrative power, which is delegated in a large 
 measure to the provincial councils ; the practice, 
 constantly followed by the State, of decreeing only 
 such changes of organization as are based on the 
 success of tried experiments ; the principle, invari- 
 ably put into practice, of giving the head-master 
 
 * A Pinloche: " L'Enseignement secondaire en Allemagne," 
 1900. 
 
 90 
 
French Criticism of German Education. 
 
 charge of the most important part of the teaching- ; 
 the important part that the council of masters plays 
 in effectively directing the studies ; the confiding 
 of moral and religious instruction to the same 
 educators as literary and scientific instruction ; the 
 moral as well as educational rSle assigned to 
 the principal master of each class ; the manner of 
 recruiting the staff, each member of which, after 
 passing a qualifying examination, has to undergo 
 a twofold course of training which guarantees the 
 State that he possesses, besides the special know- 
 ledge requisite, certain indispensable pedagogic and 
 professional qualifications ; lastly, from another 
 point of view, the solicitude of the State for the 
 material interests of its officers (who are paid their 
 salaries quarterly and in advance without any 
 deduction being made for their pensions) no less 
 than for their widows and orphans, who, in addition 
 to the grace term,* are assured a sufficient pension, 
 however short a time the teachers may have 
 served." 
 
 Though it is only possible here to give a very 
 brief and incomplete account of the Prussian 
 system of secondary schools, there is one other 
 important reform which must be noticed. So 
 greatly do the Germans appreciate the value of 
 general education, that they have asked them- 
 selves if it is altogether wise that a boy should 
 have to choose at the age of nine — when he enters 
 the secondary school — between a classical and 
 
 * They are always given a full term's salary in the case in which 
 the teacher dies during the course of the term. If the teacher 
 leaves neither widow nor orphans, this term's salary may be given 
 to those who have incurred any expense lrom his illness or funeral. 
 
 91 
 
The Frankfort System, 
 
 modern education. As a result, they have intro- 
 duced a reform, known as the Frankfort system, 
 which has met with a good deal of favour. It has, 
 indeed, spread to such an extent that it looks as 
 if it might ultimately supplant the older system. 
 It consists in having the same course of studies 
 during the first three years in each of the three 
 types of schools. Accordingly, a boy may attend 
 one school up to the age of twelve, and then, if 
 advisable, change to another, where the course of 
 studies is better suited to his special tastes or 
 ability. 
 
 It is evident that, if classical and modern schools 
 are to have a common basis of this kind, it is 
 necessary for the classical schools to abandon the 
 teaching of classical subjects — that is to say, 
 Latin — in the lowest classes. And, doubtless, 
 such a proposal must have appeared at first as 
 little less than revolutionary to a number of 
 German teachers. But their prejudices were not 
 as difficult to overcome as would have been the 
 case in a country where the science of education 
 was not studied, or, at any rate, not held in great 
 repute. For, in this question of the postponement 
 of Latin, educational theory immediately came to 
 the assistance of the demands of expediency. 
 
 The great majority of those who have studied 
 the science on which education depends for its 
 proper performance, and particularly the followers 
 
 92 
 
The Frankfort System. 
 
 of Pestalozzi, are persuaded that a child should 
 be introduced to the unknown through the known, 
 that it should proceed from the near to the more 
 remote. To persons who think thus, the old idea, 
 that education is nothing but a course of discipline, 
 which is best carried out by collecting and pre- 
 senting to the child's mind all the difficulties to 
 be found in the realm of knowledge, is little else 
 than heresy. Not that they make the mistake 
 of going to the other extreme, and believe that 
 there should be no discipline in education, or 
 that those on whom the child depends should 
 remove all difficulties from its path ; every teacher 
 knows that difficulties, besides offering discipline, 
 possess a peculiar attraction for the pupil — Res 
 severa verunt gaudium. But they do believe 
 that education must conform to the natural laws 
 of development, and that this development is a 
 gradual strengthening of powers and functions of 
 the mind, according to a systematic order of pro- 
 gress. Consequently they maintain that it is as 
 fatal to present to the child innumerable difficulties, 
 which it is utterly beyond the natural strength of 
 its mind to overcome, as it is to tax the endurance 
 of its physical powers beyond the limits which 
 nature has imposed on them. 
 
 The law by which such persons are guided may, 
 in its broadest and most general terms, be stated 
 thus : what is easiest must come first, and what is 
 
 93 
 
The Frankfort System. 
 
 most difficult must come last. What it is easiest 
 for children to understand is that which is nearest 
 to them in their actual surroundings ; what it is 
 most difficult for their intelligence to grasp is that 
 which is furthest from them in the realms of 
 abstract thought. To find the sequence of diffi- 
 culties, which leads from one extreme to the other, 
 is no light task ; but it is the duty of educators to 
 find it ; and they will be helped in so doing by 
 a knowledge of the natural order of development 
 of the human faculties, and by a clear perception 
 of the ultimate goal to be attained. But though 
 Nature decides the development of the faculties, 
 she does not alone determine this goal, as 
 Rousseau thought, or rather wished to think ; it 
 is determined much more by what is of man or 
 human in the environment. 
 
 Not only is language one of the most important 
 links between the individual and what is human in 
 the environment, but it is also the indispensable 
 link between him and the thoughts of all ages, 
 which have gone to build up and mould this 
 environment. A knowledge of language, therefore, 
 is the first essential element in the individual's 
 stock of requirements. But the process by which 
 he becomes possessed of them must conform to 
 the law of the order of mental development ; he 
 must proceed from the nearer to the more remote. 
 And although, ideally speaking, his adjustment to 
 
 94 
 
The Frankfort System. 
 
 his environment will not be complete until he is 
 capable of understanding all the languages in 
 which the greatest thoughts have been expressed, 
 he must first grapple with that which is nearest 
 to him, his own mother tongue. Having mastered 
 this — which, even if he learns no other, will afford 
 him a means of communication with foreign litera- 
 ture at second-hand — he will in the natural order 
 of things proceed to the study of that language 
 which comes next in the sequence of difficulties. 
 If this sequence is to lead to Latin and Greek, the 
 next step, for both the English and the German 
 child, will be to commence the study of French. 
 Thus did the science of education come to the aid 
 of those Germans who were anxious that the three 
 lowest forms of their three different types of schools 
 should supply a common basis of instruction. 
 
 It was in Frankfort that the reform was first 
 carried into effect in its entirety. The practical 
 results exceeded the expectations which had been 
 derived from theoretical reasoning. The master 
 of the famous Frankfort Gymnasium, who is him- 
 self a distinguished classical scholar, has found 
 that boys who, after three years' "intensive" study 
 of French, commence the study of Latin at the 
 age of twelve, will in a few years overtake and 
 pass boys who have been learning Latin on the old 
 traditional plan. And, at the same time, the former 
 have acquired a conversational knowledge of 
 
 95 
 
The Frankfort System. 
 
 French, and a mastery of its grammatical diffi- 
 culties, which can only be attained from daily 
 contact with the language. 
 
 It will be seen from the time-tables given below 
 that in the Gymnasium Greek, and in the Real- 
 gymnasium English, is not begun until two years 
 after the commencement of Latin. It will also 
 be noticed that a large number of hours are 
 devoted to the study of these languages in the 
 early stages ; so that at the commencement the pupil 
 is brought into daily contact with the language. 
 
 A. — Gymnasium.* 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 IIIb. 
 
 IIlA. 
 
 IIb. 
 
 IlA. 
 
 Ib. 
 
 Ia. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Compared 
 
 with 
 formerly. 
 
 Religion . . . 
 
 German anc 
 Historical 
 Narration . . 
 
 History anc 
 Geography . 
 
 Arithmeiic 
 and Mathe 
 
 Natural His 
 
 Physics 
 
 Writing 
 
 Drawing .... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 ■ 
 
 3 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 Geog. 
 
 5 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 Geog. 
 
 5 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 IO 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 IO 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 S 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 8 
 2 
 
 2 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 8 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 8 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 n 
 
 2 
 3i 
 
 19 
 
 31 
 
 52 
 32 
 30 
 
 24 
 
 37 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 8 
 
 ± O 
 + IO 
 -25 
 
 - 8 
 + 9 
 
 r ~ 4 
 
 < See Ger- 
 ^ man. 
 
 + 3 
 
 ± 
 
 ± 
 ± 
 
 + 2 
 
 Total 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 26 
 
 28 
 
 28 
 
 30 
 
 3i .31 
 
 255 
 
 -13 
 
 * Such subjects as Drilling, Gymnastics, and Singing do not appear 
 in these tables, though they form part of the instruction provided. 
 
 96 
 
The Frankfort System. 
 
 B. — Real Gymnasium. 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 III 2 . 
 
 nil. 
 
 II 2 . 
 
 li. 
 
 l 2 . 
 
 ii. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Compared 
 
 with 
 formerly. 
 
 Religion .... 
 
 German and j 
 Historical > 
 Narration . . ) 
 
 English 
 
 History and! 
 
 Geography . j 
 Arithmetic I 
 
 and Mathe-J 
 
 Natural His-1 
 
 Chemistry . . . 
 Drawing .... 
 
 3 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 Geog 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 Geog. 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 4 
 
 6 
 5 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 3 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 3 
 4 
 
 3 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 31 
 
 40 
 
 38 
 18 
 
 27 
 42 
 IO 
 
 9 
 6 
 
 4 
 16 
 
 ± O 
 
 + 4 
 
 — 14 
 
 + 4 
 
 — 2 
 
 f ~ 3 
 
 <See Ger- 
 * man. 
 
 — 2 
 
 — 2 
 
 _ 1 
 J 
 
 ± O 
 ± O 
 
 — 2 
 
 Total 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 26 
 
 28 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 260 
 
 — 20 
 
 In 1896, four members * of the British Technical 
 Instruction Commission, which is alluded to more 
 than once in these pages, paid a visit to Germany, 
 on their own initiative, with a view to ascertaining 
 the recent progress of technical education in that 
 country. In their letter to the Duke of Devon- 
 shire, relating the result of their inquiry, they bear 
 the following striking testimony to the industrial 
 
 * Sir Philip Magnus, Mr. Gilbert R. Redgrave, Mr. (now Sir) 
 Swire Smith, and the late Mr. William Woodall, M.P. 
 
 97 
 
Criticism of German Secondary Schools. 
 
 and commercial benefits derived by Germany from 
 her system of secondary education. They say : — 
 
 " Our recent visit to Germany has also im- 
 pressed us with a sense of the advantages which 
 the nation derives from having an organized 
 system of secondary education. To this matter 
 reference was made in the Report of 1884, and we 
 desire to emphasize it. The education of a 
 secondary school is in every way more accessible 
 in Germany than here. The grades and differ- 
 ences of schools are better defined and more 
 clearly understood ; the instruction is more dis- 
 ciplinary, and exercises a deep influence in the 
 formation of habits and in the training of character ; 
 the teaching of modern languages is insisted upon 
 to a far greater extent than in any of our own 
 schools, with results of the greatest possible benefit 
 to the German clerk and commercial agent ; the 
 absence of frequent and conflicting external ex- 
 amination gives more time for caretul study ; the 
 remission of two years' military service to those 
 who reach a certain standard in a secondary school 
 is a powerful encouragement to steady application ; 
 and the fees are much lower than in schools of 
 corresponding grade in this country. These are 
 advantages which count for much in enabling the 
 German youth to obtain a good secondary educa- 
 tion, and in fitting him for the subsequent period 
 of apprenticeship in the counting-house, the mer- 
 chant's office, or the factory. The German boy 
 acquires at school a stock of knowledge which is 
 at once useful to him, and he also acquires habits 
 of accuracy, and learns the significance of attention 
 to detail and the importance of discipline and 
 obedience. Our consular reports are full of 
 references to the differences between the methods 
 
 98 
 
Selection of the Fittest — 
 
 of training and aptitudes for commerce in Ger- 
 many and in England, which in many ways are 
 traceable to the fundamental differences in the 
 secondary education of the two countries." 
 
 We shall see later on that the national aim has 
 not remained supreme and unchallenged in the 
 French educational ideas of the last century. 
 Social considerations have throughout this period 
 played a large part in the organization of her 
 national system. Having failed, for reasons which 
 it will be attempted hereafter to explain, to build 
 up a democracy of as advanced a type as that 
 existing in the United States of America, she has 
 been compelled to use education as a means for 
 providing checks on inordinate social ambition. 
 Germany has not in the past been turned aside by 
 any such necessity from a single-minded pursuit 
 of national prosperity. It is true that, to a great 
 extent for wise economic reasons, she has, as far 
 as possible, refused to admit to her secondary 
 schools those who are not fitted by nature to 
 profit from her secondary education. In the 
 Prussian Code of 1794, for instance, we find the 
 following passage : " Youths who do not possess 
 sufficient aptitude for secondary studies must as 
 soon as possible be prevented from pursuing them, 
 and their parents should be warned to direct them 
 betimes towards some other profitable career." 
 
 In the same document it is, however, ordained 
 
 I Loft. 99 
 
In German Secondary Schools. 
 
 that every means should be adopted for encourag- 
 ing and assisting those who show special ability 
 to continue their studies. In 1 89 1, we find the 
 same twofold advice repeated. It is difficult to 
 imagine that there can, on any grounds, be an 
 objection to such a system of severe selection 
 of the fittest. Educationally it is as harmful to 
 compel an individual to pursue his general studies 
 beyond the limits prescribed by nature, as it is 
 to force him to specialize while nature is still 
 pursuing her process of general development. 
 And unless all education is made free, as it is 
 to a very great extent in the United States of 
 America, and the fullest liberty is allowed to 
 the individual to choose to what extent he will 
 pursue his studies, it is essential that the State 
 itself should undertake the work of selection. 
 No intermediate course is theoretically sound, or 
 could in practice prove economically successful. 
 
 But we do not find in Germany a strong desire, 
 based on social prejudices, to prevent children 
 of the lower classes from enjoying a liberal 
 education. Compared with other countries, it 
 may be said that her one object is to promote 
 national prosperity ; and to the achievement of 
 this object her educational system is directed. 
 There is indeed no European country which can 
 be so profitably studied by those who desire to 
 learn how far, and by what means, education can 
 
 100 
 
German Technical Education. 
 
 best be made to subserve national ends. Her 
 technical education, for example, is the best she 
 can devise for the promotion of her industrial 
 interests. In organizing this branch of education 
 she has, again, not allowed herself to be influenced 
 by any considerations of class interests — considera- 
 tions which possess an element of pettiness galling 
 in the extreme to the sincere educator. 
 
 Germany was the first country to bring a 
 scientific and methodical spirit to bear on the. 
 organization of technical education ; and she is 
 to-day far ahead of any other country in Europe 
 in the practical progress which she can show in 
 her industrial development as a direct result of 
 that system. It is in the higher branches of 
 technical education that Germany excels other 
 European countries. " We are led to believe/ 1 
 said the Technical Instruction Commissioners, in 
 the letter just referred to, "that much more is 
 being done for the training of those destined for 
 the higher ranks of industry in many parts of 
 Germany than in England, and this, too, notwith- 
 standing the large sums entrusted to county 
 councils and borough authorities under the pro- 
 visions of the Local Taxation (Customs and 
 Excise) Act of 1890." And further on, showing 
 the course which Germany has pursued, they 
 say : — 
 
 " It is worthy of remark that the same object 
 
 101 
 
Rapid and Astounding Progress. 
 
 which called into existence some forty or fifty 
 years ago the technical high schools has recently 
 led to their extension and development in a new 
 direction. As far back as that period Germany 
 began to prepare herself for becoming a manu- 
 facturing people. It was her belief in the future 
 applications of chemistry to industrial purposes 
 that led to the erection and equipment at a great 
 cost of chemical laboratories, and to the encourage- 
 ment held out to students to pursue their studies 
 in those laboratories for a period of five, six, or 
 even seven years. The success that has attended 
 the efforts of the Germans to appropriate many 
 important branches of chemical manufacturing 
 industry is well known, and the dependence of 
 those industries on the researches of chemical 
 experts employed in the works is generally 
 recognized. At the Badische Anilin- und Soda 
 Fabrik alone a hundred scientifically trained 
 chemists and thirty engineers are now employed. 
 
 " Her brilliant achievements in the field of 
 chemical industries have encouraged her to es- 
 tablish well-equipped electrical laboratories, and 
 to develop the practical teaching of physics with 
 the view of assisting the electrical trades, which 
 are of comparatively recent growth. Twelve years 
 ago the Commissioners had to report that the 
 facilities for practical laboratory instruction in 
 electrical technology scarcely existed, or were of 
 the most meagre kind. At that time nowhere 
 in Germany was to be found so well-equipped 
 a laboratory for electrical engineers as at the 
 Finsbury Technical College. Now there are no 
 laboratories in England which can compare in 
 the detail and completeness of their equipment 
 with those we visited at Darmstadt and Stuttgart ; 
 and no facilities for original and independent 
 
 102 
 
The Bases of Technical Education. 
 
 research in physical subjects to be compared 
 with those afforded at the Imperial Physical 
 Institute at Charlottenburg." 
 
 Germany has devoted her greatest energies 
 during recent years to the development of this 
 technical education of university grade. Those 
 Englishmen who were inclined to wonder that the 
 State in Germany has not spent all the money at 
 its disposal on the creation of technical schools of 
 a lower grade — as it may be said, with very slight 
 exaggeration, central and local authorities in 
 England have done — should, in the first place, 
 remember that Germany's elementary education is 
 probably as superior to our own in quality as it 
 is in extent, and that her secondary education is 
 infinitely better organized and adapted to the 
 requirements of modern life than our own. In 
 the second place, they may ask themselves whether 
 she is not right in considering that a technical 
 education, which is based on a sound general 
 secondary education, is at least as essential to the 
 promotion of industry as that which is based on 
 elementary education, and designed in obedience 
 to a fatal affection for practical " short-cuts." 
 We may, therefore, before considering what Ger- 
 many has done for the technical education of 
 those who do not pass through the secondary 
 school, glance at her great technical schools. 
 
 The first of these, the Collegium Carolinum, 
 
 103 
 
Technical High Schools 
 
 now the Technical High School of Brunswick, was 
 founded in 1745, and is the oldest technical insti- 
 tution in Germany. In successive chronological 
 order follow : Freiberg (1765), Clausthal (1775), 
 Karlsruhe (1825), Darmstadt (1826), Munich 
 (1827), Dresden (1828), Stuttgart (1829), Hannover 
 (183 1), Aachen (1865) ; Charlottenburg was created 
 by the union of two existing establishments in 
 1882. It is thus seen that Germany had arrived 
 at an appreciation of the value of higher technical 
 education before we had conceived of its existence. 
 The Central Technical College of the City and 
 Guilds of London Institute, the only institution in 
 England which can in any way pretend to be on 
 the same plane as the German High Schools, was 
 not opened until 1884. 
 
 It has been said that these institutions are of 
 university grade. Indeed, many of them may be 
 regarded as universities in the fullest sense of the 
 term. They adopt, in many cases, university or- 
 ganization, and that view of the benefits of general 
 culture which in many countries is peculiar to the 
 universities among higher educational institutions. 
 On an earlier page the saying of the director of 
 one of these schools as to the value of general 
 culture and of a basis of "humanistic," as opposed 
 to " real " studies, has been quoted with reference 
 to the danger of isolating the technical student 
 from the ideal interests of society. How far these 
 
 104 
 
Technical High Schools. 
 
 institutions have succeeded in rising to the level 
 of the universities may be judged from one fact : 
 in several of the States they share with the latter 
 institutions the privilege of preparing for their 
 professions teachers of mathematics and natural 
 science in secondary schools. In connection with 
 the Technical High School in Stuttgart, the four 
 Commissioners referred to above say — 
 
 " It is noteworthy that the instruction given in 
 the Chemical Institute is exactly of the same kind 
 as that given in the universities, and, although a 
 special feature of the teaching and of the equip- 
 ment is the prominence given to electrolysis and 
 to electro-chemistry generally, no attempt is made 
 in these new laboratories to teach chemistry in its 
 application to special industries, that part of the 
 instruction being provided for in the main Poly- 
 technic building." 
 
 Professor Paulsen, of the University of Berlin, 
 in his brilliant history of the education which 
 prepares in Germany for the learned professions, 
 remarks, in reference to the higher scientific train- 
 ing afforded by the Technical High Schools : — 
 "There will again come a time when in this 
 connection it will be asked : of what is a man 
 capable ? rather than, at what school did he study ? 
 The spirit of 'guild exclusiveness ' (Ziinftlerei), by 
 which public instruction has been led astray, will 
 not last for ever." 
 
 As the Technical High Schools have drawn 
 
 105 
 
Technical High Schools. 
 
 nearer to the university standard, they have 
 naturally demanded higher general attainments 
 from the candidates presenting themselves for ad- 
 mission to their courses of instruction. And now, 
 with practically no exceptions, such candidates 
 are obliged to produce the Certificate of Maturity 
 of a Gymnasium, Realgymnasium, or Oberreal- 
 schule (see p. 83). At the outset, however, almost 
 all of these schools seem to have had somewhat 
 the same aim as that which occupies the attention 
 of the authorities founding technical schools in 
 England to-day. Indeed, had not Germany per- 
 ceived, as we do not yet seem to have perceived, 
 the necessity for organizing and developing her 
 secondary education, her Technical High Schools 
 would never have been capable of the high 
 achievements now demanded of them. The growth 
 of these institutions may be shown by a brief 
 account of the building up of the superb Royal 
 Technical High School of Charlottenburg. 
 
 This institution has been formed from the union 
 of the Berlin Architectural Academy and the 
 Industrial Academy. The School of Architecture 
 was founded in 1799. The conditions of admission 
 at the outset were : that the candidates should 
 not be less than fourteen years old, and should 
 have an- elementary knowledge of Latin and 
 French, and some acquaintance with mathematics. 
 The results of the teaching, however, were at first 
 
 106 
 
Charlottenburg. 
 
 disappointing, owing to the want of general culture 
 displayed by the students; and in 1801 it was 
 decreed that candidates for admission must have 
 passed through the greater part of the course of 
 instruction provided by the gymnasium. Gradually 
 the curriculum was extended and raised in 
 standard, and the conditions of admission were 
 made more severe. In 1876, all candidates who 
 purposed presenting themselves, at the close of 
 their course of studies, for the examination ad- 
 mitting to employment in the State service were 
 obliged, on entering the school, to hold the Cer- 
 tificate of Maturity of a Gymnasium or a Real- 
 schule of the first grade (see p. 83). Certificates 
 from schools of a lower grade were accepted from 
 those who did not intend entering the service of 
 the State. At this date the school was under the 
 direction of the Minister of Commerce. 
 
 The Industrial Academy, on the other hand, 
 originated in a technical school founded in 1821, 
 for the purpose " of providing young manufacturers 
 and mechanics, not only with general culture and 
 an insight into the things which it is necessary 
 for every artisan to know, but also with as much 
 preliminary knowledge as is requisite for the 
 ordinary carrying on of a technical trade." The 
 conditions of admission were much the same 
 as those for the Architectural School, but the 
 candidates had to be not less than twelve and not 
 
 107 
 
Charlottenburg. 
 
 more than sixteen years of age. The school 
 opened with thirteen pupils and four teachers. 
 In 1850 the limits of the age of admission were 
 raised to seventeen and twenty-seven, and the 
 certificate of a secondary school was demanded 
 for admission. In 1866, by a royal decree the 
 title was changed to that of Industrial Academy ; 
 and in 1871, owing to the high standard to which 
 it had then attained, it was recognized, by another 
 royal decree, as a technical High School. At 
 this date it also was under the control of the 
 Minister of Commerce. 
 
 In 1876 these two institutions resembled one 
 another so closely, in their organization and their 
 aims, that their union was considered advisable by 
 the Government. In the technological branches the 
 Architectural School taught only Architecture and 
 Engineering in its application to structures, and 
 the Industrial Academy only Mechanical Engineer- 
 ing, Chemistry, and Metallurgy ; but in both 
 schools the same teachers were in charge of similar 
 courses of Mathematics and other subjects of general 
 instruction indispensable as a basis for the techno- 
 logical branches. If only on account of this common 
 element, much was to be gained educationally and 
 economically by uniting the two institutions in 
 one building and under one direction. As the 
 former then numbered 1085 students, and the 
 latter 659, it was no small undertaking to provide 
 
 108 
 
Charlottenburg. 
 
 a building of adequate size, and at the same time 
 containing all the necessary equipment for such 
 a wide course of technical studies as would be 
 demanded. As a preliminary step, the two 
 institutions were formally united in 1879, under 
 the title of Technical High School, and the new 
 building was commenced about the same time. 
 
 The British Royal Commissions on Technical 
 Instruction stated, in its Report of 1884, that the 
 Commissioners visited the new buildings in progress 
 at Charlottenburg. The cost, they said, "is esti- 
 mated at ^"450,000, and when it is remembered that 
 the number of students has been for some years 
 past on the decrease, having fallen from 1400 to 800, 
 the object of this vast outlay is difficult to under- 
 stand." The Prussians were not, however, making 
 a mistake, as the Commissioners feared. The 
 new school was opened in 1884 with 887 students ; 
 during the next year the numbers rose to 1030, 
 and have gone on increasing ever since, until, in 
 1899, they reached the total of 3428. Being a 
 technical High School, it is under the Minister of 
 Public Instruction, and no longer controlled by 
 the Minister of Commerce. 
 
 The growth of the Charlottenburg School has 
 been so rapid that it is difficult for English educa- 
 tional literature to keep pace with it. For instance, 
 the Manchester Technical School — to which, by 
 the way, English educationists are under a heavy 
 
 109 
 
Charlottenburg. 
 
 debt for enlightenment on the doings of foreign 
 countries and English needs — sent a deputation to 
 the Continent in 1891, which visited this school. 
 In its report, this deputation observed : — 
 
 "The school is said to be arranged for the accom- 
 modation of 2000 students. There are now 1 600, 
 and this number appears to be in excess of the 
 resources of the staff, as double courses of lectures 
 are being given. The returns for the previous 
 winter session, 1889-90, give 1457 as the total 
 number of regular and occasional students, the 
 former amounting to 1043.* Oi the total, 176 are 
 foreigners, 10 of whom are Englishmen. The 
 regular students are distributed as lollows : — 
 
 Architecture 208 
 
 Engineering applied to Structures 210 
 
 Mechanical Engineering .... 358 
 
 Shipbuilding 142 
 
 Chemistry and Metallurgy 145 
 
 The significance of these figures may be best 
 understood by comparing them with the numbers 
 in the respective departments of any English 
 scientific institution of high rank." 
 
 The report then proceeds to give a description 
 of the building, which it describes as " of the most 
 sumptuous character . . . and standing in a wood- 
 land park." "It is," the report says, "750 feet 
 
 * 1063, according to the figures in the following table ; the differ- 
 ence might be satisfactorily explained in several ways. 
 
 IIO 
 
Charlottenburg. 
 
 long and 294 feet deep, and has three floors above 
 the basement." * 
 
 Some of the additions and improvements which 
 
 * The following is an extract from the description of the school 
 given in the report of this deputation : — 
 
 " There is a Mechanical Workshop connected with the school. 
 . . . Here models, apparatus, etc., are made for use in the Lecture 
 Rooms, and work is done in maintenance of the collections. . . . 
 The Library contains 52,000 volumes, and copies of 230 current 
 technological journals. The issues to students are at the rate of 
 1000 volumes per day. . . . The rooms are mostly 26 feet wide, and 
 have behind them a corridor 1 1 feet 6 inches in width. A range of 
 rooms runs along each front and the two ends. Other rooms run 
 from front to back, across the intervening space of 75 feet, as well 
 as two main staircases, thus dividing it into five courts. Four of 
 these are open, but the centre one — 75 feet by 75 feet, with an 
 arcade round it — is roofed in, and forms a handsome central hall 
 for the display of large objects, busts, and statues. The chief 
 entrance is wide and roomy. Its vaulted ceiling is carried by eight 
 piers, and right and left of the entrance are model rooms. The 
 administrative department is at the rear, on the first floor. There 
 is also, on the first floor over the entrance, a fine ' Aula ' or Hall, 
 for State occasions, the Award of Prizes, etc., which is 88 feet by 
 56 feet. 
 
 " A magnificent Library, 150 feet by 26 feet, and a Reading-room, 
 beautifully fitted up, 87 feet by 26 feet, are on the second floor. There 
 is, in the Library, a gallery formed of iron grids laid on girders, to 
 give access to the upper ranges of books. The whole of the remain- 
 ing rooms are disposed as class-rooms, lecture-rooms, professors' 
 rooms, etc. 
 
 " The Chemical Laboratories are carried on in a plain building 
 of stone, separate from but near to the Technical High School, and 
 under its general direction. 
 
 "The building is 219 ft. by 199 ft., three storeys high, with a 
 front and rear range of rooms, and three cross wings enclosing two 
 courts. 
 
 " There are five Inorganic Laboratories for 83 students ; three 
 Organic for 63 students ; two Technical Laboratories ; besides 
 several private Laboratories for the teachers." 
 
 Ill 
 
Charlottenburg. 
 
 have been made since their visit may now be 
 mentioned. In 1891 the need for electrical in- 
 struction had become so great that courses were 
 established on " Telegraphy, with special relation 
 to the direction of railways ; " courses on other 
 branches of electrical technology were started 
 in 1892 and 1897. In the latter year special 
 classes were started on Shipbuilding. In 1897 
 and 1898 the sum of ^"7500 was spent on the 
 additional equipment of the Electro-Technical 
 School necessitated by these new classes. At the 
 same time a new Lecture Hall to seat 300, and 
 a new Laboratory to accommodate 350, were built. 
 In 1895 an Electro-Chemical Laboratory was 
 built, at an expense of about ;£8ooo. In 1896 a 
 Laboratory devoted to the purposes of Mechanical 
 Engineering was erected at a cost of ^"8045. I n 
 1898 the task was commenced of lighting the 
 building by electricity, at an estimated cost of 
 ;£i 1,350. So great had become the number of 
 students attending the Mechanical Engineering 
 section, that it became necessary in 1898 to erect 
 a provisional Lecture Hall, to seat 400 persons ; 
 and in 1899 it was proposed to enlarge the whole 
 building, at a cost of over ^50,000. The depart- 
 ment of Naval Construction has received special 
 attention, and now numbers 240 students ; ^"1500 
 was spent on its improvement in 1899. ^ n l %97 
 a large lecture room for Experimental Physics was 
 
 112 
 
 
Charlottenburg. 
 
 built, at a cost of ^"3200. In 1897 ;£noo was 
 expended on the improvement of the Machine 
 Testing Section. The sums here mentioned as 
 having been actually spent amount to over 
 ^"40,000, which does not represent the total ex- 
 penditure on the improvement of the Charlotten- 
 burg School since the deputation visited it in 
 1891. 
 
 In the winter session of 1897-98 there were 
 attached to the school 325 professors, lecturers, 
 and assistants, and 55 private tutors, thus showing 
 an increase of 239 in the first division and 25 in 
 the second since the visit of the Manchester 
 deputation. 
 
 The balance-sheet of the school shows, in 1900, 
 an income of £2 1,290, and an expenditure of 
 £55,300. The difference is paid by the State. A 
 student's fees amount roughly to £15 a year. 
 
 If there is any connection between technical 
 education and industrial prosperity, the progress 
 which has been made by the Charlottenburg 
 Technical High School during the last ten years — 
 a progress with which other similar institutions in 
 Germany have kept pace — must, indeed, strike dis- 
 may into those who fear for the industry of England. 
 During this period we can point to no similar pro- 
 gress in any one institution. We have been content 
 to spend our resources on that kind of technical 
 education which does not demand preliminary 
 
 113 
 
Conditions of Admission. 
 
 training in the secondary school. But the one 
 thing that is necessary to obtain admission to the 
 German Technical High School is the certificate 
 of maturity of a Gymnasium, Realgymnasium or 
 Oberrealschule, that is to say, evidence of having 
 passed through a nine years' course of secondary 
 education, and of having, in the opinion of the 
 appointed authorities, duly profited therefrom. It 
 is only on such a basis as this that it is possible to 
 acquire that higher scientific training which Ger- 
 many believes to be essential for the development 
 of her manufacturing industries. It is needless to 
 say that we cannot succeed in providing such 
 training until we have provided the basis. In 
 this matter, at any rate, whatever explanation may 
 be offered for the differences between the English 
 and German branches of education, we are nearly 
 fifty years behind Germany ; or, in other words, if 
 we follow at the present rate that line of develop- 
 ment which we have adopted, in about fifty years 
 from hence we shall have higher technical schools, 
 as advanced as are to-day those which Germany 
 possesses. To what standard the German schools 
 will have then attained no one dare venture to 
 prophesy. But, of course, this calculation alto- 
 gether ignores the fact that it may be impossible 
 for us to maintain our industry — one of the 
 greatest sources of our wealth — against foreign 
 competition, if we lag behind in our education for 
 
 114 
 
Statistics of Technical High Schools. 
 
 that length of time. It would therefore appear 
 that there is very urgent need of our adopting the 
 plan which was proposed by Matthew Arnold 
 many years ago, and of our providing the basis 
 for higher technical education by organizing our 
 secondary education. 
 
 The following table gives some details as to the 
 other Technical High Schools of Germany : — 
 
 Town and County. 
 
 Date of 
 Founda- 
 tion. 
 
 Number of 
 Students in 
 
 1896. 
 
 Expendi- 
 tures. 
 
 
 1865 
 1799 
 183I 
 1827 
 1828 
 1829 
 1825 
 1826 
 1745 
 
 363 
 2,693 
 I,IOI 
 
 1,757 
 
 905 
 910 
 996 
 1,178 
 399 
 
 £l2,509 
 
 61,559 
 21,676 
 24,410 
 23,046 
 
 17,574 
 21,420 
 21,991 
 10,418 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt. 
 Brunswick, Brunswick 
 
 That the State has been able to bring, through 
 the Technical High Schools, the highest scientific 
 knowledge and training to bear, with such mar- 
 vellous and startling results, upon the promotion 
 of national industry, is due mainly to its careful 
 selection of the fittest, or rather rejection of the 
 unfit, in the secondary and other stages. It is 
 hardly necessary to point out that the selection of 
 the fittest in the different stages of education would 
 be impossible, if the whole system were not under 
 9 115 
 
Technical Education and Instruction. 
 
 the control of an enlightened Ministry of Education 
 — enlightened in the sense that it is not composed 
 of men possessing clerical ability alone, nor even 
 of those who owe their appointment merely to a 
 brilliant academic career, but of men who have 
 distinguished themselves in the teaching profession 
 
 itself. 
 
 Owing to this process of selection, there is 
 evidently a large number of individuals who leave 
 the State system at the elementary stage ; that is 
 to say, at the age of fourteen, when they have 
 reached the limit of compulsory education. And 
 it must not be imagined that, because Germany has 
 perceived the value of the highest kind of technical 
 education — with a foresight of which neither 
 England nor France seem to be possessed — she 
 has on that account neglected to provide instruction 
 for those who are to be the privates and non- 
 commissioned officers in her industrial army. It 
 is true that, with her deep appreciation of the 
 scientific principles underlying education, she has 
 drawn a sharp distinction between education, in 
 the fullest meaning of the term, and instruction. 
 
 Education, as we have seen, is concerned with 
 the period of adjustment or dependence. As the 
 lower animals develop more rapidly than man, and 
 consequently reach the stage of complete adjust- 
 ment at an earlier age, so among men, those who 
 possess a lower order of intelligence develop more 
 
 116 
 
Technical Instruction. 
 
 rapidly mentally, within their own narrower circle, 
 than those who belong to a higher order. Conse- 
 quently the stage of complete adjustment to, and 
 therefore of self-dependence in, their more restricted 
 environment is attained by such people at an 
 earlier age. For them, accordingly, education * is 
 no longer necessary, or indeed possible. They 
 may, however, naturally benefit from further 
 courses of instruction. 
 
 Making allowance for the failings common to 
 all human government, Germany has adapted her 
 educational system to the above conditions, cer- 
 tainly more wisely and consistently than any other 
 nation. Honestly endeavouring in the interests 
 of the nation to make the most, irrespective of 
 class distinctions, of the intellectual forces of her 
 people, she has spared no expense to provide an 
 education unequalled in any country in its adapta- 
 tion to the intellectual development of her children. 
 And she has done this although, or perhaps it 
 would be more true to say because, she is poor 
 compared with her foreign rivals. Outside her 
 State system of education, and apart from it, she 
 has provided — generally through the Ministry of 
 Commerce and Industry and local initiative, rather 
 
 * It is hardly necessary to say that throughout the whole of this 
 work the term education is used, except when otherwise stated, in 
 its narrower sense, as referring to that part of education which can 
 be provided by the school. 
 
 11/ 
 
Continuation Schools. 
 
 than through the Ministry of Education and the 
 Central Government — courses of supplementary- 
 instruction for those who have attained to self- 
 dependence at an earlier age than their more 
 highly endowed countrymen. 
 
 An Imperial Law, affecting all parts of Ger- 
 many, forbids the employment of children under 
 seventeen in factories and workshops. Hence 
 arose a need for continuation schools, in which 
 children leaving the elementary school at the age 
 of fourteen might not only be prevented from 
 forgetting what they had already learnt, but might 
 be taught how best to use the knowledge they 
 had acquired for the purposes of practical life. 
 The Imperial Law on the " Regulation of In- 
 dustry " of 1 891 decreed that the masters in any 
 branch of industry were bound to allow their 
 workers under the age of eighteen to attend an 
 officially recognized continuation school (tech- 
 nical or non-technical), for the time fixed as 
 necessary 'by the authorities. Further, by the same 
 law, it was ordained that the Local Council might 
 make such attendance at a continuation school 
 obligatory, for all male workers under the age of 
 eighteen. There is consequently a great variety 
 of educational effort in this direction in dif- 
 ferent parts of Germany. In the case of the 
 kingdom of Saxony, the State has made attend- 
 ance at the continuation schools compulsory, and 
 
 118 
 
Continuation Schools. 
 
 several other States have followed the example 
 of Saxony. 
 
 The Saxon system is, in this section, perhaps 
 the most efficient and the best organized. Here 
 there are two kinds of continuation schools, those 
 providing technical instruction, and those which 
 offer a continuation of general education — a 
 general course in which the practice of any trade 
 or profession is not taught* In the first volume 
 of the English Education Department's " Special 
 Reports on Educational Subjects," Mr. F. H. Dale 
 has given an admirable description of the con- 
 tinuation schools of Saxony. His report does not 
 seem to have received the attention which both 
 the subject and his treatment of it deserve. The 
 following account of these schools is based mainly 
 on the information provided by Mr. Dale. 
 
 The Saxon authorities believe that compulsory 
 attendance is essential in the case of these con- 
 tinuation schools. " Boys of the poorer classes 
 cannot be expected," says one of the leading 
 German authorities on this question, " at the age 
 of fourteen, when just free from the elementary 
 school, to see by their own unaided intelligence, 
 the advantages of continuing or reviving their 
 knowledge." And, adds Mr. Dale, " the growth 
 
 * And in this connection it must be remembered that the provision 
 for secondary education is not as great, in proportion to the popula- 
 tion, in Saxony as in Prussia. 
 
 II 9 
 
Compulsory Attendance. 
 
 of trade, the improvements in the manufactures 
 on the one hand, the importance of the mass of 
 the people in the Government on the other, both 
 demand an increased intelligence and a wider 
 knowledge ; and such knowledge can no longer 
 be confined to a few ; it must be made universal, 
 as universal as work and the right of voting ; and 
 continuation schools can alone supply this defect, 
 otherwise irremediable." 
 
 There are many reasons why the same difficulty 
 is not experienced in a German State as would 
 be encountered in England, in making attendance 
 at these schools compulsory. Where the necessity 
 of discipline, more particularly on behalf of 
 the military defence of the Fatherland, has been 
 admitted by all classes of the people, and where the 
 State has shown itself competent to provide this 
 discipline in such a way as has led to a great 
 increase of national prosperity, it is natural that 
 the people should be willing to surrender for a 
 period their right to independent action, in favour 
 of new disciplinary measures instituted by the 
 State. But here again we are brought face to 
 face with the fundamental reason for Germany's 
 success in building up a national system of 
 education. External opposition has taught her 
 to place love of country before that desire for 
 individual liberty, based on what must be called 
 love of self. 
 
 120 
 
Hours of Attendance. 
 
 These continuation schools come under the con- 
 trol of the local or district council, and therefore 
 adapt themselves, as it is necessary that they 
 should, to local needs, which may be either agri- 
 cultural, commercial, or industrial. The schools 
 in the country districts, which do not directly 
 affect the question with which we are dealing in 
 these pages, are generally open for half the year 
 only ; the summer being a busy time for all 
 engaged in practical occupations. In about two- 
 thirds of all the schools, however, instruction is 
 given throughout the whole year ; the minimum 
 number of hours which they must devote to in- 
 struction is fixed by law at two per week ; but it 
 may be raised to as much as six. As showing 
 that factors enter into foreign education which are 
 strange to English people, it is interesting to 
 notice that either the evening of a week-day or 
 Sunday may be used for instruction in the con- 
 tinuation schools. As a matter of fact, nearly 
 half the schools in Saxony use the Sunday, though 
 they may not employ hours which would interfere 
 with the attendance of the pupils at Divine service. 
 But, with regard to the hours of instruction, 
 the greatest consideration is shown to the require- 
 ments of the different trades. Mr. Dale tells us 
 that at Zittau, for instance, "the scholars are for 
 the most part first divided into classes according 
 to their trades, and then, by agreement with the 
 
 121 
 
Subjects of Instruction. 
 
 employers, a convenient time is fixed, different in 
 each case, e.g. locksmiths attend on Monday, from 
 one to four ; those employed in hardware business, 
 on Tuesday, from one to four ; butchers on Tues- 
 day, from two to five, etc." A number of these 
 schools charge a fee varying from one to six 
 shillings a year. 
 
 As to the nature of the instruction given in 
 these schools, the Saxon Ministry states in its 
 syllabus that "the instruction in the continuation 
 schools should fix and widen the knowledge won 
 in the primary school ; it should enable the scholar 
 to perceive the direct relation of this knowledge to 
 \his daily life, and teach him to apply it in his 
 calling as a workman." 
 
 It is owing in a very large measure to com- 
 pulsory attendance, that this aim can be achieved ; 
 for experience has taught us in England that 
 the majority of boys do not awaken to an appre- 
 ciation of the benefits of the continuation school 
 until they have reached the age of twenty, when 
 they have forgotten most, if not all, of what they 
 learnt in the primary school seven or eight years 
 earlier. In Saxony, however, the continuation 
 school, in the full significance of the term, is a 
 reality, and does not only exist in codes and 
 blue-books. The district council is allowed to 
 select the subjects of instruction, and there is 
 now no code enforcing uniformity. At Leipzig, 
 
 122 
 
Subjects of Instruction. 
 
 indeed, employers of pupils are invited to sit 
 on the school committee, and help the teachers 
 with their advice. In every case, the instruction 
 is adapted to the special requirements of the 
 district. We have, in short, in these schools a 
 happy compromise between the utilitarian, or 
 "practical," and the educational idea. For in- 
 stance, the Saxon code points out the lamentable 
 want on the part of masters and foremen, who 
 have money under their charge, of business habits 
 and training. To correct this, the teaching of 
 arithmetic, for instance, in Leipzig, is carried out 
 with a view to the future practical needs of the 
 pupils ; the examples taken always treat of sums 
 of money and the currencies which may be reason- 
 ably supposed to be common in the trade. To 
 quote again from Mr. Dale's paper : " I heard," 
 he says, ". . . a teacher explain to the boys the 
 method in which they might learn from the news- 
 paper what was the current rate of interest for 
 money, and the use of banks as the best loan 
 offices. Nobody, I think, could question the value 
 of this information to boys who might some day 
 be small tradesmen, or doubt how often the lack 
 of such knowledge has offered facilities for extor- 
 tionate usury." 
 
 The syllabus may also be quoted of the lessons 
 on the general nature of the carpenter's trade 
 planned for one of the classes at Leipzig. 
 
 123 
 
Specimen Syllabus. 
 
 First Year. — Easter to Whitsuntide. 
 
 {a) Kinds of timber used in carpentering ; the 
 parts of a tree-trunk. A short description of a 
 tree (yearly rings, the bark, etc.). 
 
 (b) The physical and technical qualities of timber 
 (its external form, specific weight, hardness, tex- 
 ture, smell, colour, etc.), illustrated by timber used 
 in Germany. 
 
 Whitsuntide to the Summer Holidays. 
 
 (c) The various kinds of flaws in timber : now 
 distinguished. 
 
 (d) The insects injurious to timber. 
 
 Summer Holidays to Michaelmas. 
 
 (e) Description of the most important kinds of 
 timber used for carpentering purposes (the larch, 
 cypress, cedar, etc.). With the description of each 
 its price was given ; the countries, mountains, etc., 
 chiefly noted for its growth, and the most im- 
 portant towns which employed it in manufacture, 
 were mentioned. 
 
 (f) The instruments employed to bind together 
 parts of the timber (clamps, nails, etc.), and their 
 prices. 
 
 (g) The materials useful for beautifying the 
 surface of timber (oil, cement, etc.), and their 
 prices. 
 
 Michaelmas to Christmas. 
 
 (Ji) The principal tools and machines employed 
 in woodwork, how long they should last, and their 
 price ; the strength necessary for working them ; 
 the space they occupy, etc. 
 
 124 
 
Specimen Syllabus. 
 
 This lesson was accompanied by a visit to the 
 Exhibition of Industrial Appliances and Products 
 (Gewerbe Ausstellung). 
 
 Christmas to Easter. 
 
 (i) Erection of a workroom for five men (space 
 required, ventilation, lighting, division of the tools, 
 machines, etc.). 
 
 (k) A few points from the history of the growth 
 of the trade. The system of apprenticeship, and 
 of guilds. The movement for the freedom of the 
 workers. The most important regulations from 
 the laws as they exist at present on the position 
 of the workmen. 
 
 Second Year. 
 
 For this year no detailed programme is given : 
 
 " It was devoted," says the syllabus, " to the more 
 special points concerning the trade ; especially to 
 questions involved in the starting of a business for 
 one's self. In this connexion were mentioned the 
 need for raw material (its mass, weight, price, 
 according to the magnitude of orders to be ex- 
 ecuted), the time necessary under various imagined 
 conditions, the number of assistants to be em- 
 ployed, the customary wages, the fixed and circu- 
 lating capital required, etc," 
 
 It must be repeated that the instruction in 
 these schools is in no way technical in the common 
 acceptance of the term. There is no practical 
 work done by the pupils. The aim of the in- 
 struction is, again to quote Mr. Dale, " to give 
 the boys information on points likely to be 
 
 125 
 
Statistics of Continuation Schools. 
 
 
 exceedingly useful to them, especially in the 
 case of a wish to start in business themselves ; 
 and these details, e.g. the relations of master and 
 employe, the cost of a workroom, its proper 
 fittings to correspond with a certain amount of 
 capital, etc., would hardly, if at all, be touched 
 upon in a school where the cultivation of manual 
 skill is bound to be the chief object." How far 
 instruction of this nature is considered more useful 
 than practical instruction for this special class of 
 pupils may be shown from the fact that in 1895-6 
 Saxe- Weimar had 452 continuation schools of the 
 general type, with 5152 scholars, but only 26 
 technical schools with about 2000 students. The 
 following table * shows the proportion of the 
 population passing through the continuation school 
 in some of the German States : — 
 
 Number of Pupils in Continuation Schools to every 
 1000 Inhabitants. 
 
 Wiirtemberg 
 
 Baden 
 
 Hesse-Darmstadt 
 
 Saxony 
 
 Waldeck .' 
 
 Coburg-Gotha 
 
 Saxe- Weimar 
 
 Saxe-Meiningen 
 
 Schwarzburg - Sondershau- 
 
 sen 
 
 City of Lubeck 
 
 Mecklenburg- Streliiz . . . . 
 
 50 
 
 351 
 345 
 
 22± 
 22\ 
 22 
 21 
 
 20 
 18 
 
 143 
 
 City of Bremen 
 
 Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt . 
 
 City of Hamburg 
 
 Brunswick 
 
 Mecklenburg-Schwerin . . . 
 
 Prussia 
 
 Saxe-Altenburg 
 
 Lippe 
 
 Anhalt 
 
 Oldenburg 
 
 Schaumburg- Lippe 
 
 8' 
 
 1\ 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 6§ 
 
 6 
 
 5s 
 
 5\ 
 
 3l 
 
 * Based on statistics given in the " Report of the American 
 Commissioner of Education for the year 1898-99." 
 
 126 
 
Technical Instruction. 
 
 We now come to that section of technical and 
 commercial instruction which in England may be 
 said to be regarded as more important than the 
 highest technical education. This, at any rate, is a 
 fair inference from the fact that it is the only section 
 to which we have devoted any special attention, 
 and that to which almost the whole of the public 
 moneys devoted to technical education are applied. 
 The chief thing that Germany has to teach us in this 
 branch is that she does not consider it of as great 
 importance as the highest scientific education such 
 as we have seen is given at Charlottenburg. 
 
 The Gewerbe Schulen are found only in the 
 large industrial centres. They are chiefly schools 
 of design, having both a day and evening depart- 
 ment, in which drawing and mathematics occupy 
 three-fifths of the time-table. Most of the students 
 are apprentices, so that, though the schools have 
 no workshops, it continually happens that a master 
 workman encourages his apprentice to make 
 models in the shop applying the principles or 
 ideas which he has learnt or developed at the 
 school. Side by side with these institutions are 
 to be found trade schools, in which trades and 
 industries are actually taught. A higher class 
 of this type of school is seen at its best in the 
 magnificent textile school of Crefeld, for an 
 excellent account of which we are again indebted 
 to Manchester educationists. This institution 
 
 127 
 
Crefeld. 
 
 possesses an evening and Sunday department, as 
 well as a day school, most of the students in 
 which have passed through the modern secondary 
 school. In this instance, as in many others, 
 Germany may be said to beat us on our own 
 ground. Indeed, so complete a training is here 
 given in every branch of weaving, dyeing, and 
 finishing, that not a few Englishmen who have 
 visited this school, and go no further, are under 
 the impression that it provides the highest kind of 
 technical education to be found in Germany. 
 
 The fees for day students vary from £6 to 
 £g in a session. It is a significant fact that 
 a large proportion of the pupils attending these 
 trade schools have passed through the Ober- 
 realschule or highest grade of modern secondary 
 school. The Manchester Committee relate one 
 fact in connection with the Crefeld school which 
 should be brought to the attention of those who 
 would leave everything to local initiative and are 
 opposed to any form of central control. In its 
 report the Committee says : — 
 
 " It is interesting to note with what discrimina- 
 tion and judgment the educational authorities of 
 Prussia pursue their objects. The authorities at 
 Crefeld were anxious to see the establishment, 
 as a development of their school, of a department 
 for cotton spinning ; but the Royal authority 
 declined to give effect to the representations made, 
 and expressed their determination to build and 
 
 128 
 
Crefeld. 
 
 equip such a school in the centre of the cotton 
 industry at Gladbach (also in Rhenish Prussia). 
 There are no less than thirteen schools in Prussia 
 devoted to textile training, each with its own 
 peculiar conditions. This enables a certain elas- 
 ticity and variety of methods to be established 
 and tried, and the evils of undue educational 
 competition and rivalry, which are to be found 
 in England, and which go so far to prevent the 
 establishment of really efficient institutions attended 
 by competent students, are obviated." 
 
 This section of German technical education has 
 occupied so much attention in England that there 
 is no excuse for dealing with it here at any length. 
 Mr. James Baker has lately published, under the 
 auspices of the Board of Education, an interest- 
 ing account of the impression created by these 
 schools on an Englishman who is neither an 
 industrial nor an educational expert — and to 
 whom, therefore, certain points of organization and 
 aim may not be apparent — but who is not inflicted 
 with that kind of patriotism which closes the eyes 
 to the dangers threatened to England by the 
 rivalry of Germany. The following table * will 
 give some idea of the extent of the continuation 
 school system in all its branches : — 
 
 * IJased on statistics given in the "Report of the Ameri:an 
 Commissioner of Education for the year 1898-99." 
 
 - 
 
 129 
 
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 Schools. 
 
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 Kingdom of Prussia — 
 Bremen 
 Hamburg 
 Lippe Detmold 
 
 Anhalt 
 
 Saxe-Coburg-Goth a 
 
 Saxe-Altenburg 
 
 Saxe-Meiningen 
 
 Brunswick 
 
 Oldenburg 
 
 Mecklenburg-Strelitz 
 
 Mecklenburg-Schwei 
 
 Saxe-Weimar... 
 
 Hessia 
 
 Baden , 
 
 Wiirtemberg ... . 
 Saxony ,.. 
 
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 130 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 It will be seen that a considerable number of 
 schools in the above table offer commercial in- 
 struction. From what has been said above, as to 
 the nature of the continuation school, it may be 
 inferred that the commercial instruction provided 
 is not of a very technical kind. Speaking of these 
 commercial schools at the Congress on commercial 
 education held at Antwerp, in 1898, Dr. Stegeman, 
 who has done much for the promotion of commer- 
 cial education in Germany, remarked — 
 
 "Their aim is to give to future business men, 
 while they are undergoing their apprenticeship, 
 a certain amount of theoretical knowledge as 
 a complement to their office work. This is not 
 their sole aim, however ; their chief function 
 being to perfect the knowledge which has been 
 gained in the elementary school. It is said in 
 Germany that a young business man, whose ele- 
 mentary information is imperfect, who cannot 
 write or speak his mother-tongue correctly, who 
 cannot calculate rapidly and accurately, who does 
 not write a good and legible hand, and who has 
 not some general notion of the nature of the earth's 
 surface, is not fit to be in business." 
 
 There has recently been a certain agitation in 
 Germany for the provision of a more specialized 
 type of continuation school, and various com- 
 mercial societies seem to favour their pro- 
 motion. But for the training of business men 
 
 Germany still depends, and, as far as it is safe to 
 10 I3I 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 prophesy, will for a long time to come continue to 
 depend on her Realschulen. Mr. Michael E. 
 Sadler, in his report on higher commercial educa- 
 tion,* remarks in this connection that his inquiries 
 have convinced him that the world has only begun 
 to taste the effects of the first-rate non- classical 
 secondary education now given all over industrial 
 Germany. He adds — 
 
 "The commercial advance of the German 
 Empire, so striking to any visitor to that country, 
 is due to a combination of causes. But one of 
 these causes is the extreme intellectual efficiency 
 of the secondary schools and of the higher 
 technical institutes. The Germans do not mix 
 up these two grades of educational work. The 
 secondary school is organized as the foundation, 
 the higher technical institute as the crown. It is 
 to the non-technical secondary schools and to the 
 highly specialized technical institutes, far more 
 than to the elementary schools or evening con- 
 tinuation schools, that those should look who 
 desire to trace the educational causes of the com- 
 mercial progress of the German Empire. 
 
 "German non-classical secondary education pre- 
 pares a boy to excel in commercial life, but it is 
 not commercial education in any narrow sense. 
 Indeed, the German secondary school authorities 
 rigidly abstain on principle from any attempt at 
 premature specialization in commercial subjects." 
 
 * "Special Reports on Educational Subjects," vol. 3, pp. 554- 
 626. This report, if widely read, would finally dispel the many 
 errors which have arisen in England concerning the question of 
 commercial education. 
 
 132 
 
Germany and Premature Specialization. 
 
 So much has already been said as to the German 
 appreciation of the scientific principles on which 
 education is based, that it is hardly necessary 
 to remark that the theories put forward by some 
 of the English advocates of commercial edu- 
 cation do not find favour in that more en- 
 lightened land. Least of all does Germany show 
 any sympathy with that desire, too prevalent in 
 some quarters, to build up a secondary system of 
 commercial education which will turn clever boys 
 into cheap clerks. A country which has looked 
 far ahead, and seen the ever-increasing intensity 
 of international competition, will have learnt that 
 it must strain every nerve to prepare for future 
 struggles. It will see clearly that it cannot afford 
 to pander to the selfishness of individuals, but 
 that it must have a single eye to the interests of 
 the whole nation. Ultimate victory does not 
 await the country which possess only one or two 
 exceptionally brilliant men ; it will be slowly and 
 painfully won by that nation which can command 
 the greatest collective force. The fate of a people 
 therefore — whatever be its form of government — 
 depends upon the extent to which it cultivates the 
 powers of each individual unit, and on the degree 
 in which it is capable of combining and directing 
 the individual forces, with economy and with fore- 
 sight, towards the aim of national prosperity. And 
 where it is recognized that each individual must be 
 
 133 
 
No Encroachment of Commercial 
 
 developed to the highest possible realization of his 
 capacities, we may be sure that the schools will 
 not fail to adopt those methods of education which 
 are sanctioned by scientific laws. 
 
 In such a country there will be no need to 
 catch the soaring ambition and divert it from the 
 pursuit of social attractions — unless it be that, 
 as in France, social ambitions have dimmed the 
 national purpose ; there will be no desire to stunt 
 the natural development of the clever lad in order 
 that he may become a " ready reckoner " of un- 
 failing accuracy, or a commercial machine of 
 unerring precision — unless it be in a country 
 where economic freedom has produced a too rapid 
 accumulation of wealth and has supplanted the 
 old ideals of humanity, the ideals which enforced 
 the obligations of the strong to the weak, though 
 they made but little account of individual liberty 
 fenced round with hereditary rights or fortuitous 
 privileges. 
 
 While, therefore, providing the best kind of 
 modern secondary education that can be devised 
 for aiding the adjustment of the individual to his 
 future environment, Germany has not allowed 
 " commercial education " to encroach on the sphere 
 of secondary education. That is to say, she has 
 refused to listen to those who may have said : 
 " Here is a secondary school supplying a distinct 
 demand and attracting a certain number of boys. 
 
 134 
 
on Secondary Education. 
 
 Let us increase its popularity by altering the 
 course of studies in one of its sections, so as to 
 teach boys things which will be of practical and 
 immediate use to them when they enter business 
 life. All subjects are of equal educational value 
 if properly taught, therefore, surely it is better 
 to teach those which are useful." If such argu- 
 ments have been used in Germany they have 
 found no response in educational circles. For 
 Germany has not placed her headmasters under 
 the temptation of increasing the number of their 
 pupils by the addition of garish attractions to 
 their curricula ; a temptation which has often been 
 offered in England by making the headmaster's 
 salary largely dependent on capitation fees. But, 
 on the other hand, approaching all educational 
 problems in a methodical spirit and with a full 
 appreciation of at least the axioms of educational 
 science, her experts, whose opinion is supreme on 
 educational reform, have provided a secondary 
 education admirably suited to train a boy for 
 the future surroundings of business life. But this 
 education does not fail to cultivate those special 
 qualities which are essential to the proper per- 
 formance of a citizen's duties. In short, there is 
 probably no country which has produced a school 
 so admirably fitted for this purpose as the Real- 
 schule described above. 
 
 This type of school is as different from the 
 
 135 
 
Methods of Instruction. 
 
 commercial branch, which has been added to some 
 of our secondary schools, as it is from the school of 
 science, which has been created out of the modern 
 side of others of our secondary schools, on the plea 
 of providing a proper preparation for industrial 
 life. But while it is undoubtedly untrue that the 
 educative value of a subject depends entirely upon 
 the way it is taught, or that all subjects are in- 
 trinsically of equal educative worth, it is equally 
 false to assert that methods of instruction do not 
 play an exceedingly important, perhaps the most 
 important, part in the work of education. As has 
 been already pointed out, the work of the educator 
 is to guide the child during the process of his 
 adjustment to his surroundings. He guides this 
 adjustment to a very great extent by means of 
 instruction ; and, therefore, instruction must con- 
 form to the laws controlling the natural course 
 of development. This is evidently as essential in 
 intellectual as in physical matters, though the 
 baneful effects of premature specialization in 
 physical training are more apparent to the super- 
 ficial observer than in the case of intellectual 
 training. It is consequently evident that methods 
 of instruction, and particularly the manner in 
 which new knowledge is arranged and graduated 
 and presented to the pupil, are of the utmost im* 
 portance, not only in consideration of his general 
 education, but also — in a minor degree which will 
 
 136 
 
Training of Teachers. 
 
 appeal strongly to those who place practical 
 requirements before scientific laws — with regard 
 to his proper assimilation of this knowledge ; or, 
 in other words, with regard to his so acquiring it 
 that "he makes it his own," and can use it for 
 practical purposes. It cannot be too strongly 
 emphasized that methods must conform to the 
 natural laws of development ; and the intellectual 
 " short cuts," invented by charlatans, are as much 
 to be feared as the nostrums with which they 
 endeavour to accelerate natural processes in the 
 physical realm. 
 
 A strange fact, which explains many things, 
 may here be noticed. While we still believe that 
 the best way for an educator, who is employed 
 in anything higher than an elementary school, 
 to learn to educate is to practise for a year or 
 two unaided, uncontrolled, and often without even 
 supervision, on the souls and minds and bodies of 
 children, Germany has for nearly a hundred years 
 insisted that he should pass through a course of 
 thorough preparatory training. In the case of 
 teachers in secondary schools, the State has deter- 
 mined what evidence they shall give of their 
 qualifications before entering their profession. In 
 Prussia, for instance, no one is recognized as a 
 fully qualified secondary teacher until he has 
 passed through the course of training prescribed 
 by the State. He is not admitted to this course 
 
 137 
 
Training of Teachers. 
 
 unless, after having studied for three years at a 
 university, he passes an examination conducted by 
 a commission appointed by the State. In this ex- 
 amination he must prove that he possesses those 
 attainments in scholarship without which he would 
 not be qualified to teach the subjects which he 
 has selected. But in addition to satisfactory at- 
 tainments in scholarship, he has to satisfy the 
 examiners that he also possess general culture, 
 which is essential to every educator, together with 
 a certain preliminary knowledge of the science of 
 education. It is stated in the syllabus for this 
 examination that the candidate must (r) give 
 evidence of a knowledge of the general prin- 
 ciples of philosophy (ethics and psychology) and 
 of pedagogy ; (2) that he must show that he pos- 
 sesses that command of his mother-tongue, and 
 familiarity with his national literature and history, 
 without which no one can claim to be a man of 
 sufficient culture to hold the position of master in 
 a secondary school ; (3) that he must satisfy the 
 examiners that he has given serious reflection to 
 the principles of the religious teaching of the 
 church to which he belongs. Though three years' 
 study at the university is insisted on, the taking 
 of a degree is not essential for admission to the 
 profession. Indeed, one occasionally meets head- 
 masters enjoying no small reputation, who cannot 
 boast of a university degree. 
 
 138 
 
Training of Teachers. 
 
 The passing of the State examination constitutes 
 a young man an officially recognized candidate 
 for the teaching profession. It is important to 
 notice that in Germany, as in France, all 
 such examinations consist of an oral as well as 
 a written part. The candidate has, since 1890, 
 been compelled to devote two years to his pro- 
 fessional training. The first is what is called the 
 seminary year, and the second the year of pro- 
 bation. During the first of these years, the candi- 
 dates are placed in charge of the directors of 
 specially selected secondary schools, from four 
 to six candidates to each director. Here they 
 generally spend the first part of the year in attend- 
 ing lessons, at which they take notes, meeting 
 afterwards to discuss and criticize them with the 
 teachers. In the latter part of the year, they 
 teach under guidance and supervision. Besides 
 this, they take an active part in the general life of 
 the school, and learn all that can be learnt in such 
 a way about school organization and curricula. 
 They also pay visits to the neighbouring elemen- 
 tary schools and training colleges for primary 
 teachers. 
 
 While the first year is thus given to the theo- 
 retical side of training, during the second year the 
 candidate begins to put what he has learnt into 
 practice. As a probationer, he now is attached to 
 the school staff. For the first quarter of the year 
 
 139 
 
Training of Teachers. 
 
 he teaches under constant supervision, and even 
 after that the director, or an officially authorized 
 master, must be present at his lessons at least twice 
 a month. Towards the end of this year, he draws 
 up a report on his own teaching ability and the 
 progress which he thinks he has made ; this, 
 together with the report of the director, is sub- 
 mitted to the local authority (the Provincial Board 
 of Inspectors), which decides as to the candidate's 
 competence as a teacher, and consequently his 
 fitness to enter the profession definitely. 
 
 Though these regulations may appear somewhat 
 stringent, they are in practice carried out in such 
 a way as to allow the greatest freedom possible 
 to those who are in charge of the candidate's 
 training. The points to be noticed are, that in 
 Prussia a young man is not allowed to enter the 
 teaching profession without serious preparation, 
 that he is not allowed to try his prentice hand on 
 the pupils without supervision, and that he is not 
 even admitted to the preparation for the profession 
 until he has devoted some time to the study of 
 the sciences underlying the theory of education. 
 It is thus that Germany ensures the employment 
 of the best methods of instruction in her secondary 
 schools. She has at least discovered that efficiency 
 of teaching, that is to say, the efficiency of the 
 teachers, is the first thing necessary for the success 
 of any system of schools. When we take it into 
 
 140 
 
Modern Language Teaching. 
 
 account that teachers so qualified are employed 
 in the Realschulen, we cannot be surprised that 
 these schools achieve wonderfully good results. 
 
 Of the actual knowledge possessed by the boys 
 who have passed through these schools, that which 
 strikes an Englishman most forcibly is connected 
 with modern languages. To the teaching of no 
 subjects has Germany devoted greater attention 
 during the last fifteen or twenty years. In Eng- 
 land, also, the question of modern language teach- 
 ing has excited recently a good deal of attention. 
 But while we have devoted our energies to trying 
 new plans, which anybody may have been kind 
 enough to suggest, for learning languages in an 
 impossibly short space of time, the Germans have 
 brought the expert knowledge, based on scientific 
 thought, of the secondary teacher to bear on the 
 solution of the problem how best to teach modern 
 languages. The German experts are not agreed, 
 as Lord Salisbury would tell us experts never are ; 
 but their disagreement has resulted from the rivalry 
 of excellent solutions, none of which can claim to 
 be the only true and right one. The practical con- 
 sequence has been, however, to give an extraordinary 
 stimulus to modern language teaching throughout 
 the whole land. Every business man in England 
 knows what a mastery Germans have of their own 
 and often of other foreign tongues ; but there 
 are few who know that the Germans speaking 
 
 141 
 
Modern Language Teaching. 
 
 with authority on this subject admit that this 
 mastery is not due to any natural aptitude peculiar 
 to the German people. It is, in their opinion, to 
 be traced entirely to the methods of instruction 
 employed in the schools. In fact, those Germans 
 who have carefully studied the question, state that 
 an English boy taught by the same methods 
 arrives at equally good results. 
 
 Perhaps in connection with the teaching of 
 modern languages in Germany, I may be allowed 
 to quote one instance, which came under my own 
 observation, of the wonderful results obtained by 
 a scientific method. In August, 1897, I visited a 
 school which had adopted the Frankfort reformed 
 curriculum (see p. 97) ; the lower second class, 
 in which the average age of the boys was about 
 fourteen, had begun English the preceding Easter, 
 and were receiving a lesson a day in this subject. 
 They had just returned from their summer holi- 
 days, but I found that they had forgotten little of 
 what had been taught them in the preceding term, 
 and had already a very remarkable knowledge 
 of the elements of English. In the following 
 January I visited this school again. The boys of 
 the class referred to had made extraordinary 
 progress. I spoke to them in English for half 
 an hour, chiefly in connection with the subject 
 of their lesson, and found little difficulty in 
 making myself understood by the great majority 
 
 142 
 
Modern Language Teachers. 
 
 of the class, and obtaining intelligent replies in 
 English. This is not the place to discuss in 
 detail the method which was employed in this 
 school ; but it is certain that such results could 
 not be obtained by any but trained teachers or in 
 schools which were less perfectly organized. 
 
 A word may be said as to the German teacher 
 of modern languages. In the first place, he is 
 invariably a German. The authorities are satisfied 
 from experience that a trained German teacher 
 is able to obtain much better results from German 
 boys than a foreigner. That the German's "accent" 
 in speaking French and English may not be 
 perfect is admitted ; but, then, the authorities 
 do not live in the vain hope, indulged in by the 
 English parent, that a boy or girl will acquire 
 at school a perfect foreign accent. On the other 
 hand, while pursuing no such unattainable ideal, 
 they maintain that even in the matter of pro- 
 nunciation a German can teach German children 
 better than a foreigner, who is quite unable to 
 place himself at his pupils' point of view. To 
 the training of the modern language teacher Ger- 
 many has, of course, devoted special attention. 
 Everything possible is done to induce him to visit 
 foreign countries ; in his case, one of the three 
 years which every candidate must pass at a German 
 university may be spent at a university in the 
 country of which he is studying the language. In 
 
 143 
 
Influence of Realschulen. 
 
 several large towns, the municipal authorities, 
 knowing how much their commercial prosperity 
 depends on the proper teaching of modern lan- 
 guages in secondary schools, provide scholarships, 
 enabling men who are actually engaged in teach- 
 ing to spend six consecutive months in a foreign 
 land. 
 
 Those who seek for the educational foundations 
 of Germany's past commercial success must study 
 her Realschulen and Ober-Realschulen ; they must 
 consider the way in which she has educated and 
 trained the teachers of these schools ; and, above 
 all, they must ponder the causes which have pro- 
 duced the wide and general modern curriculum 
 which the Government insists that these schools 
 shall adopt. It was of some schools nearer home 
 which Mr. Sadler must have been thinking when, 
 in the paper already referred to, he said — ■ 
 
 "To cram up little boys of fifteen with odds and 
 ends of commercial law and generalizations of 
 commercial geography is to waste precious time, 
 which might have been devoted to subjects not 
 only more elevating in themselves, but also more 
 digestible by youthful minds. A school time- 
 table which offers Latin and shorthand as alter- 
 natives cannot properly be called a curriculum. 
 It is more like a shop- window, from which the 
 passer-by may choose whatever wares seem to 
 him attractive." 
 
 It is only within the last few years that Germany 
 
 144 
 
Leipzig Commercial High School. 
 
 has taken serious steps to provide commercial 
 education of the highest order, and the Germans 
 are still by no means unanimous as to its value. 
 The scheme establishing the High School of Com- 
 merce in Leipzig was approved by the Saxon 
 Government in 1898. It is intended that this 
 institution should hold precisely the same relation 
 to commerce as the great technical high schools 
 hold to Industry. Nobody is admitted to his 
 course of studies who has not received a sound 
 general education. Candidates are, according to 
 the official regulations, admissible only if they 
 satisfy one or other of the following conditions : — 
 
 (a) They possess the certificate of Maturity of a 
 Gymnasium, Real-Gymnasium, or Ober-Realschule. 
 
 (b) They are persons engaged in trade who hold 
 the six years' certificate of one of the secondary 
 schools. 
 
 (c) They are students from German Training 
 Colleges, or Elementary School teachers who have 
 passed the second general examination for such 
 teachers. 
 
 (d) They are foreigners over twenty years of age 
 who can prove that they possess the required 
 standard of preparatory education. 
 
 In the year 1899-1900 there were 275 students 
 in the Leipzig Commercial High School. Of these 
 21 were 18 years of age, 42 were 19, 45 were 20, 
 35 were 22, and 23 were over 30. The school 
 
 145 
 
Leipzig Commercial High School. 
 
 receives a small subsidy from the Saxon Govern- 
 ment, and the Leipzig Chamber of Commerce 
 undertakes all financial responsibility. Educa- 
 tionally it is closely associated with the University, 
 the professors of which have much to do with the 
 organization of the courses of studies. 
 
 The school offers two diplomas — one to students 
 who have passed through a course of studies with 
 success, and one to these who had passed a special 
 examination to test their competence as teachers 
 in commercial schools. It is yet too early to 
 attempt to measure the results attained in Germany 
 by the highest kind of commercial education. 
 
 146 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FOUNDATIONS LAID IN FRANCE. 
 
 The national purpose which we have seen at work 
 in Germany is also to be traced in France through- 
 out the course of the nineteenth century. But 
 the political conditions affecting France during 
 this period have been so different from those which 
 have arisen in Prussia, that it would indeed be 
 strange if there were any striking similarity 
 between the systems of education in the two 
 countries. The dawn of the nineteenth century 
 saw the commencements of a new France, loud in 
 its assertion of the rights of man. " Next to 
 bread/' said one of the greatest figures in the 
 Revolution, " education is the first need of the 
 people." 
 
 At the commencement of the Revolution, the 
 followers of different philosophers, with their 
 systems, their formulas and their constitutions, 
 first attempted to guide the new democracy rising 
 on the ruin of the old order of things. Voltaire 
 was mainly responsible for the overthrow of the 
 old systems. While, however, his teaching had 
 n 147 
 
Influence of Philosophers. 
 
 been chiefly negative, attacking accepted beliefs 
 and recognized systems, Rousseau followed as the 
 creator of beliefs and systems which were to 
 replace those which were disappearing. 
 
 It is not intended to suggest that in any 
 country thinkers and philosophers actually control 
 the course of human progress. From fime to 
 time men grow discontented with the existing 
 order of things ; the institutions which they have 
 reared fail to satisfy actual needs. Silently they 
 cease to support them — silently, because the very 
 forms of speech which they have acquired have 
 been moulded and fashioned under the influence 
 of these institutions. Action — the physical push, 
 so to speak — which will send these institutions 
 tottering to the ground, is impossible until the 
 new language is created, freeing men from the 
 bonds of silence, and enabling them to inter- 
 communicate, to plot, and to devise. At such 
 moments a thinker will arise who finds the new 
 language to express the silent thought. Such a 
 man was Voltaire. 
 
 But the inborn tendency to progress will never 
 allow man to be satisfied with mere destruction. 
 Anarchy may reign for a moment, but where 
 man has destroyed he will inevitably rebuild, and 
 the new language is not complete until it is made 
 the medium for expressing, not merely the con- 
 demnation of the old, but also the proclamation 
 
 148 
 
Voltaire and Rousseau. 
 
 of the new. Hesitating between the ills we 
 have and those we know not of, we grope about 
 searching for some assurance of future ameliora- 
 tion, until silently we perceive a ray of truth 
 illumining possible ultimate good. It shines not 
 for us alone, it is visible to our fellows also. 
 We need but the new language to call to one 
 another across the darkness and above the 
 tumult of the vanishing past : we need but 
 the interchange of thought to give us that union 
 and support of fellowship without which we fear 
 to walk upon the unknown waters. The great 
 thinker, who is the first to speak under these 
 circumstances, will give us the new language ; he 
 will express our thoughts for us in words, and thus 
 may seem to posterity to influence us. But we 
 know that when once we have communicated with 
 our fellows, and have found the common purpose 
 in all their hearts, the common perception of the 
 new light in all their minds, we are urged onwards 
 by the force of our own wills. 
 
 Voltaire gave to the French the language of 
 destruction, Rousseau gave them the language of 
 creation. With all his paradoxes and false reason- 
 ings, with all his baseless assumptions and weak- 
 witted dreams, Rousseau it was who first proclaimed 
 to France the dawn of the new light which she 
 was silently contemplating. He would seem to 
 say, " You have been told that the old order 
 
 149 
 
Rousseau. 
 
 of things is hopeless. I will tell you why it is 
 hopeless. Everything is good when it leaves the 
 hands of the Author of nature, but in the hands 
 of man everything degenerates. Throw off, then, 
 the bonds imposed by man ; refuse to submit 
 to this overwhelming, crushing, all - enveloping 
 system of modern civilization which has been 
 built up in defiance of the laws of nature ; 
 recognize these laws as your sole guide, and enter 
 into the joys which Nature reserves for those who 
 submit to her sway alone." Speaking the new 
 language of Voltaire, the French people overthrew 
 the Bastille. Welcoming the new language of 
 Rousseau, the nation decreed that a statue should 
 be raised to him, resting on a pedestal formed of 
 the stones of the great prison. 
 
 The work in which Rousseau consecrated the new 
 language was not the Contrat Social, gospel as it 
 was during a certain phase of the Revolution, but 
 Entile, ou de I' Education. Here he expressed the 
 silent thoughts, at work in all men's minds, which 
 went to the very root of things. Education formed 
 a basis to existing institutions ; not that the institu- 
 tions were based upon an education which con- 
 formed to natural laws. Quite the reverse. The 
 institutions, outcomes of an artificial civilization, 
 determined for their own support the nature 
 and aims of education. In 1762, when Emile 
 appeared, the institutions still stood erect, it is 
 
 150 
 
Rousseau. 
 
 true; but erect only as a dead man will stand 
 on the field of battle, when the vital power has left 
 him without disturbing the habitual equilibrium. 
 Thinking silently, the people had withdrawn their 
 support from these institutions ; they had only to 
 adopt the language of Voltaire, and to interchange 
 their thoughts, to unite to give the final shock 
 which should send the artificial fabrics toppling to 
 their ruin. 
 
 It was not till this had happened that the 
 people — the lower orders — heard the creative 
 language of Emile. But the upper classes — the 
 educated classes — heard it immediately, and 
 adopted it. They were waiting expectantly for 
 the lower classes to give the physical push to the 
 hollow institutions ; they themselves gave it to 
 the basis which they regarded as their own pecu- 
 liar property, education. They had for long 
 thought silently that a system of education was 
 absurd which fashioned children, destined by Nature 
 to be self-dependent, self-active men, for slavery to 
 the all-enveloping institutions which had ceased 
 to command their confidence. And, as Fate 
 would have it, in the very year in which Emile 
 appeared, the Jesuits, who reigned supreme over 
 public education, were expelled from France. 
 The new language was everywhere adopted by 
 the upper classes. Even royalty heard it, not 
 recognizing that it proclaimed its own ultimate 
 
 151 
 
Rousseau. 
 
 replacement. Expressing the thoughts of others, 
 which could not have been its own, royalty caused 
 the ill-starred prince, who was afterwards to be the 
 victim of the Revolution, to be educated according 
 to the new ideas. This was why Louis XVI. 
 learnt a trade, and why, later on, when a prisoner 
 in his own palace, he found his sole amusement in 
 making locks : " He sends for his smith's tools ; 
 gives, in the course of the day, official or cere- 
 monious business being ended, ' a few strokes of 
 the file.' " 
 
 Rousseau expressed the general feeling of his 
 time, which revolted against an education designed 
 in support of existing institutions. He proclaimed 
 the right of man to independence, even in his 
 education. Emile opens with the statement, already 
 quoted, that "everything is good on leaving the 
 hands of the Author of nature, but in the hands 
 of man everything degenerates." The state of 
 nature being, therefore, preferable to that of 
 civilization, the education of man should conform 
 to the laws of nature, and be a preparation 
 in the fullest liberty for the natural state, rather 
 than an adjustment to the surroundings of his 
 future life and the existing social organization. 
 And it was in his opposition to this latter aim 
 of education that Rousseau voiced most clearly 
 the thought of the upper classes of his time — a 
 thought which spread to the lower classes in the 
 
 152 
 
Two Fundamental Views. 
 
 Revolutionary period of the second decade after 
 his death. 
 
 The duty of educating man as man, apart from 
 all considerations of social organization, was the 
 thought, expressed by Rousseau in Entile, which 
 remained when the other fundamental principles 
 he uttered had been forgotten. And the nine- 
 teenth century witnessed in France a continual 
 contest between two views — the one admitting 
 the right of every child, irrespective of his social 
 position, to the fullest education of which he was 
 capable ; and the other demanding that educa- 
 tion should confirm the existing social organi- 
 zation. We find the one or the other dominating 1 
 according as the principles of democracy rose and 
 fell. It is thus not a national purpose — in so far 
 as it regards competition with foreign rivals — 
 which we perceive at work in the development of 
 French education in the century which has passed, 
 though, as we shall see later on, such a purpose 
 did play an important part in this development ; 
 it is rather a social purpose, directed either towards 
 the promotion of absolute social equality, or, on 
 the contrary, towards the confirmation of class 
 distinctions. 
 
 In 1 79 1, at the opening of the Revolution which 
 was to confirm the absolute equality of all men, 
 it is officially stated in the Constitution that : 
 " There shall be created and organized a public 
 
 153 
 
Napoleon. 
 
 instruction, common to all citizens, gratuitous as 
 regards those parts of education indispensable to 
 all men." But little more was done than to formu- 
 late such principles ; the First Republic was too 
 busy fighting for its existence against enemies at 
 home and abroad, to put its educational ideas into 
 practice. 
 
 Napoleon followed with his tyranny of merit, 
 and built up his Imperial University, a body 
 charged with all the public education of the 
 empire. By a decree of 1808 all schools in this 
 organization were obliged to take the precepts 
 of the Catholic religion as the basis of their 
 teaching, and to inculcate fidelity to the emperor, 
 to the Imperial monarchy, and to the Napoleonic 
 dynasty. In 18 15 Napoleon was overthrown, and 
 the old monarchy, with its leanings towards the 
 former social system, restored. The Napoleonic 
 educational system was, however, maintained ; but 
 little progress was made in public education, 
 except in so far as the right of any authorized 
 religious association to supply teachers for the 
 elementary schools was recognized by law. 
 
 With the accession of Louis-Philippe in 1830 
 the real work of education, as affecting all classes 
 of the nation, may be said to have begun. This 
 monarchy depended on the support of the middle 
 classes ; and the education of the middle classes, in 
 confirmation of the existing social order, appears 
 
 154 
 
Reign of Louis-Philippe. 
 
 to have been the chief aim of the educational 
 development of his reign. The elementary schools 
 were increased, as will be seen from the following 
 comparative tables for the years 1832 and 1850 : — 
 
 1832. 1850. 
 
 Number of public schools • 32,520 • 43,843 
 
 private „ . 9,572 
 
 Total . 42,092 
 
 Number of pupils (boys) . 1,202,673 
 
 »» 11 (girls) . 734,909 
 
 Total . 1,937,582 
 
 Illiterates .... 47 '8% 
 
 16,736 
 60,579 
 
 1,793.667 
 
 i>528,756 
 
 3,322,423 
 35*4% 
 
 But it is when we turn to the education higher 
 than primary that we begin to perceive the social 
 tendencies at work. All nations occupying a fore- 
 most rank in modern civilization now give much 
 the same elementary education to the children of 
 the poorer classes. It is not until the secondary 
 stage is reached that we find marked differences 
 between the systems ; and it may truly be said 
 that the development of the system of secondary 
 schools marks at present with approximate accu- 
 racy the exact rank that a nation holds in 
 civilization. We have seen that in England our 
 secondary system is not yet established. We 
 have also seen in an earlier chapter that, under 
 the leadership of Prussia, Germany has made her 
 secondary schools the centre and support of her 
 whole national system of education. France 
 
 155 
 
Guizot. 
 
 offers a very interesting comparison, all the more 
 interesting to us because in what attempts the 
 State has made in England to build up a secondary 
 system, it has followed the example of France 
 rather than of Germany. 
 
 The French Minister to whom almost all of the 
 educational reforms of the reign of Louis-Philippe 
 are due is Guizot. Guizot was an historian before 
 he was a politician ; not a mere relator of events, 
 but one who searched for the causes producing 
 events and the lessons they had to teach for 
 future guidance. His historical studies had led 
 him to the conclusion that liberty was essential 
 to the stability of government. But by "liberty" 
 he did not understand the natural freedom of 
 Rousseau. According to Guizot, " liberty is in its 
 essence the simultaneous manifestation and action 
 of all interests, rights, powers, and social elements." 
 In short, it was, so to speak, an equilibrium estab- 
 lished among all the rival social forces, a kind of 
 social balance of power. He considered that the 
 whole movement of European history had tended 
 towards the raising up, strengthening, and enriching 
 of a middle class ; and it was on this middle class 
 that the desired equilibrium depended. But it 
 was in the richer middle classes that the real 
 strength resided. His object was therefore to 
 restore the institutions overthrown by the Revolu- 
 tion, not on the democratic basis of the early days 
 
 l 5 6 
 
Guizot and the Middle Classes. 
 
 of the Revolution, nor on the autocratic basis 
 of merit founded by Napoleon ; neither did he 
 favour the aristocratic views of the two preceding 
 monarchs. The foundation which he considered 
 alone stable was plutocratic. And it was with 
 due attention to the political theory which he had 
 thus formed that he set about the work of educa- 
 tional reform. 
 
 Guizot was aided by the fact that there were to 
 be found the same forces at work both in France 
 and Germany, pressing for radical, and what may 
 in a sense be called democratic, reforms in second- 
 ary education. But whereas the Germans, full of 
 national enthusiasm, took Pestalozzi, the practical 
 educator, as their guide, the French democrats 
 founded their views on the half-philosophical, half- 
 political theories expressed by Rousseau. And 
 we may therefore expect to find the political, and 
 still further the social, movements of the last cen- 
 tury exercising greater influence on educational 
 development in France than in Germany. We 
 find, for instance, the same revolt in both countries 
 against the purely classical teaching of the second- 
 ary schools. But the revolt in France is marked 
 far more by its attacks on the social privileges 
 represented by these schools than in Germany. 
 Indeed, it appears as if the broad distinction might 
 be drawn that, whereas in Germany education has 
 been generally expressed in terms of national 
 
 157 
 
French Democrats. 
 
 prosperity, in France it has been expressed in 
 terms of social equality. The French democrat 
 had certainly a keen appreciation of the joys of 
 national supremacy, but in internal affairs his 
 main purpose seems not so much to have been to 
 achieve individual liberty as social equality. First 
 he attempted this by abolishing institutions with 
 the privileges they represented ; but then, finding 
 the dead level of general equality unsatisfactory 
 and perpetual motion of the guillotine undesirable, 
 he was ready to accept any institutions which 
 would bestow on him the privilege of equality 
 with those in the highest social ranks. Then rose 
 up a fresh stratum of democrats to abolish these 
 institutions in their turn, and to capture the social 
 privileges for themselves. It was this social unrest 
 and continual changing that Guizot wished to 
 remove. His task would have been hopeless had 
 it not been for that apparent permanency in the 
 actual system of government referred to in an 
 earlier chapter. 
 
 That he first of all consolidated and widened 
 the system of primary education may be re- 
 garded, not as a democratic step — his ultimate 
 overthrow was due to his stubborn refusal to make 
 any concession to democratic principles — but 
 rather as a recognition of the necessity for the 
 education of all classes of the people according to 
 the positions which they were called to occupy. 
 
 i 5 8 
 
Causes of Higher Primary Education. 
 
 But where the lower classes are moved by strong 
 desires to attain to equality with the highest social 
 orders, they will invariably endeavour to obtain 
 the right to that education which will admit them 
 to these ranks. With this tendency Guizot, in 
 his desire for social equilibrium, could have no 
 sympathy. Speaking of the gap between primary 
 and secondary education, he said — 
 
 " It is absolutely essential to fill up this gap. A 
 considerable proportion of our countrymen must be 
 given the opportunity of attaining a certain level of 
 intellectual development without imposing upon 
 them the necessity of having recourse to secondary 
 instruction, which is both uncertain in its returns 
 and expensive. Indeed, for the few fortunate men 
 of talent that classical education develops, and 
 removes with profit to themselves from their first 
 surroundings, on how many mediocrities does it 
 not bestow habits and tastes incompatible with 
 the humble station to which they must inevitably 
 return ? And because they have once left their 
 natural sphere, they are at a loss by what path to 
 force their way in life, and rarely become other 
 than ungrateful, discontented, unhappy beings, a 
 burden to others and to themselves." 
 
 It was on this account that Guizot founded 
 the system of higher primary education. It is 
 true that when he referred to the unsuitability of 
 the classical secondary education, he was express- 
 ing a feeling which also existed in Germany. But, 
 generally speaking, while it appeared necessary 
 
 159 
 
Utilitarianism. 
 
 to the French statesman to throw obstacles 
 in the way of the social ambitions which would 
 lead parents to send their children to the 
 classical secondary school, Prussia was considering 
 how she could provide a modern secondary educa- 
 tion side by side with the classical school ; not in 
 fear of social ambitions, but because such an 
 education appeared essential to the proper de- 
 velopment of a large portion of the nation. This 
 difference, which goes on increasing between the 
 two systems, is a fundamental one, and calls for 
 very special attention from those English educa- 
 tionists who study the schools of the two countries. 
 
 It is significant that about this time there was 
 in France a strong opinion in favour of what 
 is called " practical " education, that is to say, 
 education which is strictly utilitarian in its aim. 
 The great self-educated scientist, Arago, expressed 
 this opinion in 1836, in the well-known saying, 
 "You don't make beet-root sugar with fine phrases." 
 It may be noticed, in passing, that similar argu- 
 ments have been used in favour of the educative 
 value of science as opposed to literature by not 
 a few English educationists within the last ten 
 years. 
 
 Guizot's system of higher primary schools met 
 with little success for many years. Without tracing 
 it through all its changing fortunes, it is only 
 necessary here to notice the chief points in its 
 
 160 
 
Growth of Higher Primary System. 
 
 historical development. Under Napoleon III., 
 when democratic tendencies were held in check 
 by other means, the higher primary schools were 
 allowed to languish. Considerable progress was, 
 however, made in elementary education, the 
 number of illiterates, which in 1850 was 35*4 
 per cent, had been reduced in 1872 to 19*1 per 
 cent. At the same time, the State tightened 
 its grasp on the schools, the number of private 
 schools falling from 16,736 in 1850 to 13,866 
 in 1872. Consequently, the public expenditure 
 on primary education increased between 1865 
 and 1872 by more than 26,000,000 francs. Private 
 enterprise seems, however, merely to have been 
 turned into other channels, for it is during 
 this period that we find it energetically directed, 
 assisted by public enterprise, to the establishment 
 of adult classes, apprentice classes, and evening 
 continuation schools. These, however, in no way 
 provided higher primary education as originally 
 organized. 
 
 But most important of all was the establishment 
 of the modern branch of secondary education in 
 1865. At this date France was again attempting 
 to realize her dreams of national supremacy in 
 Europe. And it is, therefore, not astonishing to 
 find her attempting to introduce reforms in her 
 secondary education on the lines adopted by 
 Prussia. Had the disaster of 1870 not resulted for 
 
 161 
 
Higher Primary System. 
 
 France in a return to a Republican form of govern- 
 ment, it is not improbable that the modern 
 secondary school would have thriven and removed 
 all need for higher primary education. But such 
 was not to be its fate. 
 
 In 1878 the French Parliament for the first 
 time turned its attention seriously to the higher 
 primary question, and voted 1 10,000 francs for 
 the salaries of masters and scholarships for pupils 
 in higher primary schools. From then onward 
 these schools have rapidly developed. While in 
 1878 there were only about forty such schools 
 in France, there were 256 in 1889, besides 431 
 so-called cours complementaires. It only remains 
 to trace, during the last ten years, their rapid 
 development, based on the Free Education Act 
 of 1880, and the Act of 1886. 
 
 The cours complementaires were first of all sepa- 
 rated from the higher primary schools, and defined 
 as a one-year's additional course to the elementary 
 school, of which it forms a distinct part. The 
 higher primary school, on the other hand, is, except 
 in a few places, carried on in a separate building 
 of its own, provides a minimum course of two 
 years' instruction, and is under a different director 
 from the elementary school. Three or more years 
 of instruction must be given for it to be recog- 
 nized as providing a full course. In 1889 there 
 were existing two kinds of higher primary schools — 
 
 162 
 
Higher Primary System. 
 
 professionnelles and non-prof essionnelles, the former 
 being under the control of the Minister of Public 
 Instruction, and the latter under the joint control 
 of this Minister and the Minister of Commerce. 
 The result was that the "professional" element 
 was found to predominate in both, that is to say, 
 that special instruction for various occupations was 
 tending to oust general instruction altogether. In 
 1892, however, a separation between the two types 
 was commenced, and at present they are clearly 
 defined. 
 
 There are thus two distinct types of school 
 to supplement elementary education : (1) the 
 higher primary schools, under the Minister of 
 Public Instruction, and (2) the practical schools 
 of commerce and industry, under the Minister 
 of Commerce. Speaking generally, it appears 
 that the Ministry of Commerce has favoured 
 specialization within the limits which we are now 
 discussing, and, as we shall see later, also in 
 higher grades of education ; whereas the Ministry 
 of Public Instruction has, as far as possible, been 
 guided in its work by the scientific laws governing 
 the process of education. 
 
 In 1890 it was calculated that at least one-half 
 of the pupils in the higher primary schools were 
 destined for agricultural, industrial, or commercial 
 occupations, and at present the proportion is over 
 two-thirds. Discussing the aim of these schools 
 12 163 
 
Higher Primary Schools — 
 
 in 1893, the Minister of Public Instruction, M. 
 Charles Dupuy, said, in an official circular — • 
 
 " Who are the pupils attending them ? They 
 are not young people destined for wide careers, 
 having indefinite time at their disposal, and 
 asking from us high intellectual culture ; they 
 are children of the working classes, who will re- 
 quire to live by their labour, and, in most cases, 
 by the work of their hands. They do not aspire 
 to classical studies ; their ambition and probable 
 destiny is to fill one of the numerous positions of 
 an unpretentious character that agriculture, com- 
 merce, and industry offer to workers, with the 
 prospect of attaining, by gradual steps, to a state of 
 moderate ease. 
 
 " If this is so, the higher primary school will 
 merely direct its pupils, from start to finish, to- 
 wards the requirements of the practical life that 
 awaits them ; it will not turn their minds for a 
 moment from the pursuit of a profession ; it will 
 be careful not to let them acquire habits, tastes, 
 and ideas which will separate them from the 
 manner of life and work for which they are in- 
 tended. And, while at the same time reminding 
 them that democracy broke down the barriers which 
 formerly restricted so seriously the liberty of the 
 individual, it will try rather to make them love and 
 honour their career than to dream of the means 
 of quitting it." 
 
 He concluded, therefore, that there could be no 
 possible confusion of aim between these schools 
 and the modern branch of secondary education, 
 and he defined the aim of the former as follows : — 
 
 164 
 
and " Practical y ' Schools. 
 
 "The entirely practical and utilitarian character of 
 the higher primary school may be recognized at the 
 first glance : in this general sense it is ' professional.' 
 But nevertheless it remains absolutely instructive ; 
 it does not lend itself to apprenticeship. It is a 
 school, not a workshop ; its members are scholars, 
 not apprentices. In it we continue the work 
 begun in the primary school. Even for the work- 
 man (ought we not rather to say, before everything 
 else for the workman ?) this mental cultivation — ■ 
 by which is formed judgment, affection, will, 
 character, indeed, all those powers which he, more 
 than any one, will need in the struggle for existence 
 — is not a misplaced luxury. 
 
 " Our higher primary schools have, therefore, 
 this double object which has been assigned to them 
 from the outset : they unite in the closest associa- 
 tion a completing of general education with a 
 beginning of professional instruction." 
 
 The Minister of Commerce, in his turn, in a 
 circular issued a week later, defined the aim of the 
 new "practical schools/' He recognized the need 
 of a solid basis of general instruction, and stated 
 that this must not be lost sight of. He con- 
 tinued — 
 
 " But we must also consider the needs of 
 commerce and industry. Every day, indeed, the 
 commercial struggle between nations becomes 
 more ardent, and the difficulty of trade greater. 
 Industry has undergone a profound transforma- 
 tion ; everything is sacrificed to the end to be 
 attained, which is to produce quickly and cheaply ; 
 and in consequence of the division of labour 
 and the introduction of machinery, workshop 
 
 165 
 
Higher Primary & " Practical " Schools. 
 
 apprenticeship does not exist to-day, except 
 in a few rare instances. Nevertheless, in conse- 
 quence of the frequent changes which must be 
 effected in plant and tools, the necessity of possess- 
 ing workmen having adequate theoretical know- 
 ledge, and thoroughly trained to the conditions of 
 the workshop, has never been so clearly necessary. 
 We cannot afford to ignore the fact that it is to 
 our interest to fill up a gap existing by the force 
 of circumstances in our commercial and industrial 
 organization, and it has become indispensable to 
 provide our merchants with carefully prepared 
 assistants, and to furnish our factories with high- 
 class workmen. This is the task of the practical 
 school." 
 
 How far this aim has been kept in view in the 
 two kinds of schools may best be judged by study- 
 ing the annexed time-tables. 
 
 We thus see that a vast system of higher primary 
 education has been built up which in no way forms 
 part of the so-called educational ladder. It is in 
 itself intended to be complete, and makes no attempt 
 to train its pupils to proceed to the secondary 
 school. There is, indeed, no link between this 
 branch and secondary education, and there is 
 intended to be none. From statistics exhibited in 
 the section of the Ministry of Public Instruction 
 at the last Paris Exhibition, it may be inferred 
 that the system is successful, in that it tends to 
 keep children in the professions or occupations of 
 their parents. 
 
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 167 
 
Higher Primary & " Practical " Schools. 
 
 The comparison between the time-tables of the 
 " general " branch of the French higher primary 
 schools and that of the Prussian Realschule on 
 p. 8 1 is instructive. And it should be remembered 
 that this "general" branch represents only one part 
 of the organization under the Ministry of Public 
 Instruction. That this Ministry is contending 
 against the specializing tendencies of the Ministry 
 of Commerce is shown by the fact that, by com- 
 paring the second and third years of the industrial 
 section of the higher primary schools with the 
 same years of the practical schools of industry, the 
 following result is obtained by the French authori- 
 ties : In the former, 28 hours a- week are given to 
 theoretical instruction, and 28 to practical ; while 
 in the latter only 19J are given to theoretical, but 
 77 to practical instruction. 
 
 At the close of the higher primary course 
 a certificate is given to those pupils who pass 
 a leaving examination. In 1899, out of 3708 
 candidates, 1754 were successful in passing this 
 examination. At present this certificate carries 
 no special privileges with it,* and apparently confers 
 but little advantage on the bearer. But probably 
 in time it will obtain admission to certain Govern- 
 ment posts, and will be recognized at its proper 
 value by employers. 
 
 * For its future use as a means of admission to certain technical 
 schools, see p. 187. 
 
 168 
 
Modern Secondary Education. 
 
 Before proceeding to consider the higher branches 
 of the education of those classes for whose benefit 
 the higher primary system has been devised, a few 
 words may be said here as to the development of 
 secondary schools in France. As stated above, an 
 attempt was made in 1865 to create schools of the 
 same nature as the German Realschulen. This 
 attempt may be said to have failed because the 
 pupils of these schools were allowed none of the 
 privileges, chief among which is admission to 
 the universities, granted to those in the higher 
 branches of secondary education. Had it suc- 
 ceeded, there would now be no place for higher 
 primary schools. Looking back on the course of 
 development of the educational system of France 
 during the nineteenth century, the predominant 
 aim of the State appears to have been the checking 
 of the democratic tendencies towards social equality. 
 We shall see later on that in America, during the 
 same period, no such checks have been placed on 
 democratic tendencies, and yet there has been 
 no overcrowding of those special professions and 
 occupations which are considered to bestow a 
 certain social sanction. In France, however, for 
 reasons already stated, such checks appear to have 
 been essential. It is difficult to believe that they 
 are so in England. 
 
 The social considerations alluded to have also 
 had their influence on the actual development of 
 
 169 
 
Modern Secondary Education. 
 
 secondary education. It will immediately be 
 evident that, where such a course of studies as 
 that in the general section of the higher primary 
 schools has been planned to meet the needs of the 
 lower social orders, there will be great prejudices 
 against a similar course in secondary schools, which 
 are fed by those with higher social aspirations. 
 And, consequently, we find in France almost the 
 same social prejudice against the exclusion of Latin 
 from the secondary schools as we find in England. 
 The annexed table, exhibited in the Educational 
 section of the recent Paris Exhibition, will show 
 plainly the present arrangement of the secondary 
 schools in France. It will be observed that both 
 in France and in England, modern and classical 
 "sides" are to be found in the same schools. 
 But this is by no means necessarily the case; 
 in Paris, for instance, three Lycees and one 
 College have no modern side, and one Lycee 
 and one College no classical side. 
 
 It should be noticed that the French have no 
 leaving examination corresponding to that in the 
 German secondary schools. The examination for 
 the degree of Bachelier in some way replaces this, 
 but it is an examination held at the university, 
 and not in the secondary school. A candidate 
 may present himself as many times as he likes, 
 and may have been prepared by practically any 
 school or any teachers. The different branches of 
 
 170 
 
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 «5 
 
The Baccalaureat. 
 
 this examination have, in short, come to be regarded 
 as bestowing a degree carrying with it admission 
 to various professions and further courses of study, 
 rather than as affording a test of having passed 
 satisfactorily through a certain course of secondary 
 education. 
 
 Since 1890 this examination has been divided 
 into two distinct sections. The first, called the 
 classical baccalaureate has been subdivided into 
 the two sections : (1) literary-philosophical, and 
 (2) literary-mathematical ; the second, the modern 
 baccalaureat^ into three sections : (1) literary-philo- 
 sophical, (2) literary-scientific, and (3) literary- 
 mathematical. These two sections correspond 
 respectively to the two sides in the foregoing 
 time-table. It will be seen, therefore, that the 
 candidates for the modern baccalaure'at are younger 
 than those for the classical. It is not surprising 
 that the former should carry with it fewer privi- 
 leges than the latter. The relative popularity of 
 the classical side is shown by the fact that three 
 times as many candidates present themselves for 
 the classical as for the modern baccalaureat. There 
 is at present a very strong movement in favour 
 of raising the modern side to the same level as 
 that of the classical, and reintroducing the old 
 baccalaureat-es- sciences ; which is, of course, not 
 satisfactorily replaced by the second section of 
 the higher division in the present arrangement. 
 
 171 
 
Ecoles Nationales Professionnelles. 
 
 When reviewing the technical tendencies of the 
 higher primary schools, it was seen that there 
 is a tendency on the part of the Ministry of 
 Public Instruction to insist, as far as possible, on 
 general education in all schools under its control. 
 The Ministry of Commerce, on the other hand, 
 stands for the utilitarian rather than for the educa- 
 tional idea, and, consequently, it has gradually 
 drawn beneath its sway all those schools in which 
 the special technical aim predominates. We do 
 not find in France any clearly defined system of 
 schools, as in Germany ; indeed, the French system 
 presents a good deal of confusion, and the struggle 
 in the higher primary sphere between the two 
 Ministries, representing more or less antagonistic 
 ideas, produces of necessity a certain amount of 
 overlapping of effort. At times, indeed, it appears 
 that there must on this account be a good deal of 
 unnecessary expenditure. In the case of the Ecoles 
 Nationales Professionnelles, for instance, it is diffi- 
 cult to see how the Ministry of Public Instruction 
 has had in practice anything more than a purely 
 utilitarian and technical aim. Speaking in 1898, 
 however, M. Buisson, to whom French primary 
 education and that of all other countries lies under 
 a heavy debt, thus drew a distinction — 
 
 "They are in no way special technical schools 
 . . . they offer a complete scholastic system (des 
 groupes scolaires), comprising the infants' school, 
 
 172 
 
r 
 
 Ecoles Nationales Professionnelles. 
 
 the elementary school, and the higher primary 
 school ; and in all grades there is professional 
 education, increasing by regular gradations from the 
 first years, in which it is practically non-existent, 
 until the last half-year, when it is every thin g. 
 Having arrived at this stage, the apprentice, who 
 now only requires the practice of his trade to 
 become a workman, leaves the ecole nationale 
 either to enter the workshop or to proceed to a 
 real technical school. These schools, therefore, 
 are establishments offering a preparation for general 
 life, as well as for the special life of the work- 
 man." 
 
 However this may be, it is difficult for any one 
 who is accustomed to the educational ideas of 
 different countries to regard these schools as other 
 than technical. It is true that they pay attention 
 to general instruction, judging from their time- 
 tables, but every one who saw their very fine 
 exhibit at the recent Paris Exhibition was struck 
 chiefly with the great technical skill displayed by 
 their pupils. At that moment they were, in fact, 
 considered ripe for the Ministry of Commerce and 
 Industry, though the Ministry of Public Instruction 
 regarded them as the crown of the two hundred 
 higher primary schools for boys. The most striking 
 objects among their exhibits were an agricultural 
 locomotive, a petroleum motor working a dynamo, 
 gates of forged iron, a steam-engine, and various 
 pieces of furniture. Where boys are taught mainly 
 to make such things as these, the school may fairly 
 
 173 
 
Practical Schools of Commerce 
 
 be considered technical. Indeed, one cannot refrain 
 from thinking that a great many of the fine dis- 
 tinctions which are drawn between technical and 
 general education are due to the anxiety of the 
 Ministry of Public Instruction to maintain its 
 claim to the schools which it has in the past 
 controlled with such marked success. There are 
 now four of these schools : Vierzon, founded in 
 1881 ; Armentieres and Voiron, in 1882; and 
 Nantes, in 1898. 3,193 pupils passed through these 
 schools between the years 1889 and 1899. 
 
 Of the other technical schools in the higher 
 primary sphere we may notice here the Practical 
 Schools of Commerce and Industry referred to in 
 the foregoing pages. It has been seen how these 
 schools were placed under the sole control of the 
 Ministry of Commerce.* Being primary, they 
 come under the law making all primary instruction 
 free, and therefore they charge no fees. There are 
 now thirty-three (thirty-one actually at work in 
 1900) of these schools in different parts of France, 
 founded or transformed since 1892. In the budget 
 of 1889, 1,174,909 francs were voted for the 
 encouragement of industrial and commercial edu- 
 cation, including the support of these schools. Of 
 the thirty-one at work in 1900, thirteen give 
 industrial education only, two commercial instruc- 
 tion only, and sixteen both kinds of instruction. 
 
 * Cf. p. 162, et sqq, and also Comparative Time-table on p. 167. 
 
 174 
 
and Industry. 
 
 In 1898 there were 4000 boys and girls attending 
 the twenty-seven schools of this kind then open. 
 
 No boy or girl is admitted to these schools 
 under the age of twelve. If the candidate for 
 admission be under thirteen years of age, the 
 leaving certificate of the primary school must be 
 produced. If more than thirteen, the candidate who 
 is not in possession of this certificate must undergo 
 an examination. In any case a competitive 
 examination may be held for admission where 
 the number of candidates is greater than the 
 number of places vacant. Provision may be made 
 for boarders, with the special permission of the 
 Minister. This is sometimes desirable where the 
 schools have to serve a large district. A number 
 of scholarships are given by the Ministry, by the 
 departments, and by the communes, both for 
 boarding and maintenance. These scholarships 
 are awarded by preference to the children of poor 
 parents, who intend to follow the normal courses 
 — that is to say, the courses which prepare directly 
 for a profession and not for higher technical schools. 
 The scholarships are generally, but not invariably, 
 awarded on the results of a competitive exami- 
 nation, held once a year. 
 
 At the close of the full course, in both the 
 industrial and commercial schools, an examination 
 is held for a leaving certificate. To obtain these 
 certificates the candidate must gain not less than 
 
 175 
 
Practical Schools of Commerce 
 
 an average of twelve marks out of twenty, and in 
 no single subject less than five. 
 
 The masters and mistresses in these schools 
 must hold certificates of aptitude as head or 
 assistant teacher, as the case may be. These 
 certificates are awarded on the results of a very 
 searching examination, regulated by the ministerial 
 decree. As usual, these examinations are both 
 oral and written. It is interesting to notice that, 
 in the case of the teachers in the commercial 
 schools, a number of the successful candidates at 
 the certificate examination are awarded scholar- 
 ships to enable them to study in England, Spain, 
 or Germany, according to the special language in 
 which they have proved themselves proficient in 
 the examination. They must leave France within 
 a month of the close of the examination, and reside 
 for ten full months in the town which has been 
 selected for them. The holders of such scholar- 
 ships must sign an engagement to serve for six 
 years in a Practical School of Commerce or 
 Industry. Every two months they must send to 
 the proper authorities a report of their doings in 
 the foreign country, written in the language they 
 are studying. On their return from abroad they 
 must pass a further examination. One part of 
 this examination consists in giving a lesson on a 
 selected commercial subject in the foreign language, 
 the candidate being allowed four hours to prepare 
 
 176 
 
and Industry. 
 
 the lesson. The other parts of the examination 
 consist of an interrogation on political economy 
 and the history of commerce. 
 
 Too much stress cannot be laid on the fact that 
 both in France and Germany it is considered that 
 the first essential to efficient schools of every kind 
 are properly qualified teachers, and that money 
 and thought is therefore devoted to their training. 
 
 The nature of the Practical Schools of Commerce 
 and Industry may best be understood from a short 
 account of one of them. Not the least well known 
 is the Practical School of Industry at Saint- 
 Etienne. 
 
 In 1879 the municipal council of Saint-Etienne 
 passed a resolution in favour of establishing a 
 technical high school. But, though similar reso- 
 lutions were adopted on several subsequent occa- 
 sions, they led to no practical result. In 1882, 
 however, the council demanded merely an fcole 
 professionnelle, and, at the same sitting in which 
 the resolution was adopted, voted 130,000 francs 
 for the creation of such a school in a large house 
 owned by the municipality. A few months later 
 this plan was approved by the superior authorities, 
 and the school was opened, at the end of the same 
 year, with fifty-four pupils. It was soon found 
 necessary to provide more commodious quarters, 
 and in 1884 the municipality began to construct 
 a suitable building on a large piece of land 
 
 177 
 
Practical School of Industry for Boys. 
 
 possessed by the town. In eighteen months the 
 school was at work in its new quarters. 
 
 When the buildings were opened, the equip- 
 ment was far from complete, and the pupils 
 themselves were set to work to supply what was 
 still wanting. For several years, during the first 
 of which they were aided by a professional work- 
 man, they were employed in making the necessary 
 machines, tools, models, and various apparatus. 
 The work which they thus performed has been 
 estimated at the value of 35,000 francs. 
 
 On its creation the school received the title of 
 higher primary and " professional " school, and 
 was exclusively under the control of the Minister 
 of Public Instruction; but later it was placed under 
 the dual control of this Minister and the Minister 
 of Commerce. Since 1892, however, the latter 
 Minister has been solely responsible for this 
 school, which since that date has borne its present 
 title. 
 
 The school consists of two buildings. In the 
 first is carried on the general instruction, and 
 consists of — five class-rooms, each built for sixty 
 pupils ; five lecture-rooms ; one chemical amphi- 
 theatre with 150 places ; a chemical laboratory; a 
 physical amphitheatre ; a laboratory for industrial 
 electricity ; a large art-room, with a store-room 
 for models ; a library ; a museum, etc. 
 
 In the second buildings are the engine (35 H.P.) 
 
 178 
 
Practical School of Industry for Boys. 
 
 and a dynamo, which supplies 270 lamps (20- 
 candle power), one arc lamp, and the electrical 
 laboratory. The rest of the building consists of 
 the different workshops, covering altogether 1400 
 square metres. These workshops are eight in 
 number : namely, two mechanical workshops, a 
 smiths' shop, a workshop for armoury and in- 
 dustrial electricity, a joiners' and pattern shop, 
 a weaving shed, a dyeing and bleaching shed, 
 and a sculpture and modelling room. 
 
 So far, 673,000 francs have been spent on this 
 school, divided thus : — 
 
 Building and equipment 455,000 francs. 
 
 Plant 160,000 ,, 
 
 Teaching material 58,000 ,, 
 
 Total 673,000 ,, 
 
 The yearly budget of the school shows an ex- 
 penditure of 106,777 francs, of which 43,790 are 
 provided by the State, and 62,987 by the town. 
 The Chamber of Commerce gives 300 francs 
 yearly for prizes ; two other prizes of 100 francs 
 have been given, and a sum of 40,000 francs was 
 bequeathed for the same purpose. 
 
 The length of the course at the Saint-Etienne 
 school is four years. The first year is called the 
 preparatory year. During this year the elementary 
 education of the pupils is completed, and they 
 pass through all the different workshops in order 
 13 179 
 
Practical School of Industry for Boys. 
 
 that their special aptitudes and tastes may be 
 determined. The number of hours per week 
 generally devoted to each subject in all schools 
 of this sort are shown by the official time-tables. 
 In this school, however, the hours are reduced — 
 a reduction which is justified by the existence 
 of the preparatory year in addition to the courses 
 decreed by the official regulations, and which is 
 necessitated by the fact that the families of many 
 of the pupils live so far away that it is impossible 
 for them to come to school before 7.30 a.m. or to 
 remain after 6.30 p.m. 
 
 The following note in the official account of this 
 school, from which the above information has 
 been derived, is instructive, as showing the fear 
 ever present in the minds of the French educational 
 authorities of encouraging ambitions which pupils 
 may not in after life be able to satisfy. It states 
 that, Saint-Etienne, like other schools of the same 
 type, prepares candidates for higher technical 
 schools. 
 
 "But," it adds, "it is all important to avoid 
 making dec/asses; therefore these candidates do 
 not, properly speaking, form a special section. 
 Indeed, they follow the same courses as the other 
 pupils. ... It is only during the year which 
 precedes their examinations, and during a part 
 of the time which is devoted to work in the shops, 
 that they receive private instruction in the subjects 
 
 180 
 
Practical School of Industry for Boys. 
 
 of the examinations for admission to the higher 
 schools. Thus, in case of failure, they are not 
 stranded (devoyes) ; they can, like their fellow- 
 pupils, enter a workshop or factory. Moreover, 
 pupils are admitted to this special instruction 
 only at their own request, and if they are found 
 to possess the necessary ability." 
 
 In the years 1894 to 1899 there were 116 such 
 candidates who presented themselves at the ex- 
 aminations for admission to the technical schools 
 of a higher grade. Out of these seventy-two proved 
 successful. During the same period four pupils on 
 leaving the school entered a lycte, two of whom 
 proceeded thence to higher technical schools. 
 
 In 1900 there were more than four hundred 
 boys in this school. At first it attracted only 
 the children of the working-classes, and some 
 who had proved unsuccessful in other kinds of 
 schools ; but now foremen, managers, employers, 
 and persons still higher in the industrial scale, 
 send their children to be taught there. Thirty- 
 two of the pupils hold scholarships. Of the 
 scholarships awarded on examination, one pupil 
 holds one of 500 francs, nine hold scholarships of 
 250 francs, and twelve scholarships of 125 francs. 
 Five pupils also hold scholarships of 250 francs 
 and five of 125 francs, which were awarded with- 
 out competitive examination. All these scholar- 
 ships were granted by the State, neither the 
 
 181 
 
A Practical School of Commerce 
 
 department nor the town giving any assistance in 
 this way. There is no boarding establishment 
 connected with the institution. 
 
 Perhaps the best test which can be applied to the 
 practical benefits to be derived from such a school 
 is that of the wages its pupils receive in later life 
 compared with those of men who receive no such 
 education. An inquiry was made in this con- 
 nection with regard to 730 pupils. Of these, 
 those who had left the school in the middle or at 
 the end of the third year were earning 4*50 francs 
 at the age of twenty ; those who had left it at 
 the middle or at the end of the fourth year were 
 earning 5*20 francs at the same age. The school 
 authorities remark that this is better than the 
 I franc a day earned by young men who have had 
 no such education. 
 
 In the same town there is a Practical School of 
 Commerce and Industry for girls, but a brief account 
 of a similar school at Havre may prove more in- 
 teresting. The early history of this school was 
 much the same as that of the boys at Saint- 
 Etienne. It is now located in a building specially 
 constructed for the purpose in 1880. It contains 
 five class-rooms, one music-room, one art-room, 
 three cutting-out rooms, one ironing-room, one 
 kitchen, one trying-on room. The sewing and 
 ironing rooms contain the following equipment : — 
 
 Four sewing - machines ; twenty - one dress- 
 
 182 
 
and Industry for Girls. 
 
 makers' models of different sizes ; irons for press- 
 ing seams ; embroidery frames of different sorts. 
 A separate building- contains : the ironing-room 
 (with irons for polishing, goffering, etc.) ; the 
 laundry, with various washing and drying 
 machines. 
 
 The town of Havre undertook all the expenses 
 of construction, amounting to about 198,000 francs, 
 together with 18,000 francs for later improvements. 
 The school costs the town about 29,000 francs 
 a year, but against this must be set 4500 francs 
 produced by the work of the pupils. The only 
 other resources are about 4000 francs from the 
 State, and 100 francs from the department in 
 which the town is situated. In 1899 there were 
 105 girls in the commercial and 156 in the in- 
 dustrial section. The following statistics are 
 interesting. In 1897 sixty-five pupils were being 
 instructed in dressmaking,' fifty- five in the making 
 of underlinen, twelve in ironing, eight in mil- 
 linery, and fifteen in art needlework. In the 
 School of Commerce there were eighty pupils. 
 Five of these, on leaving the school, entered a 
 training-college for primary teachers, and four 
 went into business. Twenty-eight pupils took up 
 industrial occupations, or went back to their 
 families to exercise different professions ; four 
 went to England, and eighty-five obtained various 
 certificates. It is found that about one- third of 
 
 1S3 
 
Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers. 
 
 the pupils in the industrial section return to their 
 families on leaving the school, and do not take 
 up independent employment. 
 
 In connection with this school the Friendly 
 Association of past and present pupils should be 
 noticed. This association, which meets as often 
 as possible in the school, consists of 166 present 
 pupils and 105 past pupils and their friends. 
 Such associations have proved a great success 
 in connection with many French schools. They 
 possess numerous advantages, and are particularly 
 useful in helping pupils to find situations on 
 leaving the school. 
 
 Above the Practical Schools of Commerce and 
 Industry — but not in any way complementary to 
 them, in the sense that the lower prepare pupils 
 for the higher — come the Ecoles Nationales a" Arts 
 et Metiers. In 1788 the Duke of La Roche- 
 foucault-Liancourt founded a school, in one of 
 his farms near Liancourt, for the sons of the 
 non-commissioned officers of his regiment of 
 cavalry. His idea was that these children should 
 learn a trade while undergoing the ordinary course 
 of general instruction. In 1799 the Government 
 of the Republic declared this school national, and 
 transferred it to Compiegne. When Napoleon 
 was first Consul he visited this school. As a 
 result of his observation of the ignorance of 
 French workmen he remarked — 
 
 184 
 
Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers. 
 
 " Everywhere I have found foremen dis- 
 tinguished in their art, and displaying remark- 
 able skill in execution, but hardly one who was 
 able to make a sketch or the simplest mechanical 
 calculation, or who was able to express his ideas 
 by a drawing or in writing. There is thus a want 
 in French industry which I mean to supply here. 
 We will have no more Latin (that will be taught 
 in the lycees which are going to be organized), but 
 trades must be taught with the theory necessary 
 for their promotion. Here shall be formed excel- 
 lent foremen for our factories." 
 
 As a result the school of Compiegne was re- 
 organized in 1803 ; and in 1806, owing to the 
 increase in the number of its pupils, it was re- 
 moved to more commodious premises in Chalons- 
 sur-Marne. In 1803 a similar school was opened 
 in Beaupreau, which was transferred, in 181 5, to 
 Angers. In 1843, a third of these schools was 
 started in Aix, and a fourth has recently been 
 established in Lille. 
 
 There is no more interesting chapter in the 
 history of French technical education than that 
 which relates the development of these schools. 
 At the outset, in the school of Compiegne, pupils 
 were admitted at the age of eight, and until twelve 
 they were taught reading, writing, the elements of 
 French grammar, arithmetic (the four rules and 
 fractions), and the elements of geometry and 
 drawing. Then followed descriptive and machine 
 drawing, and, for the brighter pupils, mechanics. 
 
 185 
 
Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers. 
 
 There were five different kinds of workshops in 
 the school. There appears to have been no fixed 
 length to the course of studies, some of the boys 
 remaining even ten years. Without tracing these 
 schools through all the political changes which 
 affected them, we need only notice that in 1832 
 the upper and lower limits of age were placed at 
 fifteen and seventeen respectively. At the same 
 time it was decreed that a competitive examina- 
 tion should be held for admission. From 1885 
 onwards the course of studies in these schools was 
 gradually widened and raised to a higher level. 
 But in spite of the very high standard which they 
 had attained, it was again repeated, in a decree of 
 1899, that the object of these schools was "to train 
 workmen capable of becoming the heads of work- 
 shops, and manufacturers versed in the practice of 
 the mechanical arts." Once more in the official 
 account of these schools we find the same insist- 
 ence on the practical aim of the education they 
 should afford, and evidence of the same desire to 
 discourage ambition which may lead the pupils 
 into paths which are already overcrowded. Having 
 pointed out that the distinguishing feature of these 
 schools is manual instruction in the workshop, to 
 which not less than six hours a day is devoted, 
 this account proceeds as follows : — " Thanks to 
 such a training, followed for three years, there 
 is not a certificated pupil of the Ecoles Nationales, 
 
 186 
 
Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Mdtiers. 
 
 whether he be a fitter, pattern-maker, founder, or 
 smith, who cannot boldly take his place in a work- 
 shop, and, after a short time, honourably gain his 
 living there." 
 
 It is then stated that all the * best inspired " 
 of the pupils follow such a course on leaving 
 the schools, and that this tendency is strongly 
 encouraged by the authorities. Hopes are held 
 out that in this way the instruction which the 
 pupils have received will enable them to pass 
 rapidly through all the grades of the army of 
 work, and justifies them in aspiring to the highest 
 situations in the industrial world. 
 
 As might be expected, these schools are under the 
 control of the Minister of Commerce. Their teachers 
 are all carefully selected, professional preparation 
 being insisted on as in the case of other schools 
 in France. At one time day pupils were admitted, 
 now they take boarders only. No candidate is 
 admitted to the competitive examination for 
 admission unless he is of French nationality, and 
 not less than fifteen or more than seventeen years 
 old. It is significant that, after 1903, no one will 
 be admitted who does not hold the leaving cer- 
 tificate of a higher primary school, or of a practical 
 school of industry. As a compensation for these 
 increased demands, the upper limit of age will be 
 raised by nine months. The object of this new 
 regulation is to ensure a higher attainment of 
 
 187 
 
Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers. 
 
 general culture among the candidates for admission, 
 it having been found here, as generally elsewhere, 
 that where examination is alone employed as a 
 test it often fails in its object, and encourages 
 "cramming" at the expense of proper education. It 
 may be inferred from this new regulation, that it is 
 not desired that the pupils in these schools should 
 have passed through any stage of secondary educa- 
 tion. This is not surprising when it is remembered 
 that the tendency in France is, as has already 
 been stated, to discourage the children of the lower 
 commercial and industrial classes from attending 
 the secondary school. 
 
 r 
 
 The popularity of the Ecoles Nationales d'Arts 
 et Metiers may be judged from the fact, that, in 
 1899, no less than 1348 candidates presented 
 themselves at the competitive examination for 
 300 vacant places. The time-table on pp. 190, 191 
 will show the nature of the work in these schools. 
 
 It will be seen that Table A represents only 
 the theoretical side of the instruction. Classes of 
 industrial hygiene, and moral and civic instruction, 
 have recently been added. 
 
 The practical instruction is carried on in four 
 workshops, viz. the fitting-shop, the smithy, etc., 
 the pattern-shop, and the foundry. On entering 
 the school the pupils are divided among these 
 different workshops. It is found that, taking into 
 account the needs and the preferences of the boys 
 
 188 
 
Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers. 
 
 themselves, out of one hundred new pupils, seventy 
 enter the fitting-shop, and the rest are divided 
 equally among the others. At the end of the 
 third year, each lad is required to spend a certain 
 time in that workshop which is most closely con- 
 nected with the one in which he has been receiving 
 instruction ; for instance, the fitters pass into the 
 smithy, and the pattern-makers to the foundry. 
 Six hours a day is devoted to manual instruction. 
 The British Technical Instruction Commissioners, 
 in their Report of 1884, gave the following account 
 of the work they found going on in the Chalons 
 school : — 
 
 " In the fitting-shop, which is divided into three 
 sections, one of which corresponds with each year 
 of training, there is a large stock of plant, an 
 engine and boiler, which the other students manage 
 in turn for a week each, as stoker and driver, and 
 a tool-store from which the necessary tools are 
 issued ; the students make squares, compasses, vices, 
 etc. In the second year, they pass on to detached 
 portions of machinery, and make small simple 
 machines. In the third year, they are employed in 
 the production of machines either for actual use 
 in the school, or for sale outside. The school, 
 in undertaking contracts for work, will not bind 
 itself to deliver at a given date, and therefore does 
 not compete with any manufacturing establish- 
 ment. 
 
 " The foundry contains three cupolas, one of 
 which serves for heavy castings ; among the objects 
 cast, are headstocks, and beds for lathes, and 
 frames for spinning-machines. At the time of 
 
 189 
 
ECOLES NATIONALES 
 A. — Arrangement of 
 
 First Year. 1 
 
 Second 
 
 
 First Half-year. 
 
 Second Half-year. 
 
 First Half-year. 
 
 
 a S 
 
 
 V C. 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 £ 9 
 
 
 JD O 
 
 
 *° S 
 
 
 Subject. 
 
 | 3 
 
 Subject- 
 
 Num 
 of less 
 
 Subject. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Algebra . 
 
 2>> 
 
 Geometry . 
 
 6 
 
 Descriptive 
 
 
 
 Geometry . 
 
 24 
 
 Descriptive 
 
 
 geometry 
 
 7 
 
 
 Descriptive 
 
 
 geometry 
 
 17 
 
 Kinematics 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 geometry 
 
 16 
 
 Higher 
 
 
 Physics 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 Literature 
 
 16 
 
 mathematics 
 
 10 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 Technology . 
 
 16 
 
 Cosmography, 
 sur v e y i n g, 
 
 
 Literature 
 Geography . 
 
 
 10 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 and levelling 
 
 14 
 
 Technology 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 Trigonometry 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Literature 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Technology . 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 97 
 
 Total 
 
 100 
 
 Total 
 
 106 
 
 
 Total for first ye 
 
 ar : 197 lessons. 
 
 
 Total for second 
 
 General Total for the 
 
 B. — Division 
 
 Every Week-day. — 5.30, Rise. 5. 50, Recreation. 6, Pre- 
 9.30, Workshop. 12, Dinner. 12. 20, Recreation. 1.30, Drawing. 
 Preparation. 8.45, Recreation. 9, Bedtime. 
 
 Sunday. — 6.30, Rise. 6.50, Recreation. 7 to 8, Preparation 
 9.30 to 12, Recreation. 12, Dinner. 1 to 5, Walk. 5 to 5.45, 
 8, Bedtime in winter ; 9, Bedtime in summer. 
 
 190 
 
D'ARTS ET METIERS. 
 Classes for the Year. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Third Year. 
 
 Second Half-year. 
 
 First Half-year. 
 
 Second Half-year. 
 
 
 
 u « 
 
 
 >-• 2 
 
 
 u 2 
 
 
 
 1) c 
 
 
 1) G 
 
 
 u G 
 
 
 
 ,£> O 
 
 
 ,Q O 
 
 
 Ji 
 
 
 Subject. 
 
 Id 
 
 Subject. 
 
 § 8 
 
 Subject. 
 
 G £ 
 
 5*8 
 
 
 Kinematics . 
 
 33 
 
 Mechanics 
 
 S4 
 
 Mechanics 
 
 49 
 
 
 Physics 
 
 17 
 
 Electricity 
 
 18 
 
 Electricity 
 
 4 
 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 16 
 
 Literature 
 
 7 
 
 Metallurgy 
 
 12 
 
 
 Literature 
 
 9 
 
 History 
 
 10 
 
 French . 
 
 7 
 
 
 Geography . 
 
 8 
 
 Industrial 
 
 
 History 
 
 10 
 
 
 Technology . 
 
 17 
 
 book - keep- 
 ing, indus- 
 trial economy 
 and geo- 
 graphy 
 
 Elements of 
 industrial and 
 commer c i a 1 
 law . r 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 Indus trial 
 book - keep- 
 ing, indus- 
 trial economy 
 and geo- 
 graphy 
 
 Elements of 
 industrial and 
 commercial 
 law 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 
 Total 
 
 100 
 
 Total 
 
 106 
 
 Total 
 
 98 
 
 year : 206 lessoi 
 
 is. 
 
 Total for tl 
 
 lird year : 204 lessons. 
 
 three years : 607 lessons. 
 
 of Time. 
 
 paration. 7.30, Breakfast. 7-45> Recreation. 8 to 9.30, Class. 
 3.15, Workshop. 7, Supper. 7.20, Recreation. 7.30 to 8.45, 
 
 (drawing). 8, Breakfast. 9, Preparation or devotional exercises. 
 Recreation. 5.45 to 7, Preparation. 7, Supper. 7.30, Recreation. 
 
 IQI 
 
r 
 
 Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Mdtiers. 
 
 our visit they were at work on a casting weighing 
 30 cwt. 
 
 " The smithy has eight forges. Two students 
 work at each, and take it in turns to act as smith 
 and striker. Among the articles made are vices, 
 screw presses, copying presses, etc. 
 
 "The pattern-shop has places made for one 
 hundred students : it is well provided with tools, 
 and admirably arranged. Patterns are made for 
 lathe-headstocks, beds for lathes and planing 
 machines, driving-pullies, etc." 
 
 At the end of each year an examination is held 
 for admission to the succeeding year's course. 
 This admission is not granted to any pupil who has 
 not obtained at least eleven-twentieths of the total 
 number of marks, and not less than six-twentieths 
 in any particular subject. The marks awarded in 
 these intermediate examinations go to decide the 
 position occupied by the pupils on leaving the 
 school. Those who pass the leaving examination 
 obtain the title of " certificated pupil of the Ecoles 
 Nationales d'Arts et Metiers" The pupil who 
 comes out first at the end of the course receives a 
 gold medal. Those whose general average of 
 marks is not less than fifteen out of twenty, and in 
 no particular subject less than eleven out of twenty 
 receive silver medals. The first fifteen pupils, who, 
 due allowance being made for their military service, 
 within two years after leaving the school, spend a 
 year in an industrial workshop, receive a prize of 
 
 192 
 
Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers. 
 
 £$o. The total fees, including boarding, are about 
 £38 a year. There are, however, numerous scholar- 
 ships. The number of pupils per school does not 
 exceed three hundred. The total expenses of the 
 three schools of Aix, Angers, and Chalons amount 
 to more than ^"52,000 a year. 
 
 In relation to what has been said of the checks 
 to social ambitions provided by such schools as 
 those under consideration, it may be noted that 
 a certain number of pupils proceed hence to the 
 Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures* They 
 thus avoid the secondary school altogether. As 
 a result, it is found that they experience con- 
 siderable difficulty at the outset with the theoretical 
 work in the Ecole Centrale. Being picked pupils, 
 they surmount this difficulty in a short time. The 
 discipline in these schools is marked by the same 
 rigour, and there is the same absence of sports and 
 physical amusements as is to be found in most 
 French boarding-schools. The custom of wearing 
 school uniforms is also maintained. 
 
 Those who search in France for a well- 
 organized and clearly defined system of schools 
 under State control will experience difficulty in 
 discovering the exact place filled in such a 
 system by some of the technical schools. Those, 
 for instance, of the type of the National Prac- 
 tical School for workmen and foremen at Cluny 
 
 * See p. 196. 
 193 
 
The School at Cluny. 
 
 would seem at first sight to be unnecessary. It 
 is, at any rate, instructive — as again showing the 
 pains taken by the French nation to check over- 
 weening ambition — to read the explanation of the 
 need of this school offered by the Minister of 
 Commerce to the French Parliament in 1891. He 
 stated that the Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers 
 had so extended their programme, in response to 
 the increased demands of industry, that they could 
 no longer claim merely to train the non-com- 
 missioned officers of the industrial army. There 
 was still, however, a need to train foremen, in the 
 strictest sense of the word. A series of institutions 
 was therefore necessary which would fill the place 
 formerly occupied by the Ecoles d' Arts et Metiers. 
 Further, he said that these schools had created a 
 new class of divoyes mid dec/asses. They refused 
 admission every year to a number of boys who had 
 passed the entrance examination, but for whom 
 they were unable to find room. And, moreover, 
 a number of those who were admitted were found, 
 after beginning their studies, to be unable to 
 continue them beyond a certain point, owing to the 
 weakness of their former education. Such weak- 
 ness cannot always be detected by examination. 
 The Minister calculated that this class numbered 
 about three hundred every year. 
 
 The chief differences between the Cluny school 
 and the Ecoles d'Arts et M tilers are, first, the lower 
 
 194 
 
Technical High Schools. 
 
 fees, which here are about ^34 a year ; secondly, 
 the lower standard of knowledge demanded at the 
 entrance examination ; and thirdly, the greater 
 number of hours given to manual training in the 
 course of instruction. It is impossible, before turn- 
 ing to the higher technical schools in France, to do 
 more than mention the two National Schools of 
 Watch and Clockmaking at Cluses and Besancon. 
 In France, as in Germany, there are technical 
 High Schools of university rank. Such institu- 
 tions may be said to be distinguished from the 
 universities only in that they provide a special 
 education, based on a general secondary educa- 
 tion, either modern or classical, for industrial 
 and commercial occupations, while the latter 
 provide a special education, based on classical 
 secondary education, for the learned professions. 
 Such schools are far removed from the necessity 
 of placing any checks on ambition ; the men and 
 women for whom they provide education have 
 already proved themselves capable of entering upon 
 any career which is open to the highest merit. It is 
 these schools for which the need has not yet been 
 fully recognized in England. Starting from the 
 bottom, we seem at last to be nearing that stage in 
 the development of our educational system where 
 an attempt may be made to raise such schools on 
 the foundations already laid. In France and Ger- 
 many, on the other hand, as soon as the need for 
 14 195 
 
Ecole Centrale. 
 
 such schools was recognized they were created, and 
 the schools of a lower grade were remodelled, if it 
 was necessary, so as to supply the higher institutions 
 with properly prepared pupils. But the people of 
 these two countries perceived that a sound general 
 secondary education — rather than preliminary in- 
 struction in any special branches of knowledge — 
 was the only reliable basis for all education of 
 university grade ; and it was for this reason that 
 they were able to carry on these schools success- 
 fully, at a time when we were trying to supply 
 their place by educational " short cuts," dear to the 
 practical, or rather utilitarian, minds of the last 
 generation and its predecessor in England. These 
 technical High Schools may be divided into two 
 distinct classes : industrial and commercial. The 
 oldest are the industrial High Schools. 
 
 The Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures is 
 as well known to any Frenchman as the most 
 famous of his universities. It was founded through 
 private initiative in 1829. One of the chief reasons 
 advanced for establishing such an institution was 
 the need of training a body of engineers (in the 
 more restricted and higher French sense of the 
 term) who could rival those to be found in England. 
 Having survived the political tumult of the next 
 quarter of a century, the school had attained such 
 a height of success in 1857 that * ts P u pils numbered 
 475, and it made a nett annual profit of ^"3560. 
 
 196 
 
Ecole Centrale. 
 
 At this period the fees were ^32 a year. The 
 director of the school, who had supplied the funds 
 necessary for its establishment, now presented it 
 as it stood to the State. He refused the offer of a 
 million francs from former pupils for the purpose 
 of placing it under the control of a private company. 
 The only return he demanded from the State, 
 besides pensions for his collaborators, was the 
 promise that the profits should in the future be 
 devoted to the interests of the school. 
 
 The need had now become imperative for more 
 suitable buildings than those in which it was 
 located, and in 1884 it was removed to the 
 magnificent quarters which it now occupies. From 
 the profits accruing since 1857 the school itself was 
 able to contribute no less than £7 1,680 to the cost 
 of the new building ; the town of Paris contributed 
 £40,800 in the form of a reduction on the price of 
 the land which it sold to the State. The total cost 
 of the new establishment was about ,£431,554. 
 Owing to the great expense thus incurred it was 
 considered advisable to raise the fees to £36 for the 
 first year's course, and £40 for that of each of the 
 two succeeding years. From this time onwards 
 the school has continued to prosper, and the number 
 of pupils has slightly increased. 
 
 One of the first actions of the State after taking 
 over the Ecole Centrale was to establish a com- 
 petitive entrance examination. Hitherto the 
 
 197 
 
Ecole Centrale. 
 
 secondary schools had generally decided which of 
 the pupils leaving them were worthy of admission 
 to the Ecole Centrale. The new regulations now 
 obliged many of the secondary schools to create 
 special classes, resembling in some respects the 
 army classes in our public schools, to prepare for 
 this entrance examination.* The change is said 
 to have resulted in raising the standard of attain- 
 ments. Each year about 240 pupils were admitted. 
 Both Frenchmen and foreigners are admitted, but 
 since 1870 the number of foreigners attending 
 the school has been reduced to a negligible 
 quantity. 
 
 The difficulty presented by the exigencies of 
 military service for the great majority of the young 
 men attending the Ecole Centrale is surmounted in 
 the following manner. On entering the school 
 they enlist for four years, and during the three 
 years, in which they pursue their studies, they 
 receive, in the school, military instruction accord- 
 ing to official regulations. On leaving the school 
 they have, therefore, only one year to serve, and 
 having received special preparation for an officer's 
 examination, they generally serve this year as 
 second-lieutenants in the reserve, generally in 
 an artillery regiment. 
 
 None of the students in the Ecole Centrale are 
 boarders, but they spend the entire day in the 
 
 * Cf. Table facing p. 170. 
 I98 
 
Ecole Centrale. 
 
 school. Work begins at 8.30 a.m. During the 
 morning there are two classes of an hour and a 
 half each. At noon lunch is taken in a restaurant 
 on the premises. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. there is 
 laboratory work, drawing, etc. From 4 p.m. to 
 6 p.m., on most days, military drill, or classes on 
 military art are held. 
 
 The fundamental principle of all the teaching is 
 that enunciated by the founders of the school, in 
 the saying: "The science of industry is one and 
 indivisible ; every manufacturer or leader of 
 industry must know it in its entirety or remain 
 unequal to his task." Accordingly all the students 
 follow the same course of studies. Towards the 
 end of the second year, it is true, they are divided 
 into four classes, according as they intend to 
 specialize in mechanics, engineering, mining and 
 metallurgy, or chemistry. But even then speciali- 
 zation is reduced to a minimum, all the students 
 still following all the classes while studying the 
 special application of science to their own particular 
 branch. It is considered in France that, owing 
 to thus emphasizing the need of a general know- 
 ledge of the different branches of industry, the 
 school has been successful in preparing students 
 who have distinguished themselves in every depart- 
 ment of industrial activity. 
 
 At the end of the third year, after having passed 
 through the whole course, the student enters for 
 
 199 
 
fecole Centrale. 
 
 the diploma. To obtain this he has to compose 
 a thesis or "project" on the special one of the four 
 branches which he has selected. In 1884, the 
 British Technical Instruction Commissioners stated 
 in their report that they " inspected several of the 
 theses of the outgoing students of former years, 
 in each of the (above) departments, and were much 
 struck with the detailed character of the work, 
 and especially with the completeness of the draw- 
 ings. The students are allowed to work at home, 
 but have to produce the calculations, descriptions, 
 and drawings, within one month from the time at 
 which the subject is given out, and the whole work 
 is carefully examined by a council of professors, the 
 student being examined on the details of his theses." 
 
 The Commissioners, however, submitted another 
 of these theses to a well-known English manufac- 
 turer, who considered that, among other defects, it 
 showed a want of knowledge of the practical con- 
 ditions of manufacture. Such a knowledge the 
 student is, of course, intended to acquire when he 
 actually enters industrial life. And the success in 
 life of the pupils in the Ecole Centrale proves that 
 they lose nothing by continuing their theoretical 
 education beyond the age at which we believe that 
 facts and practical conditions can alone supply 
 useful training. 
 
 As showing how the peculiar conditions of its 
 national life will influence each people in the details 
 
 200 
 
Ecole Centrale. 
 
 and organization of its education, the following- 
 anecdote is interesting. When I was visiting the 
 Ecole Centrale, last year, the eminent director of 
 the school explained to me the different reasons 
 for insisting on general education in the sense 
 explained above. Among other practical benefits 
 to be derived from not specializing, he pointed 
 to one which would certainly be overlooked by 
 Englishmen. He said that it not infrequently 
 happened that a student who entered life as an 
 engineer, for instance, married the daughter of a 
 manufacturer in one of the other three divisions 
 of industry. But, having been trained in all four, 
 the fortunate student had no difficulty in transfer- 
 ring his abilities to that branch of industry favoured 
 by his father-in-law — which he would be probably 
 expected to do. Apparently the director thought 
 that I showed signs of incredulity as to this appli- 
 cation of the principle of inariages de convenance ; 
 for, on meeting me in public one evening shortly 
 after, he introduced me to a former student of the 
 school, who related how he was just about to con- 
 tract such a marriage. It was entirely due, he 
 said, to his having passed through the general 
 course of the Ecole Centrale that he was able to 
 satisfy an essential condition of the bargain 
 and renounce engineering in favour of chemical 
 industry, in which branch his prospective father- 
 in-law had built up a very successful business. 
 
 201 
 
Ecole Centrale. 
 
 The following tables in connection with the 
 Ecole Centrale give interesting details : — 
 
 I. 
 
 Total number of pupils who have passed through the 
 
 school (including those who left in 1899) 7950 
 
 Former pupils actually alive 5830 
 
 (Living in France 5°44 
 
 ] Abroad (at the end of 1898) 593 
 
 Former pupils In Alsace _ Lorraine ( a t the end of 1898) 70 
 
 (in Algiers and the French colonies .... 123 
 
 II. 
 
 A Student's Work. 
 
 
 Travaux 
 gra- 
 
 plaques. 
 Number 
 of hours. 
 
 Projets. 
 
 Travaux 
 
 pratiques. 
 
 Number 
 
 of hours. 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Examinations. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Number 
 
 of lessons 
 
 (i£ hours 
 
 each). 
 
 Number 
 of hours. 
 
 Special. 
 Number 
 of exami- 
 nations. 
 
 General. 
 Number 
 of exami- 
 nations. 
 
 1st Year 
 2nd Year 
 3rd Year 
 
 432 
 
 66 
 
 99 
 434 
 
 467 
 
 397 
 390 
 318 
 
 596 
 
 5S5 
 
 477 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 20 
 
 IO 
 IO 
 
 7 
 
 Total for 
 3 years 
 
 498 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,105 
 
 1,658 
 
 6 5 
 
 27 
 
 Before proceeding to consider the commercial 
 schools of university rank, a few words may be 
 said about an institution which can hardly be 
 called a technical high school, but which has 
 nevertheless exercised a very great influence on 
 the development of trade and industry in France. 
 
 202 
 
Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. 
 
 The idea which is embodied in the Conservatoire 
 National des Arts et Metiers was originally put 
 forward by Descartes (i 596-1650). He proposed 
 to build in certain public institutions various large 
 halls for artisans, each of which should be devoted 
 to the different trades. " In each of these halls 
 there should be collections of the mechanical 
 appliances necessary or useful for the arts to be 
 taught there. Sufficient funds should be provided, 
 not only for the cost of experiments, but also for 
 supporting masters or professors, whose number 
 should be equal to that of the arts to be taught. 
 These professors should be proficient in mathe- 
 matics and in physics, so as to be able to answer 
 all the questions put to them by artisans, and to 
 explain the reason of everything, and throw light 
 on the new discoveries to be made in the arts." 
 
 Such a project has now been realized. In 
 1775, Vaucanson brought together, at his own 
 expense, a public collection of machines, in- 
 struments, and tools for the instruction of the 
 working-classes. This has now developed into 
 the famous Conservatoire. In 18 19, Louis XVIII. 
 decreed that there should be established in this insti- 
 tution free public instruction in the application of 
 the arts and sciences to industry. For this purpose 
 there were to be three courses of lectures, namely, 
 lectures on Mechanics and Chemistry as applied 
 to industry, and on Industrial Economy. In 1899, 
 
 203 
 
Conservatoire National des 
 
 lectures were given at the Conservatoire on the 
 following subjects : Descriptive Geometry, Applied 
 Mechanics, Civil Engineering, Applied Physics, 
 Industrial Electricity, Industrial Chemistry, Metal- 
 lurgy, Chemistry applied to the dyeing, ceramic 
 and glass industries, Agricultural and Analy- 
 tical Chemistry, Agriculture, Industrial Art, 
 Spinning and Weaving, Political Economy and 
 Industrial Law, Industrial Economy, Commercial 
 Law and Social Economy. This list does not, 
 however, represent permanent courses of lectures 
 forming a complete curriculum. Some of them, 
 it is true, must, from their very nature, be 
 permanent ; others are created in order to give 
 some illustrious savant an opportunity of making 
 known his discoveries to the public, and are thus 
 a means of bringing into touch with one another, 
 to their mutual benefit, the genius of scientific re- 
 search and the practical spirit of industry. 
 
 It also happens occasionally that the practical 
 needs of industry may afford a reason for sup- 
 pressing one course in favour of another. For 
 instance, this happened in the case of the lectures 
 on agricultural engineering. The Council of 
 Improvements, which regulate such matters for 
 the Conservatoire, resolved that this course should 
 be replaced by one on industrial art. This 
 new course, which was started in 1889, has met 
 with the greatest success. The needs of such 
 
 204 
 
Arts et Metiers. 
 
 a course are explained by M. Liebaut, of the 
 Conservatoire, in a passage which may well be 
 introduced here. He says — 
 
 " It is on art that modern industry depends 
 for increasing the worth and standard of its 
 productions. It is on art also that the artisan 
 depends for the means of exercising, with taste as 
 well as intelligence, the craft by which he earns 
 his living. There is thus throughout the whole 
 world an imperative and irresistible need which is 
 immediately evident in connection with what are 
 ordinarily called 'art industries.' It is easy to 
 show that the same need exists in the case of the 
 other trades. In the workshop, where machines 
 are constructed, the engineer does the planning 
 and calculating ; he creates, so to say, the skeleton 
 or frame. But he cannot succeed without the 
 collaboration of a draughtsman, who has added 
 to his natural gifts the manual skill necessary for 
 giving to this frame the material covering which 
 is best suited to each organ, and which at the 
 same time combines the greatest strength with 
 the greatest elegance ; his function it is to provide 
 harmony, both of proportion and of the relative 
 position of the different organs, as well as grace of 
 outline and an equilibrium, which is not only real 
 but also apparent, and therefore inspires confidence 
 in spite of the manifestation of strength. In short, 
 such a collaborator must be a man of taste and 
 skill ; in other words, an artist. When we stand 
 before his work we award him praise in the ex- 
 pression which involuntarily rises to our lips : 
 ' what a beautiful machine ! ' Every work, in- 
 deed, which, owing to the precision with which the 
 ideas are carried out, owing to the harmony of its 
 
 205 
 
Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. 
 
 proportions, and the suitability of structure and form 
 to the quality of material, owing, in short, to its 
 execution, awakens in us the ideas of perfection, 
 is a work of art. 
 
 " Such a work is always costly . . . but it is 
 here that industry steps in. By its economical 
 methods of execution, it brings the work of art 
 within reach of the public — not, indeed, without 
 depriving it of its most precious qualities, such 
 as originality, rarity, perfection of execution, and 
 the stamp of the master-mind. But for all that, 
 art industry, that is to say, the industry which 
 seeks the aid of art to make all things more 
 beautiful and more pleasing, whether it be our 
 books, our homes, our dresses and adornments, or 
 our furniture, such industry must be considered as 
 an important factor in national life. 
 
 " In France especially is it necessary to en- 
 courage the development of this industry . . . for 
 if France cannot manufacture as cheaply (as those 
 nations whose soil is richer in raw material), it 
 can at least manufacture products possessing the 
 attractions of taste." 
 
 In the laboratories of this institution some of 
 the professors have, in the presence and with the 
 collaboration of their pupils, made discoveries of 
 the highest value to the world. The Conservatoire 
 possesses eight such laboratories. The specifica- 
 tions of all the patents which have expired are 
 kept in its library. Prior to 1844 the number of 
 such specifications was 12,489, but since that date 
 the Conservatoire has received no less than 165,000. 
 It has been impossible here to do more than give 
 
 206 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 a few details of the work of this great institu- 
 tion. A number of prizes and medals are given 
 to attract workmen to its evening classes. 
 
 There has in recent years been a good deal of 
 discussion going on in England as to the need 
 of commercial education. New causes in this 
 country, as elsewhere, are always very popular 
 among those persons who have failed to distinguish 
 themselves in the ordinary paths of life. And 
 while, doubtless, they do much to draw the atten- 
 tion of the public to new and pressing needs, they 
 also unfortunately often drown the voices of the 
 men who are competent and willing to guide the 
 nation along the safest path to the satisfaction 
 of these needs. Such has been the case in con- 
 nection with commercial education. And con- 
 fusion has been rendered worse confounded by the 
 want of organization in our educational system. 
 In the turbulent chaos where so many rival 
 interests are at work any new educational 
 idea is welcome, as affording a new weapon for 
 partisan strife. The time, therefore, has not yet 
 come for defining the sphere of commercial 
 education in England. Meanwhile, those who are 
 in search of the truth about the matter cannot do 
 better than study the definitions of this important 
 branch of education which are offered by foreign 
 countries. 
 
 In the volumes dealing with French technical 
 
 207 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 education, prepared for the Paris Exhibition of 
 1900 by the Ministry of Commerce, such a defi- 
 nition is given. M. Grelley, a distinguished 
 authority on commercial education, to whom was 
 entrusted the preparation of that section of these 
 volumes which deals with the Ecoles Sperieures de 
 Commerce, thus discusses the matter. He first of 
 all complains that the expression "commercial 
 education " is in itself misleading, for it would 
 seem to suggest that it was possible to teach 
 commerce, and that the school could turn out 
 commercial men in much the same way as the 
 universities produce bachelors of art or of science. 
 He disposes of such an idea by pointing out that it 
 would be absolutely impossible to find teachers who 
 were capable of undertaking such a task. He 
 takes as the basis of his definition the one adopted 
 by the Congress on Technical Education held in 
 Paris in 1889. He thus arrives at the following 
 definition : — 
 
 " The aim of technical education is the study of 
 the arts and sciences, with a view to their appli- 
 cation to commerce." * 
 
 He then states the fact that there is no such 
 thing as secondary commercial education. He 
 admits that there may be primary commercial 
 education of the professionel type ; but the only 
 
 * " L'Enseignement Commercial a pour objet l'etude des arts et 
 des sciences, en vue de leur application au commerce." 
 
 208 
 
Commercial High Schools. 
 
 other branch which he recognizes is that which is 
 based on a sound general secondary education, by- 
 preference the full classical course.* In Germany, 
 as well as in France, it is said by many directors 
 of technical high schools, that they find the students 
 who have passed through the classical secondary 
 school stronger in their mental development than 
 those who have received a " modern education." 
 We cannot, therefore, conclude that this preference 
 is to be explained merely by the short-comings 
 of French " modern " secondary education referred 
 to on an earlier page. 
 
 The Ecole Superieure de Commerce of Paris, the 
 oldest of these commercial high schools, owes its 
 establishment to private initiative. Opened in 1820, 
 with sixty students, it enjoyed a brief but remark- 
 able success. It was closed two years later, the 
 chief cause of its failure being the impossibility of 
 finding properly qualified teachers. It was, how- 
 ever, restarted shortly afterwards by its original 
 founder, and has endured, with varying fortune, 
 until the present day. It originally bore the title of 
 school of " commerce and industry," and, though the 
 word industry was finally suppressed, the industrial 
 element did not disappear from its programme. 
 The French educationists have always recognized 
 the fact that commerce and industry are inter- 
 dependent, and that it is as essential that the 
 
 * See Table facing p. 170. 
 209 
 
Commercial High School of Paris. 
 
 commercial man should be familiar with the methods 
 and principles of industry, as that the manufacturer 
 should not be ignorant of the conditions deter- 
 mining the success of commerce. Without tracing 
 its history under the guidance of successive directors 
 — no less than four of whom seem to have been 
 rewarded for their labours with sudden death — 
 we may note one or two important points in the 
 course of its development. 
 
 About 1855 the director, Gervais de Caen, a 
 man with remarkable gifts, decided that it was 
 impossible to maintain proper discipline in the 
 school if it received both day-boys and boarders. 
 He therefore determined to make the institution 
 a boarding establishment only. At this time the 
 school was a great financial success. It is stated 
 that in the four years between 1848 and 1852 one 
 of the directors, who was a shareholder in the 
 company which then managed the institution, had 
 made enough money to buy out the other share- 
 holders ; the capital of the company at the moment 
 was £ 10,000. In 1869 the school was purchased 
 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber 
 agreed to pay on the spot to the family of the last 
 director £4800 for furniture, school material, etc., 
 and to lease the building for thirty years at £ 1000 
 a year, with option of purchase within five years 
 at £23,000. 
 
 At this point the school was divided into three 
 
 210 
 
Commercial High School of Paris. 
 
 "counting-houses," as they were called. The first 
 of these provided a preparatory course of one 
 year's duration. The two succeeding " counting- 
 houses" provided a course of a year each, and 
 constituted the really higher commercial section 
 of the institution. In 1876 the Chamber of Com- 
 merce decided to offer travelling scholarships of 
 £40 to those of the students who had written the 
 best report on visits made, under the guidance of 
 the director, to certain factories and coal-mines 
 in the North of France. The holder of such a 
 scholarship spent the summer holidays, directly 
 after his third year at the school, studying, in one 
 or more countries of Europe, some commercial 
 question selected by the Chamber. 
 
 In 1890 this institution was formally recognized 
 by the State. The other schools similarly recog- 
 nized, which were founded before 1889, are given in 
 the table on p. 212, which also shows the number of 
 students in the first and second years respectively 
 in 1897. 
 
 In the reorganization carried out after 1890 by the 
 Minister of Commerce the division into " counting- 
 houses " was done away with. It was decreed that 
 all the commercial high schools should provide a 
 two years' course of studies, but that they should 
 also have a preparatory course of one year ; so 
 that now the divisions are known as the preparatory 
 year and the first and second normal years. In 
 x 5 211 
 
Commercial High Schools. 
 
 the Paris school the preparatory course consists of 
 two sections : one for boys not less than fifteen 
 years old, and the other for foreigners not familiar 
 with the French language and French boys a year 
 younger than those in the former section. All the 
 schools hold a competitive entrance examination 
 for the normal years, though the directors are 
 themselves allowed to admit a certain number of 
 
 ECOLES SUPERIEURES DE COMMERCE. 
 
 Number of Students at the end of the School Year, 1896-7. 
 
 Name of Institution. 
 
 Founded. 
 
 Students of 
 the 1st Year. 
 
 Students of 
 the 2nd Year. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Ecole des Hautes 
 Etudes Commer- 
 ciales, Paris . . . 
 
 Ecole Superieure 
 de Commerce, 
 
 l88l 
 
 1884 
 
 1874 
 187I 
 1872 
 1872 
 
 Il8 
 
 63 
 
 48 
 
 60 
 40 
 
 78 
 67 
 
 128 
 
 43 
 31 
 
 55 
 
 43 
 
 82 
 
 57 
 
 246 
 I06 
 
 Institut Commer- 
 cial de Paris . . . 
 
 Ecole Superieure 
 de Commerce, 
 
 Ecole Superieure 
 de Commerce, 
 
 Ecole Superieure 
 de Commerce, 
 
 79 
 "5 
 
 83 
 
 160 
 
 Ecole Superieure 
 de Commerce, 
 
 124 
 
 Note. — Since 1889 similar schools have been founded in Lille, 
 Rouen, Nancy, and Montpellier. 
 
 212 
 
Commercial High Schools. 
 
 pupils. These last cannot, however, obtain certifi- 
 cates or diplomas. Candidates at these examina- 
 tions must be at least sixteen years old. As is 
 generally the case in France, the examination 
 consists of both an oral and a written part. The 
 following is the list of the subjects in which the 
 candidates are examined, showing the proportion 
 between the marks allotted to each. It is easy to 
 calculate the actual marks which are given, as those 
 which are represented by I are allotted 20 marks. 
 
 Written Examination. 
 
 Mathematics — 
 
 Arithmetic 3 
 
 Geometry I 
 
 Algebra 4 
 
 French — 
 
 Composition 3 
 
 Spelling I 
 
 Writing I 
 
 Modern Language (the candidate is allowed a dictionary) — 
 
 Translation from 3 
 
 Translation into I 
 
 Oral Examination. 
 
 Arithmetic 4 
 
 Modern Language (Questions on a passage 
 
 read and conversation) 4 
 
 Chemistry 2 
 
 Physics 1 
 
 History . I 
 
 As showing the importance which foreign coun- 
 tries attach to the quality of education, it should 
 
 213 
 
Commercial Higfh Schools. 
 
 & 
 
 be observed that as soon as the Ministry of 
 Commerce obtained the right to control these 
 schools, it set about revising their curricula with 
 the aid of experts. It must not be imagined, as 
 is often asserted by those Englishmen who have 
 reasons for objecting to the State-control of 
 education, that the State interfered to bring about 
 absolute uniformity among all these schools ; as 
 a matter of fact, but slight changes were introduced 
 into the course of studies which they had planned 
 independently. But at the same time, since their 
 diplomas all carried the same privilege as to 
 military service, it was incumbent on the State to 
 see that in each case the diplomas represented the 
 same standard of acquirements. Neither in France 
 nor in Germany does that complete uniformity 
 exist which is held up to us as one of the inevitable 
 consequences of the State control of schools. If 
 either of these countries ignored expert opinion, 
 as we do in England, and allowed its schools to 
 be directed by government clerks, no doubt all its 
 schools would be hedged in with restrictions de- 
 structive of variety or freedom of development. 
 Each of them, however, holds its educational 
 experts in esteem and submits to their influence. 
 The following is the course of studies at the Ecole 
 Superieure de Commerce in Paris : — 
 
 214 
 
Diplomas. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 There are two grades of diplomas and one 
 certificate, which may be obtained by students 
 who have been through the whole course. The 
 final examination is entirely oral, as is also the 
 examination which must be passed in order to 
 enter the second year of studies. Two points 
 should be noticed in connection with the examina- 
 tions for the diploma. First, the director of the 
 school and at least one of the professors are 
 
 215 
 
The Examination Test. 
 
 inembers of the Examination Board. Secondly, 
 the diploma is not awarded on the result of the 
 final examination alone. 
 
 It has been found in France, as we are at 
 last beginning to discover in England, that an 
 examination held at a given moment, however 
 carefully it be carried out, cannot properly test 
 the standard of acquirements attained by the can- 
 didate. It is true that in France, where the 
 majority of schools are inspected by the State, 
 a great deal may be done to check that growth 
 of a "cramming" system which is the not un- 
 natural consequence of the examination test. But 
 it would be surprising, when a boy's or girl's future 
 is made to depend solely on the answers given 
 on a fixed day to either written or oral questions, 
 if parents were not willing to give every encour- 
 agement in their power to those enterprising 
 persons who invent ways — generally traversing 
 every scientific law of education, it is true — of 
 preparing their children for the demands of that 
 fateful day, and that day alone. But even sup- 
 posing that cramming could be suppressed, the 
 French authorities deem it unfair to grant these 
 diplomas on the result of one examination alone. 
 Consequently, in addition to the marks which are 
 obtained at this final examination, those which 
 have been awarded to the student through- 
 out his whole course of studies are counted as 
 
 216 
 
The Examination Test. 
 
 part of the final total deciding his right to the 
 diploma. 
 
 It is, however, evident that the relative value of 
 marks obtained in the examinations at the end 
 of the first and second years respectively needs 
 careful calculation. And it is, from an English 
 point of view, extraordinary with what care this 
 delicate problem is solved by the French educa- 
 tional experts. The system of marks which they 
 have built up is complicated. For instance, in 
 the final result the marks obtained by the 
 candidate in book-keeping at the intermediate 
 examination are multiplied by 3, and those 
 obtained at the final examination are multiplied 
 by 11. The same precise grading of relative 
 values is worked out for each subject. We may, 
 indeed, learn much from the methodical and 
 scientific manner in which the French have 
 attempted, in this- instance, to overcome the in- 
 evitable evils of the examination test. 
 
 It is certain that this could not have been done 
 unless they had been willing to allow the educa- 
 tional expert to have a decided voice in the matter. 
 We, on the other hand, mistrust him, and prefer 
 that regulations as to examinations should be 
 made, in the vast majority of cases, by those who 
 have had no experience in teaching the class 
 of candidates to be examined. The foreigner 
 must often be astounded when he perceives how 
 
 217 
 
The Examination Test. 
 
 implicitly we trust to examinations as a test of every 
 kind of qualification for every possible situation ; 
 for such an instrument as the examination cannot 
 be used with satisfactory results by a people who 
 have so great a faith in the rule of thumb, and 
 who regard with suspicion and resentment any 
 improvements in this instrument which would 
 deprive it of that simplicity that can alone make 
 it intelligible to the " man in the street." Were 
 the State in England to allow the expert to so 
 improve this instrument as to render it capable 
 of testing with scientific accuracy, in other words, 
 were it to attempt to build up such a system of 
 examinations as that just described, it would have 
 to face a storm of protest from the people, who at 
 present do no more than grumble harmlessly at 
 the evils of the existing system. It might, there- 
 fore, at a time when we are all deploring the 
 absence of the spirit of method among the British 
 people, be wise to ask ourselves if we are really 
 capable of using the examination test, and if it 
 does not, in fact, do little more than bestow a 
 democratic sanction on the rule of thumb, which is 
 the only scientific deduction that has been made 
 from a long succession of muddles. 
 
 One of the privileges carried by the diploma of 
 these commercial schools is the remission of two 
 out of three years of compulsory military service. 
 But the somewhat extraordinary condition is made 
 
 218 
 
French Regulations. 
 
 that only the first four-fifths, in order of merit, of 
 the successful candidates are granted this privilege. 
 The remaining fifth obtain a second diploma 
 without the privilege. It is necessary to gain 
 65 per cent, for the higher diploma. A certificate 
 is given to candidates obtaining not less than 
 55 per cent, of the maximum marks. 
 
 Certain regulations have been made as to 
 attendance at examinations, which show again 
 how impossible it is to form a fair appreciation 
 of foreign education without being thoroughly 
 familiar with foreign life. It was discovered that 
 just before the intermediate examination some of 
 the students absented themselves for a day or two 
 in order to "cram up" at the eleventh hour. Others, 
 who did not feel ready to undergo the written 
 examination, and still less prepared to face the 
 oral test, arrived late on various excuses, and 
 requested to be examined after their fellow- 
 students. A ministerial decree was therefore 
 issued, stating the five excuses which would alone 
 be accepted for such non-appearance. They are — 
 certified illness ; death of a relative in the line of 
 direct ascent, or of a brother or sister ; attendance 
 at the funeral of an uncle or aunt ; attendance 
 at the marriage of a brother, sister, or relative in 
 the line of direct ascent ; and appearance for 
 various reasons before the military authorities. 
 There are few English authorities who would 
 
 219 
 
Scholarships. 
 
 venture under these circumstances to draw such 
 inflexible lines of demarcation in the sphere of 
 the family affections. 
 
 In 1896 the direct maintenance grant of the 
 Government to these schools amounted to no more 
 than ^400 ; since then it has ceased altogether. 
 The Ministry of Commerce, however, gives every 
 year six scholarships to those candidates whose 
 parents cannot afford to pay the whole or part 
 of the school fees. The financial position of the 
 parents of such students must be certified by the 
 mayor of the commune in which they reside. A 
 competitive examination is held for these scholar- 
 ships. Other scholarships are also awarded ; in 
 Paris, for instance, seven are provided for day- 
 boarders by the Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 The Paris school moved into its new quarters in 
 1898. The buildings which it now occupies cover 
 2500 square metres, in addition to a playground 
 which measures 3000 square metres. It now 
 numbers 250 pupils, including both boarders and 
 day-boarders. The total fees for boarders, apart 
 from the cost of books, etc., are about £87 a year. 
 The obligatory fees for day-boarders are about 
 £41. Mr. M. E. Sadler thus describes the new 
 buildings, which he visited in 1897: "This institu- 
 tion comprises a residential section as well as pro- 
 vision for day-students, and also a junior or prepara- 
 tory department, which is entirely separated from 
 
 220 
 
f f 
 
 Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales 
 
 the higher school itself. There is a fine museum 
 of commercial products, an ample and beautiful 
 library, a laboratory, two large lecture-theatres, a 
 number of lecture-rooms, dining-rooms, as well as 
 the dormitories, sanatorium, etc., which belong to 
 the Hall of Residence, as we should perhaps call it 
 in England. All this admirable provision is due to 
 the liberality of the Paris Chamber of Commerce, 
 which has distinguished itself by its devotion to the 
 cause of commercial education." 
 
 The Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales is of 
 a slightly higher grade than the above-mentioned 
 institutions. Many people maintain that the 
 difference is not sufficient to justify the two types 
 being classified as distinct grades. It is important, 
 however, to notice that in 1894 the Minister of 
 Commerce decreed that there should be established 
 in this school a normal section for the training of 
 commercial teachers. No candidate is admitted to 
 the competitive entrance examination to this sec- 
 tion who is not at least twenty years old. In 
 1899 there were 383 students in this school, which 
 differs from the Ecoles Super ieitres'm that it admits 
 day-students. 
 
 Perhaps no country is so well provided as France 
 with universities and educational institutions pro- 
 viding scientific instruction of the highest order, 
 some of which are supported by the Government 
 for the education of those who are to be employed 
 
 221 
 
Tendencies of French Education. 
 
 in the service of the State. They fall outside the 
 scope of the present work, in which it is attempted 
 only to give a brief sketch of what is being done 
 for the education of those who are directly engaged 
 in carrying on trade and industry. It is, however, 
 true that a number of students from these institu- 
 tions find their way into industry ; and, even if it 
 were not so, the influence which these schools 
 exercise directly and indirectly over the develop- 
 ment of industry is of the greatest benefit to the 
 nation. Certainly more is done in such French 
 institutions to encourage original research than in 
 our universities. 
 
 One can open few modern French books on the 
 subject of education without finding passages in 
 which great emphasis is laid on the need of pro- 
 viding checks on the too common desire to enter 
 what are termed the learned professions. This 
 negative function of education, if it may so be 
 called, has assumed almost greater importance in 
 the eyes of a large number of French educationists 
 than the normal function of the promotion of the 
 best interests of industry or commerce. Judging 
 from the works of contemporary writers on educa- 
 tion, one would think that the burning question in 
 France at the present moment was how the school 
 may stop the rapid increase of dtvoyes and de- 
 classis. According to them, at any rate, general 
 education — in the sense of the encouragement of 
 
 222 
 
Tendencies of French Education. 
 
 natural development, mental, moral, and physical — 
 has failed when universally adopted. Whether the 
 teachers have been at fault they do not say. But 
 this explanation would not certainly be admitted 
 by any foreigner who has had the privilege of 
 seeing the French teachers at work. Probably in 
 no country in the world has the teaching profes- 
 sion attained to such a high standard of skill 
 and to such a pitch of devotion. For his brilliancy 
 of expression, scientific delicacy of touch — if the 
 term may be used — and tenderness of sympathy, 
 the French teacher is unequalled. Neither is he 
 behind those of any other land in his love of 
 country and his admiration of national language 
 and literature. If any teachers could have suc- 
 ceeded in carrying out all that was best in the 
 educational theories of Rousseau, surely it was the 
 French. If they have failed, it is due to the innate 
 and ineradicable characteristics of their pupils. 
 Among these characteristics not the least strongly 
 marked is social ambition — the heritage of that 
 irresistible movement which was to bring about 
 social equality, not on the basis afforded by taking 
 the average between the highest and the lowest, 
 but on the level of the highest. It is owing to 
 this that France has found herself overrun with 
 d^classis and devoyes. 
 
 The school, then, has to catch those who are 
 inclined to pursue ambitions which they have 
 
 223 
 
Tendencies of French Education. 
 
 little chance of satisfying, and put them on the 
 path which leads to contentment. This was most 
 easily and surely achieved by spreading a net of 
 technical education over the primary schools. 
 The educational ladder of which we have heard 
 so much in England had to be broken down, and 
 probably in no country is there now so little con- 
 nection between the higher and lower branches 
 of education. The teachers, it is true, with to a 
 certain extent the sympathy of the Ministry of 
 Public Instruction, have fought against this move- 
 ment. And it is to be traced to their influence 
 that the purely educational aim has in any degree 
 been maintained in the higher primary system, 
 and that scholarships have been provided at the 
 secondary schools for those talented children of 
 poor parents who are able to profit from the instruc- 
 tion and education which they offer. But the pluto- 
 cratic influence, which has always been thrown into 
 the scale against them, has turned the balance in 
 favour of the policy adopted by the Ministry of 
 Commerce. The technical net is ever being 
 widened and strengthened. In its main features 
 the system which is growing up, and in a great 
 measure already exists, may be shortly described 
 as follows. From the primary school those chil- 
 dren who are not forced immediately to earn their 
 own living proceed to the higher primary school, 
 with its technical tendencies, or to the practical 
 
 224 
 
Tendencies of French Education. 
 
 schools of commerce and industry, which may be 
 regarded as purely technical. From thence, if 
 they continue their education still further, they 
 pass into the Ecoles Nationales d'Arts et Metiers, 
 
 The strife between the technical and the purely 
 educational idea is still being waged around the 
 children of the poorer classes. It may safely be 
 said that this struggle will decide the moral fate, 
 and therefore the material prosperity, of France. 
 It is fortunate for us that social conditions have 
 not yet appeared which give us any cause for 
 spreading the net to catch soaring ambitions. 
 Where it has been done it has not been due to any 
 conscious design. A few earnest educationists in 
 g our midst, with a preference for France often to be 
 traced to their ignorance of the German language, 
 .have visited the French schools, and not fully 
 appreciating the causes underlying their develop- 
 ment, have returned to England to persuade eager 
 authorities to adopt the French line of progress. 
 But the results that have followed cannot last ; for 
 they lack that vital force which can alone be sup- 
 plied by national needs or irresistible national 
 tendencies. 
 
 Before concluding that the French system is the 
 natural outcome of democracy, it is wise to give a 
 thought to what is being done in the schools of 
 that other great exponent of democracy which is 
 more nearly akin to ourselves. 
 
 225 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FOUNDATIONS LAID IN AMERICA. 
 
 The great American Republic contains a popula- 
 tion half as large again as that of the British Isles 
 spread over an area nearly twenty-five times as 
 great. The different conditions of political and 
 social organization which such a comparison 
 suggests must be borne in mind throughout a 
 study of the American system of education. One 
 other point must not be overlooked. The tie of 
 kinship between the United States and England 
 is undoubtedly strong ; it is true that there are 
 common traits of character to be found in both 
 peoples which must ever influence them, even if 
 with decreasing force, to develop along parallel 
 lines. But we are perhaps inclined in England to 
 overrate the influence of our parentage on this 
 great nation, just as we are inclined to exaggerate 
 its influence on the younger colonies which we 
 have planted. Speaking generally, it cannot be 
 said that traces of our influence predominate in 
 the actual development of American education. 
 The Americans have, of course, a certain natural 
 
 226 
 
American Variety. 
 
 power of appreciating what is best in the educa- 
 tional results which we have achieved. But when 
 we have said that they have profited from our 
 experiences, from our successes and our failures, 
 we have probably stated the extent of their in- 
 debtedness to us. As far as their actual system 
 is concerned, they probably owe more to other 
 nations than to the English. 
 
 There is no national system of education in the 
 United States of America of the kind which exists 
 in Germany and in France ; that is to say, a 
 system controlled and organized by the national 
 Government. The history of the making of the 
 United States would lead us, indeed, to expect 
 to find the greatest possible variety of educa- 
 tional organization. Even the early English 
 colonists represented a number of different social, 
 political, and religious views, all of which mani- 
 fested themselves in the systems of schools which 
 they founded. Some brought with them the 
 English social prejudices of the time against the 
 education of the lower orders — prejudices which 
 in the mother land, however, did not prevent the 
 man of talent from obtaining his rightful place in 
 the aristocracy of intellect. We accordingly find 
 some of the early colonists refusing to establish 
 public schools. Berkeley, the Governor of Virginia, 
 stated the policy of his colony in this matter in no 
 uncertain or wavering terms. 
 16 227 
 
American Variety. 
 
 " I thank God," he said, " that there be no free 
 schools nor printing-presses, and I hope we shall 
 not have them these hundred years ; for learning 
 has brought disobedience and heresy and sects 
 into the world, and printing has divulged them 
 and libels against the best of Governments : God 
 keep us from both." 
 
 On the other hand, the general court of Massa- 
 chusetts passed a school law in 1647 providing 
 that every township "of the number of fifty house- 
 holds shall appoint one within their town to teach 
 all such children as shall resort to him to write 
 and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the 
 parents or masters of such children, or by the 
 inhabitants in general." This law further ordained 
 that any town of one hundred householders " shall 
 set up a grammar school, the master thereof being 
 able to instruct youths so far as they may be fitted 
 for the University." The Dutch colonists also 
 seem to have fully appreciated the value of public 
 education, though at the same time they adopted 
 the undemocratic political organization of their 
 mother-country. From these examples it will be 
 seen that at the very outset the roots of variety 
 were planted in America. But when once a 
 people is possessed by a common national purpose 
 certain limits will inevitably be placed on diversity 
 within its system of education. The common 
 national purpose appeared in America towards the 
 end of the eighteenth century. 
 
 228 
 
Growth of a National Purpose. 
 
 Whatever were the causes of the Revolution of 
 1776 — and they are still involved in a certain 
 degree of mystery, which the historian may some 
 day clear away — it was popularly hailed in America 
 as the enfranchisement of the individual, and as 
 the throwing off of oppressive restrictions to 
 economic, social, and religious liberty. But the 
 young nation did not at the outset realize how the 
 democracy which it was building up must depend 
 on education for its proper conduct and success. 
 It was not until some forty years later that Daniel 
 Webster pointed out, in the words quoted on an 
 earlier page,* how education could alone fit a people 
 to rule itself, and arm it with the power to resist 
 that license and corruption which are no less 
 dangerous when fed by liberty than when counte- 
 nanced by and employed in the service of 
 tyranny. But from this time onward we find a 
 common national purpose pervading all public 
 education in the United States. 
 
 It is not a national purpose of the nature of 
 that which we see dominating all others in Ger- 
 many ; it is not directed towards the over- 
 coming of foreign rivalry, for America has not 
 in the past been obliged, like Germany, to fight 
 for her existence against foreign competition ; 
 it is rather manifested in a strong determina- 
 tion to make a success of democracy, and to 
 
 * See pp. 12 and 13. 
 229 
 
Democracy and Education. 
 
 enable the people to realize through self-govern- 
 ment the highest possible form of national de- 
 velopment. We can, therefore, trace in the 
 educational progress of the past, no less than 
 in that of the present, a determination to under- 
 mine the forces of corruption which spring up 
 like tares in the democratic field. No greater 
 testimony has indeed been borne to the power of 
 education than by the bitter strife which has been 
 waged for its control between those endowed 
 with a high moral ideal on the one hand, and 
 those who wish to convert democratic liberty into 
 license for selfish ends on the other. It can only 
 be compared with the struggle between the State 
 and the Catholic Church, which we see at present 
 going on around the schools of France. 
 
 American education has at one and the same 
 time benefited and suffered from the democratic 
 principle of self-government. For, if this principle 
 is to be adhered to consistently, the people must 
 be allowed to exercise free control over education, 
 as much as over any other branch of public life 
 which calls for collective action. When, therefore, 
 public authorities have been appointed to provide, 
 maintain, or supervise the schools, they have neces- 
 sarily been of a popular character. America con- 
 sequently offers an excellent example of the attempt 
 of a people to educate itself. 
 
 It may be immediately asked whether self- 
 
 230 
 
Democracy and Education. 
 
 education can prove a success in the case of 
 nations any more than of individuals. It has 
 been maintained throughout these pages that 
 the work of education consists in guiding the 
 individual towards a definite end in accordance 
 with natural laws. Such education must be 
 carried on by those on whom the individual 
 depends during the period of his infancy. Con- 
 sequently there are two parties to be considered. 
 The one is in a position of dependence ; the other 
 wields a supreme power, which, however, he can 
 only exercise within the limits imposed by the 
 natural laws of human development. If we con- 
 sider the question in its collective aspects, as it 
 affects the community, we must inquire in whom 
 is this supreme power to be vested ? Logically, 
 and without taking any political considerations 
 into account, the answer will be : in the educators 
 in their collective capacity. In an ideal State this 
 indeed would be possible. Germany has more 
 closely approximated to this ideal than any other 
 nation. But in a democracy liberty is recognized 
 not only as a negative freedom from all oppression, 
 but as a positive freedom, allowed to each member 
 of the community, of making his will felt as a force 
 in the final resultant which decides the national 
 destinies. This is allowed to him because demo- 
 cracy is based on the assumption that such a final 
 resultant is the most absolutely right, and that the 
 
 231 
 
Democracy and Education. 
 
 wills of individuals, directed by the knowledge 
 they enjoy, must, in combination, form an average 
 will which is infallible. Democracy is therefore 
 obliged to admit the sanctity of individual know- 
 ledge, and is in its very essence opposed to the 
 controlling influence of the expert. 
 
 But since it is impracticable that government 
 should be carried on by the many, democracy is 
 forced to strike a compromise between expediency 
 and the fundamental principle on which it rests. 
 By this compromise the work of government is 
 entrusted to a few individuals ; not necessarily 
 those who have risen by their superior ability to a 
 position of supreme power, but those who are 
 most likely to represent the average will. And if 
 representation of the average will is the first con- 
 sideration, it is evident that the control of no 
 branch of national life will, unless by a mere 
 coincidence, be vested in experts who have proved 
 themselves to possess the greatest knowledge of 
 that branch and to be the most competent to 
 control it. Under such a form of government, 
 consistently carried out, the infants of the nation 
 will depend for their guidance on the average 
 will of the adults. But the delicate machinery 
 which can alone ensure such consistency has 
 never yet been set up, or, if it has, it has imme- 
 diately broken down under the strain of human 
 passions. In practice the average will has 
 
 232 
 
Democracy and Education. 
 
 invariably been converted into the will of the 
 majority. 
 
 America has been no exception to this rule, and 
 probably in no country has the veil been so ruth- 
 lessly torn aside from the workings of human 
 passion. In other countries, no doubt, government, 
 of whatever form it has been, has from time to 
 time been captured by those who place selfish 
 interests before the common welfare ; but in no 
 country has this been more terribly exposed to the 
 view of all mankind. And thus it has been seen 
 by all observers that the public authorities, which 
 have controlled education, have often represented 
 not the average will, but the feebleness of the 
 weak and the selfishness of the evil combined to 
 form a majority. The former have been unable to 
 appreciate their responsibility with regard to that 
 branch of national life which is, in a sense, the 
 source of all others ; they have been ignorant of 
 the very principles on which the proper conduct of 
 education is based. The latter have known too 
 well how education can be used to mould the 
 rising generation to their own ends, and they have 
 acted with a skill which is never wanting to the 
 strength of evil. 
 
 It is not intended ( for a moment to suggest 
 that in all the State authorities and in all the 
 city school boards of America weakness and 
 corruption have been permitted to prevail. That 
 
 233 
 
Democracy and Education. 
 
 they have sometimes had the upper hand cannot 
 be denied ; and that it has been so is, to a very 
 great extent, the reason for the changes witnessed 
 in the organization of public control, changes which 
 have always followed a progressive line towards 
 stronger and better and purer administration. 
 Those who know America best, whether prejudiced 
 in favour of, or without sympathy with, democratic 
 forms of government, seem to be convinced that 
 she is advancing steadily towards the realization 
 of a noble ideal, and the consummation of a union 
 between native strength and moral and aesthetic 
 culture productive of the greatest benefits to the 
 human race. 
 
 America has seen that her future depends on 
 her education, which can alone help her to coun- 
 teract these evil influences. She has perceived 
 it, from different causes it is true, no less clearly 
 than Germany. As education is the source 
 of all other branches of national life, so the 
 teachers are, in a sense, the source of education. 
 It has been the fortune of America to perceive 
 this fact also; and she has had the wisdom to 
 give more and more power to her teachers. They 
 have responded nobly to the trust which their 
 country has placed in them, and have joined issue 
 with the forces of corruption, gradually driving 
 them back from the positions in which they had 
 entrenched themselves. In short, it may be said 
 
 234 
 
Quality and Quantity. 
 
 that the history of the recent development of the 
 American educational system is concerned mainly 
 with the struggle for the control of the schools, 
 between the teachers and the experts on the one 
 side, and the popularly elected representatives of 
 the people on the other. 
 
 As we have already seen, the countries which 
 have achieved the greatest results in the promo- 
 tion of trade and industry through education are 
 those which have attached greater importance to 
 the quality than to the quantity of their education ; 
 those which have not only recognized the fact 
 that education must take account of the other 
 elements besides trade and industry in national 
 prosperity, but which have, at the same time, 
 perceived that the qualities which make the good 
 citizen are precisely those which also make the 
 successful tradesman or manufacturer. It would 
 therefore appear that, in this connection, nothing 
 is to be gained by regarding the practical demands 
 of industry and commerce apart from their natural 
 relation to all the factors in national welfare ; and 
 that, not only in the section of education which 
 is concerned with general development, but in 
 those other branches which are devoted to special 
 training, the general educational aim must not be 
 ignored. 
 
 There is, consequently, a twofold reason for 
 entrusting the control of the schools to authorities 
 
 235 
 
Organization of Public Control. 
 
 presiding over wide areas. In the first place, 
 there is the reason suggested by economy of 
 effort. If a common purpose must underly 
 all national education, it is a waste of power 
 for a number of small bodies to undertake a 
 task which can be performed at least as well 
 by one body controlling a wide area. In the 
 second place, the necessity of developing and 
 encouraging the perception of the national pur- 
 pose, of maintaining the supremacy of national 
 interests, tells against the existence of authorities 
 in which narrow local aims must necessarily 
 overshadow all else. We consequently find in 
 America a tendency to centralization in educa- 
 tional control concurrent with the tendency to 
 give greater power to the expert. 
 
 At a time when the organization of educational 
 control is rightly occupying so much attention in 
 England, and when this organization is being 
 carried out with every possible concession to 
 democratic principles, it is useful to observe what 
 is being done in this matter by the great demo- 
 cratic Government on the other side of the Atlan- 
 tic. More particularly, we should consider how 
 far the public control which America has organ- 
 ized for her schools has enabled her to establish 
 firmly the educational foundations of her trade 
 and industry. For with us the great incentive 
 to the creation of new kinds of public control is 
 
 236 
 
Organization of Public Control. 
 
 the need for providing better technical and, per- 
 haps, also secondary education ; or, to put it in 
 other words, the real stimulus to educational 
 activity is the desire, silent or expressed, to in- 
 crease, or at least to ensure, our material pros- 
 perity. 
 
 The most democratic form of educational gov- 
 ernment is to be found in the American " school 
 district." In the old days of a scattered population, 
 families used to combine to maintain a school 
 which would provide education for their children. 
 The extent of the school district was, therefore, no 
 larger than would permit of all the children attend- 
 ing the same school. Districts have indeed had 
 legal existence which were composed of but one 
 family. The government of the district is vested 
 in all the voters, who meet at least once a year, 
 and had originally full and complete control of 
 the school system. The tendency during the first 
 half of the nineteenth century was to make this 
 thoroughly democratic system more perfect ; that 
 of the latter half was towards greater centralization 
 and uniformity. In a number of States the town- 
 ship system has altogether supplanted the district 
 organization. 
 
 It is impossible to lay down any general rule as 
 to the organization of educational government in 
 the United States, for almost every possible variety 
 is to be found. All that can be done is to point to 
 
 237 
 
Tendency towards Centralization. 
 
 general tendencies which are to be observed, and 
 to the evident approximation towards one type 
 which stands out more and more as the ideal which 
 the whole country is striving, in spite of many 
 obstacles, to attain. In the township system, for 
 instance, we find different ways of electing the 
 body in which the control of the schools is vested. 
 In some it is chosen at annual town meetings ; in 
 others central boards are appointed, the members 
 being chosen by the electors of the sub-districts. 
 But it is to the cities and the States that we must 
 look to see the growth of the system which may 
 gradually absorb all others. Here we may per- 
 ceive a tendency towards centralization of control 
 and a gradual approximation to one ideal type 
 of organization. 
 
 This is not the place to consider the increase 
 and concentration of the population of the United 
 States. It must, however, be noticed, as explain- 
 ing many of the changes which have taken place in 
 the control of education during the latter half of 
 the last century, that, while in 1790 there was but 
 one American city having between 8000 and 12,000 
 inhabitants, in 1890 there were 147 cities of this 
 size. In 1890 there were also fourteen cities with 
 a population of from 75,000 to 125,000; and now 
 there are at least twelve cities with a population of 
 over 500,000. Conditions such as are suggested by 
 these facts make impracticable those primitive 
 
 238 
 
Tendency towards Centralization. 
 
 forms of government described above. The States 
 have, therefore, interfered and made new laws to 
 meet these conditions. 
 
 But when it is said that the States have 
 interfered, it must be added that in the majority 
 of cases it is the cities themselves which have 
 taken the initiative and have drawn up laws 
 which the State has done no more than sanc- 
 tion — a mode of procedure which will recom- 
 mend itself to the English advocates of local 
 self-government. An advantage or disadvantage 
 of this procedure is that, as a result, there is no 
 one system of educational government common to 
 all American cities. For instance, though the 
 management of the schools is almost invariably 
 vested in a city board, this board is constituted in 
 apparently as many different ways as there are 
 cities. In the majority of cases the boards are ad 
 hoc authorities elected by the people ; but in many 
 instances they are appointed by the mayor alone 
 or by the mayor and city council jointly. In 
 Philadelphia the board is appointed by the city 
 judges, and in New Orleans by the State board of 
 education. Buffalo forms a unique exception. In 
 the monographs prepared for the American educa- 
 tional exhibit at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 this 
 organization is thus described : — 
 
 "In the city of Buffalo, New York State, 
 the school affairs are managed by a committee 
 
 239 
 
Dangers of Democratic Control. 
 
 appointed by the city council, but happily this case 
 stands by itself, and the evil consequences possible 
 under such a scheme have been much ameliorated 
 in this particular case for the last half-dozen years 
 by a most excellent superintendent of schools, 
 elected by the people of that city." 
 
 This special organization being of particular 
 interest to English people at the present moment, 
 it will be well to give some details as to the nature 
 of the office filled by the superintendent of schools.* 
 But before doing so a few words may be said in 
 explanation of the evil consequences referred to in 
 the above passage. The same authority remarks 
 in connection with the way school affairs have been 
 managed in the larger cities : — 
 
 " In the smaller places — even in cities of a 
 hundred thousand or more inhabitants — matters 
 have gone well enough as a general rule, but in 
 the greater cities there have been many and serious 
 complaints of the misuse of funds, of neglect of 
 property, of the appointment of unfit teachers, and 
 of general incapacity, or worse, on the part of the 
 boards. Of course, it is notorious that the public 
 business of American cities has very commonly 
 been badly managed. It would not be true to 
 say that the business of the schools has suffered 
 as seriously as municipal business, but it has cer- 
 tainly been managed badly enough. . . . Men 
 engaged in managing the organizations of the 
 different political parties have undertaken to con- 
 trol appointments in the interests of their party 
 machines. And the downright scoundrels have 
 
 * See p. 247. 
 24O 
 
Autonomy of American States. 
 
 infested the school organization in some places for 
 the sake of plunder." 
 
 One is prepared, after reading such an indict- 
 ment, to learn that the powers of these city boards 
 are very great. As a matter of fact, every possible 
 function of control seems to be bestowed on them, 
 from the appointment and promotion of teachers 
 to the purchasing and selecting of new sites for 
 schools. In only a very few cases, however, are 
 they allowed to decide the amount of money which 
 shall be raised for educational purposes. 
 
 There is still one other feature which must be 
 dealt with before turning our attention to the 
 superintendents of schools. The public school 
 system of America is now supported entirely by 
 taxation. It therefore depends upon the exercise 
 of a sovereign power. All sovereign powers 
 have not been entrusted to the national Govern- 
 ment ; some of them are retained by the States. 
 The provision and supervision of schools, for 
 instance, is a function of the State and not of the 
 national Government. The vast extent of the 
 territory under the national Government offers in 
 itself an explanation for the autonomy of the 
 States in educational matters. It is impossible, 
 therefore, to draw any analogy in this respect 
 between the English and the American systems, 
 unless we compare the whole of England with one 
 single State. 
 
 241 
 
Attitude of National Government. 
 
 When, therefore, we speak of the centralizing 
 tendencies of American education, the term is used 
 with reference to the State, and not to the general 
 or national Government. Indeed, the general 
 Government exercises no authoritative control over 
 the educational institutions of the nation.* Start- 
 ing on a purely democratic basis, it held that its 
 right was limited to the encouragement of volun- 
 tary or local effort. How far control may be 
 ultimately centred in the national Government 
 nobody can foresee. Many persons may think 
 that the gradual approximation on the part of the 
 States to a common system tends in that direction. 
 
 The national Government has, it is true, made 
 grants of land to the different States for educa- 
 tional uses. Two occasions on which these grants 
 were made deserve notice. In the " Ordinance of 
 1787 for the Government of the North- West Ter- 
 ritory," it was provided that : One section of land 
 in each township should be reserved for the sup- 
 port of religion, one section for common schools, 
 and two townships for the support of a " literary 
 institution to be applied to the intended object 
 by the legislature of the State." Accompanying 
 this provision was a declaration that "religion, 
 morality, and knowledge being necessary to good 
 
 * The relation of the National Bureau of Education (see p. 243) 
 to the educational system of Alaska may perhaps be considered to 
 offer an exception to this statement. 
 
 242 
 
United States Bureau of Educiiion. 
 
 government and the happiness of mankind, schools 
 and the means of education shall for ever be en- 
 couraged." In 1862 an Act was passed giving to 
 each State thirty thousand acres of land for each 
 senator and representative to which the State was 
 then entitled, for the purpose of founding " at least 
 one college, where the leading object shall be, 
 without excluding other scientific and practical 
 studies, and including military tactics, to teach 
 such branches of learning as are related to agri- 
 culture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as 
 the legislature of the States shall respectively 
 prescribe, in order to promote the liberal education 
 of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and 
 professions of life" Certain of the above words 
 are printed in italics as referring particularly to 
 the special object of our study ; they will again 
 occupy our attention on a later page. 
 
 But the national Government has adopted yet 
 another and no less effective means of assisting 
 educational progress throughout the land. The 
 United States Bureau of Education corresponds 
 in many respects to the Special Inquiries Branch 
 of our Board of Education. It collects facts as 
 to educational movements in all parts of the world, 
 and " furnishes the fullest information upon every 
 conceivable phase of educational activity to whom- 
 soever would accept it." It thus acts not as a 
 controlling authority, but, in a sense, as the brain 
 *7 243 
 
Advantages of Wide Area of Control. 
 
 of the collective teaching body of the United 
 States. It is needless to insist further on the 
 influence which the Bureau can, and does, under 
 its present admirable direction, exercise over 
 educational development. 
 
 Each State is, however, a central authority, in 
 the English acceptation of the term, to itself ; and 
 it is owing to the increasing similarity between the 
 nature of the control employed by different States 
 that something approaching a common system of 
 schools has. arisen in America. Cities, townships, 
 and all subordinate political divisions have been 
 compelled to submit to whatever authority the 
 State sees fit to assert ; for they are powerless to 
 levy taxes for school purposes unless authorized 
 so to do by the State. Moreover, generally speak- 
 ing, they have not been slow to perceive the benefit 
 of a central authority controlling a wide area. 
 In many cases, for example, the State is able to 
 distribute the sums raised by a general levy in 
 such a way as to aid poor districts which other- 
 wise would be without the money necessary for 
 the support of their schools. In this connection 
 the State of New York may be noticed, where the 
 cities provide more than five hundred thousand 
 dollars yearly for the support of schools in the 
 country districts. 
 
 But the benefit of an authority presiding over 
 a wide area is no less evident in connection with 
 
 244 
 
Common Features of Different Systems. 
 
 the provision of higher educational institutions, 
 which could not be supported without intolerable 
 extravagance by smaller sections of the country. 
 Such institutions are the Normal Schools, prepar- 
 ing teachers for elementary and secondary schools, 
 maintained by nearly all the States ; and the great 
 State Universities to be found in all the southern 
 and western States. " In ten universities of the 
 North-Central division of States," says the authority 
 already quoted, " there are twenty thousand 
 students in college and professional classes, 
 and the work is of as high grade and of as 
 broad range as in the oldest universities in the 
 country." 
 
 The degree and extent of the control exercised 
 by each State has been determined by the measure 
 in which the people have appreciated these benefits, 
 and also by the mere material consideration of the 
 financial needs of the minor political divisions. If 
 one attempts to generalize, all that can be said is 
 that each State now includes provisions in its consti- 
 tution relating to education ; and that in all of them 
 there is some sort of public educational organiza- 
 tion established by law. At the same time there 
 seems to be little doubt that there is a general 
 tendency towards centralization within the State 
 limits. Indeed, the State of New York may be 
 said to have achieved a central organization second 
 to none in the world, and which may ultimately 
 
 24s 
 
The State of New York — ■ 
 
 prove the model for all other States. It therefore 
 demands a brief explanation. 
 
 In the first place, there is a State board of 
 regents responsible for the private academies (see 
 p. 256), controlling partially the public secondary- 
 schools, and in charge of all the higher educational 
 institutions. In addition to this authority there is 
 the State superintendent of public instruction, 
 whose office we may now consider. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the evils 
 which must arise in any system of schools sub- 
 mitted to a purely democratic form of government. 
 An allusion has also been made to the natural 
 objection of a people who have built up a demo- 
 cracy to the influence of the expert. But, from 
 the very beginning, the better sense of the Ameri- 
 can people seems to have saved them from this 
 consistent adherence to the weakness, as well as to 
 the strength of democracy. As far back as the 
 beginning of last century, the laws insisted 
 that some test should be applied to the qualifica- 
 tions of persons wishing to teach. Such a test 
 implies a recognition of the expert. Early in the 
 century, superintendents were appointed to per- 
 form this and other functions demanding expert 
 knowledge. New York appointed a State superin- 
 tendent in 1 8 12, and by the middle of the century 
 most of the other States, as well as the towns, 
 cities, and, in the Southern States, the counties, 
 
 246 
 
and its Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 had followed suit. While in the old days all that 
 was demanded of the superintendent was that he 
 should examine candidates for the teaching pro- 
 fession, collect statistics, and address meetings on 
 educational subjects, now he is held responsible for 
 the quality of the education provided by different 
 sections of the nation. He may indeed be re- 
 garded as the great bulwark against the encroach- 
 ment of political interests on the domain of national 
 education. 
 
 In the State of New York the superintendent 
 seems to combine the powers of a European 
 Minister of Education and an ideal English Con- 
 sultative Committee. His functions have been 
 summed up as follows : — 
 
 " He apportions the school funds ; he determines 
 the conditions of admission, the courses of work 
 and the employment of teachers, and audits all the 
 accounts of the twelve normal schools of the State ; 
 he has unlimited authority over the examination 
 and certification of teachers ; he regulates the 
 official action of the school commissioners in all 
 of the assembly districts of the State ; he appoints 
 the teachers' institutes, arranges the work, names 
 the instructors, and pays the bills. He determines 
 the boundaries of school districts. He provides 
 schools for the defective classes, and for the seven 
 Indian reservations yet remaining in the State. 
 He may condemn schoolhouses, and require new 
 ones to be built. He may direct new furnishings 
 to be provided. He is a member of the State 
 board of regents, and of the board of trustees of 
 
 247 
 
America and Educational Experts. 
 
 Cornell University. He may entertain appeals by 
 any person conceiving himself aggrieved from any 
 order or proceeding of local school officials, deter- 
 mine the practice therein, and make final disposi- 
 tion of the matter in dispute, and his decision 
 cannot be ' called in question in any court or in 
 any other place.' " 
 
 The organization of educational government has 
 been dealt with at greater length in the case of the 
 United States of America than in that of either 
 Germany or France. It appears to many careful 
 observers that in England we are at present 
 tending towards a democratic form of educational 
 supervision and control. In no country perhaps 
 is the popular mistrust of the educational expert 
 so deep. This is not the place to consider the 
 religious and social causes which have led to that 
 mistrust. But at a time when we have been forced, 
 by the successful rivalry of those nations who have 
 laid strongly and firmly the educational founda- 
 tions of trade and industry, to reconsider our 
 educational methods, it would seem more than 
 ever important that we should ask ourselves how 
 far such prejudices can be allowed to militate 
 against the improvement of the quality, as well as 
 the increase of the quantity, of our education. In 
 this respect we have more to learn from America 
 than from any other country. For there we may 
 trace the gradual abandonment of those prejudices 
 from which we are at present suffering. And yet 
 
 248 
 
America and Educational Experts. 
 
 this abandonment has not been accompanied by 
 any impairing of what is strongest and best in that 
 democratic spirit which is exercising so great an 
 influence on the destinies of England. 
 
 America has looked to education to make 
 democracy a success, and the future will certainly 
 show that she has not looked in vain. But in 
 the interests of democracy itself she has been 
 forced to act with that inconsistency which alone 
 seems to ensure success to human endeavour. 
 The knowledge of the few has been allowed in 
 matters educational to guide the will of the many, 
 and those few have not failed their country in 
 her need. In this respect America has furnished 
 one more instance to establish the fact that has 
 not yet been contradicted by modern history : 
 that where a nation places implicit confidence in 
 her educational experts — that is to say, men and 
 women who have, from love of education itself, 
 devoted their lives to the scientific study and 
 practice of education — they will invariably prove 
 worthy of that confidence. Above all, it is im- 
 portant for us to notice, at the present critical 
 moment in our history, that it is to the educa- 
 tional expert that America has had to appeal for 
 assistance to overcome all the evils which had 
 grown up in her organizations for public educa- 
 tional control — systems which she had built up in 
 obedience to the letter of democracy. It remains 
 
 249 
 
Diversity in Elementary Education. 
 
 to be seen what systems of education she has 
 established with the aid of her experts ; and more 
 particularly what are the educational foundations 
 of trade and industry which she has laid. 
 
 It has already been stated that there is great 
 diversity in the American system of education. 
 This diversity extends even to the elementary 
 sphere. It is most striking to the European 
 observer in the case of compulsory attendance 
 at the elementary school. There are no less 
 than sixteen States and one Territory which do 
 not make education compulsory, although they all 
 have a fully organized system of free schools. 
 Even where compulsion has been adopted, the 
 period of attendance varies. In the majority of 
 cases it is required between the ages of eight to 
 fourteen. In Maine and Washington, however, it 
 is extended to fifteen ; and to sixteen in New 
 York and five other States. In seven States the 
 lower limit of age is placed at seven, and in one 
 of these the child is required to continue his 
 attendance at school up to the age of sixteen. 
 This does not represent the only variety, for there 
 are all sorts of special conditions with regard to 
 children employed in labour on the one hand, 
 and those growing up in idleness or illiterate on 
 the other. In the year 1 898-1 899 there were 
 15,138,715 pupils enrolled in the " common schools " 
 of the United States. The average daily attend- 
 
 250 
 
Education Open to All. 
 
 ance was 10,389407 ; that is to say, 68*6 of the 
 pupils on the school registers. 
 
 The National Bureau of Education publishes, 
 among the other very interesting statistics which 
 it has collected, the average number of years of 
 schooling (of 200 days each) that each individual 
 of the population receives, or has received at differ- 
 ent dates, taking into account 2M public and private 
 schooling of whatever grade. In 1870, the number 
 of such years was 3*36, in 1890 it was 446, in 1897 
 it was 493, and in 1899 it rose to 496. But the 
 same calculation, taking into account only the 
 schooling furnished by public elementary and 
 secondary schools, that is, the "common schools," 
 gives respectively for the above-mentioned years 
 the figures 291, 3*85, 4-39, and 4*43. The fact that 
 the American Bureau combines the attendance at 
 elementary and secondary schools, under the term 
 11 common schools," in the above statistics, is signi- 
 ficant, as showing that, in the eyes of the American 
 people, secondary education is part of the normal 
 course through which every child should pass. In 
 fact, both are considered as parts of a public 
 system which is crowned by the university ; the 
 elementary schools being those which contain 
 " all pupils in the first eight years of the course 
 of study," and the secondary schools those which 
 contain " pupils in the next four years of the course 
 usually conducted in high schools or academies." 
 
 251 
 
Comparison with French System. 
 
 From this fact we are led to conclude that 
 secondary education in the United States is not 
 confined to the select few, as in Germany. And 
 here we are again brought into touch with the 
 spirit of democracy — of pure democracy, we might 
 say, in contrast to the democracy of England and 
 France. Here, indeed, we find the fullest recog- 
 nition of the equal rights of all men. There is 
 no attempt in America, as in France, to hinder 
 children from passing through the secondary 
 school ; on the contrary, they are encouraged to 
 do so by the provision of free secondary education. 
 It is in the difference of the characters of the 
 French and the Americans, and of the influences 
 which have moulded them, that we find the true 
 explanation of their different view of equality. 
 We have seen that in France social ambitions of a 
 peculiar nature have made a strict adherence to 
 the fundamental principles of democracy possible. 
 Without making invidious comparisons between 
 the characters of these two peoples, it will suffice 
 for our present purpose to observe that in America 
 there is no ambition which may not look forward 
 to its highest possible realization. 
 
 As it has been often remarked, in a land 
 where a man may pitch his tent where he 
 pleases at night and awake in the morning to 
 find that he has slept over a gold-mine, there 
 are few dreams of ambition which can surpass 
 
 252 
 
Comparison with French System. 
 
 the possibilities of reality. And it is, no doubt, 
 such natural equality of opportunity which has 
 given to the American character much of its 
 sturdy independence and self-reliance, two quali- 
 ties which characters always acquire when they 
 move in a limitless field of possibilities. And it 
 must be remembered that, though democracy has 
 been unable even in America to do away with class 
 distinctions, the passage from one class to the 
 other has, generally speaking, been kept free and 
 open. This is in a very great measure due to the 
 fact that there have been no old regimes, as in 
 France, which a fluctuating minority of the people 
 has always been ready to recall, and which have 
 more than once been re-established to disturb the 
 course of democracy. If further proof were neces- 
 sary of the fact that it was not purely educational 
 considerations which led to the establishment in 
 France of technical education in the secondary 
 sphere, it is afforded by the refusal of the 
 Americans, who are certainly not a jot behind the 
 French in their appreciation of the benefits of 
 industry and commerce, to sanction any corre- 
 sponding growth in their system of schools. They, 
 indeed, have gone to the other extreme, and have 
 added to their old secondary schools free public 
 institutions of a similar grade. We are, therefore, 
 again, in the case of America, compelled to take 
 the secondary schools into account in a survey 
 
 253 
 
Early Secondary Schools. 
 
 of the educational foundations of trade and 
 industry. 
 
 The English colonists, in their natural desire to 
 imitate the mother-country, planted Latin grammar 
 schools on American soil. The first of these schools 
 appears to have been that set up in the town of 
 Boston in 1635. The colony of Virginia had made 
 a similar attempt earlier, which came to nothing 
 owing to the Indian massacre of 1622. And 
 here it may be remarked that there is no greater 
 mistake made by the English people than to 
 regard America as possessing only institutions 
 of mushroom - growth and without traditions. 
 Not only are the roots of her secondary schools 
 planted in a very respectable distance, but she 
 has universities which may almost claim to be 
 venerable. In 1636, for instance, the general 
 court of the colony of Massachusetts voted a gift 
 of four hundred pounds towards the foundation of 
 " a school or college ; " and two years later the 
 institution was opened, thanks to the bequest of 
 a nonconforming clergyman of England, named 
 John Harvard, whose name it has borne ever since. 
 In 1701 there was also founded another university 
 in Connecticut, which was renamed in 1718 in 
 gratitude for the gifts of Elihu Yale, of London. 
 Columbia University, founded in 1754, may also 
 be able to boast of some traditions. 
 
 The number of secondary schools founded in the 
 
 254 
 
Early Secondary Schools. 
 
 seventeenth century was considerable. In the very 
 beginning, we perceive a recognition of what may 
 be termed the duty of the State with regard to 
 the education of the people. The most striking 
 example of this is afforded by the Puritan colony 
 of Massachusetts, which, in 1647, decreed that an 
 elementary school should be maintained in every 
 town of fifty families, and that there should be a 
 grammar school in every town in which the number 
 of families amounted to one hundred. The secondary 
 nature of the grammar school was clearly marked 
 by the provision that it was to educate students 
 for admission to the university. Preparation for 
 the universities seems, indeed, to have been the 
 chief aim of all these old schools. What was 
 demanded by that preparation is suggested by the 
 standard of attainments required for admission to 
 Harvard College at this time. These requirements 
 are summed up as follows : — 
 
 "When scholars had so far profited at the 
 grammar school that they could read any classical 
 author into English, and readily make and speak 
 true Latin, and write it in verse as well as prose, 
 and perfectly decline the paradigms of nouns and 
 verbs in the Greek tongue, they were judged capable 
 of admission in Harvard College." 
 
 Consequently, the studies in the grammar school 
 were almost entirely classical. These schools were 
 generally attended by the children of the higher 
 
 255 
 
The Academies. 
 
 social class, but, like the corresponding schools in 
 the mother-country, they seem always to have been 
 ready to prepare talented boys of the poorer 
 classes for a university career. Apparently, the 
 grammar schools sank before sectarian differences, 
 and at the dawn of the revolutionary period were 
 replaced by the academies. 
 
 In the case of the academies, also, there was at 
 first an absence of originality, or of adaptation to 
 the special needs of America. They seem to have 
 been modelled on the secondary schools established 
 in England by the nonconformists, who were ex- 
 cluded from the grammar schools and universities 
 alike. In the course of studies which they provided 
 and in their general organization they seem to have 
 resembled our grammar schools — a resemblance 
 which can still be traced to-day. 
 
 In the reorganization which followed the revolu- 
 tion, much attention was paid to secondary educa- 
 tion. A strong desire now sprang up for secondary 
 schools under the exclusive control of the State 
 Government, and not marked by the sectarian 
 character of the majority of the academies. In 
 short, public, in opposition to private, schools were 
 now demanded. Boston took the lead in founding 
 a school of the new type. Taking as its model 
 the High School of Edinburgh, the Massachusetts 
 town established, in 1821, an "English Classical 
 School," to which shortly after it gave the name of 
 
 256 
 
High Schools. 
 
 V English High School." The course of study in 
 this school was at first three years in length. The 
 subjects of the curriculum were : English language 
 and literature, mathematics, navigation and sur- 
 veying, geography, natural philosophy (including 
 astronomy), history, logic, moral and political 
 philosophy. It was not until later, when the 
 course was extended to four years, that Latin and 
 modern languages were taught in this school. 
 
 Within the next thirty years a number of high 
 schools sprang up in different parts of the country, 
 and now they are found, with very few exceptions, 
 wherever they are needed. It should be observed 
 that the Boston High School received pupils from 
 the elementary schools, and did not at the outset 
 prepare them for admission to the university. But 
 now such a gap between the secondary and higher 
 institutions is no longer allowed to exist, and the 
 high schools include in their curricula those 
 studies which may be considered as preparatory 
 to university education. Greek alone seems to be 
 regarded with some disfavour by those on whom 
 the high schools depend for their support. 
 
 Some of the academies have not been able to 
 survive the competition of the younger secondary 
 schools. Others are now stronger than ever, and 
 new schools of this type have been founded. 
 They occupy very much the same position in the 
 American system as would be filled by our great 
 
 257 
 
High Schools. 
 
 public schools in an English system from which 
 they were nominally excluded. The academies are 
 generally boarding-schools, and thus possess advan- 
 tages not enjoyed by the high schools, which 
 receive day pupils only. A number of the old 
 academies offered co-education, and a great ma- 
 jority of the high schools also teach boys and 
 girls together. In the report for 1896-97 of the 
 National Bureau of Education, it is stated that 
 there were in the whole country 5109 public 
 high schools, with few exceptions supported 
 entirely by public taxation and the proceeds of 
 the school funds, or, in other words, providing free 
 education. The number of boys in these schools 
 was 173,445, and that of girls 235,988. Thirty- 
 five of the high schools admitted boys alone, 
 twenty-six girls only, and the remainder were 
 co-educational. At the same time, it was calcu- 
 lated that there were 2100 private high schools, 
 academies, etc., of which 12 12 were co-educational ; 
 351 being for boys only, and 537 for girls. From 
 the same source the information is derived that 
 during the year 1898-99 there were 488,549 
 pupils in the public secondary schools, and 166,678 
 in private secondary schools. 
 
 As might be expected, there is much diversity 
 in the curricula of the American secondary schools. 
 The centralizing tendencies, referred to on an 
 earlier page, have, however, done much to produce 
 
 258 
 
Curricula of Secondary Schools. 
 
 that minimum of uniformity which would seem to 
 be essential to the secondary schools of any 
 country. And there is no doubt that much has 
 been done in the same direction by the excellent 
 supply of educational literature, produced by 
 America for the benefit of the English-speaking 
 world, and above all by the teachers' meetings 
 and congresses, in the organization of which the 
 United States are unsurpassed. 
 
 From the three following specimens of curricula 
 which were selected for the enlightenment of 
 educational students at the Paris Exhibition of 
 1900, it will be seen that the American schools 
 have arrived at a well-balanced course of studies. 
 It is interesting to compare these three typical 
 curricula with those of the Prussian secondary 
 schools (see p. 80, et sqq.). It is significant that in 
 America, where so much is left to the freedom 
 of popular choice, classical studies seem to be 
 gaining in public favour. But although America 
 has emerged from what may be called the 
 "scientific age," during which she surpassed all 
 other countries in her eagerness to teach the 
 greatest number of sciences in the least number 
 of years, even her classical schools do not ignore 
 the part which is played by science in the eviron- 
 ment of the modern man and woman. 
 
 18 259 
 
Curricula of Secondary Schools. 
 
 I.— Phillips' Academy, Andover, Massachusetts (an 
 Incorporated and Endowed Boarding Establishment). 
 
 
 Classical Section. 
 
 Scientific Course. 
 
 
 Class 
 IV. 
 
 Class 
 . III. 
 
 Class 
 II. 
 
 Class I. 
 
 Class 
 D. 
 
 Class 
 C. 
 
 Class 
 B. 
 
 Class A. 
 
 English . . . 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 ■§1 
 
 Ji o 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 s§ a 
 
 Latin .... 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 b?.W& 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 (2) 
 
 C p O 
 
 Greek .... 
 
 
 4 
 
 S 
 
 "5 r -1 o 
 
 4> w O 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 
 
 
 French . . . 
 
 _ 
 
 (4) 
 
 (i) 
 
 
 
 
 (4) 
 
 (2) 
 
 e foi 
 gono 
 iitica 
 
 German . . 
 
 — 
 
 (4) 
 
 (i) 
 
 rom th 
 
 of P 
 
 ing, a 
 
 — 
 
 (4) 
 
 (2) 
 
 
 Algebra . . 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 ^.2 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 'd o o 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 selecte 
 
 addit 
 
 ical D 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 selecte 
 additi 
 ing, Zo 
 
 History .. 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 S3 ■* J ,G 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 W 2 5= 
 
 S3~ 2 uS 
 
 Natural 
 
 
 
 
 sn he 
 with 
 , Mec 
 
 
 
 
 ^o-^ 
 
 Science. 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 £ ^ «3 rt 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 ■*-> in •-■ 
 
 — 
 
 n 
 
 (4) 
 
 
 Botany . . • 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 (2) 
 
 
 Note. — The figures in the columns indicate the number of 
 " recitation periods " a week devoted to the several subjects. 
 Figures in parenthesis indicate that the subjects for which they 
 stand are alternative with others in the same column. 
 
 26o 
 
Curricula of Secondary Schools. 
 
 II. — Courses recommended for the High Schools of 
 Minnesota by the State High School Board. 
 
 English 
 
 Latin 
 
 Mathematics . , 
 
 History 
 
 Natural Science 
 
 (a) Latin Scientific Course. 
 
 i st Year. 
 
 2nd Year. 
 
 3rd Year. 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 " 
 
 5 
 
 4th Year. 
 
 Note. — In Latin: First year, Grammar; second year, Csesar ; 
 third year, Cicero ; fourth year, Virgil. In Mathematics : First 
 year, Algebra ; second year, Plane Geometry ; fourth year, Solid 
 Geometry and Higher Algebra. In Natural Science: First year, 
 Zoology or Botany ; third year, Physics ; fourth year, Chemistry. 
 
 (5) Literary Course : As above, substituting four years of German 
 for Latin. 
 
 (c) Classical Course : As above, substituting Greek Grammar and 
 Anabasis for equivalents. 
 
 (d) English Course: As above, substituting for Latin, under pre- 
 scribed conditions, some of the following subjects: Botany, 
 Physiography, Book-keeping, Civics, History, Political Economy. 
 
 III.— Course for Public Latin School, Boston, 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 
 Class VI. 
 
 Class V. 
 
 Class IV. 
 
 Class III. 
 
 Class II. 
 
 Class I. 
 
 Arithmetic . . . 
 
 Geometry .... 
 
 Geography . . . 
 
 Gymnastics . . . 
 Military Drill . 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 4 [5] 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 7 [4] 
 
 [4] 
 [3] 
 
 4 [3] 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 5 
 3 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 2 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 2 
 
 261 
 
No Cul-de-sac. 
 
 Note. — The brackets indicate the arrangement for the Spring 
 Term only. Botany, Physiology, and Hygiene are studied during 
 the Spring Term in the hours assigned to Geography in the table. 
 Objective Geometry is studied in connection with Arithmetic in 
 Classes VI. and V. Plane Geometry is begun in the hours assigned 
 to Algebra in Class II. 
 
 It will be seen from the above tables that the 
 Americans insist on a wide and general curriculum 
 in their secondary schools. They appreciate to a 
 greater extent than almost any other people the 
 scientific principles underlying education. Indeed 
 there is no country except Germany where the 
 science of education receives such attention from 
 men of first-rate abilities ; and probably during 
 recent years the world owes more to the original 
 research of the Americans in this branch of science 
 than to that of any other people. Recognizing 
 that education must follow the course of natural 
 development, and guide the individual towards 
 the complete and harmonious realization of all 
 his capacities, they are loath to shorten the 
 period of general education in favour of a course 
 of special studies. It has been remarked by one 
 of themselves that they are determined that 
 there shall be no cul-de-sac in their educational 
 systems. But there was probably no intention, 
 when using a French word to express what is 
 most to be avoided, to draw attention to the fact 
 that in no system is the cul-de-sac so common 
 as in the French. It is to be hoped that America's 
 
 262 
 
General Culture. 
 
 determination may be strengthened by the extra- 
 ordinary success in practical life, of those of 
 her sons and daughters who have received the 
 general culture provided by the secondary school 
 and the university, but who have not on that 
 account considered it in any way degrading to 
 start at the bottom rung of the ladder of life. 
 So far the public high schools have to a great 
 extent been able to resist the popular demand for 
 specialized education ; in many cases they have 
 refused to admit commercial subjects to their 
 curricula, or to provide manual training for any 
 other purpose than that of general culture. Special 
 commercial schools in the secondary sphere are 
 generally private ventures, and they have to 
 depend on the support of that section of the com- 
 munity which has but a partial insight into the 
 true meaning of education. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be said that the American 
 teachers are more free from conventional restric- 
 tions, and more daring in the originality of their 
 experiments, than those of any other country. 
 And, when it is remembered that there is no 
 land in which the right to freedom of develop- 
 ment is held so sacred, it will be understood 
 that no time-tables or no statistics can possibly 
 represent the full influence of the secondary 
 schools on American progress. The following 
 table is, however, interesting, as showing the 
 
 263 
 
Statistics. 
 
 steady increase in the popularity of literary 
 studies, and the decrease in the popularity of 
 some branches of mathematics and science. This 
 table, which is based on statistics furnished by 
 the National Bureau of Education, includes both 
 public and private secondary schools. 
 
 
 1889-1890. 
 
 1893-1894. 
 
 1897-1898. 
 
 
 Number 
 
 Per 
 
 Number 
 
 Per 
 
 Number 
 
 Per 
 
 
 of 
 
 cent, to 
 
 of 
 
 cent, to 
 
 of 
 
 cent, to 
 
 
 Students. 
 
 total. 
 
 Students. 
 
 total. 
 
 Students. 
 
 total. 
 
 Total number 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 of secondary 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 students .... 
 
 297,894 
 
 — 
 
 407,919 
 
 — 
 
 554,814 
 
 — 
 
 Number study- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ing— 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 IOO,I44 
 
 33'62 
 
 177,898 
 
 43'59 
 
 274,293 
 
 49*44 
 
 
 12,869 
 
 4*3 2 
 
 20,353 
 
 4'99 
 
 24,994 
 
 4'5o 
 
 
 28,032 
 
 9-41 
 
 42,072 
 
 10-31 
 
 58,165 
 
 10-45 
 
 German .... 
 
 34,208 
 
 11-48 
 
 52,152 
 
 12-78 
 
 78,994 
 
 14-24 
 
 Algebra .... 
 
 127,397 
 
 42-77 
 
 215,023 
 
 5271 
 
 306,755 
 
 55-29 
 
 Geometry . . 
 
 59,789 
 
 20-07 
 
 103,054 
 
 25*25 
 
 147,515 
 
 26-59 
 
 Trigonometry 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 15,500 
 
 3-80 
 
 15,719 
 
 2-83 
 
 Physics .... 
 
 63,644 
 
 21*36 
 
 97,974 
 
 24-02 
 
 113,650 
 
 20-48 
 
 Chemistry . . 
 
 28,665 
 
 9-62 
 
 42,060 
 
 10-31 
 
 47,448 
 
 8-55 
 
 It is of course to be expected that, in a country 
 where popular opinion has almost as much influence 
 in educational matters as in England, a tendency 
 will be shown to frame the curricula of secondary 
 schools in some cases with an exaggerated regard 
 for popular favour. We consequently find in some 
 of the American secondary schools commercial 
 departments very similar to those which have been 
 
 264 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 started recently in connection with a few English 
 grammar schools. These courses vary very much, 
 both as to their length and as to what may be 
 called their commercial intensity. 
 
 The President of Harvard University remarked 
 in an address at the National Export Exposition 
 of 1899: — 
 
 " The so-called commercial course in an American 
 high school is almost universally a course hope- 
 lessly inferior to the other courses, being made up 
 by substituting book-keeping, stenography, type- 
 writing, and commercial arithmetic for some of the 
 language, history, mathematics or science of the 
 classical or English scientific course. This course 
 exists in our public schools because it has for 
 committeemen and parents a practical sound. . . . 
 For the purposes of mental training or of mental 
 power, getting this course is never to be recom- 
 mended, and it is rare that the slight knowledge 
 of these arts acquired by pupils in the public 
 schools proves to be of much use to them in 
 winning a livelihood." 
 
 In 1898, a department of commerce was 
 established in connection with the Central High 
 School in Philadelphia. Here the course covers 
 four years, and is generally considered as the 
 nearest approximation which has yet been achieved 
 in the United States to the ideal type of secondary 
 commercial school. The curriculum of this de- 
 partment given below, showing the numbers of 
 hours per week allotted to each subject, is worthy 
 
 265 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 of careful study. The pupil is fifteen or sixteen 
 years of age before he commences to specialize. 
 It is evident, however, that the course of studies 
 represents a compromise between the educational 
 and the " practical " idea ; and only results can 
 show whether both have not been sacrificed. We 
 may well be inclined to ask what practical or 
 educational benefit can be derived from the study 
 of Latin for the first two years only ; or whether 
 the amount of Greek and Roman history or of 
 modern European history, which can be learnt in 
 one year, is really worth the time that is given to 
 it. And again, can anything more than a smatter- 
 ing of physical geography, botany and zoology 
 be acquired during one year, when these subjects 
 share four hours a week between them ? Such a 
 course as this appears to the Englishman, and still 
 more to the German, to represent all that is most 
 brilliant in the daring pedagogical experiments 
 of the American experts, and at the same time 
 to offer a warning against the democratic tendency 
 to try to "serve both God and Mammon." It 
 is precisely the pedagogical knowledge which is 
 displayed in the organization of this course, and 
 particularly in the selection of subjects for the first 
 year, which makes it, to use a somewhat cant 
 expression, dangerous for those who, having only 
 skimmed the surface of educational science, are 
 always attracted by new ideas. 
 
 266 
 

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 267 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 From the statistics of the National Bureau of 
 Education it may be gathered that the number of 
 students in all commercial courses in different 
 kinds of institutions in the year 1897-98 was as 
 follows : — In universities and colleges there were 
 5869 ; in normal schools, 5721 ; in private high 
 schools and academies, 9740 ; in public high 
 schools, 31,633 ; and in commercial and business 
 colleges, 70,950. Thus no less than 123,913 indi- 
 viduals were receiving some sort of commercial 
 education in the United States during the year 
 mentioned. 
 
 The "commercial colleges," the best known 
 of the institutions which provide this kind of 
 training, really offer nothing more than the 
 preparation necessary for a boy or girl, man or 
 woman, of any age whatever, desiring to obtain 
 employment as a clerk. These schools are con- 
 sequently of a very elementary order, and cannot 
 rightly be termed educational institutions. They 
 are private undertakings submitted to no public 
 supervision. The tuition fee of the better class 
 commercial college varies from £10 to ,£40 for a 
 year of ten months. 
 
 The business college is seen in its highest de- 
 velopment in the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, 
 and Industry in Philadelphia, which is said to be 
 one of the best endowed secondary schools in the 
 United States. Here there is a more specialized 
 
 268 
 
Commercial Education. 
 
 course than is to be found in the Central High 
 School in the same town.* The department of com- 
 merce and finance in this school consists of three 
 special divisions — the course in commerce and 
 finance, the office course, and the evening course. 
 The first of these courses provides what is termed 
 a thorough fundamental training for the activities 
 of business. It includes: (i) the production, 
 manufacture, sale, and transportation of articles 
 of commerce ; (2) the management of stock com- 
 panies and corporations ; (3) the buying and sell- 
 ing of securities ; (4) the importing and exporting 
 of merchandise ; (5) the borrowing and lending of 
 money on credit ; (6) the advertising of com- 
 mercial concerns ; (7) the keeping of business 
 records. This course covers two years of two 
 terms each. A diploma is granted to those 
 students of the Institute who have completed the 
 whole of this course and passed the necessary 
 examinations. 
 
 It is to the universities and colleges of America 
 that we must look for commercial education of the 
 highest kind. It is evident that it is not until the 
 grade of education represented by these institu- 
 tions is reached that a student is fitted and 
 intellectually competent to acquire a knowledge 
 of those sciences on which commerce must depend 
 for its proper conduct. The secondary school 
 
 * See p. 267. 
 269 
 
Universities and Commercial Education. 
 
 can, indeed, provide training in such practical 
 subjects as commercial arithmetic, shorthand, and 
 typewriting ; it can neglect the future needs of 
 the pupil with regard to his general environment, 
 and encourage a premature development of those 
 special powers which will be exercised by the 
 narrower surroundings of his future calling ; but 
 it is not until a broad basis of general knowledge 
 has been laid, and a wide development of intel- 
 lectual power has been attained, that a young man 
 or woman is capable of studying commerce in the 
 way that it is studied in the commercial university 
 of Leipzig, or as industry is studied in the great 
 German technical high schools. The American 
 colleges and universities have comparatively re- 
 cently recognized this fact. They have also been 
 led to admit, not without a certain reluctance, that 
 although many of the most successful men of 
 business have passed through the classical courses 
 of study which they offer, yet it is possible for 
 them to furnish a training which is becoming more 
 than ever essential. 
 
 In these days, when the competition between 
 nations in the markets of the world has reached 
 a pitch of intensity unknown in former history, 
 the man of business is obliged to act with a 
 promptness and rapidity of decision which call 
 for a knowledge of the many conditions affect- 
 ing commerce, and which can only result from 
 
 270 
 
Universities and Commercial Education. 
 
 a careful scientific training and a wide survey 
 of human affairs. This training and this know- 
 ledge may be provided by the universities better 
 than by any other educational institution ; for 
 not only must such training be preceded by the 
 education, and this knowledge be based on the 
 instruction provided by the secondary school, but 
 it is desirable that the man of commerce should 
 not be cut off from all the influences of the 
 high traditions upheld by the universities. This 
 the American universities have perceived. Four 
 of them, the University of Pennsylvania, in Phila- 
 delphia, the University of Chicago, the University 
 of California, in Berkeley, and the Columbia Uni- 
 versity, in the city of New York, are conspicuous 
 for the steps they have taken to furnish suitable 
 courses of higher commercial education. 
 
 It was in 1881 that Mr. Joseph Wharton, a 
 manufacturer of Philadelphia, made a large dona- 
 tion to the University of Pennsylvania for the 
 foundation of a higher commercial department. 
 This is only another instance of what American 
 education owes to private munificence. The 
 twenty thousand pounds which Mr. Wharton gave 
 for this purpose were used to establish the school 
 of finance and economy. After ten years' ex- 
 perience it was found necessary to reconstruct 
 and enlarge this new faculty of the university, 
 The course in finance and economy now covers 
 
 271 
 
Commercial Course of a University. 
 
 four years, thus corresponding to the other courses 
 in arts and science. The conditions of admission 
 are the same as to other courses of the university. 
 The following curriculum shows better than any 
 other form of statement the kind of instruction 
 which is given in the four different years. It 
 should be noted that special provision is made 
 in this course for those students who intend to 
 enter the journalistic profession. 
 
 COURSE IN FINANCE AND ECONOMY. 
 
 Freshman Class. 
 
 No. of Hours per Week. 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 Composition 
 
 Algebra 
 
 Solid Geometry 
 
 Trigonometry 
 
 General Chemistry * 
 
 German 
 
 Accounting 
 
 Physical and Economic Geography 
 
 Practical Economic Problems 
 
 Economic Literature 
 
 Newspaper Practice f 
 
 * For students who present Solid Geometry and Plane Geometry 
 and Physics for admission to College. Such students omit Solid 
 Geometry and Trigonometry. 
 
 t For students in Journalism, who omit Accounting in second 
 term. 
 
 272 
 
Commercial Course of a University. 
 
 Sophomore Class. 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 No. of Hours per Week. 
 
 ist Term. 
 
 2nd Term. 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 I 
 I 
 I 
 
 
 History of English Literature 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 Business Practice 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 Theory and Geography of Commerce .... 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 
 Senior Class. 
 
 No. of Hours per Week 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 Public Administration 
 
 Legal Institutions 
 
 Municipal Government 
 
 Political Economy 
 
 Statistics 
 
 Finance 
 
 Transportation 
 
 History of Renaissance and Reformation 
 Art and History of Newspaper-making f 
 
 Newspaper Practice f 
 
 Current Topics f 
 
 * For students in Journalism, who omit Business Practice and 
 History and Geography of Commerce in second term. 
 
 t For students in Journalism, who omit Municipal Government, or 
 Transportation, or Statistics. 
 
 273 
 
Universities and Technical Education. 
 
 Junior Class. 
 
 No. of Hours per Week. 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 Constitution of United States 
 
 Constitutions of Germany and Switzerland 
 
 Congress 
 
 Modern Legislative Problems 
 
 Political Economy 
 
 Advanced Sociology 
 
 Sociological Field Work 
 
 Business Practice 
 
 Banking 
 
 American History 
 
 English Constitutional History 
 
 Logic 
 
 Ethics 
 
 Art and History of Newspaper-making * . 
 
 Newspaper Practice * 
 
 Current Topics * 
 
 The Universities in America have thus begun 
 to fulfill their duty with regard to the men of 
 commerce, and in this they are being followed 
 by the newer English universities. There is a 
 further resemblance between the two in the 
 attempts which they make to provide that ad- 
 vanced scientific training which we have seen 
 is given by the German technical high schools, 
 and to which Germany owes so much of her 
 industrial prosperity. It may be that in the 
 future England and America will succeed in 
 
 * For students in Journalism, who omit either Modern Legislative 
 Problems, or Business Practice and Banking. 
 
 274 
 
The American University. 
 
 furnishing better foundations of trade and industry 
 than even the German Empire; for certainly- 
 much is to be gained in recognizing at the outset 
 the common link which unites all studies of 
 university rank, whether they prepare for the 
 learned professions in particular, or for the special 
 occupations of trade and industry. But at present 
 America has so far outstripped England in this 
 respect that we can hardly regard the two countries 
 as competing on an equal footing with the educa- 
 tional activities of Germany. Before considering 
 the technical branches of the American universities 
 a few words may be said as to the general 
 organization of these institutions. 
 
 There is, perhaps, rather less variety in the 
 organization of American universities than in that 
 of the secondary schools. It is, however, exceed- 
 ingly difficult to institute a comparison between 
 the English and American universities. This 
 difficulty is in part due to the American confusion 
 of nomenclature. The term college, for instance, 
 is sometimes applied to institutions of the highest 
 possible grade, but more generally it connotes a 
 composite organization, partly a secondary school 
 and partly a university. If one could imagine the 
 University of Oxford or Cambridge insisting that 
 all students on arriving at the university should 
 spend four years, before commencing their uni- 
 versity studies, in bringing their attainments 
 19 275 
 
The American University. 
 
 of scholarship up to the level demanded by 
 the French Baccalaur6at, or, adopting Matthew- 
 Arnold's comparison of standards,* by the certifi- 
 cate of maturity of a Prussian higher secondary 
 school, then there would be something in Eng- 
 land corresponding to the American college. 
 Generally speaking it may be said that, while the 
 universities sometimes contain both a collegiate 
 or undergraduate and a graduate department, the 
 university proper provides only courses of post- 
 graduate studies. Again, it may be said that the 
 American university often contains four depart- 
 ments which resemble respectively the German 
 university, technical high school, agricultural 
 college and gymnasium. Harvard University, 
 for instance, presents the following organiza- 
 tion : — 
 
 I. Faculty of arts and sciences. 
 
 (a) Harvard College, leading to the degree of 
 bachelor of arts. 
 
 (b) The Lawrence scientific school (degree of 
 bachelor of science). 
 
 (c) The graduate school (degrees of master of 
 arts, master of science, doctor of philosophy and 
 doctor of science). 
 
 * "The examination for the degree of bachelor of arts, which 
 we place at the end of our three years' university course, is merely 
 the AbiUiricuten examen of Germany, the epreuve du Baccalauriat 
 of France, placed in both of these countries at the entrance to 
 university studies instead of, as with us, at their close." 
 
 276 
 
 
Harvard and Yale. 
 
 II. The divinity school (degree of bachelor of 
 divinity). 
 
 III. The law school (degree of bachelor of laws). 
 
 IV. The medical school (degree of doctor of 
 medicine). 
 
 V. The dental school (degree of doctor of dental 
 medicine). 
 
 VI. The school of veterinary medicine (degree 
 of doctor of veterinary medicine). 
 
 VII. The Bussey institution (degree of bachelor 
 of agricultural science). 
 
 The graduate school of Harvard does not offer 
 advanced technical instruction in civil and me- 
 chanical engineering ; this is, however, to be found 
 at Yale, the next oldest university, and in a number 
 of the later universities. Without entering into 
 details as to all the universities * of America, we 
 may notice that in each of twenty-nine of the 
 States there exists a " State university," supported 
 exclusively, or in great part, from public funds, 
 and consequently more or less under public con- 
 trol. Reference has already been made to the 
 grant of land of the General Government in 1862, 
 and also to the condition accompanying these 
 grants, namely, that the leading object of the 
 institutions they maintain should be instruction 
 
 * The University of the State of New York is, it should be 
 noticed, an institution analogous to Napoleon's " University of 
 France" (cf. p. 154). 
 
 277 
 
Cornell. 
 
 in those branches of learning relating to agricultural 
 and mechanical arts, including military tactics, and 
 not excluding other scientific and classical studies. 
 Before considering the effect of this condition, it 
 may be noted that the other sources of income for 
 the State universities are taxation, tuition fees (in 
 some only of the universities, in many the instruc- 
 tion is entirely gratuitous), and private gifts and 
 endowments. With regard to the last source of 
 revenue, it is not perhaps as large as is generally 
 imagined in England, where we are inclined to be 
 dazzled by the magnificent examples which come 
 under our notice. 
 
 Almost all the universities in the United States, 
 including the State universities, offer courses in 
 pure or applied science. What Cornell University, 
 in the State of New York, does in this respect is 
 particularly interesting. Ezra Cornell, to whom 
 the foundation of this university is due, desired to 
 found "an institution where any person might 
 find instruction in any study." Thanks to his 
 generous gift, and his careful management of the 
 funds derived under the Land Grant Act referred 
 to, the college has already realized upwards of 
 £820,000 as endowment, and still holds 156,000 
 acres of the land originally bought by Cornell, 
 valued at £120,000. These funds may not be 
 sufficient for the achievement of Cornell's object, 
 but they will go some way towards realizing it. 
 
 278 
 
Higher Technical Education. 
 
 The Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering, 
 which forms part of Cornell University, was 
 founded by Hiram Sibley, who was interested in 
 some of the great telegraph, railway, and farming 
 enterprises of the middle of the nineteenth century. 
 His first gift provided a building and a chair of 
 * practical mechanics and machine construction." 
 Altogether the gifts of Sibley and his family 
 amount to ^46,000. The Sibley College now 
 consists of eight departments — mechanical en- 
 gineering, experimental engineering, electrical 
 engineering, machine design, mechanic arts or 
 shop work, industrial drawing and art, and 
 graduate schools of marine engineering and naval 
 architecture, and of railway and mechanical engi- 
 neering. The courses of study cover four years, 
 leading respectively to the degrees of mechanical 
 engineer, electrical engineer, etc. The number of 
 students in 1899 was 492. At the same uni- 
 versity there is a college of civil engineering, in 
 which special instruction is given in bridge 
 engineering, railroad engineering, sanitary, muni- 
 cipal, hydraulic, and geodetic engineering. In 
 this splendidly equipped college there were 186 
 students in 1899. 
 
 But higher technical instruction is not found 
 only in the universities. For instance, the first 
 school of science established in America owed its 
 origin to Stephen Van Rensselaer, a Dutchman. 
 
 279 
 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
 
 Van Rensselaer conceived the idea of a canal con- 
 necting the Hudson River with the great lakes. 
 Having caused a geological survey to be made in 
 connection with this project by Professor Amos 
 Eaton, he was struck with the lack of men capable 
 of conducting such undertakings, and was con- 
 vinced of the necessity for scientific and technical 
 education. Professor Eaton seems to have been 
 a typical American genius, and it was with his aid 
 that Van Rensselaer founded in 1824 the famous 
 Polytechnic Institute which still bears his name. 
 
 An Irishman, Dr. Patrick K. Rogers, was chiefly 
 responsible for the foundation, in 1 861, of the great 
 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, now one of 
 the most famous technical institutes in the world. 
 Speaking of this school, Mr. J. H. Reynolds 
 remarks — 
 
 " Certainly its wealth of engineering equipment, 
 the thoroughness of its courses of instruction, the 
 practical character of its methods, the high 
 standard which it achieves, well warrant the praise 
 accorded to it, and well sustain its claim to recog- 
 nition as one of the largest and best appointed 
 scientific and technical schools in the United 
 States, both in respect of staff and equipment. 
 It was opened in 1865 with twenty-seven students, 
 which number had grown in 1895 to 1 183, taught 
 by a staff of 137 teachers. Its students are 
 drawn from every State of the union, and from 
 nineteen foreign countries, and included amongst 
 its students are seventy or eighty graduates of 
 
 280 
 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
 
 other colleges and scientific schools who come 
 to take technical courses." 
 
 The most important section of this institute is 
 a school of industrial science, " devoted to the in- 
 vestigation and teaching of science as applied to 
 the various engineering professions, namely, civil, 
 mechanical, mining, electrical, chemical, and sani- 
 tary engineering, and naval architecture, as well 
 as to architecture, chemistry, metallurgy, biology, 
 physics, and geology." The institute offers thirteen 
 distinct courses, each of four years' duration. 
 Affiliated to it is the Lowell school of practical 
 design, providing a course of three years of in- 
 struction in the art of design, including technical 
 manipulations, original designs, etc. 
 
 There are a number of similar institutions in all 
 parts of the country, which cannot even be named 
 here. It will be found, however, that, in most 
 cases, they provide a course of four years, the 
 first two of which are devoted to general pre- 
 paratory studies for the special professional work 
 of the last two. This preparatory course usually 
 includes modern languages and those subjects 
 which are necessary in common to every branch 
 of special industrial studies. Nearly all these 
 schools offer a degree at the end of the course ; 
 but while some grant only the degree of bachelor 
 of science, others bestow a more distinctly pro- 
 fessional title on their successful students, such as 
 
 281 
 
Higher Technical Education. 
 
 civil engineer, etc. Some offer still higher degrees, 
 demanding longer courses of studies, a thesis, and 
 three years' successful professional practice. 
 
 There is no common requirement for admission 
 to these schools such as we have seen is demanded 
 in Germany. From an attempt, made by the 
 President of the Worcester Technological Insti- 
 tute, to determine the typical average requirement 
 for admission to schools of science or engineering 
 colleges, we learn that they would include, in 
 addition to the "common English branches," 
 algebra, plane geometry, English literature, history 
 of the United States, and either the French or 
 German language. About two or three years' 
 study of the latter would be required, and to this 
 list will often be added solid geometry, plane 
 trigonometry, the elements of physics or chemistry, 
 and sometimes a year or two of Latin. 
 
 There is also a large supply of what is com- 
 monly understood in England by the term " tech- 
 nical education," that is to say, special preparation, 
 based on elementary education, for different trades 
 and industries. Trade schools, schools of design, 
 and textile schools, of every possible variety, and 
 owing their origin to voluntary effort, are to be 
 found distributed over the land. In all these 
 schools, however, the educational, as distinguished 
 from the professional, aim is never lost sight of. 
 It says much for the educational sense of the 
 
 282 
 
Lower Technical Education. 
 
 country that, almost invariably, the technical 
 schools have to satisfy public opinion that the 
 course of studies which they provide is calculated 
 to promote mental, moral, and intellectual de- 
 velopment, as well as mere wage-earning capacity. 
 Not the least remarkable among such institutions 
 are the Manual Training Schools. The type 
 which they represent cannot be said to exist in 
 England. 
 
 The Manual Training Schools are not technical 
 schools, in the sense that they aim at teaching or 
 even preparing for special trades or professions. 
 "It is really," says Mr. J. H. Reynolds, "the 
 principle and practice of the Kindergarten, con- 
 cerning the value and necessity of which there is 
 no longer any question amongst American educa- 
 tionists, carried forward through the later years 
 of school life. It is ' learning by doing,' and is 
 fast becoming a recognized principle in school 
 methods throughout the States." It appears, 
 indeed, that this form of education is not based 
 on any utilitarian ideas. We find little trace 
 of that desire which we find nearer home to 
 employ educational principles in excuse of systems 
 which have been built up for purely utilitarian 
 purposes. The Manual Training Schools of 
 America are an attempt to prove that "learn- 
 ing by doing" is the best means of promoting 
 natural development. Their influence has been 
 
 283 
 
Manual Training Schools. 
 
 great, and, thanks to their example, there are now- 
 few secondary schools which do not devote some 
 time to manual training and also to industrial 
 drawing. The latter study has been defined by 
 an American as " an orderly progressive course of 
 drawing, based on geometry." As showing the 
 increase of manual training in the schools of 
 America, the following figures, taken from the 
 statistics of the National Bureau of Education, are 
 instructive: — In 1890 reports were given of 37 
 cities ; in 1894, of 93 cities ; in 1896, of 121 cities ; 
 and in 1898, of 146 cities in the schools of which 
 manual training was taught. 
 
 Some of these Manual Training Schools form 
 departments of institutes embracing wider general 
 aims. In the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn — another 
 of the American institutions which owes its origin 
 to individual munificence and enterprise — the 
 Manual Training High School forms but one of 
 the four sections of educational provision. The 
 work of this institute has been classified as 
 follows : — 
 
 1st. Education, pure and simple, in the Manual 
 Training High School. 
 
 2nd. Normal training in preparing a student to 
 become a teacher (a) in the department of Fine 
 Arts, (b) the department of Domestic Art and 
 Science, (c) in the department of Science and Tech- 
 nology, (d) in the department of Kindergarten. 
 
 284 
 
Manual Training Schools. 
 
 3rd. Technical or special training to secure 
 practical skill and knowledge in the Industrial 
 and Domestic Arts. 
 
 4th. Opportunities of acquiring a knowledge 
 of, and direction in, special subjects relating 
 to domestic, social, financial, and philanthropic 
 interests. 
 
 A full description of this institute will be found 
 in the report presented by Mr. J. H. Reynolds to 
 the Technical Instruction Committee of the city 
 of Manchester, embodying an account of his visit 
 in April and May, 1898, to technical colleges, 
 institutions, schools, libraries, museums and works 
 in the United States and Canada. In this report 
 we have a survey of the great movement in the 
 United States for the promotion of industry 
 through education. It places us under a further 
 debt of gratitude to the city of Manchester. It 
 should be read by all those who are interested in 
 the progress of the great Western democracy. 
 
 285 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 In the preceding pages an attempt has been made 
 to show that our foremost rivals in the markets 
 of the world have built up national systems of 
 education, in which full allowance has been made 
 for the claims of industry and commerce. We 
 have probably as many schools as any country, 
 and no doubt our educational expenditure from 
 all sources is equal to that of any of the three 
 peoples with whom we have dealt ; but with us 
 there is a total absence of that common purpose 
 which can alone create a system out of a number 
 of independent efforts, and in no sense of the word 
 can we be said to possess a national system of 
 education. 
 
 Germany is the country which presents to our 
 view the best organized of educational systems ; a 
 national system in the highest sense of the term, 
 since it was created in response to the needs of a 
 nation which was brought to its knees before foreign 
 rivalry. This system was designed in no narrow 
 
 286 
 
Conclusions. 
 
 or one-sided spirit, for on it was seen to depend 
 the upraising of the whole nation, and its future 
 development in every branch of human activity on 
 which man may depend for his existence, his com- 
 fort, and his happiness. Prussia, with that central 
 guidance and supervision which can alone ensure a 
 common aim throughout the whole system, has 
 been able to insist on the due recognition in every 
 kind of school of the scientific principles underlying 
 education ; and she has been in a position, thanks 
 to her achievements in the interests of the whole 
 Empire, to offer an example to the other German 
 States, who have imitated what was best in her 
 school organization. Taking a wide and general 
 view of the schools of Germany, the impression 
 forces itself upon the mind that there is less special 
 education than in any other country ; that the 
 object of Germany has rather been, so to develop 
 each man that he may be ready to perform, to the 
 utmost of his ability, those duties which his country 
 demands of him. And thus he is not, in the first 
 place, a chemist, a manufacturer or a tradesman ; 
 but a German and a man, who in both capacities 
 has reached the highest point of development of 
 which he is capable. His general education may 
 have ceased at the age of fourteen, when he left 
 the primary school, or it may have been continued 
 until the age of sixteen or nineteen in the secondary 
 school. In the former case, as far as it is possible 
 
 287 
 
Conclusions. 
 
 for any political organization to adapt itself to 
 natural conditions, the cessation of his general 
 education coincided with the close of the period 
 of his natural infancy, and of that development 
 which demands the guidance of other men of 
 superior experience and knowledge. In the latter 
 case, with again the same reservation, he showed 
 himself fit to continue his general education to a 
 later age — fit, that is to say, in the sense that his 
 natural development had not ceased at the earlier 
 age of less gifted men. All the leaders in different 
 branches of German national life, therefore, pass 
 through the secondary school, which provides, in 
 the strictest sense of the term, general education. 
 It was owing to this fact that Bismarck was able 
 to say in 1895 — 
 
 " If I had not found in our nation the pre- 
 paratory work of the secondary teaching profession, 
 I do not believe that my work, or the work in 
 which I have collaborated, would have met with 
 such success." 
 
 In France we also see a national system of 
 education at work. Here, however, the national 
 purpose has not been so clearly perceived as in 
 Germany. In spite of the teachings of the Revo- 
 lution, or perhaps because of its teaching, France 
 has found it necessary to impose restrictions on 
 the natural development of man as man. She has 
 been obliged to spread a net of technical education 
 
 288 
 
Conclusions. 
 
 over her primary schools to prevent the soaring 
 social ambitions from wandering aimlessly in 
 " secondary " regions. Fortunately, she has allowed 
 free expression to the opinion of her experts, and 
 they have been able to check in some measure the 
 tendency to incorporate education in the great 
 institution which is being built up around the 
 worship of the goddess of Work, the modern 
 substitute for the revolutionary goddess of Reason. 
 
 America has also a national system of schools, 
 existing side by side with a multitude of more or 
 less independent efforts. Here the pure spirit of 
 democracy has been so far maintained that the rights 
 of man to the fullest and freest natural develop- 
 ment are still held sacred by all but the feeble and 
 corrupt. Around the principle of general, as 
 opposed to specialized, education a bitter struggle 
 is, however, being waged between those who have 
 only the interests of the nation at heart, and those 
 who are ready to use democratic freedom for the 
 promotion of their own selfish interests. 
 
 More and more in the United States the control 
 of education seems to be centred in the expert, 
 and it would appear that, to save the schools from 
 the selfish, weak, and corrupt, greater centralization 
 of control will become necessary. Already in the 
 State of New York we find that private schools 
 outside the national system are brought under the 
 control of the State, which is almost entirely vested 
 
 289 
 
Conclusions. 
 
 in an educational expert. Whether this example 
 will be followed by the rest of America, it is difficult 
 to say ; but there certainly seems to be a tendency 
 in that direction. And if ever the time should 
 come when external opposition should deprive 
 this great country of the luxury of free experiment ; 
 if ever it should become necessary for her to 
 consider economy in the maintenance of her 
 schools, we shall certainly see a closer approxi- 
 mation to the German system. 
 
 Meanwhile the American national system — and 
 there appear to be no reasons for refusing this title 
 to that aggregate of schools of different kinds under 
 public control — in many ways strongly resembles 
 that of Germany. General education until the end 
 of the secondary course is the rule, and not the 
 exception. From the secondary school the pupil 
 proceeds to the technical school or to the uni- 
 versity. In three particulars, however, does the 
 American national system differ from the German. 
 First, in its large provision of free secondary and 
 university education ; secondly, in its recognition 
 of the equal rights of both sexes to the same 
 educational opportunities ; and, thirdly, in the 
 close connection existing between the universities 
 and technical schools. In Germany technical 
 schools have been built up independently of the 
 universities, though it is true that they have caught 
 more and more of the university spirit, and adopted 
 
 290 
 
Conclusions. 
 
 more and more of the university organization. In 
 America, on the other hand, almost all the uni- 
 versities include, on an equal footing with their 
 other courses, courses of technical instruction of 
 the highest kind. 
 
 So far, England, with a fatal gift of imitation 
 which she seems recently to have acquired, has 
 followed, from no natural reasons, the French 
 rather than the German or American development 
 of national education. And, as she obstinately 
 refuses to allow that influence to the expert which 
 France does not hesitate to permit him, there is no 
 saying to what extent she may in the near future 
 violate every sound educational principle. Those 
 who are most anxious as to our future industrial 
 and commercial prosperity fear that England may 
 altogether fail to lay the proper educational 
 foundations of trade and industry. In France and 
 Germany the main support of these foundations is 
 the general education — both classical and modern 
 — provided by the secondary schools. Both of 
 these countries have placed their secondary schools 
 under public control. We are about to follow 
 their example in this particular. But we should 
 at least take warning from America, who, starting 
 long ago at the point which we have now reached, 
 has been compelled to abandon one of the funda- 
 mental principles of democratic government, and 
 call the expert to her aid in her struggle against 
 20 291 
 
Conclusions. 
 
 the weakness, ignorance, and corruption of those 
 bodies to whom she had entrusted the control of 
 her schools. 
 
 There is, however, but little comfort in a warning 
 which does not at the same time point to a way of 
 escape. If we are to avoid the dangers which 
 have threatened the schools of America, it is 
 evident that, in spite of all the scoffs and gibes at 
 the disagreement among experts of all kinds, we 
 must not attempt to solve the problems which now 
 face us without the aid of those who have devoted 
 their lives to the study and practice o'f education. 
 The government clerk and the county councillor 
 are essential to our educational government, but, 
 whatever may be their functions, we have no right 
 to demand of them a knowledge of the sciences 
 which must determine the nature and quality of 
 the education furnished by every school. One of 
 our first duties, therefore, is to find the experts. 
 Unfortunately, those who in the past have exercised 
 whatever control of our schools has been vested in 
 the government have discouraged the study of 
 the science of education among our secondary 
 school teachers. And consequently there is now 
 a lamentable want of experts to advise us as 
 to the type of secondary school which will meet 
 the needs that are pressing so urgently upon us. 
 
 When Prussia, a hundred years ago, gathered 
 herself together for a final struggle against the 
 
 292 
 
Conclusions. 
 
 oppression of foreign tyranny, one of the first 
 things she did was to make provision for the 
 training of the teachers in her secondary schools. 
 She thus procured for herself that magnificent 
 army of educational experts which forms one of 
 the chief sources of her national strength. Now 
 that we have to fight against the world to try 
 and maintain our industrial and commercial 
 supremacy, we might do worse than follow the 
 example of Germany, and lay the first educational 
 foundations of trade and industry and of all 
 national prosperity by training our secondary 
 teachers. If we refuse to do this it will be useless 
 to organize our secondary education, as Matthew 
 Arnold so strongly and so wisely urged us to do 
 many years ago ; and we may, at no very distant 
 date, find ourselves compelled to begin to train 
 our educational experts by the same necessity as 
 Germany. 
 
 293 
 
INDEX. 
 
 E. = England, P. = France. Or. = Germany. U.S.A. = United 
 States of America. 
 
 Aachen, 104, 115. 
 
 Aix, 193. 
 
 America. See National Educa- 
 tion in the United States. 
 
 American Commissioner of Edu- 
 cation, Report of the, 129. 
 
 Andersonian Institution, Glasgow, 
 16, 21. 
 
 Andover, Mass., 260. 
 
 Angers, 193. 
 
 Antwerp Congress, 131. 
 
 Arago, F. J. D., 160. 
 
 Architecture (G.), 106-108. 
 
 Armentieres, 174. 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, 33, 34, 115, 276. 
 
 Austria, her struggle for supre- 
 macy over the German States, 
 S7-6i. 
 
 Baker, James, 129. 
 
 Bell, Dr., 18. 
 
 Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of 
 
 Virginia, 227. 
 Berlin, 61, 106, 115. See also 
 
 Charlottenburg. 
 Birkbeck, Dr. George, 16-25, 46, 
 
 7i- 
 
 Bismarck, 61. 
 
 Board of Education (E.), 54. 
 
 Board of Trade (E.), 30. 
 
 Boston, Mass., 254, 256, ?$?, 261. 
 
 British and Foreign School So- 
 ciety, 18, 24. 
 
 British Technical Instruction 
 Commission, 97, 101, 109, 189, 
 
 2O0. 
 
 Brougham, Henry, 16, 20. 
 Brunetiere, Ferdinand, 42. 
 Brunswick, 104, 115. > 
 
 Buffalo (U.S.A.), 239. 
 Buisson, M., 172. 
 Burke, Edmund, 8. 
 
 California, the University of. See 
 
 Universities. 
 Cambridge (E.). See Universities. 
 Canning, G. , 45. 
 Chalons-sur-Marne, 185, 189, 
 
 *93- 
 
 Charlottenburg Imperial Physical 
 
 Institute (G.), 103-113. 
 Chemistry and metallurgy (G.), 
 
 102, no. 
 Chicago University (U.S.A.). 
 
 See Universities. 
 City Central Technical College 
 
 and Guilds of London Institute, 
 
 104. 
 Classics, the study of the (E.), 37, 
 
 70 ; (P.), 170 ; (G.), 73-76, 92, 
 
 95; (U.S.A.), 254, 255-257, 
 
 259-261, 266. 
 Clausthal (G.), 104. 
 Cluny_(P.), 193, 194. 
 Colonial Schools (U.S. A ), 227, 
 
 228, 254. 
 
 295 
 
Index. 
 
 Columbia University (U.S.A.). 
 
 See Universities. 
 Commercial Education (E.), 207 ; 
 
 (P.), i73- l8 3> 208-216, 221; 
 
 (G.j, 131, 145,146; (U.S.A.), 
 
 265-269, 270-274. 
 Compiegne, 184, 185. See also 
 
 Chalons-sur-Marne. 
 Conservatoire National des Arts 
 
 et Mitiers, 203-207. 
 Consort, the Prince, 29, 30, 44. 
 Continuation schools (G.), 118- 
 
 129. 
 Cornell, Ezra, 278. 
 Cornell University (U.S.A.). See 
 
 Universities. 
 Crefeld school (Cr), 127, 128. 
 
 Dale, F. H., 119-125. 
 Darmstadt, 104, 115. 
 de Caen, Gervais, 210. 
 Democracy and Education (E.), 
 
 11-13; (U.S.A.), 12, 13, 15, 
 
 99. 169, 230-234. 
 Descartes, 203. 
 Devonshire, Duke of, 97. 
 Dresden, 104, 115. 
 Drexel Institution of Art, Science, 
 
 and Industry (U.S.A.), 268, 
 
 269. 
 Dupuy, Charles, 164. 
 
 Eaton, Professor Amos, 280. 
 
 £cole Centrale des Arts et Mi- 
 tiers (P.), 193, 196-202. 
 
 ii coles des Hautes Etudes Com- 
 merciales (P.), 212, 221. 
 
 £coles Nationales d Arts et Mi- 
 tiers (P.), 184-196, 225. 
 
 licoles Nationales Professionnelles 
 
 (P.), 172, 173. *77- 
 
 Ecoles Supirieures de Commerce 
 (P.), 208-216, 221. 
 
 Edinburgh High School, 256. 
 
 Education Act of 1870, etc. (E.), 
 11, 19, 24, 31, 47, 53. 
 
 Education Department (E.), 32. 
 
 Engineering (G.), 102, no. 
 
 England. See National Educa- 
 tion in. 
 
 English, the Study of (G.), 96, 
 97- 
 
 Fichte, J. T., 62, 85. 
 
 Finsbury Technical College (E.), 
 102. 
 
 France. See also National Edu- 
 cation in. 
 
 Her part in the struggle for 
 supremacy over the Ger- 
 man States, 57-61. 
 
 Francke, A. H., 71. 
 
 Frankfort system (G.), 92-97. 
 
 Frederick II., 72. 
 
 Frederick William IV., King of 
 Prussia, elected German Em- 
 peror, 61. 
 
 Freiburg, 104. 
 
 French, the study of (G.), 96, 
 97- 
 
 Germany. See National Educa- 
 tion in. 
 
 Goethe, J. W., 61. 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, 4. 
 
 Greek, the study of (G.), 76, 
 95, 96; (U.S.A.), 255, 257, 
 2 6. 
 
 Grelley, M., 208. 
 
 Guizot, F. P. G., 156-160. 
 
 Gymnasien (G.), 73 > 76, 80, 82- 
 84, 106, 114. 
 
 Halle, 71. 
 Hanover, 104, 115. 
 Hardenberg, 62. 
 Harvard, John, 254. 
 Harvard University. See Univer- 
 sities. 
 Havre, 182, 183. 
 Hebart, J. F., 69, 86. 
 Hecker, Julius, 71, 72. 
 Humboldt, W. von, 62, 63. 
 
 Industrial classes, their educa- 
 tional needs (E.), 24-26. 
 Industrial revolution (E.), 2, 17, 
 
 36. 
 International Exhibition of 1851, 
 29, 30, 44. 
 
 Jesuits and education in France, 
 
 151- 
 Journalism and newspaper prac- 
 tice (U.S.A.), 272-274. 
 
 Karlsruhe, 104, 115. 
 
 Lancaster, Joseph, 18. 
 
 296 
 
Index. 
 
 Language. See Modern Lan- 
 guages. 
 
 La Rochefoucault-Liancourt, the 
 Duke of, 184. 
 
 Latin, the study of (P.), 170 ; (G.), 
 73-76, 92, 95, 96 ; (U.S.A.), 
 254, 255, 266. 
 
 Leipzig Commercial High School, 
 123-125, 144. 
 
 Liebaut, M., 205. 
 
 Lipscombe, W. G., 79. 
 
 Louis XVIII. , 203. 
 
 Louis-Philippe, King, 154, 156. 
 
 Lowe, Robert, 13. 
 
 Lowell, J. R., 9. 
 
 Magnus, Sir Philip, 21, 97. 
 
 Manual Training Schools 
 (U.S.A.), 283-285. 
 
 Massachusetts (U.S.A.), 254-256, 
 260, 261. 
 
 Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
 nology (U.S.A.), 280, 281. 
 
 Mechanics institutions (E.), 21, 
 22. 
 
 Ministry of Public Instruction 
 (P.), 172-174. 
 
 Minnesota, 261. 
 
 Modern languages, the study of 
 (E.), 50 ; (Ch), 94-97. 141-144- 
 
 Munich, 104, 115. 
 
 Nantes, 174. 
 
 Napoleon, 6, 9, 10, 59, 64, 65, 154, 
 157, 184. 
 
 Napoleon III., 161. 
 
 National Bureau of Education 
 (U.S.A.), 242-244, 251, 284. 
 
 National Education. The Growth 
 of National Systems of Edu- 
 cation. See chapter i. 
 
 National Education in England. 
 See chapters ii. and hi. 
 Industrial revolution, 2, 17, 
 
 36. 
 Education Act of 1870. .11. 
 Democracy and education, 11- 
 
 13- 
 
 Voluntary efforts to lay educa- 
 tional foundations, 14. 
 Dr. Birkbeck's movement, 16- 
 
 25. 
 Mechanics' institutions, 21, 22. 
 Educational needs of industrial 
 
 classes, 24-26. 
 
 National Education in England 
 — continued. 
 
 State efforts towards educa- 
 tional foundations, 29. 
 
 The Prince Consort and the 
 International Exhibition of 
 1851. .29, 30, 44. 
 
 Science and Art Department, 
 30-33, 46, 47, 50-53. 
 
 Education Department, 32. 
 
 Matthew Arnold's warning, 33, 
 
 34- 
 
 Education at the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century, 35-37. 
 
 Oxford and Cambridge Univer- 
 sities, 35, 37-40, 54, 275. 
 
 Utilitarianism and idealism, 41- 
 
 43- 
 
 Religious education, 50. 
 
 Study of modern languages, 50. 
 
 Secondary schools and univer- 
 sities, 35, 52, 54. 
 
 " Higher grade " schools, 53. 
 
 Board of Education Act, 54. 
 
 Classical versus modern educa- 
 tion, 70. 
 
 British Technical Instruction 
 Commission visit to Germany, 
 
 97- 
 
 Finsbury Technical College, 
 102. 
 
 City Central Technical College 
 and Guilds of London Insti- 
 tute, 104. 
 
 Commercial Education, 207. 
 National Education in France. 
 Foundations laid in France. 
 See chapter v. 
 
 Napoleon establishes educa- 
 tional system, 6, io, 24, 154, 
 
 157- 
 
 Matthew Arnold on elementary 
 education, 33. 
 
 The revolutionary period, 99, 
 147, 153, 156. 
 
 Training of teachers, 137-140, 
 223. 
 
 Influence of Rousseau and Vol- 
 taire, 147-153- 
 
 The Jesuits and public educa- 
 tion, 151. 
 
 Education under Louis- Philippe, 
 154-160. 
 
 Guizot's educational reforms, 
 156-160. 
 
 297 
 
Index. 
 
 National Education in France — 
 continued. 
 
 Education under Napoleon III., 
 161. 
 
 Growth of higher primary sys- 
 tem, 161-168. 
 
 Secondary education, 161, 164, 
 169, 170. 
 
 Cours compldmentaires, 162. 
 
 Higher primary schools, 162- 
 168. 
 
 Modern and classical "sides," 
 170. 
 
 Ministry of Public Instruction, 
 172-174. 
 
 Ministry of Commerce and In- 
 dustry, 172-175, 187, 208, 
 
 , 2TI. 
 
 Ecoles Nationales Profession- 
 nelles, 172, 173, 177. 
 
 Practical Schools of Commerce 
 and Industry, 173-178. 
 
 Practical School of Commerce 
 and Industry for Boys, 178- 
 181. 
 
 Practical School of Commerce 
 and Industry for Girls, 182, 
 ,183. 
 
 Ecoles Nationales d Arts et 
 Mdtiers, 184-196, 225. 
 
 The Cluny school, 193, 194. 
 
 Ecole Centrale des Arts et 
 Mdtiers, 193, 196-202. 
 
 Conservatoire National des A rts 
 t et Mdtiers, 203-207. 
 
 Ecoles Supdrieures de Commerce, 
 208-216, 221. 
 
 Congress on Technical Educa- 
 tion in Paris, 208. 
 
 Examinations, 215-220. 
 
 Ecoles des Hatites Etudes Com- 
 mercials, 212, 221. 
 
 Scholarships, 220. 
 
 General tendencies of French 
 education, 28, 222-225. 
 
 Comparison with American sys- 
 tem, 252, 253. 
 National Education in Germany, 
 15, 24. See chapter iv. 
 
 Public education in Wiirtem- 
 berg, Saxony, and Prussia, 6. 
 
 Establishment of national edu- 
 cation in Prussia, 9, 62, 63. 
 
 Matthew Arnold on elementary 
 education, 33. 
 
 National Education in Germany 
 
 — continued. 
 Universities, 39, 40. 
 Technical high schools, 41, 55, 
 
 101, 103-115, 132. 
 Prussia's pre-eminence, 43, 57. 
 Secondary schools, 48, 49, 80- 
 
 84, 132, 155. 
 Trade and education, 52. 
 Foundations laid by German 
 
 Government, chapter iv. 
 Pestalozzi's system, 65-69, 86, 
 
 93. *57- 
 
 Realschulen, 70-76, 82, 89, 132, 
 135, 141, 144, 168, 169. 
 
 Hecker's school, 71. 
 
 Gymnasien, 73, 76, 80, 82-84, 
 106, 114. 
 
 Realgymnasien, 76, 80, 83, 84, 
 106, 114. 
 
 Oberrealschule, 76, 79, 81, 83, 
 84, 89, 106, 114, 144. 
 
 The Emperor and the con- 
 ference of educational ex- 
 perts, 77-79. 
 
 Privileges of secondary educa- 
 tion, 82-84. 
 
 The national aim, 85. 
 
 The science of education based 
 on natural laws, 86-90. 
 
 French criticism, 90, 91. 
 
 The Frankfort system, 92-97. 
 
 The study of languages, 94-97, 
 141-144. 
 
 The Charlottenburg School, 
 103-113, 127. 
 
 "Continuation" schools, 118- 
 130. 
 
 Crefeld school, 127-129. 
 
 Training of teachers, 135-140, 
 ' 144. 
 
 Commercial education, 131, 145, 
 146. 
 
 Superiority of the German sys- 
 tems, 286, 287. 
 National Education in the United 
 States of America. The Foun- 
 dations laid in America. See 
 chapter vi. 
 
 Democracy and education, 12, 
 13. J 5. 99. l6 9» 230-234. 
 
 Colonial schools, 227, 228, 
 
 254- 
 Growth of a national purpose, 
 
 229 
 
 298 
 
Index. 
 
 National Education in the United 
 States of America — continued. 
 
 Organization of educational 
 control, 235-237. 
 
 Dangers of democratic control 
 of education, 239, 240. 
 
 National government and edu- 
 cation, 241-244. 
 
 National Bureau of Education, 
 242-244, 251. 
 
 State Universities, 245, 277. 
 
 New York State superintendent 
 of schools, 246, 247. 
 
 Educational experts, 248, 249. 
 
 Diversity in elementary educa- 
 tion, 250. 
 
 Complete system of education 
 open to all, 251. 
 
 Comparison with French sys- 
 tem, 252, 253. 
 
 Early secondary schools, 253- 
 
 255. 
 
 Harvard, Yale, and Columbia 
 Universities, 254, 255, 277. 
 
 Academies, 256. 
 
 High schools, 257, 258. 
 
 Curricula of secondary schools, 
 259-26 r. 
 
 Commercial education, 265-269. 
 
 Universities and commercial 
 education, 270-274. 
 
 The American University, 274- 
 278. 
 
 Cornell University, 278. 
 
 Universities and higher educa- 
 tion, 279. 
 
 Massachusetts Institute of 
 Technology, 280, 281. 
 
 Technical education, 282. 
 
 Manual Training Schools, 283- 
 285. 
 
 Conclusions on the American 
 systems, 289, 290. 
 National Society for the Educa- 
 tion of the Poor in the Prin- 
 ciples of the Established 
 Church (E.), 18, 24. 
 New York, 244-247, 250. 
 Niebuhr, 62. 
 Nonconformists (E.), 36. 
 
 Oberrealschule (Gr.)> 76, 79, 81, 
 
 83, 84, 89, 106, 114, 144. 
 Oxford. See Universities. 
 
 Paris Exhibition, Educational 
 
 Exhibit (P.), 166, 170, 173 ; 
 
 (U.S.A.), 239, 259. 
 Paris Chamber of Commerce, 210, 
 
 211, 220, 221. 
 Pennsylvania, the University of. 
 
 See Universities. 
 Pestalozzi, J. H., 65-69, 86, 93, 
 
 J 57. 
 Philadelphia, 239, 265, 267, 268, 
 
 271. 
 Pinloche (A,), 90. 
 Playfair, Lord, 30, 44. 
 Prussia. See also National Educa- 
 tion in Germany. 
 Her struggle for supremacy, 57- 
 62. 
 
 Realgymnasien (Cr.), 76, 80, 83, 
 
 84, 106, 114. 
 Realschulen (Gr.), 70-76, 82, 89, 
 
 132, 135, 141, 144, 168, 169. 
 Redgrave, Gilbert R. , 97. 
 Religious Education (E.), 50. 
 Reynolds, J. H., 280, 283, 285. 
 Rogers, Dr. Patrick, 280. 
 Rousseau, J. J., 94, 148-153, 156- 
 
 157- 
 Royal College of Science (E.), 30. 
 
 Sadler, .Michael E., 132, 144, 220. 
 
 Saint-Etienne, 179-180. 
 
 Saxon Code for Continuation 
 
 Schools (G.), 1 18-125. 
 Saxony. See National Education 
 
 in Germany. 
 Scharnhorst, 62. 
 Schiller, F., 61. 
 
 School Boards (E.), 11, 53, 56. 
 Science and Art Department (E.), 
 
 30-33, 46, 47, 50-53. 
 Secondary Education (E.), 35, 52, 
 
 54; (F.), 161, 164, 169, 170; 
 
 (G.), 48, 49. So-82, 132, 155; 
 
 (U.S.A.), 253-255, 259-261. 
 Sender, Christopher, 71. 
 Sherbrooke, Viscount. See Lowe, 
 
 Robert. 
 Ship-building (G.), 110-112. 
 Sibley College of Mechanical 
 
 Engineering (U.S.A.), 279. 
 Smith, Adam, 4, 14. 
 Smith, Sir Swire, 97. 
 Society of Arts (E.j, 44. 
 
 299 
 
Index. 
 
 Society for Diffusion of Useful 
 
 Knowledge (E.), 20. 
 Stegeman, Dr., 131. 
 Stein, 62, 64. 
 Stuttgart, 104, 105, 115. 
 Switzerland, 33. 
 
 Technical Education, Paris Con- 
 gress on, 208. 
 
 Technical Education (E.)» 102, 
 104; (P.), 173-196; (Cr.), 41. 
 55, 101, 103-113, 115-132 ; 
 (U.S.A.), 280-2. 
 
 Telegraphy (Cr.), 112. 
 
 Training of teachers (Cr.), 135- 
 140, 144 ; (P.), 139. 223. 
 
 United States of America. See 
 
 National Education in. 
 Universities — 
 
 California (U.S.A.), 271. 
 Chicago (U.S.A.), 271. 
 Columbia (U.S.A.), 254, 271. 
 s Cornell (U.S.A.), 278. 
 German, 39-40. 
 Harvard (U.S.A.). 254, 255, 
 
 265, 277. 
 Oxford and Cambridge (£.), 
 
 35, 37-40, 54, 275. 
 Pennsylvania (U. S. A), 271-274. 
 
 Universities — continued. 
 United States, 270-278. 
 Yale (U.S. A.), 254, 277. 
 
 Van Rensselaer, Stephen, 279, 280. 
 
 Vaucanson, 203. 
 
 Vierzon, 174. 
 
 Virginia (U.S.A.), 254. 
 
 Voiron, 174^ 
 
 Voltaire, 147-151. 
 
 Voluntary Schools (E.), 24, 31. 
 
 Watch and Clockmaking Schools 
 at Cluses and Besancon (P.), 
 
 195- 
 Webster, Daniel, 12, 13, 229. 
 Weimar, 61. 
 Wharton, Joseph, 271. 
 Wilkinson, Spenser, 43, 44, 60, 62. 
 William II., the German 
 
 Emperor, jj. 
 Woodall, M.P., William, 97. 
 Worcester Technological Institute 
 
 (U.S.A.), 282. 
 Wordsworth, William, 5. 
 Wiirtemberg. See National 
 
 Education in Germany. 
 
 Yale, Elihu, 254. 
 
 Yale University. See Universities. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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