3. To the State belongs the superintendence of the schools. For this purpose it appoints various authorities:

3. The department of public instruction.

Besides these there are the various school-synods, the corporate representation of the families and laymen who are especially interested in education. In conjunction with these the State regulates the exact cooperation of all the various factors concerned in the school-system, and thereby secures unity. Similarly the State regulates the finances and sees that each community raises a proportionate amount of the necessary

means.

4. The Church gives up all special claims to the superintendence of the schools, except the supervision of the religious instruction. But even in this the independence of the school system of the State does not permit a direct interference; the Church must act indirectly through the school authority. The Church can have its share in the administration of the schools through the local authorities, to which clergymen can be elected.

I have given here the chief outlines to show how centralisation and decentralisation must go on jointly, if anything effective is to be achieved. On the one hand we find freedom of movement and independent cooperation on the part of families and communities; on the other hand, the organisation of the State necessary for holding the various forces together, and for seeing that these are exercised properly.

In Germany we have not yet reached such a just adjustment; for although education has been freed from the trammels of the Church, it has, on the other hand, been enslaved by the State. The latter regulates school affairs solely by its own authority. In the case of elementary education Prussia has done this twice in the course of the century: in 1854 by the "Prussian Regulations," and in 1872 by the "General

Provisions." Here it is remarkable to observe how the school becomes dependent upon political tendencies. The "Regulations" of 1854 breathe a reactionary conservative spirit, which gained the upper hand after the Napoleonic wars, when the Government feared independent thought, and was especially afraid of the German universities. After the assassination of Kotzebue by a student, after the revolutions of 1830 and of 1848, it was thought that the safety of the State could only be maintained by repressing the desire for education in the lower classes of society. These "Regulations" were abolished in 1872 by a Liberal administration, which, in its struggle with the Catholic Church, wished to set free the forces of culture. The "General Provisions" of 1872 are still in force; they have been the cause of much progress in the system of elementary education and in the training of teachers, and also in the better equipment of the schools and by a freer conception of educational questions. They have cleared the way for progressive popular education, and have enabled even the lowest in the nation to have a modest share in the achievements of science and art.

The secondary schools of Germany, though further removed from the influence of politics than the elementary schools, were on the other hand influenced by theology and philology, the scientific tendencies at the time in being. As the teachers came chiefly from the universities, it is natural that they introduced in the higher schools those conceptions which they had gained at the universities. Now our universities during the first half of the century were entirely under the influence of the New Humanism. Lessing, Winckelmann, Schiller, Goethe, Fr. A. Wolff and Wilh. von Humboldt had rejuvenated the ancient world. The study of Greek spread, and Greek became of equal value with Latin. Greek and Latin formed the centre of the instruction given in the Gymnasium. German, mathematics and the natural sciences were thrust in the background. The Gymnasium was the highest and the most aristocratic of

the schools. Whoever obtained the leaving certificate of this school found admission to the universities, and thereby to all the highest professions. This condition of affairs could only last while science on the one hand and industry and commerce on the other were still undeveloped. As these gained in strength it became noticeable that there was no school in which preparation for these branches of work could be found. The Gymnasium with its classical curriculum was a stranger to practical life; and its course of instruction, extending over 12 years, was too long and loaded with a freight which was bound to be considered useless ballast by the future merchant. In the course of the nineteenth century therefore a new kind of school (whose beginning dates back to the beginning of the eighteenth century) asserts itself side by side with the Gymnasium, that is the Realschule. It contains a modern course of instruction: English, French, the natural sciences, mathematics, geography, drawing, and emphasises especially the mothertongue. Latin was added to it, so that the school might count as a preparatory school for the second class of the civil service. This was the origin of the Realschulen in 1859, which received the name Realgymnasium in 1882. They also received the right of preparing their students for the universities in modern languages, in mathematics, and in natural science. And so they became competitors of the Gymnasium, which hitherto had the sole right of preparing for the university. A third kind of secondary school arose in 1882, the Upper Realschule with a course of instruction extending over nine years; and this school also strove to obtain the right, not only of preparing its pupils for the technical colleges, but also for the universities. A long and fierce struggle ensued, lasting until the present time, the struggle between the Humanists and the Realists, the Gymnasium and the Realschule. A school conference which met in the Prussian "Ministerium" in December 1892 was to end this struggle. But no agreement could be arrived at, although the German Emperor took part in the discussion with

characteristic impetuosity. Last May a new conference was held in Berlin, and it is believed that the solution of the difficulty is imminent. The solution has become easier, because the technical colleges have obtained the right of conferring the doctor's degree and thus have become the equals of the universities.

Thus we find the lower, middle, and upper schools very active during the nineteenth century. New kinds of schools sprang up, partly owing to the influence of the middle classes, partly through the organising activity of the State which provided for the requirements of the military authorities as well as the wishes of the Church. This zeal to provide the children with all sorts of knowledge soon raised the question: Will the mental health of the children not be impaired? A German doctor raised this question as early as 1836, and even at the present time we are still troubled by it. It was right that such a question should have been raised in Germany; for the Germans have always paid too much attention to the development of the mental forces, and have paid too little consideration to the physical training. Games of various kinds have been known in Germany, but they had not entered the national spirit as much as in England, for example. The schools were satisfied with two hours' gymnastic exercise per week. This was thought sufficient to counterbalance the mental exertions; but as a matter of fact was not nearly enough. The Gymnasium especially earned the reproach of overtaxing the children mentally. The old Gymnasium was satisfied with Latin and Greek; the new tried to satisfy modern requirements by emphasising the teaching of the mother-tongue, and adding French, English, and natural science. That is to say, the child was expected to learn four foreign languages between its tenth and its eighteenth year, in addition to learning its own native tongue. Further, all the other branches of knowledge increased their demands, especially the natural sciences and mathematics, and the school inspectors took good care that

these claims were not neglected. It is therefore not astonishing that over and over again men, especially medical men, have called attention to the fact that it was useless to overstrain the mental forces at the expense of the bodily. Two kinds of efforts have been made to remedy this defect: (1) home-work has been cut down as much as possible; (2) more physical exercise has been introduced, such as games, rowing, excursions, &c.; without however engendering the danger of sport, which consists in withdrawing the mind from all higher aims and interests. The principle has not been lost sight of, that though the body must be made a capable instrument, ready for use at any time, nevertheless its training must never become the dominating point of view for education, lest the intellectual interests shall be sacrificed.

What has been said so far refers chiefly to boys' schools. The girls' schools show many differences. They followed their own course; they developed out of their own strength; they have been protected by the State, though not directly assisted by it. The State requires officials; therefore it concerns itself with the education of the boys and not with that of the girls. The world of woman seemed to lie quite beyond the sphere of its activity; it concerned itself with it only with regard to elementary education. Everything besides that was left to private enterprise. All girls come within the Act of compulsory education; that is, they must go to school for eight years; but nothing more. Since the elementary education did not appear sufficient for the educated families, private schools for girls had to be started. The necessity for this is shewn by the remark of a German educator, who wrote thus in 1786: "If an inhabitant of the moon should visit our planet, the result of his observations would be something like this: As to the feminine sex, especially that of the better classes, it seems as if the State cared little, whether they grew up into human beings or into monkeys.""

The beginning of the nineteenth century, the period of deep