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The present Constitution of Prussia dates from Nov. 3o, 192o. The diet or landtag of Prussia contains 450 members, elected for a period of four years by universal secret suffrage on a basis of proportional representation. Every person over 20 years of age has one vote. The State Council or staatsrat is elected by the provincial assemblies on the basis of one member for 500,000 people, but every province has at least three repre sentatives, save that the Gebietsteil Hohenzollern has only one. This gives a total of 79 members. It is intended to be an in stitution parallel to the reichsrat, and has the right of rejecting legislation adopted by the diet. The diet elects the premier, and appoints the rest of the cabinet.
The centre of the republic is solidly Protestant, the proportion of Roman Catholics increasing towards east and west and reaching its maximum on the Rhine and in the Slavonic provinces. East Prussia, however, with the exception of Ermeland, is Protestant. The Roman Catholics greatly outnumber the Protestants in the Rhine provinces, and in Upper Silesia. Ab solute religious liberty is guaranteed in the republic. According to the census of 1925, the Evangelical Protestants in Prussia number 24,751,368, the Roman Catholics 11,940,978, the Jews 403,969, and those of other beliefs 1,023,858. The Evangelical or Protestant Church of Prussia consists, as it now stands, of a union of the Lutherans and Calvinists, effected under royal pressure in 1817. Those who were unable from conscientious scruples to join the union became Separatist or Old Lutherans and Old Calvinists, but their numbers were and are insignificant. The Evangelical Church is governed by "consistories," or boards elected by the people. There are also synods in most circles and provinces, and general synods representing the old provinces only. The organi zation of the Roman Catholic Church differs in the various provinces. Altogether, in Prussia, there are two archbishops and ten bishops.
In Prussia education is compulsory, and the general level attained is very high. Every town or community must maintain a school, supported by local rates and under the supervision of the State. All parents are compelled to have their children properly taught or to send them to one of these elemen tary schools, in which all fees are now abolished. By the Con stitution of 1850, all persons are permitted to instruct, or to found teaching establishments, provided they can produce to the authori ties satisfactory proofs of their moral, scientific and technical qualifications. Both public and private educational establishments
are under the surveillance of the minister of public instruction, and all public teachers are regarded as servants of the State (Staatsbeamte). No compulsion exists in reference to a higher educational institution than primary schools. All children must attend school from their sixth to their fourteenth year. At the head of the administration stands the minister of public instruc tion and ecclesiastical affairs, to whom also the universities are directly subordinated. The higher (secondary) schools are super vised by provincial boards, appointed by Government, while the management of the elementary and private schools falls within the jurisdiction of the ordinary Regierungen or civil government. This is carried out through qualified school inspectors.
The expenses of the primary schools (V olksschulen) are borne by the communes (Gemeinden), aided when necessary by sub sidies from the State. The teachers for the elementary schools are trained in normal seminaries or colleges established and super vised by the State. The secondary schools of Prussia may be roughly divided into classical and modern. The classical schools proper consist of Gymnasia. In these boys are prepared for the universities and the learned professions, and the full course lasts for nine years. The modern schools, or Realgymnasia, also have a nine years' course; Latin is taught, but not Greek, and greater stress is laid upon modern languages, mathematics and natural science. The three lower classes are practically identical with those of the gymnasia, while in the upper classes the thoroughness of training is assimilated as closely as possible to that of the classical schools, though the subjects are somewhat altered. Rank ing with the realgymnasia are the Oberrealschulen, which differ only in the fact that Latin is entirely omitted, and the time thus gained devoted to modern languages. The gymnasial "certificate of ripeness" (Maturitiitszeugniss), indicating that the holder has passed satisfactorily through the highest class, enables a student to enrol himself in any faculty at the university. The great majority of the secondary schools have been established and endowed by municipal corporations.