The passing of the gymnasium's monopoly as the only school preparing for university was inaugurated by a step of momentous importance in the history of German schools. After much discussion of the merits and demerits of the exclusive position held heretofore by the humanistic gymnasium a conference was called in December 1890, by Emperor Wilhelm II, and subsequently a new order of public instruc tion was issued. Among the issues placed be fore this conference through the personal ini tiative of the head of the nation were: Adapta tion of instruction to the demands not only of scholarly standards but of modern needs of the people; a fair reduction of Latin, i.e., making Latin no longer compulsory and a condstso sine qua non for university immatriculation Latin composition, heretofore an ingredient part of the prima curriculum, disappeared com pletely— greater consideration for individual talent. A second reform, also along progres sive lines, took place in 1901. The most far reaching result of the new order has been that it extended equal recognition to gymnasium, realgymnasium, and ober-realschule. Naturally, future students of theology, classics, ancient philology, Roman law, history and philosophy would still figure largely among those who make up the roll-call of the humanistic gym nasium. There were until recently in Prussia: 341 schools of the gymnasium type, 162 of the realgymnasium type and 99 ober-realschulen. The following figures illustrate the distribution of schools of the higher order in Greater Ber lin: 75 of the nine years' course, out of which about 30 are of the gymnasium type, about another 30 of the realgymnasium type and the rest ober-realschulen. The average maximum of classroom attendance in these schools is 40; there were in the state of Prussia 24.2 pupils to every teacher (university-trained teachers only) which figure differs but very slightly from the corresponding figure for the empire (24)• Closely related to gymnasium, realgymna sium and ober-realschule, and in fact constantly everging from one of the latter or from previous combinations of the latter, are the re form-schulen. The principal new departure of the reform-schools is the postponement of Latin until lower tertia (U III). There are three years of teaching which are common to all the pupils of these reform-schools after which appears plainly the character of the former familiar types, branching off, as it were, either into gymnasium, realgymnasium and real schule, or at least into two of these final forms. The Frankfort system, also that of Altona and Hanover (Leibnitz-school) are still regarded as leading types. By this time approximately 130 reform-schools should be added to the figure given above as regards schools of the higher order in Prussia, while the additional figure for the empire would be about 160. All these schools have been fully recognized and have passed the state of experimentation, al though the name ureform-sclulei might still suggest a state of untested novelty or even of fighting still for recognition. All these sys tems, so far described, consider themselves equally progressive. They carry on instruction' according to the individual needs of the youth of the nation, not in any hostile competition, but, as it were, in the spirit of team-work for the sake of perpetuating their historical in heritance and with a distinct ambition to trans mit as best they can the essential intellectual and spiritual values of the nation and to be a link rich in actual life between past and future of this nation.
Besides the municipal schools which to-day together with the state schools constitute the bulk of the schools of the higher order, there existed early in the Middle Ages schools of high reputation founded by some ecclesiastical order (cloister — or monastic schools) or by the bishop, generally on the estate of a cathedral (dom- or kathedral-schule). Schul-pforta, a monastic foundation whose impressive build ings, half-way between Leipzig and Jena just north of the Thuringian hills, date back as far as the 12th century, became a model of the humanistic gymnasium during the first half of the 16th century (charter 21 May 1543), and has since remained an educational institution of highest quality. Schul-pforta, from the very
beginning an endowed school, still receives its pupils after a special entrance examination (into lower tertia, there being no sexta quints and quarts courses) and upon the recommenda tion of other schools in which the pupils ex celled in scholarship. Other schools are the Kloterschule-Ilfeld, the Fuertenschulen Meissen and Grimma in Saxony (1520), Thomas-Schule, Leipzig, founded A.D. 1212, and the Fulda Gymnasium, founded in the 8th century. To most of these schools even parents of modest circumstances may send their sons; their exclusiveness, which sometimes has been re ferred to, excludes only candidates who give little promise as to (special) excellence in scholarship. Inasmuch as many of the nation's pedagogues and head-masters graduated from these endowed schools the influence of this type of schools has not been confined to their own group merely. Apart from these forces of tradition, one great value of the present lies in the• remoteness of most of these schools from modern city turmoil and its unavoidable disturbing effects upon city school-life; another distinct advantage is the assuredness of their time-tested environment safeguarding the per petuation of a healthy and steady intellectual atmosphere combined with all the stimulants of a self-sufficing and often economically self supporting community life of their own. Like elsewhere, supervision by the state is a guaranty that the needs of modern life will not be seriously neglected. (It is in school communi ties like that of schul-pforta, or joachimsthal, recently transferred from Berlin to Templin, where the ideals of all schools of the higher order, i.e., the training of the nation's youth toward independent instinct for research work, has been carried out most completely. In the in stance of throwing the German gymnasiast and real-gymnasiast at an early age on the re sources of Lexicon in his home-work in foreign languages, also in the instance of ex pecting from him invariably a sufficient analysis of at least the syntactic elements of his daily texts, we can see some essential steps toward this goal of instruction, toward the spirit Of research which later on in the uni versities and in the institutions of technology, agriculture, etc., has to be solely depended upon). Naturally, in schools of the boarding school type (schul-pforta) much room can be made for independent reading, especially for the development of taste for literature. An other trait which should not be overlooked in a sketch of the essential features of this Ger man educational system is that the departmental activities of the school are deliberately brought into mutual relation. Inasmuch as there is no where in the curriculum of the schools a sud den breaking off, all subjects being carried into the ninth course (absence of the credit-system for preliminary or intermediate work), such bringing into correlation of the various branches of instruction is, of course, made much easier, e.g., instruction in history, which nowhere stops short of an adjoining field, comprises the en tire history of Europe and the entire history of the Hellenic Age and of Rome, and in covering these fields seeks to be supplemented and aided from the realm of studies going on parallel to it and vice-versa. Geography, al most invariably in the hands of the teacher of history, is most obviously a supplementary sub ject of this kind, but the most extended use made in this direction of bringing out col lectively the diversified values of school in struction has been composition work in the native language. A perusal of the new order for schools of the higher order issued in •1892 will show plainly the emphasis laid on this kind of concerted activity of departmental instruc tion. Thus, the encouragement of the spirit of research leading ultimately to an increase of what has been termed (problem-solving ability)) is a matter not of casual occurrence— though naturally conditions as well as results must vary— but it is an integral part of the school's duty toward the nation and accord ingly felt as such, i.e., as equally essential a goal to be reached as would be that primary object of all teaching, namely, the imparting of information.