In the cities a reformatory movement in the management of the schools occurred toward the close of the eighteenth century. The citizens' and classical schools were supplemented by Realschulen (schools which paid more attention to the demands of modern life than did the classical schools). In many small towns the Latin schools were converted into citizens' schools, so that the latter came to be regarded as standing between the elementary and the classical schools; analogous to our (a) primary, (b) intermediate, and (c) high schools, it was considered that (a) elementary, (b) citizens', and (c) classical schools were and ought to be distinct establishments of one system. If this idea had been carried out systematically it would have resulted in the establishment of a system such as our common-school system. But the social distinctions among the people caused a differentiation, and to-day the three grades of schools-people's, middle, and classical schools-are not in organic connection with one another.

During the reign of Frederick William III (1840) the schools gradually improved. Impulses from without, notably the teaching of Pestalozzi, moved authorities and teachers to bestow more attention upon methods, courses of study, and especially upon the training of teachers. This early attempt at building up a profession for teachers has had wonderful results. Prussia and other German states in this particular are far ahead of other nations, having acted with far-sighted policy, and by acknowledging the now well-understood maxim that "the teacher is the school," the teaching profession in Germany has become a pride of the nation.

The time of general readjustment of Prussian affairs after the Napoleonic wars was also the time of rejuvenation of the Prussian schools. Gradually the system was improved; the ideas of Pestalozzi permeated it, until it became the model for other nations. But while other nations, notably the French and English, bave left educational efforts to the tender mercies of private enterprise, Prussia has consistently worked out a system of state schools since the time of Frederick the Great, and hence is a hundred years ahead of other nations in results and experience. From 1854 till 1872 the schools in Prussia were handicapped greatly by narrow regulations and short-sighted policy, but after the Franco-Prussian war new life was infused into all governmental efforts by appealing to the liberal element of the nation. The general regulations of Minister Falk, issued in October, 1872, are still in force, only slightly modi fied by his successors. During the last twenty years the people's schools have suffered in consequence of the immoderate demands made by the state for the maintenance of its vast standing army.

II. DEFINITION AND CHARACTER.

The people's schools comprise those educational institutions which are devoted to the elementary instruction of the youth of the nation, and are intended" to impart the knowledge and skill necessary to rational

beings" (vernünftige Wesen). The time within which this instruction is offered is between the sixth and fourteenth years of age; confirmation in church defines the termination of the school course. Children of parents who refuse to join a church are permitted to leave the school when they have completed the prescribed course and passed the regular annual examination. The people's school may be purely elementary, as in the country, or of a higher grade, as it frequently is in the cities, where the upper grades partake of the nature of a school which goes beyond the mere rudiments. Aside from the people's schools there are others that receive pupils at as early an age as the people's schools, but present the matter of instruction in a more scientific, that is to say, in a less elementary and popular way, with the design of their pupils remaining in school longer than the fourteenth year of age, namely, till the seventeenth or nineteenth year; such are the socalled gymnasia and realschulen, higher citizens' schools, industrial schools, technical schools, and young ladies' academies. None of these schools are considered people's schools. The latter form the nearest approach to common schools (in the American acceptation of the word) ever attempted in Germany.

The public schools provided for in the constitution.-In order to understand how deep rooted public education is in Prussia we will quote from the Constitution of Prussia.

ARTICLE 20. Science and the teaching of science are free.

ARTICLE 21. For the education of the young public schools shall be established and maintained. Parents and guardians must not leave their children or wards without that instruction which is prescribed for the public schools.

ARTICLE 22. To give instruction and to establish schools is allowed to every one who can prove to the state authorities moral, scientific, and technical capability. ARTICLE 23. All public and private educational institutions are under the supervision of the state authorities. Teachers of public schools have the rights and duties of officers of the state. (In this clause the state reserves for itself the right of properly preparing the teachers, and assumes the duty of pensioning them.)

ARTICLE 24. Religious instruction is left to the respective religious societies. (This passage was amended subsequently.) The external management of schools is left to the civil communities, while the State employs the teachers and provides for the necessary number and training of teachers.

ARTICLE 25: The means for establishing, maintaining, and extending the publicschool system are furnished by the communities, and only in cases of inability does the state furnish the means. (This has subsequently been amended. The state now bears 18 per cent. of the cost of maintaining the public elementary schools, and about 34 per cent. of that of the secondary schools.) Rights acquired by private grants in behalf of education shall be inviolate. The state guarantees public-school teachers a fixed income. Instruction in the public schools is free of charge. (This was not carried out until October 1, 1883; see chapter "Finances.")

ARTICLE 26. A special school law regulates all educational affairs in the state. ARTICLE 112. And till the law mentioned in article 26 is passed, the former legal status, so far as it does not conflict with the constitution, shall remain in force. It is significant that at present, 40 years after the adoption of the constitution, this general school law has not yet been passed. Laws

which partially cover the ground have been adopted, but substantially the public schools are still governed by the "Minister of Educational, Ecclesiastical, and Medical Affairs."

III. FINANCES.

Like all of the States of the former Northwest Territory in this country, Prussia has an irreducible school fund, the origin of which is found in the sequestration of church property, sales of land, bequests, fines, and sundry other sources. It would lead too far to specify all the sources. Suffice it to say this fund is inadequate for the maintenance of the schools. According to the last official report of the Prussian Government, the interest of this fund defrayed but a small percentage, namely, 7,323,641 marks ($1,830,910), in a total of 116,615,648 marks ($29,153,912). By means of state taxes the state's portion (including the interest of this fund) of the cost of maintaining the public schools amounted to over 18 per cent., while the proportion borne by the communities amounted to a little less than 82 per cent.

The current expenses for maintaining the schools in 1886-87, that is, the salaries, etc., amounted to 75,245,144 marks ($18,811,286), or 611⁄2 per cent. of the sum total, 116,615,648 marks (829,153,912); 41,370,504 marks ($10,342,626) were spent for buildings and improvements, or 351per cent.1

Most of the communities in Prussia still require tuition fees, but since October 1, 1888, the state assumes a portion of the means raised formerly by tuition fees. It pays annually $100 for each principal, $50 for each regular teacher, $37.50 for each female teacher, and $25 for temporary assistants. The law was passed for the purpose of enabling the communities to abolish tuition fees; but since the sums paid by the state are too small, most of the cities continue collecting the fees, for which a proviso in the law gives authority. Berlin, Frankfort, and more than a dozen other cities in Prussia have abolished fees altogether, and now raise their share of the expenses by direct taxation and sundry minor sources, chiefly by fines. All the liberal parties advocate the abolishment of fees, but the great demands upon the pockets of the citi zens caused by recent and very extensive improvements make it impossible to carry out this design.

We are, in this country, under the impression that the state in Prussia governs the schools exclusively. This is a mistake, for in the financial management and establishment of new schools and improvement of their exterior condition the cities in Prussia are very much more independent than are the cities in America of their respective State legislatures.

Though a mark is quoted at 23.8 cents, it is commonly considered in rough calculation as equal to a quarter of a dollar. Hence by dividing the above sums by four we arrive at an approximate estimate.

IV.-SUPERVISION.

The elementary schools of Prussia, the so-called "people's schools," have less supervision than our American city schools, because the teachers all have professional training. Still there is a general supervision exercised by the state. The provincial governments, the representatives of the Minister of Education, supervise the systems of schools in their provinces indirectly, by examining the teachers at their graduation from the normal schools. These school councilors, as they are called, make occasional visits to schools, here and there, but generally are considered the courts of appeal in school matters. Local supervision is exercised by the mayors and clergymen. cities where a school commission exists that commission either supervises the schools through its members or employs professional school inspectors. Their duties are to all intents and purposes similar to those of our city-school superintendents. Clergymen have been greatly discredited as school inspectors during the liberal era in Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and other states; while in Würtemberg a law requires the school inspector to be a clergyman. Many of the inspectors in Prussia and other states are heads of normal schools, high schools, etc. Prussia is divided into twelve provinces-Eastern and Western Prussia (on the Baltic), Pomerania, Posen, Brandenburg, Silesia, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Westphalia, Rhenish Prussia, and HesseNassau. Each province is subdivided into three or four governmental districts. These are divided into kreise (circuits, counties), and the latter into communities or townships. Large cities, such as Berlin, Cologne, Frankfort, and others, are kreise by themselves, analogous to New York City and County, Chicago and Cook County. The communities vary considerably in size and number of inhabitants, but a school is provided for every 500 inhabitants.

Kreis (county) supervisors are found frequently, but the system of county supervision is not a general one, owing to the fact that the affairs of the schools in Prussia are not systematically regulated by law.

The school reports of the various inspectors are not published, but may be examined in their offices. Secret reports are also required, and are sent to the provincial headquarters. This practice of secretly reporting upon the teachers and their work has been at times discouraged and discredited, but to a limited extent it is still in practice.

In Berlin and other large cities the administration of the lower schools is similar to that of the American common schools. There is a school commission (a committee of the city council), a general superintendent (called "school councilor"), several assistant superintendents (called "district inspectors"), a principal (called "rector") at the head of each school building, and many associate teachers, but very few subordinate teachers. There is a distinction made between associate and subordi nate teachers.

V. THE TEACHERS.

Normal schools.-It is well understood that the professional training of teachers in Prussia is the foundation of strength of the people's schools. The earliest attempts on the part of the State at improving the schools were directed to establishing normal schools for the professional training of teachers. While in this country and in England the idea seems to prevail widely that normal-school preparation is not ab solutely necessary for teaching, in Prussia it is considered the first and foremost need that the teachers be theoretically and practically taught how to teach. Hence the many normal schools each have a practice school where the normal students acquire practical experience in teaching.

In 1889 Prussia had 106 normal schools for men and 8 for women. Of these 114 schools, 72 were Protestant, 38 Catholic, 4 mixed. There were 689 professors and instructors engaged in them, while the preparatory schools had 78 teachers. The number of students in the normal schools in 1888 was 8,507 (against 9,400 in 1869), and the number of students in preparatory schools 1,991.

The expenses of the state for normal schools (all Prussian normal schools being state institutions) is about 600 marks (or $150) per annum per student. The number of students seems to be exceptionally small, if compared with the number in our country, but we must not measure Prussia by an American standard. The "supply" is more than sufficient, because the "consumption" is not near so great as with us. As a rule, a teacher in Prussia is a teacher always. In Berlin, for instance, 108 new teachers were employed last year, and of these, 102 were for newly established schools; hence only six vacancies occurred in a corps of more than 3,000. If we compare this with the large number of changes taking place annually in our cities, it becomes obvious that 114 normal schools are sufficient for Prussia.

The course of study in normal schools in Prussia is one of three or four years. It embraces a thorough review of the common branches, the high school branches, theoretical and practical instruction in instrumental music, drawing, gymnastics, and pedagogy (history of education, psychology, theory and practice of teaching). No foreign languages are taught in Prussian normal schools.

Most of these normal schools are situated in small towns of 4,000 to 8,000 inhabitants; indeed but very few are found in large cities (two in Berlin). The reason of this is found in the desire to keep the young would-be teachers free from the temptations of a large city. The

Thus we see that there is on the part of the government a recognition of teaching as a profession, and this recognition pervades all classes of society. The teacher of any school or grade ranks with his clerical, legal, and medical brother. Indeed, so far as my observations go, the teachers of Germany, as a class, stand higher in the estimation of the people than do members of other professious, and worthily so.—[J. T. Prince, agent Massachusetts Board of Education.]