revised edition of 1890 the same author declares, in general, that there are many forms of emulation which he did not set his face against.[1] And not long ago, in 1901, Dr. Beecher of Dresden recommended for the lower classes of the gymnasium contests among the pupils, which resemble very much the concertationes of the Ratio. He calls them "dainties of a harmless character which make the boys relish better the dry forms of Latin grammar."[2] Still more remarkable is the fact that in the Berlin Conference, June 1900, one of the most distinguished members of that assembly, Professor Münch, pleaded for introducing a system which is not much different from the Jesuit system of the aemuli. He says: "It must come to it in our schools that not only the teacher asks the pupils but also that the pupils question one another."[3]
Other exercises intended to rouse the activity of the pupils are oratorical contests and other public exhibitions.[4] The rules for the teachers prescribe that the original productions of the pupils must be carefully corrected and polished by the teacher, but the latter should not write them in their entirety.[5] A skilful teacher can do much in stimulating interest in such entertainments, if he proposes an interesting subject and knows how to use the literary and histor-
- ↑ On pp. 529-532. There he also states that the New England Journal of Education gives an account of some interclass matches at Milwaukee, and the New York School Journal of contests in the McDonough School No. 12, New Orleans.
- ↑ Neue Jahrbücher, 1901, vol. VIII, p. 98.
- ↑ Verhandlungen, p. 135.
- ↑ See especially Father Kropf, Ratio et Via, chapter V, art. II. (German edition p. 426 f.)
- ↑ Reg. com. 32.
