these two systems of education, and, having weighed both in the balance, they have found the modern system wanting to such a degree that they have concluded to discard it forever. There seems to be wide-spread misconception about this German experiment, and the conclusions drawn from it are so unwarrantable that a review of the main features of the case may be useful in correcting erroneous impressions.
As is well known, there are two classes of schools in Germany which prepare boys for the university—the Gymnasien (gymnasia) and the Realschulen (real schools). The former are the classical schools, whose curriculum consists in the main of Latin, Greek, and mathematics, and graduation from which confers the right to enter any department of the university. The real schools are institutions whose course of study embraces less Latin than the former, and no Greek, the place of the latter being represented partly by more of the modern languages and partly by natural science. The gymnasia are old schools, being the legitimate successors of the schools which dated from the revival of letters. The real schools are products of the modern spirit, and, although dating from about 1740, they did not acquire a recognized standing until late in this century. The earliest of these schools were the answer to the demand for "practical" education in the narrowest sense of that term. It was not until 1859 that the Government of Prussia fully recognized them. In that year, the schools passing under that name were classified, according to length of course, into first, second, and third class. The course of the first class was made of the same length as that of the gymnasium—that of the other classes was shorter. From that year the friends of the real schools demanded that graduates of schools of the first class should be admitted to the universities. Their claims excited at first only a smile of derision, but so vigorously did they push matters that the Government, in 1869, was persuaded to take the first move in the case by asking the faculties of the various Prussian universities for their opinions on the subject. This called out a series of reports which were very strong against admission. It is curious that in this series of reports language was used from which we might infer that the universities had already tried the experiment; as when it is asserted in one report that the gymnasium students soon overtake real-school students even in natural science that at a time when real-school graduates were not admitted to the universities. The Government decided, however, to admit the real-school students to certain branches, which it did by the order of December 7, 1870.
Until 1871, then, the graduates of real schools were not admitted to any department of the universities in Prussia as candidates for a degree. In that year they were allowed to matriculate in the university for the study of modern languages, mathematics, and natural science. After an experience of about eight years, on the 18th of De-
