Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

of these branches it was determined in 1832 to accept henceforth the certificate of the Realschule or the higher Burgher School instead of that of the gymnasium. Different departments made their own stipulations; the Minister of Public Works, for instance, stipulated that the certificate of the candidate for the Bauakademie (School of Architecture) should be valid only when the candidate's Realschule or higher Burgher School had been one of the first class, or with the full number of six classes, and when he had passed two years in each of the two highest classes. I mention a detail of this kind to show the English reader how entirely it is the boy's school and training which the Prussian Government thinks the great matter, and not his examination. Since 1832 the tendency has been to withdraw again from the Realschule certificate its validity for the higher posts in the scientific departments of the public service; for these posts, the gymnasial leaving certificate is now again required. But for a very great number of posts in the public service the certificate of the Realschule is still valid, and for a still greater number of posts in the pursuits of commerce and industry employers now require it. The Education Department issued in 1859 the rules by which the examination for this certificate is at present governed. They are the same, mutatis mutandis, with those for the Maturitätsprüfung at the gymnasium. The examining commission is composed in precisely the same way; the examination and the issue of the certificates follow the same course. The subjects are: divinity, the mother tongue and its literature, the translation of easy passages from Latin authors, but, in general, no Latin writing; French and English, in translation, writing, and speaking; ancient history; the history of Germany, England, and France, for the last three centuries; geography; physics and chemistry; pure and applied mathematics, and drawing. Excellence in one subject may counterbalance shortcomings in another, but no candidate can pass who absolutely fails in any. Externi who want the certificate are admitted to examination on the same terms, and at the same fee, as in the Gymnasien. In Realschulen of the second rank the examination is easier than in those of the first, but the certificate has not the same

value. The Abgangsprüfung and Abgangszeugniss of a higher Burgher School, again, are still more easily passed and won, but still less valuable. The Abgangszeugniss of a higher Burgher School entitles the holder to enter the prima of a first-rate Realschule; often a very important opening to a clever boy in a small country place, who for one year can afford to go to a school away from home, but could not have afforded to get all his schooling there.

To the passage from the tertia and secunda of the gymnasium or of the Realschule, examinations are also attached, for which certificates, if the boy leaves after passing one of them, are given, declaring his ripeness at that stage. For many subordinate employments in the civil service these certificates are accepted. To be a teacher of drawing in a public school, for instance, a certificate of ripeness for secunda of a gymnasium or of a first rank Realschule or higher Burgher School is required; this if the candidate has not been at a public school and has to be examined as an externus; if he has been at a public school, the certificate of his having passed the examination out of secunda at a second rank Realschule is sufficient. One important employment of school certificates is to entitle the holder to shorter military service (Zulassung zum einjährigen freiwilligen Militairdienst). Young men who volunteer to serve for one year, arming and clothing themselves, the term of military service to be then at an end, must, to be accepted, produce a certificate of a certain value, either from a gymnasium or a Realschule.

It shows how many more gymnasium boys there are who go through the full school course than Realschule boys, that whereas from the Gymnasien in 1863 there were 1,765 Abiturienten from prima, from the Realschulen in the same year there were but 214. Adding to the 1,765 Abiturienten 40 Externen who passed at the same time, we have 1,805 boys who got the classical certificate of ripeness in 1863. Of this number 1,563 went in that year to the Prussian universities. Of the 214 Abiturienten from the Realschulen (to whom are to be added three Externen, making 217), 124 went into the For the examination of externi for this lower kind of certificate, the fee is four thalers.

public service, 92 into the pursuits of commerce or industry; one went to prepare for the gymnasial leaving examination, that he might go into a learned profession. Evidently the mass of those who go into business leave the Realschule before prima, and the majority of those who stay for prima stay with the hope of public enployment. But the minor certificates accessible to those who leave secunda and tertia promote an attendance at school longer than that which boys going into business would without the attraction of these certificates be willing to give; and they promote, too, a wholesome return upon the school work done, and a mastering of it as a whole, which tend, the school work having in the first instance been sound and well given, to make culture take a permanent hold upon the future tradesmen or farmer. Accordingly, it is common to meet in Germany with people of the tradesman class who even read (in translations, of course) any important or interesting book that comes out in another country, a book like Macaulay's History of England, for instance; and how unlike this state of culture is to that of the English tradesman, the English reader himself knows very well.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE PRUSSIAN SCHOOLMASTERS; THEIR TRAINING, EXAMINATION, APPOINTMENT, AND PAYMENT.

EXAMINATION FOR SCHOOLMASTERS ITS HISTORY-PRESENT PLAN OF EXAMINATION FOR SCHOOLMASTERS NORMAL SEMINARIES FOR SCHOOLMASTERS — PROBATION

AND PRACTISING LESSONS OF SCHOOLMASTERS-APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOLMASTERS, AND JURISDICTION OVER THEM-INTERVENTION OF THE EDUCATION MINISTER — RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION-DENOMINATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS -WIDE ACCEPTATION OF THE DENOMINATION EVANGELISCH EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL POSTS OF CERTAIN DISSENTERS AND OF JEWS RANK AND TITLE OF

SCHOOLMASTERS-PAYMENT OF SCHOOLMASTERS.

To

O insure that the school work, which so much is done to encourage, shall indeed be sound and well given, it is not in Prussia thought sufficient to test the schoolboy and the candidate for matriculation; the candidate for the office of teacher is tested too. This test is the famous Staatsprüfung for schoolmasters (Prüfung der Candidaten des höheren Schulamts), and is the third great educational reform I have enumerated (the Lehrplan and the Maturitätsprüfung being the other two) which owes its institution to Wilhelm von Humboldt. Before 1810 a certificate of having proved his fitness was not required of a candidate for the post of schoolmaster. Municipal and private school patrons in particular made their nomination with little regard to any test of the kind. There was generally in their school a practice of promoting the teachers by seniority to the higher classes, and this practice had very mischievous results. A project was canvassed for giving to the authorities of public instruction the direct appointment to the more important posts in schools even of municipal or private patronage. This project was abandoned. But,' said Wilhelin von Humboldt, the one defence we can raise against the misuse of their rights by patrons, is the test of a trial of the intending schoolmaster's qualifications.'

This test was established in 1810. An examination and a trial lesson were appointed for all candidates for the office of teacher. It was made illegal for school patrons to nominate as teachers any persons who were not geprüfte Subjecte. As time went on, the security thus taken was gradually made stronger. The trial lesson was found to be an inutility, as any one who has heard trial lessons in our primary Normal Schools can readily believe, and a trial year in a school (Probejahr) was in 1826 substituted for it. In the following year it was ruled that the pädagogische Prüfung, which forms part of the examination of candidates for orders, and which had hitherto been accepted in lieu of the new test, was insufficient; and that persons in orders, as well as others, must go through the special examination for schoolmasters. This regulation gave full development to a policy which had been contained in the reform of 1810, a policy which Wolf had long before done his best to prepare and had declared to be indispensable if the higher schools of Prussia were to be made thoroughly good,-the policy of making the schoolmaster's business a profession by itself, and separating it altogether from theology.

The rules now in force for this examination date in the main from 1831. It is held by the High Examining Commissions (Königliche Wissenschaftliche Prüfungscommissionen) of which I have already described the composition, and which are seven in number. The candidate sends in his schoolcertificate of fitness for university studies, and his certificate of a three years' attendance at university lectures. With these certificates he forwards to the commission a curriculum vitæ, such as used to be required from candidates for the Oriel fellowships. The candidate for the gymnasium writes this in Latin; the candidate for the Realschule may write it in French. The certificate given takes the form of a facultas docendi, or leave to teach; and this is bedingte or unbedingte,— conditional or unconditional. The matters for examinations are grouped under four main heads (Hauptfächer): first, Greek, Latin, and the mother tongue; secondly, mathematics and the natural sciences; thirdly, history and geography; fourthly, theology and Hebrew. This last Hauptfach

« ForrigeFortsett »