The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-05-14
THE PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS.

a newspaper correspondent, several OF the
commonschools during the past week, and
l will describe the best one Of them, in
the hope that it may interest others as
much as it did me.
Let me say first, by way Of introdue-
ton, that the schools which are support
ed by tho State are divided into four gen
eral classes: Common schools, Gymnasi-
ums, Realschnlen and Universities. The
Gymnasiums serve rs preparatory schools
for tho University; the other two are in
dependent Of each other-the RealSchu-
len sending forth men to the Offices, the
common schools training them for the
ordinary walks Of life. ~.
The schools OF Berlin naturally stand
at the head in excellence OF equipment
and external arrangements. But in this
respect they are greatly inferior to the
school palaces that have OF late sprung
up in all our cities, The building Of this
school, said to DO the finest in tho city, is
divided into two parts. In ono OF these
the head teacher and servants reside.
Back Of this, and separated from il by, a
large court, Ia tho portion IN which The
recitations are held. Behind this is a
special building for the gymnaStic exer-
Cises. The recitation rooms are inditier'
emily heated, poorly lighted and very
badly ventilated. The Germans, indeed,
pay very little attention TO these impor-
liant particulars in any buildings. Fresh
air, as well Us clean water in either OF its
uses, has no share in the German econo:
my, and there Is nothing which they guard
against with greater CircumspeCtnesAeve
in the warm days Of summer, than a
draught Of air, unless, indeed, II be .
draught Of cold water.
The rooms are arranged on the same
plan rs the lecture rooms Of the uniyer'
sity. On the three sides Of the room are
hooks for the hats and clothing, which,
accordingly, on rainy days, adds It's damp
ness and perfume to the already unhealthy
atmosphere. The seats are low, wooden
benches, on which sit side by side, with
out partition, from six to eight pupils,
and in front oithem Is narrow rest, pro-
yided with an ink.bottle for every two
pupils. The walls arc dingy and are en-
tirely without blaCkbOards, there being
generally but one small movable black
board in each room,
Religion is taught two hours a week in
all classes-this Is the most irrcIigious
nation in the world,
Reading, writing and spelling arc taught
together. They commence bywriting short
words. They are then. pronounced and
the elementary sounds are pointed out
Then other words are taken up containing
tho same sounds with some additional
ones, and 80 on until all the sounds and
combinations Of sound are embraced.
The name OF tho letters are not learned
until later. The success OF this method
Is shown by the fact that the yOungest
class, which began in November, had for
the days lesson .. page Of new matter con.
tanning words oil several syllables and
they read 1t with surprising ease and nc
curaGy. L.....
In the youngest classes, also, great
stress was laid upon the so-called ARSch'
duungsanteTicM A large picture is hung
against the wall representing, for instance
q man in u tree picking apples, while two
sanity boys stand AT the foot looking up
ut him, and an impossible horse prance'
across the fields IN the distance. The
picture was no model Of art, but II served
the purpose equally we'll. The teacher
began by asking "What Is lh!5? To
which Of Courae 49,: 49, answer was at Is a
picture" From thegunerul he gradual.
iy descended to the particular, rs "What
Is Fritz doing in the treeT or "What Ia
il that is pranClng across tho field In the
distanceT In every case tho answer
must form complete sentence, must DO
correctly and distinctly spoken, and must
be grammatical. The pupil must reply
to the last question not"llorse," but, ut
is horse" ..r..
In connection with this and with the
reading, q great deal Of classical poetry
Is committed to memory T..
Singing is taught to The extent that all
pupils learn TO read notes at sight. III
the second year class Of one school, In
which the age Of none Of the boys exceed.
ed eleven, the singing WINS superior to
much OF our church music, and two boys
of seven carried through duet without
break and very prettily. r
AZ Prussia Is essentially military
state, the gymnastics with the boys par
take Of military character, the object
being to make Il serve rs preparation
for the army We saw the youngest and
the oldest classes 60 through the cXer.
Cises, The former marched and per-
formed simple exercises, ut the same
time singing De lHdch am Rhine, and
keeping time to II with great precision.
In the other class the singing was omit
ted, but they went through very Compli-
Gated evolutions, aud performed on the
ladder with surprising ease and grace.
During the nine years OF schooling such
a fondnGss for gymnastics Is formed that
II Is never given up In after life, and even
old men Of sixty attend the hrn~reinS rs
zcalously MS the youngest people. .a
Natural philosophy and geometry are
among the regular, required studies. In
the former we listened to n recitation in
which the students, In n philosophical and
wonderfully clear manner, passed from
fact to principle, md from simpler laws
to more intricate ones, in such a way rs to
exhibit thorough acquaintance with tho
difficult subject, gravitatioh. But the dis
play In geometry was still more remark
able. ThiSwas IN the third year class, In
which the age Of none Of the pupils Is
greater than ten years. The teacher held
up before them n triangular prism. They
named 1t, gave the rule for finding its con-
tents, from tho prism passed to the par
allelograinS forming ils sides and TO the
trinhgles al the ends, naming and defining
their different classes, and drawing figures
on the board where necessary, at the same
time showing an interest III and Compre-
hension ofthO subject which Ia rare among
our students Of fifteen and sixteen.
have said that the Prnsaian school
system Ia the best in the world. This nS.
sertion Ia borne out to nm eminent degree
by the statistics Of the army Of 1873 and
1874. II was found that IN only four Of
the twelve provinces did the proportion
oil soldiers who could not read and write
exceed Q per cent, and in these four the
excessive p'HponderenCe Of ignorance was
owing to the Polish inhabitants and their
consequent rOn-as1uainlance with the
(ipFmnu laNgIinBn. Whtak aInNn Il tNuS,I,0