The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-05-28


miss him. The government held that
the teachers should not be left to the
caprice of local interests. Teaching
was made business.
A normal school system was estab-
lished to train teachers and ensure
good ones. Pestalozzi wrought as
great reform in educational matters
as Luther did in religion. The prin-
ciple at the bottom of his instruction
was that the teacher must
win Gthe affection of the pupils
and lead them higher. In half
century more than half hundred
normal schools were established. Pro-
fessional teachers were trained
through and through TO rtheir profess
sion. The government looked upon
its normal schools much the same as
our government does upon its military
and naval academies at West Point and
Annapolis. The number of persons
admitted was limited to the number
likely to be wanted for teachers in
particular grade. A medical eXami
nation was required on admission, and
board was furnished free. so that the
total expense of a normal school pupil
did not exceed SIS year. The
courses were two and three years,
never less nor more, for the schools
were strictly professional. Every
student had to become musician,
which accounts for the fact that every
German student knows something Of
music. A diploma could not be Sc
cured until one or two years after
graduation, and another years proba-
tion was required before the profession
could be permanently adopted. There
has been no essential change in the
Prussian educational system, unlike
our state systems, which legislatures
frequently change. The affec-
tion and tender relations eS-
tablished between teachers and
pupils in Prussia has caused remark,
and is much the same as. between pas
tor and congregation. In Germany il
literacy is only fraction of one per
cent, while in our northern states it
is five or six per cent.
The Prussian government guards
the doors of the professions, prevent
ing them from being overcrOWded and
the people from being imposed upon
by unframed persons. Teacher, ply
stefan and preacher must train him
self in a full normal or university
course before he can exercise his
profession. 1t is easy to see how the
German thinks that he has the better
part of the argument. Instruction in
the gymnasium is given only by those
who have graduated from the full
gymnasium and university courses.
Written examinations last full week
before the oral begin, and conditional
or unconditional certificates are given.
The gymnasium teacher, like the
common school teacher, must pass
through his period OF probation.
The Pestalozzian system of instruc
struction depends more upon oral in
struction than the old, and much
more of it. In German Gymnasium
the number of lessons of As minutes
each is never less than thirty a week,
and goes to thirty.fve late in the
term. About nine years of the lives
of German students are spent in the
gymnasium. The bright boy gets
through in seven or eight years, the
average boy in nine, and the
dull boy in ten or eleven. The Ger
man student does not know as many
things as the American student, but
he knows a good deal more of the es-
sential studies. The examinations
are tests of the ability to do rather
than of that which has already been
done. At the end of the examina-
tions the rating is given by ballot of
the instructors, and the examination
papers are preserved in order that an
"unripe" student may have the right
of appeal, Until very recently, the
students were not amenable to the
civil or municipal laws, but had to be
reported to the university authorities
and tried under university laws.
Policemen could not arrest them if
they produced university cards. 1t was
decided to locate the first university
in Berlin, believing that the bad
effect of city influences on the stu
dents would be overcome by the good
effect of the university on the city,
and the students could observe the
workings of the government. These
anticipations have been fulfilled.
Prussia and the other German states
that have adopted the Prussian model
have become the teachers Of the
world. The men who are at the head
of our universities with one or two ex-
ceptions have received their finish in
German universities. In every Ger
man university there is colony of
students. Ten years ago
each university there had as many
A or &c ~