St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-08-20
OF GERMAN TRAINING
WHAT HAS MADE A GREAT MA
TON OF GERMANY.
SCHOOLS AND THE ARMY

Letter from Prof. Amos W. Patten, Of
| Northwestern University, Evans
ton, I'LL, Now Travelling in
European Countries.
Berlin. Germany.-The greatness of
the German people is due to the fact
tnat the drill master has been working
away on this leopls for something like
zoo years or more. Frederick William
I. OF Brandenburg, though at the head
OF q petty province, could boast of the
finest army in Europe. It was made
the magnificent machine it was only
by the most memorable education and
drill conceivable. This monarch car
ried this policy into everything in his
realm, ruling with rod of iron. His
son, Frederick, brought up under this
system, though flouting some of his
fathers notions, brought his renowned
military system to even greater eff
cheney, and as tactician, as well as a
military leader, challenged the admir-
alton of the world When the same
Frederick, at the conclusion of his
wars, settled down to reorganize his
kingdom, he set about building. an ed
ucatiOnal system, and called to his aid
the foremost men of the age. Won Zed-
litz was made minister of public wor-
ship and education, and he, in 1883, in
yited Frederick August Wolf to Halle.
This marked great era from which
the classical schools of Germany
awoke to new life, and since the be-
ginning Of the nineteenth century
have drawn all eyes of the students of
intellectual progress upon them. Prus-
STA was the scene of VOLTS labors, and
it is Prussia that has taken the lead in
educational matters In 1908 the
great William Won Humboldt was
placed at the head of the department
of education. The reforms he inaugu-
rated substantially stamped the Prus-
sian schools with those characteristics
which they maintain to the present
time.
The Germans are trained people.
The schoolmaster and the drillmaster
are the powers behind the throne The
school and the army are the two great
factors in this efficient training.
While militarism is to be deplored, yet
the army in some respects has had d
beneficial influence upon the youth Of
the nation. Every young man Is
obliged to spend three years in the
army. Think of such system in its
effects upon the young men! Take
young fellow and place him three
years under such an education. Teach
him order, cleanliness, system, obedi-
ence. Pass all the boys through such
q school and notice the result. Many
q fellow apparently worthless has
come out of his three years drill thor
oughly Strengthened up, and with
higher ambition. Let the schoolmas-
ter and the drillmaster train nation /
and there are built up those qualities
which render it capable of almost any
thing in the great crises of the ma
uonal life.
German education rests upon the
conviction that the wear of the state
depends upon the individual citizen
The ignorant citizen is menace to
social health and order. If there is to
be good commonwealth there must
be good citizens. The only way to
stop having rascals is to stop raising
them. The Germans insist on building
their citizenship by sending everybody
to school and keeping him there dur
ing the most plastic period of his life
from six to IA. Woe to the parent
who proposes to buck against this re-
Quirement. The municipal education |
committee would address a summons
to him that comparison of the school
rolls Of their district with the NUNS
cipal list of children of school age
showed his son not to be at school, and |
requiring him, in consequence, to ap-
pear before the municipal committee |
at q place and time named and there |
satisfy them either that his SON did at
tend some public school, or that-if |
privately taught-he was taught by J
duly trained and certificated teachers
On the back of the summons he would
find printed the penal articles Of the.
school law sentencing him to fine il T
he failed to satisfy the municipal COM
mittee, and il he failed to pay the fine.
or was found second time offending, |
to imprisonment.
AS consequence the average lit
eracy" is higher in Germany than in
any other European power; indeed.
than any people in the world.
Any person, to enter professional
life, must present certificate that he
has. passed through the school system |
and has been trained also professional
ly at the university. No minister,
lawyer, physician, dentist, teacher can
enter upon his work without such |
To enter certain kinds of |
business the young man must present
a certificate Of certain maturity in his
studies. Cheap degrees from foreign |
schools are an abomination in the |
sight of the Germans. They know all |
about the diploma shops in Ameri-
ca where degrees may be bought This /
tends to discredit all degrees from
American schools Only last April the
German supreme court handed down
a decision to the effect that no dentist |
could use the American degree of D. |
D. S.-doctor Of dental surgery. This
resulted from the fact that man had |
received such degree from an OBJ
scure private dental school in Chicago.
Consequently great injustice is done
to reputable American schools A man
BROWN EYES