The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-04-22
EDUCATION AND TRAINING;
HOW no GET BEST RESULTS.
4 ~. DAVIDL PULLMAN, Manchester, Va.

Tie fclnodcllnE Of tie prtlssinn system
Iand this system. thus remodcllcd. after
II few years wils gradually extended to
tile other parts OF the empire unti
TO- day the German system :, mainly IN
conformity with this model.
Tie point sallently and repeatedly eln-
pllaszed In this conference, and which
seci,ls to have l,ecn the distinguishing
excellence OF Its suggestion is: That the
school system should be made practical
and should fit men and women for a.-
I Lunl life. iii
'"rhis change. no doubt. stands In
causal connection with the remarkable
transformation that Germany has cx-
pcfiencel In the last generation In ita
vefv marrow and every fibre Modern
Germany Is intensely practical and III
dustrlal. From being the people who
had the newest. and IN many cases the
highest, ideals In the world. Germany
has become Intensely facinatcd by MA
-terial interests Industry. Manufacture
aud commerce arc first aud foremost In
Tho minds Of the Germans now. This
trend and tendency to the practical is
reflected also In the world OF educa ton
and has induced the German, III many
instances 10 rearrnnEc his estimate of
Fundamental cduca tional values. 1t is
not accidental but ia thcr sympathetic
and typical. that It was reserved for
recen, years 10 place the schools of
Technology on n level with the unlvcr-
sities'
I'm Germany. attendance at school is
made compulsory on the day following
the childs sixth birthday. After the
small boy Is OF school age he may be
taught at home, or privately II his
parents are able to afor< 1t: or he
may go to the public school at Z o'clock
in the morning. For the first three
years MI German boys study religion,
the three RS. German history and gcog-
raphy and singing and practice GYM
nastics. Order and discipline, and rev
crence for. learning and teachers, are In
the air. Every teacher Is entrusted with
moral and religious education, and the
teachers authority over the boys is not
limited to the class room. Continued
truancy is punished by filming and i'm
prisoning the parents. and the police ARE
so active in enforcing the law that loss
than one-hall off, per cent OF the Ger
man army Is illlterate.'
at the age OF nine or ten. the career
of the child is determined for him by
his parents The choice then MADE Is
final, for after the first three years 1t Is
almost impossible to pass from one school
to another" III
Just at this point the new Germany
system departs from the old Under the
ancient system, tho child continued to
study the course that IL he remained
In the schools. led through the channels
OF Greek aud Latin, and what were dis
tinctivcy classical studies, to the unl-
versity. The new system leaves it more
or less elective with the parent Of the
child to place him in technical school,
where he may receive a practical edu-
cation and training for some practical
and specific work or trade, or In a school
OF the old type. where he will be taught
preparatory to entering a profession OF
some kind. These are but different chan
nels by which the pupil may reach the
university, and thus technical and in
dustrial education and training were ele-
waited and placed on the same eminence
as classical education and training. But
there was a wise conservatism and dis
erection which characterized this blend
Ing OF these two schools. because these
German educators continued to teach
the pupil. who was seeking technical
education, enough OF the branches taught
In the old schools to render him en-
slightencd and cultured. and to fit him
FOR the responsible and arduous duties Of
citizenship. and consequently the two
systems have prospered and grown In
power, influence and efficiency, and have
worked In harmony and with co-opera-
tive strength and benefcence.
u propose to show. In another article,
what has been tho result OF this system
in Germany by giving brief account of
her remarkable and continuing indus
trial. manufacturing and commercial
growth and prominence. which. obvi-
o,,sly. is the most practical way to de-
termlnc It's value, influence and efil-
Cacy @ E-s