New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-24
THE SCHOOLS OF GERMANY

tho Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune
Sir: Doubtless many applaud, as l 90.
the closing sentence OF your editorial OF
September 81. which says: THE STUDY OF
English IN Germany will enable
Germany to have a better UNDERSTANDINGS
Of all English-speaking nations-eVen vi
the United States, though so far as cor
dialIty is concerned our relations WIN 'he
empire leave little to be desired.
There is, however, in your editorial
curious msapprehension. Your geherai
statement is that the Kaiser in recent
address emphatcally urged the study OF
Greek and that this recommendation
amounted to a literal protest py MN
against academic tendencies which exist
to-day; and, furthermore, that this protes.
will not be needed by his people, put VIII
result as a disappointment to him. because
Germany stands educationally committed
to practical courses which preclude any
great attention to the classics.
on December I, 1880. there met in Berlin
the great school conference, composed OF
five and forty notable pedagogues. These
the Kaiser welcomed in speech from
which the following extracts are taken ana
which fully demonstrate that he then ol-
rectly opposed and Enthusiastically advised
against classic and other sheer food-learn-
ing. such as the real gymnasia" In those
DAYS insisted on, when he said:
"Our school system lacks, above ALL It's
national basis. We must take German ior
the foundation Of our gymnasia. We want
20 educate our pupils into young Germans
not young Greeks or Romans. we must
deviate from the basis which for centuries
has had its full sway-away from the con-
ventional education OF the Middle Ages
where Latin was predominant and little
Greek into the bargain. That is no longer
appropriate or judicious. German must De-
come the basis. The German essay must
become the central point around "hich
everything else gravitates."
What the Kaiser recently said at VIII
helmsh6he Castle probably meant no more
nor less than what he added, twenty years
ago at the great school conference, when
he said: Let us say, in future; Classical
gymnasia, giving classic culture; another
category OF schools with real, practical
knowledge, but no real gymnasia,' Tor the
latter are neither one thing nor the other;
they teach a semi-culture and give out
semi-htness for the subsequent patte Oh
life"
The changes OF twenty years may very
well have impressed the Kaiser with IN
creasIng needs OF nationwide inculcatons
OF that refined ethic sense which the best
elias &c training so surely superinduces, and
at the Friedrich Gymnasium he may per-
haps have pointedly dwelt upon the de-
STABILITY OF renewed attentions to classic
studi.s: but It Is nowhere discoveraole
during his greatly benefcent reign that the
schools OF Germany ever failed to progress
along sound, practical lines OF educational
procedure which appear mighty good and
might be advantageously followed as ex-
amples by several countries. including
America, where most educational institu-
lions are remarkably like the oldtime real
gvmnasia" In Germany, for they are
neither one thing nor the other.
ALFRED LAURENS BRENNAN.
New York, Sept. 81. 1911.