Berlin Under the New Empire Volume 2; Its Institutions, Inhabitants, Industry, Monuments, Museums, Social Life, Manners, and Amusements (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: r i.: .l . SCHOOLMASrERS. BERLIN HIGHER SCHOOLS. SCHOOLMASTERS TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. THE higher schools of Berlin are divided into two classes, the Gymnasien and the Realschulen, the chief difference between them being that in the former the ancient, and in the latter the modern languages, take precedence. Each naturally has its partizans, those of the Realschule in which special attention is also paid to chemistry, physics, mechanics, geometrical drawing, and all subjects that may be rendered directly and practically useful maintaining that one of the chief causes of the success of the Germans in commercial matters has been the development of the system they favour. On the other hand, the Realschule does not lead to the University, and consequently all those intending to follow one of the learned professions have to enter the Gymnasium, which does. Here, too, come all whose parents have vague ideas of giving their children the highest education the country affords, notably the sons of rich merchants and bankers who are sent to the Gymnasium, whether intended for trade or not, just as in England they would be sent to a public school and then to college. Mr. Matthew Arnold, who visited the Berlin schools in 1865, on comparing the two systems arrived at the conclusion that the boys in the Gymnasien beat those in the corresponding forms in the Realschulen in subjects studiedby both alike, and assigns as a reason that the classical training they undergo gives additional strength to the pupils' minds. Berlin is provided with fourteen Realschulen, ten for boys and four for girls, the former, according to the latest available statistics, being attended by 5,575 pupils and the latter by 2,496. The percentage of pupils above fourteen is lower than at the Gymnasien for reasons...