An idea of the range of the examination may be gained by the prescriptions for those who would teach English.

As a preliminary the candidate must show that he has a good elementary knowledge of Latin and can correctly translate the easier writers, like Caesar, at sight. Then come the regular requirements, as follows:

1. For the second grade: Knowledge of the elements of phonetics, correct and ready pronunciation; acquaintance with the etymology and syntax of the grammar; possession of a sufficient vocabulary of words and phrases and considerable practice in the use of the speech; outline of the course of development of English literature since Shakspere and reading knowledge of the important poetic and prose writings of recent times; capacity for facile translation of well-known authors into German, and the power to compose in English without gross errors.

2. For the first grade: Oral and written use of the language, not only with the grammatical accuracy arising from scientific grounding in the grammar, but also with more extensive acquaintance with the vocabulary and idioms, as well as a capacity to use them with a facility adequate to the demands of instruction; general knowledge of the historical development of the language from the old English period; knowledge of the development of the literature united with a thoro reading of a number of eminent writings from the earlier periods to the present; insight into the laws of English versification, both in early and in late periods; acquaintance with the history of England, as well as with the proper exposition of texts in use in schools.

It is remarked that an especially excellent knowledge of modern English literature or an unusual mastery of the tongue as now used, may be accepted in lieu of corresponding deficiencies in any of the foregoing requirements.

Should a successful candidate receive third grade in any subject, he is permitted to teach this subject only in the first three grades of the school, i. e., in the elementary classes.

The final certificate covering the various subjects is ranked according to the number of first-, second-, or third-grade ratings received. A first-rank certificate means that the holder has received upon examination either two majors of first grade and two minors of second grade, or two majors and one minor of first grade, and it entitles him to future appointment to the position of head teacher, with the title of professor.

A second-rank certificate means that the holder has not reached the minimum above described, and that he will be restricted to the position of ordinary teacher (Oberlehrer). (See Russell, German Higher Education, PP. 352-369.)

Arrangement is made for various supplementary examinations to make up deficiencies.

It requires at least a year after leaving the university to prepare for and pass these various written and oral examinations.

THE SEMINARY WORK

After all examinations are out of the way, the candidate is required to pass one year in so-called seminary training, either at one of the twelve state seminaries for this purpose, or at some one of those established at Gymnasiums and Realgymnasiums by the rescript of 1890. From three to seven candidates successful in the examinations constitute the students in a given seminary for the year. They are under the charge of the director and one or two of his ablest teachers. The aim is to make the candidate thoroly acquainted with the work of the school with which the seminary is connected, and to give him opportunity to do some trial teaching under the guidance and criticism of the director and his chosen assistants. The first quarter-year is spent in observation in all classes and in all subjects. During the second quarter he makes his first attempts at teaching according to the directions of the leaders in charge. From these beginnings he gradually enlarges his teaching-sphere until he gives lessons during the whole hour, and often for a succession of hours, but always under the inspection of one of the regular teachers. The candidates are also intrusted with the examination of written work of the various classes. The instruction in any given subject closes with a sample lesson, at which the other candidates, the director, and the other teachers are present. Following this lesson at a suitable time there is a critical discussion of its merits and defects. At least two hours a week must be devoted to a session with the candidates, usually led by the director. There is much latitude allowed as to the choice and treatment of subjects at these sessions. Formal reports are relieved by informal discussions.

Toward the close of the year the candidate hands in a somewhat extensive essay upon some concrete pedagogical or didactic problem assigned by the director. At the end of the year the director sends to the provincial school board an elaborate report of the year's work. Upon the basis of this report, together with the results of previous examinations, the board admits the candidate to his final test, the year of cadet teaching in some Gymnasium to which he shall be assigned. This is called the Probejahr.

THE YEAR OF CADET TEACHING

Das Probejahr

For the year of trial teaching the candidates are assigned in pairs to the various Gymnasiums or Oberrealschulen, when they teach from eight to ten hours per week under the guidance of older teachers. They must do a certain amount of supervision, attend faculty meetings and identify themselves in every way with the life of the school.

Up to the end of this year they have received no pay whatever, but if their record is approved at the end of the trial year, their names are enrolled on the list of teachers eligible to appointment in the higher schools of the province. When so appointed they are teachers and state officers for life, assured that

with reasonable diligence they will have employment so long as they are able to work and then-a pension for the remainder of their lives.

COMMENTS

That all teachers in German secondary schools are men is a well-known fact. It may well cause astonishment in the United States where the number of men teachers not only shows no proportional increase, but suffers rather an absolute annual decrease, that any country can by any possibility induce enough men of approved quality to meet conditions so strenuous as to knowledge and professional training. The minimum is as follows: three years in the primary schools, nine in the Gymnasium, three in the university, one in examinations, one in the seminary, and one in trial teaching-eighteen years in all, not to speak of the one year of military training exacted of all able-bodied young men. Yet the seminary year was added in 1890, not so much that there might be more training, as that there might be fewer candidates.

To understand a situation like this, one must bear several facts in mind.

In the first place, the secondary schools are not democratic in our sense of the term, for the common schools, in which nine-tenths of the children of Germany are found, do not open into them at all. The Gymnasiums and hence the universities exist therefore not for the people as a whole, but for the education to those who form the professional and official classes. As a rule, it does not occur to a German university graduate that he might go into industrial life, and even if the idea did occur to him, it would soon be dismissed, for his training has been professional and leaves him unfitted for success in any other field. Broadly speaking, there is nothing for the German university graduate to do except to practice the profession for which he has been trained. If this chances to be teaching, a teacher he must be—or nothing.

If now it should be the case that candidates for the professions, teaching included, should increase faster than the population increases, it may easily be seen that what Bismarck called an educated proletariat would be formed. That is, a class of men who have their skill and nothing else to offer, and who might, indeed, become Hungercandidaten.

What are the facts? In the period from 1851 to 1861 the number of students in the German universities was 335 to each million inhabitants. This ratio remained substantially unaltered until 1871. From 1871 to 1876 the number rose to 386. From this time on, the development has been rapid. By the end of the year 1880 the number of students had risen from 13,029 in 1836 to 28,861. By the end of 1890 the number had risen to 32,756, and by 1905 had reached a total of 42,435, or over 705 per million inhabitants. This means that during the last thirty years the attendance at the universities has grown twice as fast as the population, and that consequently the demand for places in civil offices, in law, medicine, theology, and teaching has enormously increased. There are in general two applicants for every place, and, further

more, a class of applicants who must have the kind of places they have been prepared for, since they are unfitted for anything else.

In American universities at present it is difficult to get good men to consider teaching as a career, the transition to industrial life being so easy and its prospective monetary rewards so attractive. That we could successfully impose the German conditions for entrance upon the work of high-school teaching is not to be imagined. Few men would apply, and the public would revolt in the case of women.

Furthermore, we have no means for carrying out any general system of cadet teaching, since local autonomy would place this matter at the individual disposition of the various school boards. It remains to be seen whether we could not by some system of benefits to individual and community induce high schools to undertake this much needed work. Candidates would serve for little or no salary, if only they were assured of a reasonable expectation of employment at the close of their cadetship, while school boards would consent to this arrangement if it were evident that on the whole the schools and the community would thereby be educationally benefitted.

XVI (special)

THE PRESENT TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY

SCHOOLS

EDWIN G. DEXTER, PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS The task assigned to me in the preparation of this general report is one with easily defined limits. It is a study of fact pure and simple, entirely free from speculation with intent to discover the facilities for pedagogical instruction within the colleges and universities of our country. If we are to accept the rapidly growing feeling that these are the only educational institutions adequately equipped in their academic and scientific departments for the preparation of teachers for secondary schools, the study is one of the professional preparation of these teachers.

The sources of information are threefold:

1. Recent reports of the United States Commissioner of Education.

2. College and university catalogs as well as special reports of all sorts from those institutions.

3. A considerable mass of correspondence with various college officers, mostly professors of education.

From the study of the first of these sources of information it was found that 219 colleges and universities reported (Rep., 1904) students enrolled in courses in pedagogy. The merest inspection of the list convinces one of its inexactness since several having successful departments of education are not included. Such institutions are, however, included within the study. On the other hand, a careful study of the catalogs of the institutions named in the commissioner's report discloses the fact that 21 of the number make no mention

of any pedagogical offerings. An attempt was made, thru correspondence when necessary, to secure the catalogs of all the 219 institutions mentioned, tho without success in 50 instances.

Of the 169 institutions whose catalogs were studied a limited number (16) offered so-called "teachers' courses" in specific subjects, as Latin, English, or mathematics, which were plainly but rapid reviews, useful as "cramming" courses for teachers' examinations; but since no offerings were made along strictly pedagogical lines, these were omitted from the study. A few institutions mentioned by the Commissioner are special schools for the deaf or blind and were excluded as plainly beyond the scope of this paper.

With such substraction and with the addition of institutions known to offer courses in pedagogy, but not mentioned in the list, we have as the basis of this report 148 colleges and universities of widely varying educational merit and elaboration of organization.

A considerable number of these institutions, altho classed by the Commissioner as "higher," offer academic and scientific courses scarcely higher in grade than those of the sophomore year of the better universities and perhaps theoretically should be excluded from this study. Practically, however, they must be included since they are the sources of supply for the teaching force of the secondary schools tributary to them.

In the statistical study of these institutions immediately following, made for the purpose of showing in a general way the facilities for pedagogical instruction, the following facts are presented:

I. Number of instructors of professional rank offering pedagogical courses.

2. Number of instructors of lesser rank offering such courses.

3. Number of instructors of both these classes who are also officially connected with other departments of instruction.

4. Total number of pedagogical courses offered.

5. A rough classification of such courses. (a) Courses in educational philosophy. (b) History of education. (c) Administration and method. (d) Educational psychology (where these courses are not offered in the department of education or pedagogy but by a separate psychological faculty they are not included). (e) Observation and practice teaching. (Seminars. (g) School hygiene. (h) School law.

By the term "course" is meant the offering of a single subject for one term. For the purpose of this study it was deemed inadvisable to take into consideration, either the varying lengths of courses (usually either two or three to the college year) or the varying number of exercises per week. To have done so would, in some ways, have increased its value but only at the cost of very greatly increased complication.

The question of classification of subjects under a reasonable number of heads was not an easy one to settle. More than one hundred different statements of courses were found. Whether the classification I have used is the best possible I should not wish to say. I am, however, stating it with sufficient detail to make it ful y understood: