THE CONDITION AND TENDENCIES
OF
Technical Education in Germany

BY

ARTHUR HENRY CHAMBERLAIN

Professor of Education and Principal of the Normal School
of Manual Training, Art, and Domestic Economy,
Throop Polytechnic Institute, Pasadena, California:
Author of “Educative Hand-Work Manuals”
and “A Bibliography of Manual Arts”

SYRACUSE, N. Y.
C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER
1908

Copyright, 1908, by C. W. Bardeen

INTRODUCTION

The question of the technical phases of education is, with any nation, a vital one. Perhaps this is true of Germany as it is of no other European country. This may be mainly due to one of several causes. First, as to the length of time technical education has had a place in the German schools. In some form or another, and in a greater or lesser degree, such instruction has been in vogue for many years, and has in no small measure become part and parcel of the educational fabric of the nation. Again, throughout the various German States, the work is rather widely differentiated, this owing in part to the fact that the varying lines of industry in adjacent localities even, give color and bent to the technical education of any particular locality. An extensive field is thus comprehended under the term “technical education”. Then, too, Germany as a nation must needs better her condition in order that she may prove self-sustaining. The country is not a wealthy one, and if in trade, in manufacture, and in commerce, she is to compete, and that successfully, with the world powers, strength must be gained along such lines as those opening through technical education.

The hope is entertained that the following pages may prove of value, not alone to the student of technical education as it exists in Germany, but particularly to those who are endeavoring to institute and develop industrial and technical training in this country. The possibility along these lines is exceedingly great and the interest and attention of thinking people is focused here. They look to this form of education as a partial solution of some of the most obstinate problems now confronting us.

CONTENTS

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Technical Education
in Germany

By Prof. Arthur Henry Chamberlain

I

In approaching our problem we naturally ask ourselves the question as to how far the industrial progress of a country is influenced by technical education. In no time as in our own has so much stress been laid upon the commercial side of our existence. New trades, new industries are springing up; specialization is becoming more far-reaching and more firmly established than ever before; competition is becoming keener; the application of science to the arts is more varied.

In this latter field we find Germany in the very fore front, she having developed along these lines to a greater extent than have many of our nations. Illustrations of this application lie all about us,—in the bettered transportation facilities by railroad and by ocean vessel; in the more improved bridge and building construction; in the methods of water supply and drainage; in modes of heat, light, and ventilation; in electric vehicles, sound transmitters, labor-saving machinery; in finely adjusted instruments that bring far away worlds almost within reaching distance; in these and a thousand other ways is made manifest the result of the application of science to the arts. Germany is taking a prominent part in this warfare for industrial supremacy, and that she expects her technical schools to be largely instrumental in answering many of the problems of the present and the future cannot be doubted, especially when one is made aware of the diversity and extent of the schools of a technical character scattered over the Empire.

It will be readily understood from the foregoing how difficult a matter it is to make any one classification that will cover in an adequate manner the various types of existing institutions. Frequently a school is found which in some respects is distinctive. To place such a school in this or that category would of course do violence to the classification, while to form a new class only serves to further complicate and bewilder. Again, various of the institutions mentioned may offer such a differentiated schedule or be made up of so many parallel departments as to entitle them to admission into two or more of the classes given.

Another point of difficulty lies in the fact that the term “technical” would in Germany be somewhat more sweeping than with us in America. We do not class technical training with so-called manual training or handwork of the elementary schools. In our present study however, we shall find that while in the main we are dealing with the technical training of boys from fourteen to eighteen years of age,—comparable in a measure to our high or secondary school courses, we shall also include the industrial, vocational, or trade training of men and boys alike, as well as work in the more simplified forms of handicraft, as carried on in the lower or elementary school. Reference will also be made to the instruction of a higher order,—such for example as makes for engineers. These facts will be illuminated as the study proceeds.

In reading into these schools their real significance, several points must be kept constantly in mind. At an early age the German youth is supposed to have solved the problem of his likes and dislikes, his abilities and shortcomings; to have gained such a perspective of his probable chances for future success, as to choose the line of work or occupation he shall follow. It is only fair to state, however, that circumstances have much to do with such decision, viz,—the occupation of the father, the financial outlook of the family, the industrial demands of the locality, the particular educational opportunities offered,—these and like problems entering in as vital elements.

Then too, the founding and sustaining of a technical school is a matter to be noted. This may be in the hands of the general government, of the state, of the municipality, or may be looked after by private enterprise. The Guilds, Vereins or Associations may organize, equip and foster schools of such character as train directly for their particular lines of work. It must be stated however in this connection, that there seems to be a strong tendency at the present time toward the centralizing of control in the states. This has been brought about in large measure through the ever-increasing willingness on the part of the state to give financial backing to the schools, and thus has quite naturally arisen the desire and necessity on the part of the state, that it have a controlling voice in the school administration. Herein lies one of the main differences between such education in Germany and that of our own country.

Conrad’s Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, 1900, in an article entitled “Gewerblicher Unterricht”, gives the following table on state expenditure for trade and technical instruction in recent years:

Prussia:

• Marks 142,000 ($33,796) in 1874;
• Marks 475,000 ($114,050) in 1885;
• Marks 4,672,000 ($1,111,936) in 1899.

Saxony:

• Marks 235,000 ($60,214) in 1873;
• Marks 570,000 ($135,660) in 1885;
• Marks 1,138,000 ($270,844) in 1898.

Wurttemburg industrial continuation school:

• Marks, 58,000 ($13,804) in 1869;
• Marks 129,000 ($30,702) in 1879;
• Marks 164,000 ($39,032) in 1889;
• Marks 208,000 ($49,504) in 1897.

The cost of the state per capita of the population of the expenditures was as follows:

• Prussia, Pfennigs 15 (3½ cts.) in 1899;
• Saxony, Pfennigs 29 (7 cts.) in 1898;
• Hesse, Pfennigs 22 (5 cts.) in 1898.

The cost per Marks 1,000 ($236) of the entire state expenditures was Marks 2.27 (54 cts.) in Prussia in 1899, and Marks 5.88 ($1.40) in Saxony in 1898.

In general the German schools are classified upon a basis of the grade of instruction given rather than upon the character of the subjects taught. Primary education is compulsory, that is to say, all children are compelled by law to attend school from their sixth to their fourteenth year. It is at this point that we find our difficulty. To quote Dr. Alwin Pabst of Leipzig (who speaks of conditions governing technical schools):

“The age of admission, length of course, fees and other conditions (examinations) of these schools differ widely. Ages range from fourteen to thirty years or over; length of course, one to four or five years; fees perhaps twenty to thirty marks per year. The Fortbildungsschule is the only institution in which no fee is charged.” (Taken from a personal letter.)

Several classifications commend themselves for use. Each has its weaknesses and breaks down at some point, owing to the conditions previously mentioned. In order the better to illustrate this difficulty I shall give these various possible classifications.

The first refers chiefly to the scheme of secondary education and was the one first chosen and later discarded. It was suggested mainly by Sir Philip Magnus’s work on “Industrial Education” and the “Report of the Industrial Commission”, Vol. 1.

• 1. Industrieschulen
  • Gewerbeschulen
• 2. Trade Schools
  • Fachschulen
• 3. Building Trade Schools
• 4. Secondary Technical Schools
  • Higher Technical
  • Foremen
  • Building
  • Weaving
  • Drawing
• 5. Industrial Art Schools (Kunstgewerbe)
  • Pure Art
  • Applied Art
• 6. Polytechnics or Technische Hochschulen
• 7. Continuation Schools—Fortbildungsschulen

Another classification, suggested in most part by a German authority is as follows:

• 1. Fortbildungsschulen—Continuation schools
• 2. Industrie—or Fachschulen—Special Trade Schools
• 3. Gewerbeschulen
• 4. Technische Schulen
• 5. Technische Hochschulen
• 6. Baugewerkschulen—School for Architects
• 7. Kunstgewerbeschulen—Schools of Art

In the Seventeenth Annual Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Labor for 1902 we find the following:

• 1. Technical Colleges
• 2. Secondary or Intermediate Technical Schools
• 3. Schools and Museums of Industrial Art
• 4. Schools for Foremen
• 5. Schools for the Textile Trades
• 6. Trade and Industrial Continuation Schools
• 7. Industrial Drawing Courses
• 8. Other Institutions for Industrial Education.

The order followed in the present study is finally given below. It is one not to be found elsewhere, but more closely resembles that of Dr. Pabst (the second classification) and that found in the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor. It has undoubtedly its weak points, but I feel it is the best that can be made however, as it is based upon data recently published, and the results of correspondence with German school authorities, in addition to a not very extended knowledge gained through personal contact with the German schools. It may be taken therefore, as bringing the work down to the present time:

• 1. Continuation Schools or Fortbildungsschulen
• 2. Trade Schools or Fachschulen
• 3. Secondary or Intermediate Technical Schools or Gewerbliche Mittelschulen
• 4. Technical Colleges or Technische Hochschulen
• 5. School and Museums of Industrial Art, or Kunstgewerbeschulen

II

Since at the age of fourteen years the German youth is no longer under the control of the compulsory school law, the value of the system of continuation schools is realized. Of necessity the great mass of boys are at this age, forced to enter some gainful pursuit. It was clearly evident to the German people that boys should not be cut off from school education at this early age. Dr. James H. Russell in his German Higher Schools says:

“The elementary and secondary schools are quite independent of each other—not one boy in ten thousand finds his way from the highest class of the elementary school into the Gymnasium.”

It is evident that year by year an increasingly large number of boys discontinue their education at the close of the elementary school, for a statement made by Mr. Michael N. Sadler, (Vol. III of Special Reports on Educational Subjects, London), some years prior to the above writing, would seem to indicate a lesser percentage of dropping out than that proposed by Dr. Russell.

The desire then for more extended educational advantages must have been early felt, and there sprang into existence what has since developed into one of the most significant features and far-reaching factors in the German scheme,—the continuation school. I quote from Mr. H. Bertram who writes of the continuation schools in Berlin, December, 1899:

“Amid the development of civilization among the nations the idea of the continuation school is making its way with increasing strength. Urgently required by the conditions of social organization, and in its turn acting on them, the new institution appears in many forms. It claims its place side by side with the Church and the School.

“Among the great number of those who enter early upon the practical business of life, to whom the primary school has offered a start there awakens, sooner or later, the desire to share in the stores of knowledge which human intelligence has won, in the insight into the working of the forces of nature, which it has acquired and applied to industry, in the arts which ennoble and support human action; in short to participate in the spiritual treasures which are, as it were, the birthright of those born under a luckier star. This desire, which opens to the diligent the way to material prosperity and inner contentment, seems for society as a whole an important incentive to industrial progress, and turns the discontent of the slaves of machinery into happiness of men conscious of their own success. The more the old order changes which held the work people in the narrow bonds of tradition, the more is customary prescription replaced by education and independent judgment, by insight into existing conditions, by special excellence within a particular sphere. For this reason, the elementary school, however efficient and methodically correct its action may be, cannot suffice for the happiness of the masses, nor for the preservation of society. The instruction must come into close contact with the life of the future citizen, and must be at the command of everyone desirous to learn, as long as he seeks it. But the seeker, born amid such conditions as these, needs guidance. Public libraries, newspapers, magazines help him the more he pushes forward, but without expert assistance he hardly finds the beginning of the path.

“This is the object of the Continuation School.”

It is somewhat difficult to define the limits and scope of the continuation or Fortbildungsschulen. Conditions vary in the different German states and especially do they vary in the various kinds of continuation schools. Definition is made even more doubtful when we find that the limits of certain schools overlap. It may be said that students are regularly admitted from fourteen to sixteen years of age. Not infrequently however, boys and men of more mature years take advantage of the courses offered. Instruction is carried on during the week-day evenings from six to eight o’clock and on Sunday mornings.

Prussia leads the other states in the number and character of her supplementary schools, the system having its fullest expression in Berlin. The fact became early apparent that preparation, whatever line the boy was to follow, was necessary, and this thought is confirmed in the many skilled laborers in Germany to-day. In Prussia, as elsewhere, it was found that boys many times left the common school before they became proficient in any line of book work. The causes were various; poverty, indifference, sickness, overcrowding, poor enforcement of the compulsory attendance laws,—all these conspired to make supplementary schools necessary. In the older provinces very little attention was given the continuation school prior to 1875, and almost as much could be said of those provinces which were acquired in 1866. In 1844 a report issued by the Department of Public Instruction makes mention of the usefulness of such schools, while two years later a second report has only slightly more to say on the subject. This lack of interest may be attributed in large measure to the non-financial support of these schools by the government.

Several problems had to be faced in working out the scheme. Certain definite relations between the primary and continuation schools must be observed; those coming into the latter with an inadequate underschool knowledge must be looked after; provision must be made for students of lesser as well as of more mature years; all classes of occupation must be given attention; these and many other difficult questions were to be met and overcome.

“Three principles,” says Mr. Bertram, “have contributed to the solution of this problem—free choices between the courses provided, free enjoyment of the preparatory courses without fee, and the selection of the teachers according to their attainments in a particular branch and their ability to adapt their instruction to the needs of the pupils or participants in the course.”

In certain sections, Nassau and Hanover for example, state aid came early to the continuation school. In 1874 an increased appropriation resulted in the betterment of the schools then existing and in the further establishment of like institutions. Here the communities must meet the cost of building, heating, lighting etc., and one-half of all the expenses not covered by the actual tuition. Since 1878 there is a fairly general acceptance throughout the Empire of the statute providing that all employes under eighteen years of age must be allowed to attend a continuation school, the period of attendance to be determined by “competent authority”. This naturally leads the Public Instruction Department to be free in its financial support.

It will be understood that in most cases six hours per week is the attendance required and that only those who have left the Volksschule or lower school and are not attending any higher institution are admitted. In Saxony a somewhat different condition exists. Children who have not made satisfactory progress in the Volksschule must, perforce, attend the continuation school for two years.

The writer of this paper was thoroughly impressed with the work of the Sunday classes as seen in Leipzig, Saxony, during the summer of 1899. His first introduction to such work was made, when on joining a group of boys, several of them carrying draughting-boards, he was conducted by them to their school. The general character and deportment of the boys, the spirit and enthusiasm manifested by them, and the thoughtful and intelligent quality of the work produced, fully justified in his own mind, the validity and worth of the Sunday class instruction.

As between the schools located in the cities and those in the smaller towns and country places, there is some slight difference. They may be classified as (a) rural or (b) city schools, on account of their location. The distinction lies rather in the arrangement of their curricula, the needs of the students in the particular locality being kept in mind. In the rural schools the programme of studies is somewhat general, comprising the German language, arithmetic, mensuration, nature study; and in some instances may be added to these, geography, German history, drawing, gymnastics and music. This programme is elective to the extent that the capacity and previous education of the pupil are considered, and too, the ability of the teacher, local conditions and the time spent by the individual student. Such schools are admonished not to take on the character of technical institutions, but rather to continue the general education begun in the Volksschulen. Only under certain conditions is less than four hours per week of instruction permissible.

In Prussia the city continuation schools are of two grades, each grade made up of a number of classes. In the lower grade schools, instruction is given in accordance with the particular trade or calling the pupil is to follow. In the upper grade, work is much the same, proficiency being the chief additional feature. When six hours of work is the minimum, language, arithmetic, elementary geometry and drawing, form the body of the course; while penmanship, geography, history, grammar and nature study all are taken up in connection with the reading work. Business forms are not overlooked. In the more fully equipped schools where the teachers are prepared for such branches, higher mathematics, mechanics, physics and advanced drawing are taken up.

If, as before stated, the various types of continuation schools overlap, the same is true regarding the trade and industrial continuation schools. While in many instances the work in the latter schools is of a general character, aiming to supplement or round out the education of the pupil, we find that many of the original schools of this class have developed into a form of special or trade school. This is brought about through pressure from without, as it were. When a certain industry predominates in a locality supporting a continuation school, it is only fair to suppose that the work done, general though it may be, will be colored to some extent at least, by the demands of such industry. If this process of merging is carried sufficiently far, as is in many cases done, the school may lose almost or entirely its original trend, and from a Fortbildungsschule, fall into the class of trade or Fachschulen.

In the main then, the instruction given in a continuation school proper, is either of a theoretical nature or involves some form of drawing perhaps, thus rendering any other than an ordinary school room unnecessary for class use. In the city of Leipzig the situation is dissimilar to that in some north German cities. Here the classes are arranged according to the various trades followed, as bookbinders, printers, lithographers, bakers, metal workers, workers in wood and stone, etc. There are again in Southern Germany simply schools of drawing with special reference to the various trades and industries. In addition to these are classes of a general nature for boys not following special trades. Such schools however, cannot be found in the smaller towns or in the country. Certain other Saxon cities have schools of somewhat similar character.

In the Consular Report, Vol. 54, No. 202, page 447, 1898, Mr. J. C. Monoghan says, writing under the title Technical Education in Germany:

“The supplementary schools are for the people who have to work, what Chautauquas, summer schools, and university extension courses are for others.—Parties in politico-economic circles have found that the system of common school education under which boys and girls were given an ordinary education in reading, writing, arithmetic etc., up to their fourteenth year, was inadequate, partially if not wholly, to the ends aimed at in such a system. To supply this defect it was urged, and finally proposed and favorably acted upon, that graduates of the common schools, boys especially, in some few cases girls too, should continue to get instruction a certain number of hours a week. This was made compulsory. Manufacturers, shopkeepers, and mechanics in whose employ such boys were found, and not the parents, were made responsible for the boys’ attendance. In these schools, as indicated in the foregoing, the boys get as good an idea as possible of the trade or branch of business in which they are employed. As a rule, the hours of attendance are early in the morning or a certain number of afternoons in the week. Sunday mornings are not thought too sacred for such work. It seems to be an acknowledgement that the years hitherto given to a boy in which to get an education, viz., from his sixth to his fourteenth year, are not enough to prepare him for the struggle for life that he has to enter upon. Men have told me, successful merchants and agents here, that they owe more to the hours spent in the developing or supplementary schools from the practical character of the instruction given and the information imparted, than to the many years spent in the common schools. While one is hardly willing to believe this, there can be no doubt of the good work done, and being done, by the schools referred to.”

The Handwerkschulen in Berlin are very similar to Fortbildungsschulen in Leipzig for example. These schools have seen a marvelous development during the past few years. They have a technical quality, giving much attention to drawing. The sessions are in the evening, eight hours per week, the fee being six marks the half year. They are attended by journeymen and apprentices who come recommended by their employers. In connection with these schools various Sunday classes are conducted throughout the city, each center specializing along certain trade lines.

The Berlin Handwerker Verein is a type of continuation school, sustained not by the state but by an association. The Verein, founded in 1859, has for its object the promotion of general culture, a partial knowledge at least of the several callings represented, and good manners (gute Sitten). The moral and ethical elements are not lacking. Here public lectures of real merit are given, together with music, gymnastics, and instruction in general and technical subjects. Boys of good character, over seventeen years of age, are admitted. The families of the boys in attendance are also allowed to avail themselves of such general exercises, lectures, music, etc., as the school offers.

What may also be styled as belonging in a sense in the continuation school category is the German Association for the Diffusion of Popular Education, with headquarters in Berlin. Branches of this association are scattered throughout various parts of the Empire.

In the year 1869, the industrial code provided that all boys under eighteen years of age might, at the discretion of the local authorities, be compelled to attend school. It is thus evident that the local or State authority was here consulted, rather than the General Government. At the present time however, when the adjustment of this matter is not in the hands of local authority, the employer must, if those engaged with him desire so to do, allow such boys to attend school at their option. In some States however, Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse and Baden, compulsory school laws are in force among all boys fourteen to eighteen years of age. At present the law of 1891 is active and the portion touching our problem is here given:

“Employers are required to give the necessary time, to be determined eventually by the competent authorities, to their workingmen under eighteen years of age who attend an educational establishment recognized by the communal administration or by the State as an adult’s school. Instruction shall not be given on Sunday except where the hours are so fixed that the pupils are not prevented from attending the principal religious exercise or a religious exercise of their faith especially conducted for them with the consent of the ecclesiastical authorities. The central administration may, until October 1, 1894, accord exemptions from the last provision to adult schools already in existence, attendance upon which is not obligatory.

“For purposes of this law schools giving instruction in manual work and domestic duties to women shall be considered as adult schools.”

This citation points out that the Sunday class work must not conflict with the religious services. There is a strong sentiment in many places in favor of a repeal of such laws as prohibit Sunday classes at such times as church services are held. Many of the clergy are opposed to the extending of Sunday continuation schools, while for the most part the government authorities are favorable to such extension.

As regards the compulsory age limit, Prussia of all the German states is following out the option given the individual States. It is worthy of note that she declares (while declining to accept the law) that where freedom is allowed, boys are more likely to continue in school after their eighteenth year. It is insisted also that with the restrictions removed, a deeper interest is excited in the school studies. The statement is made however that in Prussia two thirds of the industrial continuation schools have compulsory attendance laws in force as the local authorities may determine. Certain it is that much stress is laid upon the ethical side of instruction in the continuation schools and it is agreed that the compulsory school should not transplant the regular continuation school, except where it seems absolutely necessary to do so. In Bavaria for example, where the age limit by law is thirteen, the compulsory school has a place for the time being at least.

In Berlin, a century ago, Sunday afternoon classes were inaugurated, with a programme no more varied than that furnished by the three R’s. Apprentices not equipped with sufficient school training were forced to attend the schools. In 1869 the power was wrested from the trade guilds and the elective system resulted, later producing the Elementary Continuation School. The local city government founded at a later date three such schools, and in these a more diversified curriculum was operated, adding to the three R’s, German composition and literature, modern languages, natural science, political science, law, bookkeeping and drawing. For various reasons these schools were not attended by a full measure of success and the city authorities formulated the plan of placing the continuation schools in some of the higher institutions of learning, courses to be operative in winter only. Later, from the preparatory school, which fitted for the continuation school proper, grew up the technical continuation school.

There are at the present twelve schools of the continuation type in Berlin. A large attendance is desired, for with large classes groups of various intellectual standards may be formed. The student is free to elect subjects—as between certain languages, mathematics or art studies. The Director of the school, by keeping in touch with the employers in the various trades and shops, can thus control the attendance and shape the course of the lines of work offered.

Some ten years since, two special lines of instruction were withdrawn from the continuation school proper—the carpenters’ school and the Gewerbesaal, comprising work in drawing and theory involved in machine construction and the like. Courses for turners are offered in the carpenters’ schools. In Berlin there are in excess of nine centers for the last named school and ten centers for the Gewerbesaal, the winter classes running up to 2000 and 850 pupils respectively.

This example serves to illustrate the fact mentioned in a previous connection, viz., that the Fortbildungsschule was in some cases merged into a special school, for here in reality a Fach or trade institution has developed from the original continuation school. This practice has been going on more or less extensively among the various schools; and in Berlin especially, the continuation school has been the foundation of most of the Fachschulen. Something more will be said in this connection in the section under trade schools.

Regarding the continuation schools for girls and women a word may be added. As with the boys’ schools, so these designed for girls were put on foot, partly at least, from an ethical standpoint. Girls spending their days in the factory and shop were in need of a refining influence, and this the continuation school afforded. Courses were offered in the German language, arithmetic, sewing and dressmaking. The efforts made to give girls this training were not entirely successful. So many objections to Sunday work were brought forward that it was discontinued. The burdens of the day fell so heavily upon the girls that they were not ambitious to attend evening classes. At the present time the schools are more largely attended by girls who, during the day, remain in the family, and in the school take up the household arts, sewing, cutting out, and the like, and also languages, mathematics, geography, etc., gymnastics and music, shorthand and typewriting. It is hoped soon to introduce cookery in all girls’ schools. Drawing is given much attention.

There are in Berlin, nine municipal continuation schools for girls, which are, as the name indicates, maintained by the city.

III

Trade Schools[1]

As has been indicated in another connection, the classification of trade schools as such, is somewhat uncertain. It has been shown that many of the present schools for special trades have evolved from the continuation schools of the past. In the transition state it is sometimes quite difficult to definitely place a certain school, whether in the trade continuation, or trade group proper, or to class it with the Industrieschulen. The trade continuation schools have largely superseded the regular trade schools, in many localities at least, and where this condition exists, trade instruction seems to be losing ground, here the Fortbildungsschulen on the one hand, and regular apprenticeships on the other, coming in to supplant trade teaching.