Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 24.djvu/315

Rh university examinations for a degree, which comparatively few students ever attempt, their record in the state examinations which nearly all try, and the final and decisive test of practical life and its demands.

Now, it is a pretty plain fact that the professors who made these reports did not take the trouble to investigate the results of these various tests, since it was reserved for a director of a real school to collect the first reliable and comprehensive statistics on the subject, and that after these reports were prepared. The data were furnished by the reports of the universities as to the number of degrees granted to real-school graduates, by the reports of government examiners as to standing attained in the public examinations of such students, and, finally, by the reports from the present positions and sphere of labor of all real-school graduates who had taken degrees from the universities, or who had passed into the ranks of teachers without trying the university examination. We have not room to introduce the statistics here. Suffice it to say that they make a very good showing for real-school graduates. The point that interests us most in this immediate connection is, that these facts were not ascertained or considered by the university professors who reported on this subject.

The same gentleman who collected these statistics tells a well-authenticated story of Professor Hanstein, of the University of Bonn, which very well illustrates the fairness, deliberation, and investigation which preceded and accompanied these reports. Upon receiving the notice asking for his written opinion, he remarked to his assistant: "So we have to commit ourselves in writing again, do we? Of course, the gymnasia students are superior." "But, Herr Professor," objected his assistant, "Mr. X, who recently took his degree in natural science, passed summa cum laude, and he is a real-school graduate." "Yes; well, he's an exception." "And Herr Dr., the Privatdocent here in Bonn, is also from a real school." "He's an exception too," answered Hanstein. "And a few weeks ago," continued his assistant, "one of our real-school students passed his teacher's examination in chemistry and natural history No. 1." "Exceptions—all exceptions!" replied the professor. "Yes, but, Herr Professor, there are only seven or eight of us real-school men altogether here in Bonn." "We? Are you a real-school graduate?" "Yes, sir." "Well, you are the biggest exception of all." And, with that, he turned and left the room. The story, which is vouched for, needs no comment.

There is still another point to be considered. The practical object of these reports, as some professors conceived it, was to ascertain whether the faculties were in favor of excluding real-school students from the universities, and indeed the language of the request justified that view. Some voted for the reports, therefore, because they thought that the attendance at the universities is too large, and that the exclusion of real-school graduates offers a convenient means of getting rid of the surplus students. The writer visited twelve out of