Note 81 — Chapter XIII · PHYSICAL TRAINING IN THE PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS.

As generally in Europe, there are two distinct kinds of schools in Germany, the elementary or common schools, and the secondary or higher schools. The former (Volksschule) does not lead up to the latter, but is designed to furnish that kind and degree of education which the State requires of every citizen irrespective of class or calling. Its course of eight years covers the period of “school age” (six to fourteen). The higher school (Gymnasium, Realgymnasium, Realschule) gives a broader training intended to prepare for later study at the university and the professional and higher technical schools, or to meet the conditions for admission to any but the lowest grades of government employ. In order to enter one must be at least nine years old, having obtained his earlier education in special preparatory classes or in the ordinary Volksschule, and the average age of those who complete the full nine years’ course is between eighteen and twenty.