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: THE ENGLISH SCHOOL AND ITS GERMAN RIVAL COMPARISONS are, it is said, odious, particularly to the objects compared ; nevertheless, the basis of all knowledge is comparison. The maxim mentioned is, you will find, most readily quoted by those who fear it most. In comparing two systems of education many requisites are necessary. For example, every care should be taken that due appreciation of every element on both sides of the equation has been made—next, the personal factor in the equation should have been eliminated, and many other factors must be considered before a comparison can be made that will be above criticism. It is evident that to make such a comparison is not within my power, nor, were it, would it be my wish. I prefer the world of nature as seen by the lark rather than by the ostrich; what one loses in accuracy of detail one gains in breadth of outline. The many inequalities, peculiarities if you will, are largely lost, but the general beauty of the whole becomes more evident. These two national systems of education are thoroughly characteristic. The German system is built on a philosophical basis throughout, and when one is most inclined to criticise, one feels that logically the German is unassailable; fortunately for us, life is not logical. The English system, on the other hand, islike the British Constitution ; it works remarkably well on the whole, but no one quite knows how or why. I have said that these two systems of education are characteristic. Let me amplify this statement. England is essentially a democratic country; Germany, even to-day, is not. Class distinctions are very keen in Germany, and it is extremely difficult for a man to pass from one class of society to another. The educational ladder of which we in Wales are reasonably proud, is nei...