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Schools

The German school system provided the road to adulthood. The Constitution of both the North German Federation and imperial Germany delegated the control of public education to the states. Unlike the American system, German boys and girls began Volksschule at age 6 and continued to age 14. Paid for by the government, this education was free to students and contributed to a literacy rate that was nearly 100 percent. These eight years (age 6-14) of education completed the education for many and was noted by the student’s confirmation. The decision had to be made whether or not the student was going to secondary school, which was not free. If the child was going to attend secondary school, he transferred into a private secondary school at age 9-10. Parents of these students had to start paying for this education from age nine until they no longer supported the child. There were of course private preparatory schools, which also were not free. Only a few students continued on to secondary schools or university. Most girls continued their education at home.

In 1885 for example, there were 7.5 million children in elementary schools, but only 238,000 attended secondary schools. Rural families needed their children to work on the farm so they seldom attended secondary school. In practical terms, only children from bourgeois or noble families had any hope of going to secondary school. Approximately 500,000 part-time students attended continuation schools at the age of 14, but these were primarily for apprentices in the Guild Associations. The percentage of children that attended the secondary schools seems to vary from source to source but in general between three and five percent of the children had the opportunity.

Primary schools were denominational. “Simultaneous schools,” in which children of different religions were taught together, were the exception until the Great War created teacher shortages. As late as 1906, 95 percent of protestant children and 90 percent of Catholics attended schools of their own religious denomination. But in Baden where there were state-controlled the schools, simultaneous schools were compulsory from 1876. Truancy in the Volkschule was a huge problem in urban areas. In one-year alone in Düsseldorf, the police contacted over 13,000 parents out of the total population of 91,000 about truancy. Over 1,000 children had a daily police escort to school.

There were three types of secondary schools—six-year schools, nine-year schools, and cadet schools. We will discuss  the Cadet Schools later. The focus of this discussion is on six-and nine-year schools. There were three types of six- and nine-year schools:  the Gymnasium, the Realgymnasium, and the Oberrealschule. Each of these had both a six-year and nine-year school equivalent. Girls attended separate secondary schools. The Gymnasium was considered the best of these and was the guardian of classical studies. German society considered graduates to have both education and culture. The Realgymnasium was a compromise between the Latin and Greek of the Gymnasium and the technical side of the Oberrealschule. The Oberrealschule taught a more technical curriculum for engineers, chemists and the like. There were 388 total nine-year schools in 1900 consisting of 277 Gymnasien, 85 Realgymnasien, and 26 Oberrealschulen. In 1900, 66 percent of students attended the gymnasium, with much emphasis on humanism and the classics.

The names of the different classes in the secondary schools are shown below. The six-year schools were the same as the nine-year schools, but without the top three additional classes. Civilian schools offered an opportunity to move into the army directly from civilian schooling and enter the commissioning process as a Fahnenjunker (potential active duty officer) or to continue in civilian education through the university. Cadet schools offered the opportunity to switch to civilian schools or continue on into the higher cadet school with a clear goal of joining the army.

(Moncure, 1993), pp. 150-151.

[1]  Proof of educational qualification for “One-Year Volunteer” service also taken at conclusion of Untersekunda class by cadets.

[2]  Proof of fitness for attendance at the Unterprima/Oberprima classes of a Prussian Gymnasium or Realschule and the minimum acceptable educational qualification for non-cadet entrance as a Fahnenjunker.