Excerpt from The Teaching of Classics in Secondary Schools in Germany, Vol. 20

The immediate object of the tour was to enable the inquirers to acquaint themselves with the actual working of the system of organisation which has recently been introduced into some of the Frankfurt and other schools, and which is known as the Frankfurt reform scheme.' The characteristic of this is that the age at which the study of the ancient languages is begun is postponed, later than has been customary. Latin is not begun-till the. Age of twelve, Greek not till fourteen. It is maintained by those who advocate this system that under it boys can, before they leave school, attain the same standard of proficiency in the classical languages as those who have been brought up on the old system. The importance of this, if true, is clear. It would immensely simplify the problems connected with the choice of Classical or modern side, and the transference of boys from one type of school to another. It was therefore necessary to inquire how far the claims made for the system were justified, whether the experience of Germany was such as to encourage those who wish to introduce a similar system into England. Above all, the Board desired to find' out whether, in those schools in which both Greek and Latin is taught, the result of the change appeared to be to strengthen and raise the position of the classics, and to maintain a high standard of excellence among those who had been educated under it, or whether, as has been suggested, it is only one step in the other direction, and is 'merely part of a gradual process, the ultimate result of which must be the abolition of what is known as a classical education.

The system has been in force for over ten years in certain selected schools; it has been tried under some of 'the ablest masters in Germany; a whole generation of schoolboys has passed through the schools and proceeded to the University. We have, then, an experiment conducted with exceptional thoroughness, and the time seems to have come when it should be possible really to judge of the success which may be expected from it.

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