HIGHER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INTRODUCTION. Interest in technical education of the higher order has been greatly increased by the European war, and as a consequence numerous inquiries have been recently received at the Bureau of Education with regard to the higher technical schools of foreign countries. These inquiries relate in the main to the organization and conduct of the foreign schools, their courses of instruction, and the relative value of their diplomas. The endeavor has been made in this bulletin to meet such inquiries, whether general or specific, by means of information drawn from official and other authoritative sources. In a broad survey of the subject it is seen that while the term technical is used often in a comprehensive sense, including commercial, agricultural, and engineering schools, it is more generally restricted to schools which specialize in engineering and the mechanical arts that involve the applications of science. In this limited sense the term is used in the present bulletin; but even this restricted province includes schools exclusively professional in their purposes and those that combine with departments of professional engineering a wide range of specialties relating to productive industry. On account of the varying scope of technical institutions and the differences between countries in respect to classification, it is impossible to employ a uniform scheme of presentation for institutions selected as typical and equally impossible to institute exact comparisons between their programs and their standards. It may be said, however, that all the institutions here classed as higher technical, with the few exceptions hereafter noted, require the same entrance qualifications as the universities of their respective countries and confer diplomas that have equal value with the university diplomas. These two conditions afford a basis of classification which has been maintained in the bulletin. The matter presented includes therefore (1) a survey of the studies preliminary to the higher technical schools, (2) accounts of typical schools, (3) statistical summaries comprising additional institutions of the same order. So far as possible the information in regard to each country is arranged under the given heads in the order named. The accounts of typical schools referred to under (2) include in a few instances detailed programs. These will serve to suggest the contents of the similar courses of instruction in other institutions which are presented in brief outline to avoid wearisome repetition.1 The courses of study preliminary to the higher technical instruction are covered by the programs of secondary schools, which in nearly all foreign countries are fixed by official decrees and are strictly maintained. Great Britain is an exception in this respect, the secondary schools of that country having large independence and individuality. At the same time the actual standard of preparation for the higher technical studies differs little from that maintained on the Continent. Hence the programs of the German gymnasia and realschulen and the French lycées, which are very fully presented under the respective countries, fairly represent European standards for admission to the higher orders of education, both general and technical. Marked deviations from these standards are discussed under the different countries considered. It is noticeable that, while the courses of preparatory study differ in scope, stress is invariably placed upon mathematics and the elements of the exact sciences. As a rule, in European countries if a candidate for admission to a higher technical school has had mainly a classical education he is required to take such courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc., as will make good his deficiencies in these studies. Thus, while the same mental maturity is demanded in candidates for the higher education, whether general or technical, it is recognized that the latter depends upon the habit of exact observation and close reasoning, which is the product of scientific training; practically, however, the two orders of higher education rest upon the same basis. In a completely organized system of technical education the line of relation between the lower grades and the highest starts with the modeling and weaving exercises of the kindergarten, and is continued by manual training and science studies in elementary and secondary schools. The various orders of technical schools diverge from the main course of general education at successive stages: Continuation schools with a vocational bias follow the elementary grades; schools of arts and trades follow the intermediate or higher grade elementary schools, while technical schools of the secondary order require for admission two or three years of a secondary school course; the higher technical schools are distinguished from the latter by a standard of admission equivalent to the bachelor's degree or the university 1 These accounts are derived from prospectuses, reports, and manuscript statements, for which the office is indebted to the president, director, or other officials of the respective institutions. matriculation examination. In all European countries large provision has been made for the lower orders of technical training, and in particular provision for trade and engineering schools intended to provide directors and foremen of large industrial works. This class of institutions, which is not included in the present bulletin, has been quite fully considered in previous publications of this office.1 As a rule, both in Great Britain and in Germany the highest technical schools have developed from schools of the secondary order, although the latter are not regarded as preparatory to the former. Even in Italy, where the two orders of technical education are closely correlated, a student from the secondary technical institutions must pass a year either in a preparatory section of the higher technical schools, or in a university faculty of sciences before he can be registered in the advanced technical courses. The close relation between the progress of industry and that of technical education is emphasized anew in every survey of this subject. Schools of military and naval engineering pertain directly to State service, but a much higher conception of technical education led to the establishment of the technical schools that now dispute with universities supremacy in the field of higher education. The École Polytechnique in Paris, the earliest institution of this order, was created in 1794 by men who at the dawn of the scientific movement foresaw its vast promise for great industrial enterprises. This prophetic outlook also excited efforts for the diffusion of scientific knowledge among artisans of all orders; hence in the same year there was created at Paris another institution, the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, in which it was proposed that the history of the development of the arts and their relation to the sciences should be taught along with technical processes and methods. These two purposes have determined the subsequent development of technical education in France, and they have both affected in greater or less proportion the organization of that interest in other countries. 1 See bibliography, p. 115. GERMANY. STANDARDS OF PREPARATORY TRAINING. In Germany, as in European countries generally, the higher technical institutions draw their students chiefly from the secondary schools for general education. This preparation is also obtained in technical schools of the intermediate order. The secondary schools.-The secondary schools of Germany, which prepare students for admission to the university and higher technical schools, comprise three types, as follows: Gymnasium, realgymnasium, and higher (ober) real school. These schools all have a nine years' course, organized in three divisions: A lower division comprising Classes VI, V, IV, intended for pupils from 9 to 12 years of age; an intermediate division comprising also three classes, untertertia (lower third), obertertia (upper third), and untersecunda (lower second), for ages 13 to 15; and an upper division comprising classes obersecunda (upper second), unterprima (lower first), and oberprima (upper first), intended for ages 16 to 18. The work of each year in the secondary schools is tested by an examination which determines the ability of the student to pass on to the higher class. The leaving, or final examination (abiturientenexamen), which takes place when the pupil has passed through oberprima, marks the completion of the course in the full or nine-year secondary schools. The leaving examination is conducted by written papers and orally. The written examination comprises for all the schools a German essay and the working of four mathematical questions pertaining to different branches of the subject. In respect to other subjects, the matter of the written examination is determined by the kind of institution, but in every case it is based upon the work of the upper division of the school, comprising upper second and lower and upper prima. The oral examination comprises for all the schools Christian religious teaching, history, mathematics, and special exercises in the remaining subjects determined by the type of school. The time-table of the realgymnasium given below represents a mean between that of the gymnasium and the higher real school. In the realgymnasium Latin is preserved, but has less time than in |