Gymnasium (Germany)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Gymnasium is the classical higher or secondary schools of Germany for gifted students. Students are admitted at 10 or 13 years of age and are required to have had 4 years of Grundschule. To be admitted, students are supposed to have a formal recommendation by their teacher. Traditionally students attended the Gymnasium for 9 years in western Germany but only for 8 years in eastern Germany. The 9th year of Gymnasium was roughly equivalent to a first year in higher education. After 9 years the students passed an exam, called Abitur in Germany. Nowadays there has been a strong political movement to reduce the time spent at the Gymnasium to 8 years in all of Germany since 2004. Since the 1970s it is possible to pass the exam Abitur at comprehensive schools in Germany after 9 years of education. Nowadays it is still possible to spent 9 years' time until the Abitur at those comprehensive schools, known as Gesamtschule, in Germany.

Contents 1 History 2 Other methods 3 Modern languages 4 Gymnasium for girls 5 See also 6 Works

[edit] History

The Gymnasium arose out of the humanistic movement of the sixteenth century. The first general system of schools which provided for the Gymnasium was that of Saxony, formulated in 1528, but without providing for Greek in such schools until a later date. Afterwards, both Greek and Latin were included, and the Latin and Greek languages formed the foundation of the teaching and studying of the Gymnasium, which was a nine-year course. A special kind of Gymansium was the Realgymnasium: in Prussia, the Realgymnasium gave a nine-year course, with Latin, but no Greek.

[edit] Other methods

In Prussia, the Progymnasium were similar schools of six or seven year courses. The Realprogymnasium was of six or seven years' length. The Oberschulen offered a nine-year course with neither Greek nor Latin.

[edit] Modern languages

Early in the twentieth century, the introduction of French and English as elective languages brought about the greatest change since the introduction of the Realschulen in the eighteenth century. Students tended to ignore the Greek language.

[edit] Gymnasium for girls

Early in the twentieth century, schools for girls, called Lyceum, increased in numbers.

The rise of girl's Gymnasiums is due mainly to the influx of feminist ideals in the twentieth century.

Since the 70's, mixed boys and girls Gymnasiums have become increasingly common and special boys and girls Gymnasiums are today extremely rare in Germany.

[edit] See also

• List of schools in Germany

[edit] Works

• Matthew Arnold, Higher Schools and Universities in Germany, (second edition, London, 1882)
• Schrader, Erziehungs- und Unterrichtslehre für Gymnasien und Realschulen, (fifth edition, Berlin, 1893)
• Paulsen, German Education, Past and Present, (translated by Lorenz, New York, 1908)
• A. Beier, Die höheren Schulen in Preußen und ihre Lehrer, (Halle, 1909)
• J. F. Brown, The Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools in Germany and the United States, (New York, 1911)