The question of the technical phases of education is, with any nation, a vital one. Perhaps this is true of Germany as it is of no other European country. This may be mainly due to one of several causes. First, as to the length of time technical education has had a place in the German schools. In some form or another, and in a greater or lesser degree, such instruction has been in vogue for many years, and has in no small measure become part and parcel of the educational fabric of the nation. Again, throughout the various German States, the work is rather widely differentiated, this owing in part to the fact that the varying lines of industry in adjacent localities even, give color and bent to the technical education of any particular locality. An extensive field is thus comprehended under the term “technical education”. Then, too, Germany as a nation must needs better her condition in order that she may prove self-sustaining. The country is not a wealthy one, and if in trade, in manufacture, and in commerce, she is to compete, and that successfully, with the world powers, strength must be gained along such lines as those opening through technical education.

The hope is entertained that the following pages may prove of value, not alone to the student of technical education as it exists in Germany, but particularly to those who are endeavoring to institute and develop industrial and technical training in this country. The possibility along these lines is exceedingly great and the interest and attention of thinking people is focused here. They look to this form of education as a partial solution of some of the most obstinate problems now confronting us.